All aboard!  Welcome friends to a cooking and murder collab between Silver Screen Suppers and Retro Food For Modern Times.   Jenny and I have been tallking about doing this literally for months!  I am breaking my usual Dining with the Dame Format to cook recipes by the stars of the 1974 version of Murder on The Orient Express and half a world away in London Jenny is doing the same.  Jenny provided the recipes and we agreed to watch the film on the same day!

Murder on The Orient Express 1974 – The Film

As with the Kenneth Brannagh 2017 film, the 1974 version of Murder on the Orient Express is a star-studded affair!  The rather schlocky trailer describes it as the “Who’s who in the whodunnit”.

Albert Finney stars as Poirot  Agatha Christie herself gave Albert the thumbs up in his portrayal of Poirot.  (He was excellent, and his denouement at the end is amazing – he had to learn 8 pages of script off by heart to do it – but for me, David Suchet is, and will only ever be, the true Poirot).

Others in the cast include Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Sir John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael York to name but a few!   Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar as best supporting actress for her role in this.  Albert Finney was nominated but missed out to Art Carney from Harry and Tonto.

The film follows the story of the Agatha Christie novel with the luxurious Orient Express train stuck in a snow bank with no one being able to get on or off the train.  One of the guests is stabbed to death in the night.  It is up to Hercule Poirot to discover whodunnit!.  He soon learns that the victim is connected to the kidnapping of Daisy Armstrong 5 years before.  And the group of seemingly disparate strangers on the train may not be all they seem!

The stroy is based on two true events, the first being the very famous kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby i n 1932, the second was an incident when the Orient Express was trapped for 6 days in a blizzard in Turkey in 1929.

But now, we would like you to head over to the buffet car to sample today’s menu,

The Menu

Trout in Cream Saice

For your dining pleasure on today’s journey from Istanbul to Caiais, we are delighted to be serving Trout with Cream Sauce, a recipe by Ms Ingrid Bergman.

This was delicious!  Trout is such a delicate fish and the lemony cream sauce was a perfect accompaniment to it.  I served mine with chips (very un Orient Express), beans, broccolini and some cherry tomatoes.  It was also incredibly easy to make!!! Without the chips, it is an elegant and light dish which would be worthy of the Orient Express!

The whole time I was making the trout I was singing the Billy Bragg  / Wilco song :

Ingrid Bergman, Ingrid Bergman
Let’s go make a picture
On the island of Stromboli
Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman plays Greta Ohlsson in the film and she won the Academy Award for best-supporting actress for her role. I would give her an Oscar for that trout recipe because it was chef’s kiss mwah!!!

Prune Fool Syllabub

To end your meal, we are serving  Prune Fool by Ms. Wendy Hiller.   Wendy plays Princess Dragomiroff  in Murder. I feel that the Prune Fool, despite its name has the hint of gravitas equal to such a grand dame!

I LOVED the Prune Fool!  The prunes and currants (I didn’t have sultanas in the red wine combined beautifully with the cream and shortbread.  Eating this made me feel like a grownup.  for something that is so simple to make, the end result is sophisticated.

I feel both of these dishes would meet Poirot’s approval!

Just as an aside, it appears as if, whilst on the Orient Express, Poirot has eschewed his normal tisanes and sirops for a little glass of…creme de menthe? Drunk via a straw no less.

But, I digress, back to the Prune Fool. 
I know I am biased but how pretty is it?

Here’s the recipe:

Cooking for this was so fun!  I loved the film as well!  And it is always fun to have a shared project.  Thank you Jenny for the recipes and for joining in particularly on one of the big hitters like Murder on The Orient Express.  (Let’s not wait 6 months before we do another!!!)  And if anyone else would like to Dine with the Dame and me, please let me know!!!

If you would like to see what Jenny cooked and how she celebrated Murder Sunday, head over to Silver Screen Suppers for a look!

I’ll be back next week with a more traditional version of Dining with the Dame – Murder on the Orient Express 2 (Electric Boogaloo).

Have a great week and happy watching!