Tag: Summer food

August 2003 – Summer

Summer Lovin’ had me a blast!  Hello, retro food lovers!  Today as you may have guessed from the header and my musical intro we are taking a tour back to August 2003 via Australian Table.  The aim is to see if that magazine can provide us with a super summer feast! 

Now I know that some of you might be thinking…what’s hard about that?  Surely all mags, twenty years ago would be showing seasonal recipes..  Well, don’t forget readers that in Australia is it winter!  Now it may surprise some of you but in the south of Australia, where I live it gets cold!  Not Canada cold or Northern European cold, but definitely cold enough for this season to be recognisably winter. The magazine cover promises Shepherd’s Pie, Bangers and Mash, Beef Stroganoff and Roast Chicken.  Will we be able to find some summery food in the midst of this hearty winter fare?

Table 0803

 

First, to put us in the mood let’s see what was on the pop culture in August 2003!  The Da Vinci Code was still topping the book charts, S.W.A.T was killing it at the box office and Breathe by Sean Paul featuring Blu Cantrell was the number 1 song.  

The Menu – August 2003

Summer Menu 1

Chargrilled Prawns with Coriander and Lime

For me, the best summer food is eaten outdoors so these prawns, which would be amazing cooked on the BBQ were my choice of a starter.

Chargrilled Prawns

The marinated prawns were super delicious!  I did not like the dressing and, come summer when I make these on the barbie I will leave the dressing out completely.  Whilst I don’t mind sherry as a drink I felt it gave the dressing on what was a very fresh and lively dish a kind of fusty taste which I found unpleasant.  If you want to try it with the dressing, I would suggest serving it on the side!

Chargrilled Prawns Recipe

Chargrilled Prawns Collage2

Satay Chicken Skewers

Another dish which would be ideal cooked on the BBQ.  I love a chicken satay and this one is super easy because it uses a bought satay sauce!  

Chicken Satay 1

I served this with a cucumber and red onion salad, which is, my Malaysian friends tell me, a traditional accompaniment to Chicken satay.  You could also, of course serve rice or noodles with the chicken satay skewers as well. 

Chicken Satay 2

Perfectly grilled chicken, dipped in a satay sauce with some salad!  Heaven on a stick!

Satay Chicken Recipe

Chicken Satay 1 (1)

Ice Cream with Rocky Road Sauce

I didn’t have time to make this due to holidays, Pieathalon, work, cooking for our Foodies Cookbook club, a date with my mum to see A Haunting In Venice all of which amounts to life in general.  However, it’s a really simple recipe which I am sure tastes absolutely delicious!  Please let me know if you give it a try!

Ice Cream with Rocky Road Sauce Recipe

Watermelon and Vodka Cocktail

This cocktail was pretty much identical to this one that I made back in February.

Watermelon Vodka

My Nigella Moment  – Thai Beef Noodles

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 the context of 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 either because I made it and it was really good, or I just didn’t have time to make it but it was one of the most appetising things in the mag!

This time round it was some Thai beef noodles. I’m hoping that sherry will redeem itself in this recipe as it sure didn’t work in the prawns!  These look delicious and fun!

Thai Beef Noodles

 

Australian Table was able to dish up a lovely summery meal despite being an issue from the middle of winter!  The prawns and satay were also nice in winter and were lovely reminders that summer is on it’s way!

 

 

 

Thai Cucumber Boats

Hello friends! Today we are eating Thai Cucumber Boats from Vogue Entertaining  Oct / Nov 1989.  This recipe comes from an article about Thai Cook Joe Bangkok.  Apparently back in 1989 people couldn’t be arsed learning how to pronounce Asian people’s names properly. I mean why bother when you can just give them some rubbish Anglicised nickname?   Welcome to 1989, the year the Berlin Wall came down, the Velvet Revolution happened in Czechoslovakia, tanks ran over protesters in Tiananmen Square and casual racism was alive and well in Sydney!  But enough sniping, there is a whole lot to be happy about with these Thai Cucumber boats!

 

These are pretty much my perfect idea of hot-weather food.  A couple of these with an ice-cold beer on a hot summer night is pretty much my idea of heaven!

Thai Cucumber Boats – The Recipe

Thai Cucumber Boats recipe collage (1)

To make it even easier, I used rare roast beef from the deli and did not sauté the onions as per the recipe.  My version means there is no cooking involved in this recipe! Perfect for summer!   I also sprinkled some chopped-up peanuts over the top of my boats for some extra crunch!

Of course, you could just slice up the cucumbers and place the rest of the ingredients on top.  TBH, cutting the cucumbers into boats was fiddly and took quite a bit of time. However, then you would lose the delightful retro kitsch of the boat!

Also, keep the scooped-out bits of cuke for another day!

Thai Cucumber Boats3

The Perfect Soundtrack For Your Thai Cucumber Boats

I am currently reading The Shards, the new novel by Bret Easton Ellis which is set around the same time as this recipe was originally published.  Now, whether you love or hate BEE is not a topic for discussion here.  What I do want to mention is that the book is absolutely crammed with musical references.  So much so that  I was inspired to make a playlist so I could have the soundtrack playing while I was reading  I went to Spotify only to find that many people had already done just that.

My favourite is this one (pictured below) which lists every song in the order it is mentioned in the book.  If you like 80s pop / punk  / new wave you will love this playlist.  Mind you, there is also a lot of garbage on there too!  But I can heartily recommend, on your next hot summer night, make these Thai Cucumber Boats, put some beer on ice and crank up this playlist.  It will take you right back to the 80s!

The Shards

As for the book, I am about 5 hours into what is a 23-hour-long audiobook so I’ve got a long way to go yet!

Thai Cucimber Boats2

Hopefully, the good weather holds and I can have another evening with the Thai Cukes and The Shards playlist soon!

Have a great week!