Category: 1970’s recipes

Lime Pie with Creme De Menthe – Pieathalon 9!

Greetings Pie lovers!  Welcome to a special midweek edition of Retro Food For Modern Foods.  Today we are celebrating that best of best days of the year – Pieathalon Day. This is the day, where lead by the lovely Yinzerella, bloggers worldwide swap and cook vintage pie recipes.

pieathalon 9

This year I got a recipe for Lime Pie with Creme de Menthe sent to me by Dr Bobb.  Now, call me biased but how pretty are these?  I made lots of little pies because I could not find a large already baked pie crust and at the time I made these I was suffering from double ear infections and a bad back so I was not really up for shopping about.  The one shop I went to had no large pie crusts so I bought two packs of medium. I’m kind of glad.  I think the little pies look adorable.

 

Lime Pie with Creme De Menthe

Lime Pie with Creme de Menthe?

To be honest, though, I was not initially enamoured with the recipe.  Lime yes!  It was the Creme de Menthe I was struggling with.  I have never really tasted Creme de Menthe, all I knew about it was that it was a mint-flavoured liqueur that Poirot sometimes sips.  Hmm…I wonder if that is why Yinzerella sent it to me!  I have a love/hate relationship with mint-flavoured things.  I hate mint tea and mint choc chip ice cream but I love a mint slice biscuit and I love the combo of mint and lime in a mojito.

Looking at the bottle of Creme de Menthe though I couldn’t help feeling I was going to be flavouring my pies with something that looked suspiciously like the mouthwash I use!

I had to keep reminding myself Mojito, not Listerine!

Mojito!  Mojito…And given that I always like to have a song to celebrate Pieathalon, I was singing that “Mojito, mojito” to the tune of the bit in Despacito that goes “Pasito a pasito, suave suavecito”.

(How many of you are not humming despacito now?

Lime Pie with Creme de Menthe2

 

However the real sticking point was not the Creme de Menthe but came when I was half way through making the recipe.  At the exact point when I realised that the original recipe contained egg yolks that were not going to be cooked.

Hard no for me on the raw yolks.

Not the least of which was that I now had 12 little pies. These were going to last us for days. And if the idea of fresh raw yolks was bad, the idea of 4 day old raw yolks was putrid. Plus the mixture was quite runny. I was sure if I left it uncooked, we would have soggy bottoms in no time. And as anyone who watches the Great British Bake Off will know, no one likes a soggy bottom!

So, I popped my little pies into the oven for about 15 minutes.

 

Lime Pie with Creme de Menthe3

Despite my misgivings, these pies were delicious!

Lime Pie with Creme De Menthe – The Recipe

Lime Pie recipe

 

Doctor Bobb, I raise my glass to you and your recipe!


Why not check out what Dr Bobb and all the other pieathletes made per the links below:

(please note some of the links may not be live at the time of posting.  I will update as they become live).

Yinzerella Candy Apple Cheese Pie www.dinnerisserved1972.com
Dr. Bobb praline pumpkin pie http://dbkitschen.blogspot.com/2022/09/pieathalon-9-praline-pumpkin-pie.html
Battenburgbelle Zucchini Pie https://www.kitchenconfidence.co.uk/all-recipes/pieathalon-2022/
S S Yul Brenner’s Pie http://abookofcookrye.blogspot.com/2022/09/pieathlon-ninth-walnut-pie-from-stars.html
Jenny Sagittarius Hamburger Pie www.silverscreensuppers.com
Surly poohs summer pie www.vintagerecipecards.com
Kari Ham Tongue Pie www.thenostalgiccook.com
Poppy Crocker apricot mallow pie https://granniepantries.blogspot.com/
Camilla Chocolate Angel Pie http://culinary-adventures-with-cam.blogspot.com/

If you are wondering who got the pie I submitted, it was Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers!  Good luck Jenny, I hope you enjoyed your hamburger pie!

Thanks as always to Yinzerella for organising this brilliant event!

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Rum and Butter Tartlets

This recipe for Rum and Butter Tartlets is inspired by the recipe in the Canada chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972).

Rum and Butter Tartlets 1

To Rum or Not To Rum?

The original recipe calls for Rum essence which I suppose makes these child-friendly.  I remember hating rum balls, or anything else rum flavoured, as a child so I am not sure how friendly the essence version would be.  We did not have any rum essence in the house so I soaked my currants in actual rum. I then added the currant soaking liquid into the pies.  Did I say how delicious these were?

Rum and butter is a classic combination – seen in hot buttered rum and steak with rum butter.

But please make up your own mind on using real rum or rum essence.  Just not red rum!

We are watching The Shining for my film club.  I think it is a genius movie and one of Kubrick’s best  ( Stephen King hated it with a passion) and I am keen to see what the other club members think of it.

Rum and Butter Tartlets – The Recipes

I changed the original recipe a LOT both because some things such as the amount of sugar were insane.  Also…it’s Canada…why are they even using sugar when they could have had maple syrup which is a far superior sweetener IMHO!

Here is the original recipe from Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery

 

 

 

 

And here is my version:

Rum and Butter Tartlets 2

Print

Rum and Butter Tartlets

A delicious modern take on a vintage recipe.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 70g currants
  • 50g butter
  • 60g cream
  • 100g maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp rum / rum essence
  • 1 egg
  • 12 sweet tart shells

Instructions

  • Soak the currants in the rum for at least 1 hour.
  • Melt the butter.  Add the cream, maple syrup, rum and currants.
  • Whisk in the egg.
  • Fill the tart shells and bake in a moderate oven (180C) until the filling was set and the pastry is golden.  This was 40 minutes for me.

Rum and Butter Tartlets 3

 

I have also found a very similar recipe from Adam Liaw 

There may be a short hiatus in my posting schedule, we are about to go on a little holiday to the beautiful beach resort of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast.  I am hoping for six days of sunshine, sand and great food!

Have a great week!

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Blueberry Cake

Last Friday was Canada day so it seemed like an appropriate time to leave the United States of America and head north in our journey through Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery.  It may also be an excellent time to leave the United States of America for Supreme Court related decisions too but that is by the by.  Anyhoo, to celebrate our move to Canada I made a blueberry cake!

Blueberry Cake 1 (2)

Now, blueberry cake is not the first thing I think of when my thoughts turn to Canadian cuisine.  BUT…this chapter was fairly disappointing.  Notably, the first thing I do think of was totally missing.  I mean – WHO ON EARTH HAS A CHAPTER ON CANADIAN COOKING AND DOES NOT INCLUDE A RECIPE FOR POUTINE????

Ok. Let me take a few moments to do some of the deep rhythmic breathing they taught me at the conference I attended recently.  Just.  Breathe. Do not feel disappointed that you will not be making poutine.  When you go to the office on Thursday you can buy some poutine from the very excellently named Lord of The Fries. Which may be even better than making some yourself.  And breathe…

Ok, calming mantra over, let’s get on with the blueberry cake.

Blueberry Cake – The Recipe

The recipe called for lemon flavouring.  We currently have a tree laden with lemons so I used the zest of one lemon and the juice of half a lemon as my “flavouring”.  This added a nice hit of lemon to the cake.  I found this cake to be quite dry – it very much needed a bit of cream or ice cream on the side.  I had some with some homemade Mango Kufli (from Adam Liaw’s recipe) and it was divine.  Mango, lemon and blueberries are a match made in heaven!  I am not sure if this is because I did not have enough blueberries to half fill the loaf pan.  There was a LOT of cake batter to blueberries so for future baking I might halve the batter mixture.  Another variation might be to put a layer of blueberries in the middle or through the cake as well as on the top.

Blueberry Cake recipe

I think the way the blueberries bleed into the cake is so pretty!

Blueberry Cake 2

Have a great week everyone!

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Chicken Chanteclair

I am not doing a Best of April post as the very sad and sudden passing of our beloved boy Oscar at the end of the month has muted pretty much everything that was good.  We are still working through our grief which for me personally has meant a great lethargy.  I have barely been motivated to cook and not at all motivated to write until today.  Baby steps are enough at the moment.  But one of the things I made just before Oscar passed away was the recipe for Chicken Chanteclair from the Creole section of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery which was so tasty and comforting that I had to share it.

Chicken Chanteclair 2

What on Earth is Chicken Chanteclair?

The name Chanteclair comes from the French words chanter meaning to sing and clair meaning clearly.  So, to my mind this is a dish that will inspire you to sing its praises loud and strong.

Chicken Chanteclair is a Coq Au Vin by another name.  I can’t see any particular Creole influences in this dish –  to me this is purely French.  Indeed one of my notes from when I made this was that it made the house “smell like France”.  And, just to be clear, I didn’t mean that in the way I mean it when I talk about our trip to Toulouse.  There, it smelt like every male in the town was using the streets as his own personal urinal.   Chicken Chanteclair made the house smell of herbs and wine and meat cooking low and slow.  It smelled like family and comfort.  One of my other notes on this recipe was “this is the kind of dish you cook for people you love”

Chicken Chanteclair 3

Here’s The Recipe: Chicken Chanteclair

The actual recipe wasn’t much so here are my notes:

  • 1 kilo of chicken thighs on the bone.
  • I added 3 sprigs of thyme and 2 bay leaves to the marinade
  • For the marinade I used 3/4 bottle of wine (Just enough left over for a glass with the meal)
  • I threw in 12 fresh mushrooms as well as the dried mushrooms
  • I wasn’t sure about the tarragon at the end but it really worked
  • I served mine with mashed potatoes to soak up that luxurious sauce.  Crusty bread would also be a great option!

Apart from those changes, the rest was easy.  Marinade the ingredients overnight, pop them in the oven and voila – Chicken Chanteclair!

Chicken Chanteclaire Recipe (2)

The leftovers were also delicious in some cheddar and jalapeno biscuits I made!

Chicken Chanteclair4

This is so easy to make but it feels like a much more complex dish.  It is delicious, reheats well and is comfort food at its best.  This will go on high rotation at my house!

I really hope you cook this for someone or someones you love very soon!

I am away a training course all of  next week so will not be posting anything.  The following week I will be back with a Dining with the Dame.  It is a Poirot and our very first Ariadne Oliver novel!

Have a wonderful week!

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Upside Down Cake

Welcome to the best of March!  I have been dying to share this recipe ever since I made it over a month ago.  I held off because after tasting it I thought it would take something absolutely amazing to top it.  Whilst my tastebuds would have rejoiced had this been the case, the pineapple upside-down cake from Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery was last month’s winner.  It also made me realise that this is my favourite cake.  You can take your chocolate cake, your red velvet and even your Victoria Sponge, I will choose Pineapple Upside Down Cake over pretty much any other type of cake ( the one exception would be Sri Lankan Love Cake).

Upside Down Cake

Why do I like it so much?

  • It’s delicious!!!!
  • It has a delightful retro charm both in look and taste
  • It’s happy – the bright yellow pineapple and glossy red cherries can brighten a gloomy grey day
  • The half circles of pineapple look like they are smiling at you and the whole pineapple rings look like bright flowers

Upside Down Cake – The Recipe

Other Favourites of The Month

Reading

The best book I read in March was Turns Out,  I’m Fine by Australian comedian Judith Lucy.  I am a big fan of her work in general and this one did not disappoint.  Lucy tackles relationship breakup, money issues, death of loved ones, aging and menopause, women in comedy, activism and many other things in her typically frank, funny and vulnerable way.  This was a joy to read and really, who doesn’t want to know how not to fall apart?  (Added bonus is that she reads the audio book).

Cookbook

My favourite cookbook for the month is not actually a cookbook  The Alcorithm is about how to let your favourite flavours expand your palate.  It reminds me very much of one of my other faves, Niki Segnit’s Flavour Thesaurus.  I have only just started reading the Alcorithm but I am already fascinated.

The Alcorithm

 

Watching

I watched Pieces of Her on Netflix and I am mid-way through Bad Vegan and The Girl from Plainville. All of which I either enjoyed or am enjoying  We are watching Se7en for film club this week.  Is it weird to say that such a gory movie is probably in my top ten films ever?  I am fairly sure that there will be people in the club who do not share my passion but that is what makes these discussions so interesting.

 

I didn’t do a lot else this month apparently – I have been trying to get to the gym more so my viewing time has been significantly cut back.  I am on the lookout for some good streaming series to get stuck into and some new pods to listen to – please let me know if you have any recommendations!

Have a wonderful week!  And please, let me know, what is your favourite cake?

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