Month: March 2019


Mar
2019

Shish Kebabs

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Turkey, World Cooking

So as luck would have it, the week I wanted to write about the Turkish meal of Shish kebabs, there has been a diplomatic incident between Australia and Turkey.  But this blog is not afraid to tackle contentious issues.  Actually, no, scratch that, this blog doesn’t want to have anything to do with this debacle.  To be frank, both sides of this spat are terrifying and we here at RFFMT are cowards peace lovers who just want to eat some meat on a stick.  

Or, to be etymologically exact roasted meat (kebap) on a sword (sis). 

Or to be even more precise, delicious roasted meat on a sword.

The recipe for these Shish Kebabs came to you direct from 1972 via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery.  As usual, the introduction to each chapter comes with a gorgeous drawing of representing the food of the region:

Turkey2

 

Each chapter also has an overview of the food of the region.  Some “facts” I learned about the food of Turkey:

  • The Turks have more than forty ways of cooking eggplant

  • People in Istanbul, choose their drinking water with as much care as people in France choose wine.

  • Peaches and apples are ordered by name for those from different areas have a different flavour and fragrance

  • A formal dinner can start with as many as thirty or forty appetisers


The shish kebabs are simple to make, look really pretty with all the colours of the vegetables and taste delicious!

A little drizzle of pomegranate molasses over the top sets these off to perfection.

These shish kebabs are also a tasty lunch treat!  

Shish Kebab3

Have a great week. And be kind to each other!


Mar
2019

Use By: Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet

categories: Apricots, France, Fruit, Sorbet

There were so many things I could have named this post.  But hey, I made an Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet. So when I couldn’t decide between witty or explanatory  I decided to go with plain old pragmatism. Who knew ice cream was so complicated?

Apricot, Lemon, Basil Sorbet

BEING MORE FRENCH

Towards the end of last year, one of my work buddies and I were talking about New Year’s Resolutions. He said he never made the traditional resos of saving money, losing weight or getting fit.  Instead, he chooses something that explores a different way of being / thinking / creating.  So, it could be a  year of reading the financial papers or a year of being vegetarian or a year of being celibate or totally slutty or otherwise exploring a part of your personality that you feel needs expressing or you just want to have fun with.

“You know, like a year of being more French”

My reaction?

 

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

This is the beauty of something like this – it can mean whatever you want it to be.  For me…in no particular order:

Dress More French

  • Such as totally indulging my love of a striped t shirt.

 

Eat / Drink more French food (and wine)

Fromage anyone?

Fig, Fennel and Pistachio Roulade10

Watch More French movies / French tv shows

Including one of my favourite films ever The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

And just to balance out all that sweeetness, some gritty French police drama.

Be more Cultured

Self Care

French women take fabulous care of their skin and have amazing beauty regimes.

I plan on getting me a piece of that. My first foray into this realm was to buy some French eye drops that were RAVED about in a beauty blog.  They have made absolutely no discernible difference so that was money down le toilet but  I will try a new product each month.

 Read More French

I haven’t quite decided where this bit lands

  • Dip my toe in – Read more books set in France…eg Cara Black’s Murder In….Series
  • Float along – Read more books by French authors…I have some Proust and some Zola and some Binet in my TBR.
  • Dive in deep – Read French in French – I also have Flowers of Evil by Baudelaire and, weirdly a French translation of a James Patterson novel.

Maybe a bit of each…

Other ideas not fully thought out yet

  • Have an attitude
  • Start a revolution
  • Sexy Frugality

Mais, bien sûr

Cook More French

Which brings us back to doh oh oh oh.

The topic for our latest Tasty Reads Book Club was a “non book” book.  So you could cook recipes off the interwebs or the tv or, in my case a food magazine.  I bought this mag when I was on holiday last year and had not cooked anything from it.  

So, when some friends gave me a big bag of apricots of varying degrees of ripeness,  I decided to

  1. Be more French,  and
  2. To use this produce before it went bad (Year of Less Waste)

By cooking the Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet from the mag.

Here’s the recipe.

In English.

Print

Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet

Print Recipe

A delightfully refreshing fruity sorbet

Ingredients

Scale
  • 500g apricots
  • 12 basil leaves
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 eggs
  • 200ml of cream
  • 150g sugar
  • 1 tbsp honey

Instructions

  1. Infuse 6 basil leaves in cream for at least 2 hours.
  2. Then put the apricots, the rest of the basil, lemon juice and a little water into a pot and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
  3. Taste and add the honey (a little more or less may be required depending on the sweetness of the apricots.
  4. Cook for another five minutes.
  5. Let cool.
  6. Separate the eggs.
  7. In a large bowl, beat the yolks and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture turns pale. Then stir in the apricot mixture.
  8. In a separate bowl, beat the whites to soft peaks.
  9. In a third bowl, beat the cream to soft peaks.
  10. Add the cream to the apricot mix and blend through.
  11. Gently fold in the egg whites.
  12. Pour into a container. Freeze for 24 hours

Au revoir mes amis and have a lovely weekend!

 

 

  • Comments Off on Use By: Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet

Mar
2019

Mock Food (And a Real Cocktail)

categories: Books, Cocktail, Tequila, Vintage Recipes

The Irish artist Francis Bacon once famously declared

Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends.

Today, friends we are looking at some sham or mock foods.  And we may not have champagne but we have a cocktail that looks like this and tastes super delish!

Tequila Mockingbird1

We’ll come back to the cocktail later.

Believe me, we might need a stiff drink or two after the horrors I’m about to inflict on you.

So, I was flicking through the pages of “Possum Pie, Beetroot Beer and Lamingtons”  and  I noticed a trend for mock food.

STARTERS

MOCK OYSTERS AKA WHAT TO EAT WHEN THE WORLD ISN’T YOUR OYSTER

So what would you expect to be in a mock oyster?  My first thought was maybe a mussel?  Oysters are spendy.  Mussels are cheap.  Open your mussels, add some bacon, Worcestershire sauce and a dash of Tabasco sauce, pop it under the grill and you might have a fairly close approximation of a Kilpatrick Oyster.

Alternatively, why not give brains and walnuts a whirl?….

Mock Oyster

I don’t know WTF a mix of brains and walnuts would taste like (and I don’t ever want to know) but I’m willing to bet it isn’t oysters!

Not a fan of un-oysters?  What about some delicious crispy fried non- whitebait?

MOCK WHITEBAIT BECAUSE EGGY CHIPS DOESN’T SOUND CLASSY

Mock Whitebait

Okay, I think we can all agree that this is not NEARLY as bad as that brains and walnuts combo.  But no one is going to be fooled!

MAIN COURSES

MOCK DUCK – FAKE FOOD OR REAL GANGSTER?

Mock Duck

I’m just going to say this right now. This recipe makes no sense.

I kind of get the oyster thing and even the whitebait thing on a monetary level.  Oysters are expensive. Whitebait not so much but eggy fries would be cheaper still.  I totally understand why people might want to take a cheap ingredient and dress it up to taste like something a bit fancier.  Now it may be different where you live, but here?  Steak, good steak, is far more pricey than duck. 

I also have absolutely no idea of what kind of 50 shades of bondage moves you would need to tie a steak into the shape of a duck.

And finally…I don’t care what shape you tie your steak into. It will not taste like duck

For a far more interesting Mock Duck, let’s take a trip on the way back machine to 1900 in New York’s Chinatown.  Here,  a “cherubic, ever-smiling, moon-faced Machiavelli” gangster called….wait for it….Mock Duck was terrorizing rival gangs.  If you have ever heard the term “hatchetman” you have Mock Duck and his gang,  the Hip Sing,  to thank.  The term was coined due to their practice of carrying hatchets with sharpened blades in their sleeves.  Mock Duck was a total badass who wore diamond buttons on his shirts and a chain mail vest to stop bullets!   More about Mock Duck’s Exploits can be found here.

 

MOCK SQUAB PIE – ITS A CONSPIRACY OF BAD TASTE

The word squab always reminds me of a scene from the movie JFK when Tommy Lee Jones says  “Hope you like squab.”

Except,  he says it with a Southern drawl so the A in squab lasts for like an hour.

Squaaaaaaaab.

Well, if you like squab but are having trouble finding some, look no further.

Mock Squab PieMock Squab Pie

So squab tastes like meaty apple pie?   In that case Tommy Lee, “No, I don’t like squaaaaaaab”.

SOMETHING ON THE SIDE

IMITATION SPINACH – IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREENS

I might be talking from a very 2019 Melbourne centric stance here.  But spinach is EVERYwhere.  I cannot think of a place where I could be where I was not in walking distance of a bag of spinach. Why you would then want to imitate it is unfathomable to me.  No spinach?  Have beans.  Or cabbage.  There are lots of other vegetables out there.  We don’t need to fake spinach.

Mock Spinach

 

And also Pumpkin shoots?  I have no idea where I would find any sort of pumpkin shoots, let alone tender ones.  I guess you need a vegetable garden.  In which case you could probably just grow spinach.

SHAM GINGER – WHAT NO COPYCAT MARYANNE?

 

Mock Ginger

This one is just ridic.  Making sham ginger from cucumbers and ground ginger?  Why not just use the ground ginger?

 

DESSERTS

LETS END IT ALL WITH SOME CHEESECAKE PUDDING

So, cheesecake…technically not a cake.  But always containing cheese right?

Not so much.

Mock Cheesecake

Q: How disappointed would you be if someone told you they were making cheesecake for dessert and it turned out to be sieved potato with a smattering of sultanas?

A:

I THINK WE ALL MIGHT NEED A DRINK!

In fact, it’s time to totally relax because all the bad food is behind us and kick back with a glass of the very appropriately named Tequila Mockingbird Cocktail!  This is soooo good.  Fruity, sweet, spicy and with a little kick of da da da da da da da…Tequila!

Tequila Mockingbird Recipe


I hope you enjoyed this little foray into the weird and…well…certainly not wonderful world of mock foods.  Tell me?  Do you have recipes for Mock Food in your collection? Have you ever made a mock food?  And did it taste like the real deal?

Have a wonderful week!