I made this recipe for Devilled Biscuits almost as a dare. I did not see how they could work…but I had just made a big old batch of mango chutney and was looking for something to do with it apart from using it as an accompaniment to a curry. This recipe fitted the bill perfectly. I had all of the ingredients in the house so it was also a no brainer.
The recipe for deviled biscuits is so simple. Mix chutney, Worchestershire sauce and butter. Spread on thin water crackers and grill. Serve with cold cream cheese and radishes.
The bit that perplexed me was the grilling of the biscuit. I thought the chutney butter would slide right off. Instead, it sort of sunk into the biscuit leaving a slight spiciness from the chutney. Just as a test, I spread the chutney butter on a bagel on the third day I made this recipe and it didn’t work. The thinness and crispiness of the water cracker worked much better with the chutney butter!
And yes, I said the third day I made this. I made the deviled biscuits for lunch two days running. They were really (and surprisingly) good. And definitely moorish! The cream cheese and radish topping was also great! When I made the bagel version I added a little sprinkle of chopped chives and some freshly ground black pepper which also worked really nicely with the other flavours.
The recipe for the deviled biscuits came from a book called Recipes From An Edwardian Country House by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall so comes from the early years of the last century.
And here it is!
The Recipe – Devilled Biscuits
Also, you can scale up the butter mixture and freeze it for next time!
I did have a little laugh at this review of the book on Amazon:
Well, I beg to differ Bank of America, I thought this was a great little tasty snack or work from home lunch. Also, don’t you have better things to do, Bank of America, than leave 2-star reviews on Amazon? Shouldn’t you be saving the economy or something? Why are you searching for good old recipes! Who are you? Me?
Helloooo friends! Ttoday’s recipe is nuts! But not just any nuts. These are devilled cashew nuts and damn they are the tastiest, most more-ish little morsels around!
The recipe for my devilled cashew nuts is based on a recipe from The Daily News Cookery Book. First published in 1929, this book is probably the book of Sri Lankan cooking. It’s also bonkers in parts. I have two copies of the Daily News Cookery book – one that was given to my mum as a wedding present and a new version that I bought in Sri Lanka a few years ago. I would have loved to do a Julia and Julia cook through of this book but there are ingredients I would not be able to get hold of and some of the measurements are based on weird Sri Lankan things that no longer exist. Chhudu anyone? So I might take you all on a limited express rather than a stopping all stations journey through this book.
These devilled cashew nuts ( or cadjunuts as Sri Lankans call them) are relatively straightforward to make so are a good introduction to this book.
They are also a great little snack, but when combined with a beverage? PER-FEC-TION!!! 😍
Here is the recipe from the Daily News.
The recipe calls for ground saffron. I tried to do this but I only had a small bit of saffron and it just disappeared into nothing while I was grinding it. So, what I did was to soak the saffron in a small dish of warm water and then, after about 20 minutes, I tipped the saffrony flavoured water over the nuts. I’m sure this activated them or some such too. I let them soak in the saffron water for about 4 hours then tipped them onto a sheet of paper towels and let them dry for around the same amount of time.
Once dry, I rubbed in salt and cayenne pepper and then followed the recipe to cook them. If you were in a hurry, you could grind the saffron as per the recipe or leave it out.
The smell of the toasting cashews was heavenly!
And eating them still warm from the pan was a moment of pure joy! It was hard to save some for my cocktail but, it was going to be a long while between drinks as I am doing dry February so I did my best to save a few for the sipping. And it was worth it!
Match made in heaven!
I’ll post the cocktail recipe separately but damn it was good too!
These Devilled Cashew Nuts are so easy to make and definitely something you’ll go nuts for
Today, January 26, many Australians will be celebrating Australia Day. On the good side – it’s summer, it’s a great time to get outside and have a bbq and, if you are not in the midst of a dry January, have a few drinks with some friends. On the downside, the day itself is becoming increasingly fraught for all manner of reasons.
But we are not here to get political. We are here to eat, drink and be merry. Because it’s a long weekend. And we’re going to celebrate with some Australian food. If by Australian food we mean something that we have totally (mis)appropriated from another culture. So let’s get to it shall we?
Gougères are the French version of what we in Australia would call a cheese puff. And they are delicious! Feather-light pastry flavoured with cheese makes for a perfect snack. Particularly if you happen to be imbibing something of an alcoholic persuasion. Making it a perfect start to this weekend’s round of bbq’s.
But we’re not celebrating Bastille Day…we’re celebrating Australia Day…so how to “Strayanise” these delicious French delicacies? Well, first we’re going to throw a little Vegemite into the mix. Now, I’ll be the first person to admit that I…ahem…”borrowed” the idea of the Vegemite Gougères from Rosie Birkett’s recipe for Marmite Gougères.
And then, to make it even more Australian, I substituted the water in the recipe for beer. I used the Gage Roads Little Dove Pale Ale as the beer for this because it is my absolute favourite and I had some in the house but you could sub in your own favourite.
The gougères are delightfully light. The combination of vegemite, cheese, cayenne and the very slight hint of beer go so well together that it would be a real shame to only save these for one day of the year!
100g cheddar, grated, plus 1 tablespoon extra, for scattering
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
big pinch freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoonfreshly grated nutmeg
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200°C and line 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment.
Put the butter, milk and Vegemite and ale into pan over medium heat and bring to the boil.
Add the flour and beat very quickly with a wooden spoon, over the heat, until the mixture is smooth and pulls away from the side of the pan (about 2-3 minutes).
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a minute.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until the mixture is thick and smooth and glossy.
Stir in the grated cheese, peppers and nutmeg.
Spoon the mixture into the piping bag fitted with a nozzle. Pipe little rounds (about the size of a chestnut) onto the trays, leaving space between each mound to allow for rising.
Alternatively, just spoon small spoons of the mixture onto the tray.
Scatter over the remaining cheese.
Bake for 20–25 minutes, until puffed and golden.
Serve warm. Or cool on a wire rack and reheat in a 180°C oven for a few minutes until they crisp up.
Notes
The gougères can be made in advance and frozen once cool.
If you’re celebrating, have a wonderful day and enjoy the long weekend!
If not, make these anyway, they’re awesome!
But remember…
Back with more Z Food next time! Have a fabulous week!
If we are at home on a Friday, we don’t usually eat a big meal, just usually have a couple of snacky things here and there.
Tonight’s snack plate had a distinctly retro feel so I thought I would share it with you!
Cheese and Date Bread
First up, we have some Cheese and Date Bread, courtesy of The A-Z of Cooking. We have jumped somewhat forward here in that this recipe appears under G – Good Health, when technically we are only up to D – Drinks and Dips. And whilst Drinks and Dips are usually good Friday fare, tonight it was something different.
I was intrigued by the idea of Cheese and Date Bread. I really wasn’t sure how the sweetness of the dates would go with the rest of the ingredients. These fears were completely unfounded. And my bread looked just like real proper bread!
Cheese and Date Bread2
If somewhat lopsided…
Cheese and Date Bread3
The bread is pretty good plain but if you want to take it to a whole new level? Toast it up.
Cheese and Date Bread4
Cheese and Date Balls
Like I said, initially I was hesitant to make the Cheese and Date Bread. What changed my mind was finding this recipe for Cheese and Date Balls:
Of course I made mini balls – because that’s how I roll. Also, I swapped out the lemon in the recipe above for a teeny splash of vermouth.
Mmmmm…blue cheese, walnuts and dates spread on toasted Date and Cheese Bread. Life is good!
Cheese and Date Balls2
But wait…there’s more.
But first a little bit of disclosure. I am actually trying something new tonight which is to cook (ok, assemble, I had actually cooked everything beforehand), photo, write, review and post all in the one night. Normally this process can take WEEKS. I am also doing it whilst drinking a rather large martini which we will get to in due course. So, if the end of this devolves into absolute gibberish, you know why and apologies in advance.
Those olives you see on the plate? Aren’t just any olives. They are:
Martini Drenched Olives
Normally, you put your olive into a martini. In this recipe, you put some martini into your olives! This is so simple and really adds a new and different flavour to some otherwise ordinary olives.
2 cups green olives (I used stuffed olives because I had them)
3 tbsp vodka
1 1/2 tbsp dry vermouth
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp shredded lemon zest
8–10 cracked peppercorns
Instructions
Rinse the olives under cold water and drain.
Combine all the other ingredients.
Place the olives in a bowl.
Pour the other ingredients over.
Refrigerate for at least an hour. (I kept mine in the fridge for nearly a week).
But you know what? If your going to have some martini drenched olives, why not make also make a Drenched Dirty Martini. It is Friday after all!
Drenched Dirty Martini2
The Drenched Dirty Martini is a dirty martini made with Drenched Martini Olives.
[yumprint-recipe id=’32’]
Drenched Dirty Martini
Have a great weekend!
PS – Love to hear your thoughts on the quick and dirty post. I live in awe of the bloggers who manage to do something daily and would love to be able to increase my output. Your feedback on me just banging something out like tonight v agonising over every comma is most appreciated! Thanks as always. xx
Have you ever read a recipe where the ingredients seem right….but the execution just seems horribly wrong?
Smoked Trout Empandas8
The other day I was looking for something in…you know THAT room? Otherwise known as the room where we dumped all the crap we didn’t have a specific home for when we first moved in. Nearly a year later? It’s all still there. Thank the Lord for whoever invented doors. It makes it so much easier to metaphorically close the door and walk away from the room when you can literally close the door and walk away from the room.
I didn’t find what I was looking for in the room, because most things that go in there don’t come out. What I did find was a manilla folder full of old recipe clippings which included one for something called for Trout and Mascarpone Triangles.
Before we get to the point does anyone else have problems spelling mascarpone? For some reason in my mind it’s marscapone. I also can’t say the word “Preliminary” – that one just ends up a hot mess of r’s and l’s where they shouldn’t be.
But anyway, immediately in my head, (yeah the same one that can’t spell ma-scar-pone or pronounce pre-lim-in-ary) I had a vision of what these would be. They would look like exactly like these:
Hmm…except….maybe a little more triangular.
So, I was bitterly disappointed when I actually read the recipe and found it was nothing like that.
In fact, that whole recipe annoyed the hell out of me. In most cooking circles when you call something an X & Y triangle it’s pretty much a given that the X and Y are IN the triangle. Take these delicious looking cheese and spinach triangles from taste.com.au. Spinach and Cheese both EXACTLY where they should be i.e. inside the pastry triangle.
That is what I wanted from my trout and mascarpone triangles! Golden puff pastry filled with chunks of gorgeous pink smoked trout, creamy mascarpone, fresh herbs, a touch of chilli….that was what my mind told me a Trout and Mascarpone Triangle could, and should, be.
At best the original recipe is for trout and mascarpone ON triangles. And who the hell wants that? No one that’s who. I’m calling shenanigans on that recipe.
In some circles they say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. In my circle I say if you think their recipe is a crock, make it like you think it should have been. And while we’re in the spirit of rebellion – the fancy pants Italian cheese I can’t be bothered writing the name of (because I would only have to re-write it to spell it correctly) can go fuck itself too. I’m using good old Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Which I forgot to take a photo of. The rest of the stuff is here:
Smoked Trout Empanadas3
I used a smoked trout, you could sub in smoked salmon if you prefer or cook a fillet of fish as per the original recipe. Or even used canned salmon or tuna to make these. Up to you. And I had an empanada maker thing but you could make triangles as per the original recipe. Or embrace the spririt of doing it your way and make them any shape you want!
If you are going to use an empanada maker, here’s how you do it from an expert,Connie Veneracion. Shame I didn’t read this until after I had made mine and hence some of mine were a little…shall we call them rustic? 😉
How To Use An Empanada Maker
Smoked Trout Empanadas7
And here is the revised, and in my not so humble opinion, vastly improved recipe!
1 canned chipotle chilli and approx 1 tbsp of the adobo sauce it came in
1 tbsp dill
1 tbsp parsley
2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
poppy seeds and chilli flakes to garnish (optional)
Instructions
If using a smoked trout, remove the skin and flake the flesh from the bones. Place this in a bowl with the cream cheese, red onion, lemon juice, chilli, dill and parsley. Mix lightly to combine.
Preheat your oven to 200C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cut four circles out of each of your pastry sheets, using your empanada maker or tracing around a small plate or cup.
Place 1 tbsp of the trout mixture in the middle of each circle then fold the pastry over to seal in the filling.
Crimp the edges to seal.
Place on the baking tray and brush with the beaten egg.
Sprinkle with the poppy seeds and chilli flakes if using.
Cook for 15 minutes or until puffed up and golden.
Lesson of the week – if you don’t like it, change it.
