Category: Lamb

The Moving Finger – Irish Stew

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  This month our menu is a tribute to The Moving Finger, a 1942 novel by Agatha Christie featuring many people’s favourite amateur crime solver, Miss Jane Marple.  In contrast to the last few novels in which we have dined with the Dame, The Moving Finger is loaded with mentions of food including an Irish Stew.  My own opinions of stew match those of Megan Hunter (below) so when I made it, I thought that I would just have a taste and then the Fussiest Eater in the world could eat the rest.   This is exactly the type of food he loves.  My spoonful ended up being a whole bowl and  I would have had another for lunch the following day if the leftovers hadn’t been commandeered by someone else! So success all round.  I’ll definitely be making Irish Stew again.  

 

Irish Stew 1

The Moving Finger – The Plot

Jane Marple.  Look at her well.  I tell you, that woman knows more about the different kinds of human wickedness than anyone I’ve ever known.

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger

Jerry Burton and his sister Joanna move to the “quiet” village of Lymstock so he can recover from injuries after a flying accident.  Shortly thereafter, they receive an anonymous letter accusing them of being lovers.  They burn the letter but soon learn that they are not the only people who are being targeted by the poison pen writer.  

Although offensive, the letters consist of wild speculation and don’t seem to target actual wrongdoing.  Then, one of the people from the village is found dead with a letter accusing her of adultery beside her.  

Irish Stew 2

We have:

  • The Police unable to solve the crimes
  • Another grisly murder where a housemaid is skewered to death.  Did she see something she shouldn’t have
  • A book found with pages ripped out – the source of the letters
  • Local citizens suspecting each other 

Good thing one of the villagers has the sense to call on her friend Jane Marple to set things right!

There are lots of things to love in The Moving Finger.  The details of village life and the characters who live in it are well-written.  My personal favourite is Mrs Dane Calthrop the Reverend’s wife.  She is an original thinker and the person to contact Miss Marple.  I love this response from her when asked if she has had a poison pen letter:

Oh yes, two, – no three.  I forget what they said.  Something very silly about Caleb and the schoolmistress, I think.  Quite absurd, because Caleb has absolutely no taste for fornication.  He never has had.  So lucky being a clergyman

What we might call today “too much information”.

I also very much liked Partridge, Jerry and Joanna’s cook who seems to be in a constant bad temper.  

There are also some things not to like.  There is a more than likely gay man in the village and a few homophobic comments made about him.  And there’s a weird romance going on between Jerry Burton and Megan Hunter.

Also, for a Marple novel, Miss Marple only enters on, in my edition, page 121 of a 160-page novel!  

Apart from these few niggles, I very much enjoyed this novel.  

The Moving Finger – The Covers

 

The Moving Finger Collage

I was delighted to find so many non-English covers for The Moving Finger – we have French, Spanish, German, Czech, Swedish and others I cannot identify.  My favourites are the German Die Scattenhand third row second left and the Swedish MordPer Korrespondens on the same row far right.  The English cover, bottom row, far left is terrifying!

The Recipe – Irish Stew

“Murder is a nasty business on an empty stomach.” 

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger

For my Irish Stew I used the recipe on BBC Good Food by Bruno Desmazery. 

As mentioned, this was delicious and, despite my initial reluctance was something I would definitely make and eat again!  And, contrary to the quote from Megan Hunter below is not mostly potato and flavour.  Although, maybe in 1942 with wartime rationing it may well have been.  

I went round to apprise Partridge of the fact that there would be three to lunch.  I fancy that Partridge sniffed.  She certainly managed to convey without saying a word of any kind that she didn’t think much of that Miss Megan.  I went back to the verandah.  Ïs it quite alright?”asked Megan anxiously.  “Quite alright ” I said.” Ïrish Stew.”  “Oh well, that’s rather like dog’s dinner anyway isn’t it? I mean it’s mostly just potato and flavour””

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger

Irish Stew 3

Links To The Christieverse

None that I could find

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in The Moving Finger

December’s Read is Sparkling Cyanide. 

     

Roast Lamb Shawarma – (The Other) Death on the Nile

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  Today we are reading (and eating) our way through another Agatha Christie story called Death on The Nile!  And finally, we are getting the lamb I was craving during the first Death on the Nile by way of a Roast Lamb Shawarma.  But first, let’s address the Nile-sized elephant in the room.  Why on earth would you name two stories the same thing?  True, one is a novel, and one is a short story.  One features Poirot and one features Parker Pyne.  I just can’t fathom why one of the most creative writing minds of the 20th century could not come up with two different titles!

Roast Lamb Shawarma

 

Death on The Nile (Parker Pyne)- The Plot

We have not yet met Parker Pyne because, apart from a few instances, where we are diverting into the short stories, I am trying to get through all of the Christie novels first.  So, who is Parker Pyne?  He is a detective but not in the sense that Poirot is a detective.  More of a psychologist, he advertises his services in the newspapers, something, we feel the elitist Poirot would never stoop to do.

 

However, in this version of Death on the Nile, Parker Pyne is not helping people to become happy, he is in Egypt trying to enjoy a relaxing holiday aboard the SS Fayoum as she journeys down the Nile.

Also aboard is Lady Grayle, who Christie dryly informs us

had suffered, since she was sixteen from the complaint of having too much money

Oh to have that complaint!

Roast Lamb Shawarma2

Lady Grayle is petulant and fretful and is initially, not at all happy to have an interloper in the shape of Parker Pyne on the boat she thought was just going to contain her travelling party.  However, before too long Parker Pyne is summonsed by Lady Grayle.  She confides that she suspects her husband is poisoning her. She feels ill when he is around but starts to recover when he is away.  Her Nurse, Miss McNaughton (reminiscent of Amy Leatheren from Murder in Mesopotamia ) confirms that this seems to be the case and is not the imaginings of a hypochondriac.

Lady Grayle then dies of strychnine poisoning, a packet of which is found in her husband’s pocket.

It seems a foregone conclusion that the henpecked husband has finally reached his limit.  But are things as they seem?  It’s a Christie mystery so of course not! Despite being too late to fix any unhappiness on Lady Grayle’s side, it is up to Parker Pyne to reveal the real murderer.

Lamb Shawarma3

 

Death on the Nile – The Covers

Given this is a short story, contained within the book Parker Pyne Investigates aka Mr Parker Pyne, Detective there are no covers specifically for this version of Death on the Nile.  The first cover I have shown is the Cosmopolitan magazine in which this story was first published.  The second is an early cover of Parker Pyne Investigates so readers who are not familiar with the character can get an idea of what Parker Pyne is meant to look like.

 

DoTNPP collage

The Recipe – Lamb Roast Shawarma

Here is Adam Liaw’s recipe for lamb shawarma from scratch. I have made this a few times and can highly recommend it.   However, generally when I make Shawarma, I use the leftover meat from any roast lamb.  (The fussiest eater in the world is very fond of a Sunday Roast and as we are only two people we inevitably have leftover lamb.

The following day I chop up some of that leftover meat, sprinkle it with Adam’s shawarma seasoning and warm the meat in a pan.  After the meat is warmed, I remove that from the pan and then warm the flatbread in the same pan.

After that I assemble my wrap with the warmed bread and lamb, some salad ingredients and a few dollops of Adam’s tahini sauce.

If there is any sauce left over after we have our shawarma, I either dollop it onto some avo toast or mix a big spoonful into some chopped-up hard-boiled eggs and make a sandwich with some crunchy lettuce.

Lamb Shawarma4

 

 

The benevolent figure of Mr Parker Pyne entered the lounge.  Behind him came the picturesque figure of Mohammed, prepared to say his piece.

“Lady, gentlemans, we start now.  In few minutes we pass temples of Karnak right-hand side. I tell you story now about little boy who went to buy a roasted lamb for his father….”

– Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile

Links to The Christieverse

There was nothing I could find here.  Except of course that four years later Agatha Christie would reuse the name of this short story for what would become one of her best-known novels!

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Death on The Nile

  • Tea

If you would like to taste some Egyptian food, why not try Eggs Hamine?

September’s read will be one of the novellas contained in the Murder in the Mews collection. Not the titular story, I am saving that for November.  Instead, we are going with The Incredible Theft, a Poirot mystery.

Happy reading and cooking!

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Lamb Rissoles with Mint Jelly

Do you ever look at a recipe and think “That’s absolutely bonkers!  Why on earth would you do that?”  It happened to me with a recipe from the Daily News Cook Book for Jellied Lamb Rissoles.  The idea behind the original was to crumb and fry some spicy lamb meatballs, then dip said fried meatballs in mint jelly and allow the jelly to set around the meatball.  I think we can all agree that the recipe is very set in its time – ie when coating all sorts of things in aspic or jelly was the height of fashion.

Lamb Rissoles with Mint Jelly

HowEVER….the recipe asks you to go to the bother of crumbing and frying meatballs, which is one of my least favourite kitchen tasks. Admittedly,  it is worth all the pfaffing about if you get a lovely crispy crumb coating on your meatballs.  But then you have to dip that delightful crumb crust into a liquid jelly and let it sit in said liquid jelly until the jelly sets.  Now, I could be totally wrong but to my mind, that would make the crumb crust into a soggy mess.

No thank you Daily News.

Lamb Rissoles with Mint Jelly2

However once the idea of lamb rissoles with mint jelly takes hold, it is very hard to dislodge the idea.  Plus the idea of rissoles reminded me of one of my favourite scenes from The Castle:

If you have not seen this film, you really need to. It is such a delight.  Make these rissoles, grab a cold beer and watch The Castle immediately!

So, for anyone who wants to try out the original recipe here it is.  Please let me know how it does turn out.   I am very happy to be proved wrong if anyone is willing to take the risk of a soggy crust on my behalf!

Jellied Lamb Rissoles

 

The Revamped Lamb Rissole with Mint Jelly

A little note here. You can go a little wild with the chilli in these as the mint jelly will provide some cooling relief…see, I am willing to take a few risks after all!!  If you cannot get hold of lamb, beef or pork would work here although lamb and mint is a delightful classic combo!

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Lamb Rissoles with Mint Jelly

A SriLankan-inspired appetiser adapted from the classic “Daily News Cookery Book”.  The kick of heat in the rissoles will be offset by the calming cool of the mint jelly so feel free to increase the amount of chilli you would normally use.

  • Author: Taryn Nicole
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 25 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the Rissoles:

500g minced lamb

I onion finely chopped

12  green chilli, finely chopped (depending on the heat of the chillies and your tolerance)

1 tsp mixed spice

2 slices white bread, crusts removed

1 beaten egg

Juice of 1 lime

Salt and pepper

For the Crumb:

Breadcrumbs – around 1 cup

1 beaten egg

Oil for frying – traditionally this would have been fried in dripping but I prefer to use canola oil.

To Serve

Mint Jelly

Coriander leaves (optional)

Chilli slices (optional

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together and shape into 25 meatballs.

Place the beaten egg into a bowl and the breadcrumbs on a plate.

Dip the meatballs in the egg then roll in the crumbs.

Place in the fridge to set for around 30 minutes.

Heat the oil.  I used a wok but any deep sided pan or a deep fryer would work.  Fry the meatballs in batches until golden brown (around 5-7 minutes).

Check a meatball to ensure it is cooked through.  If not, you can pop them into the oven for around 5-10 minutes at 180C until they are.

Serve while still hot with a scattering of coriander and chill if liked and some mint jelly as a colling dip on the side.

Enjoy!

 

 

On a personal note, I have not posted for a while – I went on a little holiday, then had a sick dog, then I got sick so it’s been a busy few weeks! Hopefully I am back on track now though and looking forward to getting back into the groove of blogging.
OH, and I just realised today this blog turns 8 years old!

Well, I am off to celebrate, have a wonderful week!Signature2

Crumbed Lamb Cutlets

So, we went back into our third lockdown this week.  Albeit for only five days.  But the news sent me into a spiral of gloom.  So I was deep in need of comfort food.  What I am trying to say is that sometimes you just need some crumbed lamb cutlets!

Crumbed Lamb Cutlets2

Outside of vegemite, a meat pie and maybe a lamington, a crumbed lamb cutlet is about the most Australian food you can get.  I served mine with a fresh tomato sauce and some buttered zoodles.  Exactly as per the serving suggestion in the  Autumn 1986 issue of the Vogue Australia Entertaining Guide from when the recipe came.  Here they are in all their 1986 glory!

Crumbed Lamb Cutlets 4

Normally this mag (which doesn’t exist anymore) is quite high falutin’ so I was quite surprised to find something quite as downhome as a crumbed lamb cutlet within its pages.  Having said that, their cutlets had those little chefs hat looking covers so I guess they did try to posh them up a bit!

Everything about the cutlets was perfection!  I cooked them for around 2.5 minutes each side – the result?  A crispy golden outside and a delightfully tender inside.

Crumbed Lamb Cutlets3

However, the zucchini was bland and the fresh tomato sauce was not great.  So both sides were a fail.  I would think that pairing the crumbed lamb cutlets with either minted yoghurt or beetroot chutney might be better options.

Crumbed Lamb Cutlets – The Recipe

Here’s the recipe for all three in case you want to make the full recipe as per 1986.  And, the best way to eat these?  Pick them up by the bony end and go for your life!

Lamb Cutlets collage

I know some of you find it hard to source lamb.  You could use the crumb mix on flattened pieces of chicken or veal (as if you were making schnitzel).  You would not get the fun “lollipop” element of a lamb cutlet but you will still get the lovely crispy comforting crumb crust!

I hope you are all doing well,  where ever and whatever state of lock down or not you are in!

 

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Castilian Leg of Lamb- Dining with The Dame 7

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  Today we are dining on a Castilian leg of lamb as we uncover the evil machinations of a shady group of evildoers known as The Big Four.  This is certainly not my favourite of the books I have read so far as the plot seemed a little silly in parts.  However one of the early stories significantly involves a leg of lamb This  seemed like a great excuse for a roast dinner and the meal did not disappoint!

Castilian Leg of Lamb1

The Big Four- The Plot

This novel pits Hercule Poirot against four evil genius’ bent on world domination – they are an American – the richest man in the world, a female French scientist, the Chinese leader of the group – a criminal genius and “the Destroyer”  the group’s assassin who is also a master of disguise and (wait for it) a British actor.

We have:

  •  Sinister cabals
  • Poisoned curries
  • Poisoned grandmasters
  • Hijinks on trains
  • Stolen radium
  • Secret lairs under mountains
  • Twin brothers
  • Telltale tics
  • And, course Hercule Poirot (or is it twin brother Achilles?) using his little grey cells to thwart the villains and their evil plans.

 

Castilian Leg of Lamb2

The Covers

Given that we are talking about the Big Four – I’m showing four covers today.  The third from the left is the one I read but I am rather taken by all the others.

The Recipe – Castilian Leg of Lamb

The recipe comes from the wonderful Keith Floyd and his journey through Spain – not in the search of arch criminals but in search of some damn fine nosh!

You can find the recipe here.  You can also watch the entire series of Keith Floyd’s adventures in Spain on YouTube.  Floyd is so engaging it is well worth investing the time.

 

Castilian Lamb 4

In his hand he was brandishing a leg of mutton!  “My dear Poirot!” I cried “What is the matter?  Have you suddenly gone mad?”

“Regard, I pray you , this mutton.  But regard it closely!”

I regarded it as closely as I could but could see nothing unusual about it.  It seemed to me to be a very ordinary leg of mutton.”

Agatha Christie, The Big Four

Other Food Mentioned in The Big Four

Have a wonderful week! Next book in the list is The Mystery of the Blue Train from 1928.