Retro Food For Modern Times - Yesterdays Recipes, Cooked Today

11
May
2018

Repost from 2018 -Tubing // Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese

One of my joys, particularly on a wet and cold weekend is to curl up with a good book and lose myself for a few hours. Now, just to be clear, when I say good book, I don’t mean the kind of book that wins literary accolades for their perfectly constructed sentences and their ability to cast a light on the shadows of contemporary society that had previously been ignored.

I mean sure, those books have their place. It’s in a prominent place on the bookshelf so visitors can see how clever and worldly you are.

But no, for there here and now, good refers to one of those guilty pleasure books – the kind you can race through in an afternoon or two and become totally absorbed in, resurfacing only for snacks and sleep.

Tubing by K.A.McKeagney was one of these books. Tubing is about Polly a 20 something girl living in London with her boyfriend Oliver, a doctor who on the surface seems like a perfect catch but is totally bland. Polly seems….lacklustre…content just to drift along in her relationship and her job neither of which seem to be fulfilling or providing her with any real meaning or enjoyment. Enter a chance sexual encounter with a handsome stranger on a train and all of a sudden Polly’s placid life is thrown into turmoil.

Polly becomes obsessed with him and through searching for him online discovers “Tubing” a phenomenon where strangers hook up for sex on crowded tube trains. Each to their own right? Anyway, through following a series of tweets, Polly tracks down her handsome stranger. Tubing provides her with the thrills and excitement that are missing from her regular life.

Until it all goes horribly wrong…

Cue dramatic music….

And cue snacks….or in this case, not so much snacks but a big bowl of carby cheesy comfort food aka Ultimate Mac and Cheese. (Because Tubing…geddit? 😉) Is there anything more comfort foody than mac and cheese? If so, I would like to know about it!

I also like the idea of eating something warm and comforting whilst reading about murder and mayhem. It creates a nice juxtaposition of knowing exactly what you will get next taste wise versus not knowing what will happen next plot-wise! Although Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese does have a few twists of its own!

The recipe for Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese comes from the Lyndey Milan section of The Great Australian Cookbook. It differs from regular Mac ‘n’ Cheese in that the normal cheese sauce is replaced by a mix of ricotta, blue cheese, cheddar and leeks. I loved the hint of blue cheese and the leeks in this!

Here’s the recipe for a delicious take on a classic dish!

Back to Tubing… it’s immensely readable but by no means a perfect novel. Polly is largely unlikeable and some of her actions (as well as those of some of the other characters) are unfathomable. The storyline also seems to be unnecessarily convoluted at times. However, for escapist enjoyment that will have you turning the pages wanting to know what happens next Tubing is a fine way to while away a few hours!

It also made me wonder if tubing was a real thing? It seemed a little too well thought out not to be! London readers, your thoughts?

Thank you to Net Galley and RedDoor Publishing for the ARC of Tubing!

And tell me, what is your perfect comfort food?

Have a great week!

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25
Apr
2018

ANZAC Biscuits – Chewy or Crispy?

categories: Anzac Day, Biscuits & Cookies, Holidays

In commemoration of ANZAC Day, which is today, April 25, I made Anzac biscuits.

Anzac biscuits are made primarily from rolled oats, golden syrup and coconut. They first appeared in recipe books in 1921 but are thought to have been sent to the troops in WW1 by mothers at home worried about the nutrition of their sons. Because they are eggless, they were able to survive the months-long trip to the front from Australia and New Zealand.

They are now a teatime staple. But the debate rages – should an Anzac biscuit be crispy or chewy?

Up until now, I was firmly in the crispy camp. I like my biscuits to have some crunch to them. But this month in the Tasty Reads book club we are doing the Relish Mama Family Cookbook and Nellie Kerrison’s recipe is for chewy Anzacs.

So chewy Anzacs it was. Ever the sceptic, and thinking there was no way they could be as good as a crispy Anzac, I tried one, still warm from the oven.

And then another one. Just to check I hadn’t been mistaken in thinking the first one was so good.

Then a third.

I ate eight of them the first night.

I would now like to point out that this in no way reflects greed but a strict adherence to the scientific method of testing a hypothesis several times to ensure that the results of an experiment can be duplicated.

This was the first recipe I have made from this book. I am looking forward to many if they are the standard of the Anzacs. Here it is:

And there is one from the 1930’s for the crispy kind:

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/recipes/anzac-biscuits-crispy-version/8926926

I will leave you today with some images from the National War Memorial in Canberra because, after all, more than biscuits that’s what today is about!

Have a great week!

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17
Mar
2018

REPOST Dublin Coddle – For St Patrick’s Day

categories: Bacon, Budget Recipes, Cabbage, Holidays, Ireland, Potato, Sausage, St Patrick's Day

Isn’t Dublin Coddle the most adorable name for anything ever?

It sounds like a cuddle and that is exactly what you are going to get from this hearty and warming mix of sausages, cabbage, bacon and potatoes.

I don’t seem to have the best of luck with Irish recipes (remember the corned beef potato salad?)

I had planned to make a totally safe homemade Irish Cream because hot damn do I love a little bit of Bailey’s! However what they don’t tell you in most recipes for it is that, because it contains fresh cream, homemade Irish cream has a fairly limited lifespan. As I am trying to moderate my diet and alcohol intake at the moment drinking a whole bottle of whiskey and a shit ton of cream over the space of about 5 five days did not seem like a viable option.

Fun…just not a viable diet option!

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So Dublin Coddle it was. And whilst this was nowhere near as awful as the debacle that was the potato salad, the recipe I used for Dublin Coddle (sorry I cannot remember from whence it came) was not without problems.

It asked that you layer thinly sliced potatoes into the bottom of a baking dish then piled your sauteed cabbage, onion and bacon on top and topped that with sausages. Then you added stock to the dish.

And therein lay the problem. Even though I cooked this for absolutely AGES, the potatoes at the bottom didn’t cook at that well and were totally soggy. And, as viewers of the British Bake Off know all too well, no one likes a soggy bottom!

This was good but I wonder how much better it would have been if the potatoes had gone on the top and gone all crispy and delicious?

I will actually make it that way next time and update you on how it turns out! The good thing about this recipe is that it was traditionally made from leftovers so you can play around with ingredients and cooking techniques as much as you like!

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Here’s the recipe!

Print

Dublin Coddle

Print Recipe

A delicious hearty meal, perfect for St Patrick’s Day

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

8 sausages – the recipe said pork, I used beef
2 onions, sliced
2 rashers of bacon, sliced
2 cups of cabbage, sliced
stock or water (I used vegetable stock)
Oil
salt and pepper
parsley
Dijon mustard

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Heat a little oil in a large pan and brown the sausages. You may have to do this in two lots.
Remove the sausages from the pan and set aside.
Add a little more oil if required and brown the bacon and onions.
Toss the cabbage through the bacon and onion mix and cook for a few minutes.
Layer the potatoes in a lightly oiled casserole or baking dish.
Top with the cabbage and bacon mix. Season well and almost cover with the stock.
Top with the sausages.
Bake at 190C until the potatoes are tender.
Sprinkle with parsley and serve with mustard.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 4

Meantime, enjoy your St Patrick’s Day!!!!

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10
Mar
2018

Rosanne Cash’s Potato Salad – Repost from October 2018

categories: Potato Salad, United States of America

Regular readers will know what a fan I am of the serendipitous find. So, imagine my joy when, in the middle of writing the post on Johnny Cash’s Chili, sorting through a huge pile of recipes I had collected over the last year or so, I found a recipe from his daughter Rosanne Cash for Potato Salad.

I felt that finding it was either a sign from the universe to make some potato salad or that the Cash family were stalking me in a really weird way.

I decided to make potato salad.

Have I ever told you how much I love potato salad?

Like LOVE it. 😍

I have CRIED when I have tasted a potato salad that looked gorgeous only to find the potato was half raw. Or the dressing was watery

That’s how much I love potato salad.

And I have incredibly high standards. So far in my life, the only ‘tatie salad that even comes close to my mum’s is my best friend Monica’s. It’s one of the reasons I adore her.

Maybe THAT’s how much I love potato salad…

Good potato salad? Friend. For. Life.

Bad potato salad? Never darken my door again!

And Rosanne Cash’s had all the hallmarks of being a GOOD potato salad. Or the one. Which is the inclusion . of hard-boiled eggs. Seriously. Mum’s potato salad has them. Monica’s potato salad has them. And this one has them. And, spoiler alert. We are now talking my top-three potato salads.

Because Rosanne Cash’s potato salad is AWESOME.

The only problem with the Rosanne Cash Potato Salad?

There was not enough of it!

Basic user error. Before making anything check your ingredients. ALWAYS check your ingredients. All of them. Even the ones where you think “Oh I always have plenty of that / those / them”

Especially those ones. Otherwise, you will go to the shops to buy celery and pickles. And come home to discover you only have three tiny potatoes. But it’s getting late and if you want to be eating this delicious sounding potato salad any time before midnight then you don’t have time to go all the way back to the store to buy more potatoes.

So…a tiny potato salad it was…

You can also do the thing….cos here’s the recipe. Just make sure you have potatoes a plenty!

Rosanne Cash’s Potato Salad

And here is he of the chilli and she of the potato salad way back in 1956!

Have a great week!

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07
Mar
2018

REPOST: All The Z’s – Part 5 – Zurich Mushroom Tartlets

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Mushrooms, Switzerland, Vegetarian

Hello, and welcome to the fifth and final post of the Food that starts with Z mini-series…We’re heading to Switzerland for some Zurich Mushroom Tartlets. And I have a new book to cook from! Pack your passports friends, we are taking a trip around the world via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery from 1972.

The book promises

222 illustrations, 48 in full colour
672 pages
2316 recipes from all over the world

The World in 1972

So what was this world of 1972 that we are about to enter into? What was the zeitgeist that spawned this tome?

www.thepeoplehistory.com tells us that

1972 This year is marked as a black year in history due to the use of terrorism entering sport with the massacre of 11 Israel Athletes by Arab Gunman. Also this is the beginning of the biggest political scandal in modern times and the start of the Watergate Scandal. On the other side of the Atlantic a worsening of the problems between the IRA and the British government see wrongs from both sides and innocent lives are lost.

Hmm…cheerful.

But who knew years were colour-coded? Who has that job? And can I have it when you’re done?

On a happier note, in 1972 you could buy these awesome shoes for just $9.97.

And this wig was a bargain at $20. The resting bitch face is possibly a sign of the troubled times…

Or maybe she was just worried about getting her wig wet. Problem solved by this umbrella for a mere fiver. Look how much happier this woman is now she doesn’t have to worry about wet hair.

Switzerland 1972

So in the midst of all this trial and trib, what was going on in the notoriously neutral country of Switzerland? Well, hold onto your hats because while chaos and panic were overtaking the rest of the world? The Swiss were creating an International Convention on Safe Containers.

The Swiss are an orderly, well-mannered, and meticulous people. This is why you could probably take your safe container and join a group of Swiss people mushroom foraging around Zurich without fear of dying from some fungi-induced poisoning.

Which brings us back to do…oh…oh..oh (If ANY of you thought we were going to get through a post on Switzerland WITHOUT a Sound Of Music reference, then you don’t know me at all do you?).

ZURICH MUSHROOM TARTLETS

Let’s start with the recipe. It’s a very good place to start…(Refer paragraph above re The Sound of Music) And let’s hope that it isn’t an omen of things to come…

Hmmmm….make the pastry it says Without actually telling you how to do that. So, If they’re not going to tell you?

I will. Here’s what you do.

Put your flour back in the cupboard, your egg and butter back in the fridge and tip your salted water down the sink. Then you get in your car and drive to the nearest supermarket and by some ready-made pastry shells.

Because if they can’t be bothered, why should you?

I used a mix of mushrooms for my tartlets and added some herbs from the garden into the mix.

I pan-fried the small fancy mushrooms in so they could be artfully strewn over the top of the tarts whilst I cooked the regular ones as per the recipe.

IWhile the mushrooms were cooking, I warmed the shells in the oven, then tipped the filling into them.

A sprinkle of parsley and some smoked paprika and these were good to go!

And they were delicious! Creamy and earthy with a lovely crisp and light pastry.

Despite the initial setback with the pastry, the Zurich Mushroom Tartlets were a good start to this book. Easy to make, quick, and tasty! Best eaten in front of the telly watching The Sound of Music, Or wearing your best curtains. Or both.

Have a great week!