Tag: eggs

Midweek Quickie – Oeufs Caroline (2)

Welcome to another midweek quickie!  I was delighted last week when the lovely Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers sent me this gorgeous photo of her dinner…or should that be supper…of Oeufs Caroline.

Jenny-OC - Midweek Quickie

Jenny agreed that the eggs were yummy and they certainly look very pretty on her vintage plate!  If you have cooked any of my recipes and would like your creation to feature on a midweek quickie, please get in touch!  I would love to see your versions!

If you feel like even more cooking, why not hit up Jenny over at Silver Screen Suppers.  She is looking for recipe testers for the second volume of her Murder She Cooked book. I will be doing some testing very shortly!  If you don’t want to test but want to cook up some recipes by characters from Murder She Wrote, you can pick up the first volume here

I have a copy of this and am looking forward to cooking from it!!!  As a childhood fan of Gilligan’s Island, Alan Hale’s Skipper’s Dream Sandwich is high on my list of things to make.  As is Claude Akin’s recipe for Barbecued Honey Orange Chicken and Samantha Eggar’s Tostada Salad.  And who could resist Jerry Orbach’s Tough Guys Desert…ok..I want to cook the whole book!  😂

But enough from me, these posts are meant to be short and sweet!  I hope the week is being kind to you!

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Oeufs Caroline – Five Little Pigs

Hello crime readers and food lovers. In what is starting to become a bit of a trend, today’s post is dedicated to one of the main characters in Five Little Pigs, Caroline Crale.  To many fans, Five Little Pigs is the nec plus ultra of the Christie novels.  And it is an absolute cracker!  We never actually meet Caroline as she is sixteen years dead when the story begins.  But…what a character.  I absolutely loved her.  Her dignity, grace, loyalty, and fiery temperament made her a wonderful compelling and intriguing character. 

I also feel that all egg recipes are a little wink to Poirot and his egg-shaped head! 

I found the recipe for Oeufs Caroline in the French children’s cookbook called La Cuisine Est Un Jeu D’Enfants by Michel Oliver (1963).  It is a very cute book and I will definitely cook more from it but the timing on this recipe was completely wrong.   You have no idea how many times I ate Oeufs Caroline for lunch this week trying to get it right! rp_Oeufs-Caroline1-768x

Five Little Pigs – The Plot

The accepted version of certain facts is not necessarily the true one.”

Agatha Christie – Five Little Pigs

A young woman called Carla Lemarchant approaches Hercule Poirot with a very unusual case.  Sixteen years ago, her mother, Caroline Crale was found guilty of poisoning her father Amyas Crale.  However, before she died in prison, Caroline sent a letter to her daughter professing her innocence.  Carla wants Poirot to find out the truth.  Did her mother kill her father? Poirot focuses his investigation on the five people, apart from Carla and Caroline who were present on the day Amyas died.  For if Caroline is not guilty, then one of them is… Oeufs Caroline2

We have:

Philip Blake
  • A stockbroker (went to market, geddit?) was one of Amyas’ closest friends.  On the day of Amyas’ death, he overhears an argument between Caroline and Amyas where Caroline threatens to kill him.  Philip is apparently no fan of Caroline and puts the murder down to “crude female jealousy.  However, does he have a secret desire to see Amyas dead?
Meredith Blake
  • Philip’s brother.  Unlike his brother who is a successful broker, Meredith stayed home and dabbled in herbalism and other country pursuits.  It is some coniine from his laboratory that killed Amyas.  Unlike his brother, Meredith admits a fondness for and a loyalty to Caroline.  He argues with Amyas saying that the situation with Elsa was an “”unendurable insult” and not fair to either woman.  Might seeing the woman he cares for being mistreated have given him a motive for murder?
Elsa Greer (now Lady Dittisham)
  • The little piggy who had roast beef. She was a rich, spoiled beautiful, young woman in love with Amyas.  It is her deliberate provocation of Caroline on the day of the murder that many people see as being the catalyst for later, lethal events.  Poirot…”saw her beautiful and rich, seductive to men, seeking with greedy predatory hands to fill up a life that was empty”.  She is still vitriolic about Caroline and says she would have preferred to see her hanged.
Cecilia Williams
  • Angela Warren’s former governess.  She is a shrewd, fiercely loyal woman, living “close to the bone”.  She epitomises the one who has none.  She believes that Amyas got what was coming to him, her sympathies are entirely with Caroline.  But she also has proof, never previously disclosed that Caroline murdered Amyas
Angela Warren
  • Caroline’s half-sister.  Caroline is overly protective of Angela after disfiguring her face in a fit of pique as a much younger woman.  Angela is spoiled and enjoys playing tricks on Amyas.  He wants to send her away to school.  She doesn’t want to go and this is causing some additional friction between Amyas and Caroline (as if there wasn’t enough already -the two are already, to quote Bonnie Tyler, “Living in a powderkeg and giving off sparks!).  

Oeufs Caroline3

Amyas Crale

And finally, let’s talk about Amyas.  In my first few drafts of this, I didn’t include a description of him because I felt we all know this character.  That is not to say that he is badly drawn but because many of us have met this person in real life.  He is an Artist and everything and everyone around him comes second to his art…back in my uni days, I would have found him irresistible.  Now, the sheer arrogance and gall of this man would make me want to stab him in the neck. 

Amyas was…a ruthless egoist.  He loved Caroline but he never once considered her in any way.  He did as he pleased…he was as fond of her as he could be of anybody – but she came a long way behind his art

Agatha Christie – Five Little Pigs

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Well, just like Shaggy, it wasn’t me but it was someone.  And it will take all of Poirot’s little grey cells to figure this one out!

Five Little Pigs – The Covers

5lp collage (1) There’s nothing too crazy in the covers, lots of references to Amyas being an artist, and a few to the poisoned beer.  My favourites are the second row, second left for its pulp fiction feel and amazing font.  And I also really like third row first on the left with the artist and his brushes.

The Recipe – Ouefs Caroline

I have included here both the OG recipe from  Cuisine Est Un Jeu D’Enfants and my updated version. Oeufs Caroline recipe 1   Oeufs Caroline recipe 2  

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Oeufs Caroline

A lovely breakfast or lunch dish, inspired by Agatha Christie’s Three Little Pigs

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 egg
  • 1 slice of bread (I used a potato and rosemary bread)
  • 1 tbsp Creme Fraiche
  • Chives or other herbs to garnish
  • Butter, Salt Pepper

Instructions

  • Cut the top off the tomato and scoop out the insides with a spoon.
  • Sprinkle the inside of the tomato with salt and turn upside down.  This will help to drain a lot of the tomato juice.  Otherwise, your eggs will be very watery.  Leave for 1/2 -1 hour.
  • Heat your oven to 180C.
  • Crack the egg and separate.  I found it easier to put the yolk into the tomato first and then top up with the white.  Don’t overfill.  You need some room to add the creme fraiche.
  • Butter your bread and place the tomato on top of it.
  • Place your egg-filled tomato and bread into the oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes for a soft egg and 25 minutes for a harder egg.  Check this as cooking time will depend on the size of your tomato.
  • After 15-25 minutes add the creme fraiche to the egg, turn off the oven and turn on the grill.  Grill for an additional 5 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and garnish with herbs, salt and pepper.

Notes

I wanted to keep mine vegetarian but you could add a rasher or two of bacon when you place the tomatoes under the grill.

And Caroline Crale? Each person had seen her differently. Montague Depleach had despised her as a defeatist-a quitter. To young Fogg she had represented Romance. Edmunds saw her simply as a ‘lady’. Mr Jonathan had called her a stormy, turbulent creature. How would he, Hercule Poirot, have seen her? On the answer to that question depended, he felt, the success of his quest. So far, not one of the people he had seen had doubted that whatever else she was, Caroline Crale was also a murderess.”

Agatha Christie – Five Little Pigs

Links To The Christieverse

  • Poirot brings a letter of introduction from Lady Mary Lytton-Gore with him when he meets Meredith Blake.

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Five Little Pigs

November’s read is The Moving Finger

     

Mock Crab

Hello, retro food lovers and…war buffs? Today I am sharing a recipe for Mock Crab which was inspired by my reading of N or M by Agatha Christie. The real Dining with the Dame post will come next week but during my reading of this book, I became mildly obsessed with the food of wartime Britain.  I found a fabulous blog called The 1940’s Experiment and decided to give one of the wartime recipes a whirl!  I am also mildly obsessed with “mock” foods so I chose mock crab. 

Mock Crab

Umm…what?  I hear you say.  Mock crab looks like this!  However, it looks to all the world that you have posted a photo of some scrambled eggs on toast. Did you mix your photos up?  Might we finally be getting a post on the bacon and eggs that is mentioned in EVERY Agatha Christie novel but has yet to make an appearance in Dining with the Dame?

Well…no and no.  This my friends is mock crab.

But also yes.  Because this is scrambled eggs on toast.  Albeit some mildly vinegary scrambled eggs on toast.  This recipe perplexed me and I’ll tell you why as soon as I share the link.  Here it is:  Wartime Mock Crab.

Mock Crab3

 

Mock Me Not

So here is what I don’t understand about the mock crab.  Cheesy scrambled eggs are delicious.  And not just for breakfast.  I would eat them at any time of day!  Cheesy scrambled eggs with salad dressing and additional vinegar?  Not so much.  This, for me, was, unfortunately, something that was less than the sum of its parts. I’m also not quite sure why, particularly when you are on rations, you would add anything to cheesy scrambled eggs.  My preference would have been to save the dressing and vinegar for something else (maybe a salad?) and to eat the eggs as scrambled eggs.  

I can only surmise that the addition of the salad dressing and vinegar was to make it taste more crabby.  If so, it didn’t work.   No one in their right mind would mistake the taste of this for crab.  And yet….there was something.  Maybe the texture?  Or possibly the power of suggestion…that made this somewhat reminiscent of crab.  

Mock Crab2

Whilst I didn’t love the mock crab, it was nice to take a peek into war time cooking and imagine the gang at the Sans Souci (from N and M) tucking into a plate of of it for lunch.  

Next weeks post will be on N or M, an Agatha Christie wartime thriller featuring Tommy and Tuppence.  At least I hope it will be.  I will be on holiday, soaking up some sun in the north of Australia so I will  schedule it to run on Sunday.  Fingers crossed it works!

Have a great week!

 

Eggsclusive

Hello friends and welcome to a pre-Easter edition of “What Posh People Ate in the 80’s”. This time they are not even pretending to be slumming it as even the name of this dish “Eggsclusive” speaks to its ritziness! The recipe for this eggcelllent (hey, if they can make egg puns, so can i! 😜) comes from the Vogue Entertaining Guide from Autumn 1986. 

Eggsclusive

The Eggsclusive recipe comes from an article about the Lamrock Cafe in Bondi Beach in Sydney.  A quick Google search showed that The Lamrock is still going strong.  And OMG…look at that view.  I know EXACTLY where I am heading for brunch next time I go to Sydney!  (The Eggsclusive is sadly no longer on the menu though). 

The Eggsclusive Recipe and Variations

You will notice that I have altered the recipe a little bit. I did not cook the smoked salmon or the caviare in the eggs, just served them on top. I also only used one type of caviar and I sprinkled some parsley and chives over the top. 

Eggsclusive Recipe

Eggsclusive 3

This was really easy to make and has a lovely luxe appeal to it  It would make the perfect breakfast in bed for someone you love (or yourself) over the Easter break.  Why not complete the feel with a glass of champagne? And maybe some of these vintage Easter Pinups could influence your choice of attire!

How cute is this?

Or if little cottontails aren’t your bag, you could try a tutu like Debbie Reynolds. 

Maybe an Easter bonnet might be more your style? 

I would, however, suggest you avoid bursting out of an egg.  This looks uncomfortable!

Have a safe and happy Easter, however you decide to spend it!  

Eggsclusive 2

Other Recipes from the Vogue Entertaining Guide Autumn 1986:

 

Ceviche & Eggs A La Mexicana

Hola amigas y amantes de la comida!  Did I ever mention that during that very first lockdown of 2020, I tried learning Spanish on Duolingo? That first sentence pretty much reflects the highest level of proficiency I attained.  Despite my very limited ability to speak the language, we are leaving the snowbound land of Canada to head south to the sun and sea of Mexico via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery.  And our first meal is going to be an absolute favourite of mine – Ceviche!  

Ceviche2

 

Ceviche contains so many things I love – raw fish, avocado, lemon, tomato, chill and coriander!  And it is also so vibrant!  I used tuna in my ceviche so there was the gorgeous pink of the tuna, some red tomatoes, the bright green of the coriander, the more more mellow yellow green of the avocado some bright yellow pear tomatoes so it really was very colourful.

I then also made Eggs A La Mexicana from the same chapter and the colour palette was quite similar!

Eggs A La Mexicana

Of course I am not the first person to realise that a lot of Mexican food is yellow, red and green…there are several colour palettes to this effect on Pinterest and elsewhere:

Having said that, the part of my brain that probably spends too much time at work, or thinking about work,  thought the colour palette of both dishes was very similar to that of  an Excel conditional formatting colour scale!  So I may well be the first person to link Mexican food and a spreadsheeting tool!

 

The Recipes – Ceviche and Eggs a La Mexicana

Ceviche1

Ceviche Recipe 2Eggs A La Mexicana2

Eggs A La Mexicana recipe2

Both of these were delicious and easy to cook!  Which as long-time readers will know was definitely not the case the last time I ventured into the realm of Mexican cooking!  Mind you, I’m not saying that these recipes are absolutely authentico but they had me doing a little dance like this all the same!I hope your week has you also doing a little dance and not staring at too many spreadsheets!

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