Category: Potato

Dec 03 – Make Mine A Double

Hello, retro food lovers and Season’s Greetings from 2003!  This month I am using Delicious Magazine from December 2003 to prepare a menu where…well let’s see if you can guess…Hint..there’s a big clue in the title. 

The whole time I was cooking this month I also kept thinking back to my early twenties when we used to play a drinking game called “I’m going to the moon”.  The person who starts says “I’m going to the moon and I’m taking (for example) an apple”.  Then the next person says “I’m going to the moon and I’m taking a pear”.  The first person who is the game controller tells them if they can come to the moon or not.  If they can’t go, they need to stay on earth and have a drink.   There are many variations on this game but my personal favourite was based on the same theme as this month.  Let’s move away from my sozzled past to see what was happening in December 2003.  Although come to think about it, that was probably the same time as I was playing the game!

The Lord of The Rings:  Return of the King was the big movie of December 2003.  The Last Samurai was the next biggest.  And, quelle surprise, The Da Vinci Code was still the best-selling book.  Which all kind of explains why I was playing drinking games instead of partaking in pop culture.  Although the soundtrack to those drinking games would have been good with Here Without You and Hey Ya! being the number one songs that month!  

Moorish Champagne Cocktail1

The Menu – December 2003

Moorish Champagne Cocktail

Moorish Champagne Cocktail

I am always very happy to be able to start these menus with a cocktail.  The Moorish Champagne Cocktail was both easy to make and also very more-ish!  

Moorish Champagne Cocktail2

 

Moorish Champagne Tart Recipe

Dec 2003 - Moorish Champagne Cocktail Recipe

Salad of Dried Pears, Proscuitto, Blue Cheese and Walnuts

AKA a salad of a few of my favourite things!  If this hadn’t fit the theme, it would have surely been my Nigella item for this month!  And it was divine!

Salad of Dried Pears

Salad of Dried Pears, Proscuitto, Blue Cheese and Walnuts Recipe

Salad of Dried Pears recipe2

 

Salad of Dried Pears 2

Grilled Salmon with Thai Green Risotto

I apologise for the photo of this which is not great.  Having said this, the photo from the mag (which follows the recipe) is also not great.  Neither photo does this dish, which was amazing any justice!  But, trust me, it is worth taking a punt on as it was delicious! Grilled Salmon with Thai Green Risotto

 

Grilled Salmon with Thai Green Risotto Recipe

Grilled Salmon with Thai Green Risotto recipe (1)

 

Mulled Wine Sorbet With Clove Biscuits

This was so nice and refreshing.  It is summer in Australia so this is a nice nod to wintry flavours but adapted for summer.  The sorbet mixture was very soft, for me it was more like a slushie than a sorbet so my recommendation is either not to serve it on a very hot day or to eat it quickly as it melts in moments.  Speaking of melting, the clove biscuits just melt in your mouth!  I am usually a bit wary of cloves – I’ve bit into them accidentally when eating things like curries and find the flavour a bit too much!  So, for the first few biscuits, I ate, I picked the cloves off. Since then, I have eaten them with the clove in and the flavour of them seems to be less powerful in the biscuits than in say a curry.  So, even if you don’t love cloves, give these a try with them!

Mulled Wine Sorbet with Clove Biscuits

Mulled Wine Sorbet with Clove Biscuits Recipe

Mulled Wine Sorbet with Clove Biscuits recipe (1)

My Nigella Moment  – Crispy Herbed Potatoes

For first-time readers, this refers to the moment at the end of Nigella Lawson’s cooking shows when she sneaks back to the fridge to have another bite of something delicious.  In these Twenty Years Ago posts, it is something contained in the magazine that does not fit with the overall menu theme but I’m sneaking it in because it is too good not to share.  

You had me at crispy potatoes!  And then when I saw how pretty these were, I knew they would be my Nigella item for this month.  If I hadn’t already bought what I needed to make Katrina Meynink’s Roasted Taters with Horseradish and Tapenade for Christmas Day, the Crispy Herbed Potatoes would have been on the menu.  (As an aside, I have just bought the aforementioned book From Salt to Jam and am absolutely loving it).  

Dec 2003 - Crispy Seared Potatoes3Crispy Seared Potatoes Recipe

Crispy Herbed Potatoes (1)

Overall a great month from Delicious December 2003.  If you have not yet guessed the theme, no going to the moon for you!  But in the interest of your liver, it was to find recipes with double letters.  Until I did this, I had never really thought about how many food items had these.  I was absolutely spoiled for choice with options:

(Update 6/1/24 – I had originally included links to items below that are still on the Delicious.com.au website.  Those links have been blocked but anything I have asterisked is available should you want to check them out.)

Starters

  • Baked eggs
  • Bruschetta with grilled artichokes and roasted garlic
  • B’stilla*
  • Cheese Crock
  • Chilled pea soup with lobster and risoni salad*
  • Goat’s curd in grappa*
  • Prawn and fattoush salad
  • Schiacciata*
  • Spanner crab chowder
  • Peppered Beef Salad
  • Smoked Salmon with clementines and cress
  • Terrine with microwave cranberry chutney

Mains and Sides

  • Beef fillet with spicy potatoes and horseradish
  • Butternut pumpkin with tasty stuffing
  • Cheeky Christmas turkey with braised leeks and the best wine gravy
  • Chicken noodle salad
  • Chicken with pepperoncini
  • Cinnamon and sultana couscous
  • Cold turkey salad with mango and honey dressing
  • Country chicken and mushroom pies
  • Chicken coconut curry pie
  • Crispy skin coral trout with roasted pineapple, coconut salad and rosti potato
  • Fillets of John Dory with olives, capers and rosemary
  • Flame grilled tuna with wasbi cake, bok choy and lime ponzu
  • Fricassee of chicken with mustard and grapes
  • Grilled coral trout with asparagus, red capsicum and sugar snap peas
  • Rice paper rolls with turkey
  • Seared barramundi with garlic skordalia, asparagus and creole salsa
  • Traditional Barossa ham in verjuice jelly
  • Turkey with saffron butter and preserved lemon and olive stuffing
  • Baked zucchini tarts with stuffed vegetables
  • Frisee, watercress and witlof salad
  • Goat’s cheese tarts with roast peaches and vincotto
  • Moroccan carrot salad
  • Open lasagne of asparagus with rocket tortellini
  • Roasted eggplant and tomato salad
  • Savoury Summer puddings
  • Sweet potato briks
  • Truffled potato mash

Sweets

  • Baked lime cheesecake
  • Boozy puddings with cheat’s custard*
  • Cherry clafoutis*
  • Choc-mint raspberry sundae
  • Chocolate and strawberry tartines*
  • Chocolate and brandied prune terrine*
  • Christmas morning muffins*
  • Christmas pudding ice cream with sweet cranberry sauce
  • Cinnamon ice cream with red wine poached figs*
  • Chocolate cake with plum pudding vodka*
  • Coconut and passionfruit slice
  • Eggnog custards*
  • Flourless Hazelnut roulade
  • Free-form berry trifles
  • Middle Eastern fruit cake*
  • Pannettone with berries and brandy sauce
  • Passionfruit panna cotta*
  • Raspberry ice cream sundae
  • Snowballs*
  • Starry night tarts*
  • Star-topped mince pies
  • Strawberry sundae*
  • Tutti Frutti ice cream*
  • Vanilla sponge with raspberries
  • White Chocolate and chilli ice cream with tropical fruit

Other

  • Hettie Potter’s suet-free mince meat
  • Easy cranberry sauce
  • Peanut Butter sauce
  • Raspberry sauce
  • Strawberry sauce
  • Irish coffee with orange rind and vanilla

 

Sorry for the massive laundry list but I really wanted to show how many items had double letters!  I was honestly astounded! 

So, my question to you lovely readers is – if you were making your own double-letter dinner, what would you choose? Either from the extensive list above or things that have not been mentioned – baguettes, beetroot, jelly, waffles, green beans, toffee, frittata, dill, mayonnaise, cabbage, spaghetti, mozzarella…the list goes on!

Couscous which is in the list above is the only thing I could think of with the same series of letters twice.  Can you think of any others?

And one last thing.  Thank you all for reading and commenting through the year!  Best wishes for an amazing 2024!

 

 

 

Ham Slaw Baked Potato

Hello friends and welcome to a midweek quickie. Today we are talking leftovers, specifically what to do with leftover Ham Slaw.   I recently, please don’t laugh at this, but I only very recently learned that you could “bake” potatoes in the microwave! Combine the two and you get a super yummy ham slaw baked potato.  AKA Work from home heaven!

 

Since then though, I have been making up for lost time and about once a week when I am on a working-from-home day and have suitable leftovers, I have been baking up a potato and having it with my leftovers for lunch.  The Ham Slaw was AMAZING!

Ham Slaw Potato

And how does it taste?

 

Ham Slaw Potato2

There is something I find so comforting about a baked potato. And at 6 minutes cooking time, you can bake your potato, walk your dogs and eat all in your lunch hour!  The ham slaw is a pretty robust salad so will last in the fridge for a day or two so if you make a bit more than you need, you can have lunches for a few days.  I had this as a work from home lunch but there’s nothing to stop you re-heating your potato in the office microwave either!

Ham slaw, a baked potato hack and two Taylor Swift gifs?  What more could you want in a mid-week quickie!  Hope your week is going well.

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Moscow Potatoes

Hello, friends, we are back from our hols – more to come about that later!  Never have I agonised over a post as much as I have over this one.  Not because these Moscow Potatoes weren’t fabulous.  They were delicious and tasted like something special even though they are made from only four ingredients! My dilemma was about whether this might be seen as me taking a pro-Russian stance on wider world events. So just to be really clear, this is not a political statement, this is a food blog.

Moscow Potatoes6

The recipe for Moscow Potatoes comes from the February / March 1990 edition of Vogue Entertaining which is the same magazine that brought us the flowery delights of a rose petal salad.  For this one, we are turning away from flowers and turning the usually humble spud into a ritzy item.  It’s the culinary version of the plain girl taking off her glasses and becoming a glamour puss.

Moscow Potatoes

I had some of the salmon caviar left over from making the Oysters with Caviar so  it made sense to give the Moscow Potatoes a try.  We had these as a little starter before our New Year’s Day dinner of Tomahawk Steak with a coffee spice rub and a caesar style wedge salad.  This was a delightful way to welcome in 2023!  I served these on a plate meant for deviled eggs and I think they looked adorable! You will see I left some of the potatoes un-caviared in case people did not like it.  In the end, I had to add some of the gorgeous salmon caviar pearls to the plain ones as no one wanted them!

Moscow Potatoes2

Moscow Potatoes – The Article

The recipe for Moscow Potatoes comes from a feature called “Fed in The Clouds” .  It is about Alan and Elizabeth Crompton Batts who are as posh as they sound.  He was a food writer, and chef and owned a PR company that was involved with a LOT of very famous London restaurants including Chez NicoTamarind, and Christopher’s.  He was also at one point the manager of The Psychedelic Furs whose song Pretty in Pink is in my Top Ten of best-ever songs.  Her family used to own The Ivy. In short, these two are food royalty!

Alan and Elizabeth Compton Batts
1990’s Power Couple, Alan and Elizabeth Compton Batts

Although I had never heard of either Alan or Elizabeth Crompton Batts before starting this post, and coming into this wanting to be a bit mocking about the whole 80s excess of it all, I was actually very sad to read that Alan Crompton Batts passed away in 2004 at only 50 years old.  This meant at the time of this article in 1990, he was 36 and had already achieved everything I mentioned before!  This took my breath away.  What an absolute powerhouse!

Their menu is also amazing and I”m sure we will see more from the Crompton Batts’ in future posts.

In the meantime though, let’s find out how to make Moscow Potatoes!

Moscow Potatoes – The Recipe

Moscow Potatoes Recipe

You will see from the pictures that I swapped out the mint for some chives.  I think you can go your own way on this.  Dill would also be amazing.

Moscow Potatoes5

Have a great week! Signature2

 

 

 

Death on The Nile – Roasted Potatoes and Artichokes

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  I’m going to kick this one off on a very personal note.  Middle Eastern Food is probably my favourite style and flavour of food. I love the largesse of the many plates of food, all designed for sharing that is so much a part of the cooking of this region. So I was hugely excited to read Death on The Nile.  Surely we would get some hummus, flatbread, falafel, slow-cooked lamb, maybe some baklava to finish….I was so up for this.  And was bitterly disappointed. There is not much food at all mentioned in Death on The Nile.  Hence we are eating Potatoes and Artichokes.  The potatoes and artichokes are not a bad dish, in fact they were really tasty!  Just not what I was expecting!

Potatoes and Artichokes1

Death on The Nile – The Plot

Linnet Doyle,  a beautiful heiress, is honeymooning in Egypt with her husband Simon.  The two should be in the realms of newly wedded bliss however their trip has been spoiled by Linnet’s former friend and Simon’s former fiancee Jacqueline de Bellefort who is stalking the couple.  In an effort to evade Jackie, the couple embark on a trip down the Nile.

On a side trip to Abu Simbel, a large rock falls off a cliff, just missing Linnet.  Accident?  It could not have been Jackie, she was on the boat.  However, a few days later, a drunken Jackie shoots Simon Doyle in the leg.  That same night, Linnet is shot dead.  Again, it could not have been Jackie, after the incident with Simon, she spends the entire night both heavily sedated and under the watchful eye of one of the other passengers.

So, who killed Linnet Doyle?  Good thing Hercule Poirot is also on board the Karnak to solve the crime!

We have:

  • A love triangle that leads to murder
  • Stolen pearls and a missing stole
  • A dodgy maid
  • Shady business dealings
  • Kleptomania
  • Alcoholism
  • A rebellious young man with communistic leanings
  • And Colonel Race, who we last saw in Cards on The Table joins Poirot on the Karnak

Potatoes and Artichokes2

 

Death on the Nile – The Covers

There is not a lot of variety in the covers for Death on The Nile.  They are largely images of the Karnak or Egypt.  Poirot features in a few and of course, we have a few “beautiful girl in peril” pulp-type covers.

Death on The Nile Collage

But where I ask you is the crazy?  I have come to expect a few totally off-the-wall covers and was unable to anything really oddball.  I also could not find any non-English covers which also seemed odd given that this is such a well-known and loved Christie novel.

The Recipe – Roasted Potatoes and Artichokes

I found this recipe for Roasted Potatoes and Artichokes on Real Simple.  It was nice but I thought I could do a bit better.  So there is my revamped version.  You can of course keep it (real) simple and use the OG recipe

Print

Roast Potatoes and Artichokes

A simple and flavourful side dished based on a recipe from Real Simple and inspired by Death on The Nile!

  • Author: Taryn Nicole
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes
  • Total Time: 50 minutes
  • Category: Side

Ingredients

Scale
  • 500g chat or new potatoes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil plus one more for dressing the cooked potatoes
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • I 275g jar of marinated artichokes
  • Juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • Black pepper, freshly ground
  • 56 sprigs of parsley, mint, chives or a combination of  them

Instructions

  • Par boil the new potatoes in salted water until they are just tender.  This will depend on the size of your potatoes but it took me 12 minutes.
  • Drain the potatoes and cut them in half.
  • Heat your oven to 180C.
  • In a bowl big enough to hold the potatoes mix together the olive oil, salt and paprika.  Toss the potatoes through and then place them cut side down on a baking tray.
  • Put them in the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
  • Drain your artichokes and pat dry.
  • After twenty minutes and your artichokes and the garlic cloves to the baking tray with the potatoes. Cook for 15 minutes
  • Chop your herbs and add to the extra olive oil with the black pepper and lemon juice.
  • Remove the roasted garlic from the oven.  Squash down cloves so the roasted garlic puree comes out and add this to your oil and lemon mix.  Do this one by one and taste as you go so you can get the dressing to your desired level of garlicky goodness.
  • Once you are happy with the dressing remove the potatoes and artichokes from the oven.  Place into a bowl and stir through the lemon / garlic / herb dressing.
  • Enjoy while reading Death on The Nile!

 

Notes

Adding some onion wedges with the artichokes would also work well here.

If you wanted to sprinkle a little feta cheese over the top of the finished dish would be delicious!

Any leftover garlic can be kept in the fridge for a few days and added to anything that needs garlic.

Potatoes and Artichokes 3

Dr Bessner’s bulk moved up and down appreciatively. “Ho, ho, ho, it was very funny that!  Doyle, he tells me  about it.  It was a telegram all about vegetables – potatoes, artichokes, leeks – Ach!  Pardon?”

With a stifled exclamation Race had sat up in his chair.

“My God,” he said.  “So that’s it! Richetti!”

He looked round on three uncomprehending faces.

“A new code – it was used in the South African rebellion.  Potatoes mean machine guns, artichokes are high explosives  – and so on.”

Agatha Christie – Death on The Nile

If you would like to read of another instance where Artichokes were compared to weapons, click here.

Links to The Christieverse

  • Christie has a short story also called Death on The Nile.  We will come to that one in due course.
  • Miss Van Schuyler says to Poirot that she has heard of him from a mutual acquaintance, Rufus Van Aldin.  He was a character in The Mystery of The Blue Train
  • The death of Mr Shaitana featured in Cards on The Table is mentioned.  It is said that it occurred a year earlier.
  • Poirot mentions a case in which a red kimono was found in his luggage.  This refers to Murder on the Orient Express
  • Poirot also speaks of attending an archaeological site which references Murder in Mesopotamia

Potatoes and Artichokes 4

 

The Film

Of course, we were not going to talk about Death on the Nile without mentioning the Kenneth Branagh film of the same which was released this year.  We saw it in the cinema and, although the reviews have been universally bad, I thoroughly enjoyed it.   I was not a fan of  Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express; this has not changed.  But I thought the film looked beautiful.  The scenery was spectacular and really made me want to go to Egypt to see those sights for myself.  I also loved its over-the-top opulence.  And I thought Gal Gadot and Emma Mackey were both perfectly cast.

 

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Death on The Nile

Lots of booze here and not much food!

To keep things neat, next up we are going to read the other Death on the Nile, the one contained in Parker Pyne Investigates.  Will I get falafel and hummus this time round?  I’m both doubtful and hopeful!

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Steak Frites with Bearnaise Sauce – Dining with The Dame 5

“Hello crime readers and food lovers!  The Secret of Chimneys is Agatha Christie’s fifth novel and it is a standalone thriller even though in the tv version it is turned into a Miss Marple mystery.  Chimneys introduces us to Superintendent Battle who will return in future novels.  On the menu for tonight’s dinner is a classic Steak Frites with Bearnaise Sauce.  I have chosen the French nomenclature today because it sounds so much more classy than the English alternative of steak and chips!  I think the Dame would have approved!   

Steak Frites1

Oh, and just so you don’t get confused like I did over the title, Chimneys  refers to a country house, not actual chimneys!  The tv version was filmed at Hatfield house which was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth 1.  And totally gorgeous!

The Secret of Chimneys – The Plot

Oh Lord…where to start?  This one is complicated!

So, let’s start it in Zimbabwe where we meet our hero Anthony Cade. A friend gives him the memoirs of a Herzoslovakian (yes really) aristocrat to take to publishers in London along with some incriminating letters written by a woman called Virginia Revel.  Through a series of escapades, Anthony meets the real Virginia Revel and gets an invitation to Chimneys, but only after having disposed of the dead body in the study…

Rght about now, I usually do a bit of a summary of the novel.  Well, I bought a big pile of Agatha Christie novels on eBay and the back cover of The Secret of Chimneys has done it for me.  Here is what it says

“Stolen letters, a foreign envoy; a shot at one of England’s historic houses; detectives Britishm French and American; secret passages, a fabulous jewel, a mysterious rose emblem; an organisation called the Comrades of the Red Hand; an international jewel thief…”

I couldn’t have done it better myself!

Sadly, the Secret at Chimneys also contains some racial slurs and stereotypes that are definitely on the nose for the modern reader which diminished my enjoyment of this “light-hearted thriller”.  

 

The Covers

The first three on the top row are the one I read, my favourite and I don’t even know what is happening here!!!  As lovely as it is, I also feel the French cover looks like it was designed by someone who had never read the book!

Chimneys collage2

 

The Recipe – Steak Frites with Bearnaise

“He thought longingly of such things as rump steaks, juicy chops, and large masses of fried potatoes.  But he shook his head ruefully, glancing at his wristwatch”

The Mystery of Chimneys, Agatha Christie

Here’s the recipe.  I used oven fries but this recipe has all the instructions to cook your “mass of fried potatoes” from scratch if you so desire!  I also used dried tarragon in my bearnaise because winter!

Other Food Mentioned in The Secret of Chimneys

Have a great week!  Oh and I’m so excited, my next post will be a collab with Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers!  Stay tuned and stay safe!