January, 2020 - Retro Food For Modern Times

Month: January 2020

27
Jan
2020

Millionaire’s Ice Cream

categories: Cornwall, Icecream, Original Recipes, Travel

Hello, people of the internet, welcome and hear me out. Because today I am making a bold statement. If you ever have to make the choice of cooking just one recipe from this blog, then, this Millionaire’s Ice Cream is the one! It’s seriously THAT good!!!! And so easy to make as well!

I first tasted Millionaire’s Ice Cream in Cornwall on holiday last year. At the time, I commented on Instagram that I had just eaten the best ice cream I had ever tasted. Of course, the setting helped. It was the gorgeous coastal town of Port Isaac.

If you are a fan of British TV shows about irascible doctors, Port Isaac may look familiar to you. The TV series Doc Martin is filmed here. The town is renamed Port Wenn in the series.

I have circled the Doc’s house in the above photo. And right down the road from the Doc’s house is Mrs Titchell’s pharmacy, which, in real life is the local sweet shop, Harbor Treats. I first tasted the delight that is Millionaire’s Ice Cream At Harbor Treats. Right away, I knew I wanted to make my own version of Millionaire’s ice cream when I got home! And here’s the thing, for something that tastes so luscious and decadent, Millonaire’s Ice Cream is one of the easiest things you can ever make.

That’s Bert Large, one of the locals of Port Wenn. But, back to the ice cream. Sure, you can make it more difficult by making all the components from scratch and I have added in links to each component to allow you to do just that if you so desire. The only thing I made from scratch was the chocolate ganache. And, to my mind, mine was as delicious as the one from Port Isaac.

So let’s get started.

Start with a layer of crumbled shortbread biscuits. Keep these a little bit chunky, you don’t want them to be as fine as if you were making a crumb crust.

Then a layer of vanilla ice cream.

Then a layer of salted caramel sauce. I used Bonne Maman but you can find a recipe here. Just splodge it on, it does not have to be perfect.

Then, repeat each of these layers. At any time during this process, if the icecream starts getting too runny, you can pop it into the freezer for about 10 minutes to allow it to firm up.

Finally, a layer of chocolate ganache over the top. This is the ganache recipe I followed. Then back into the freezer to allow everything to set. A little smattering of sea salt flakes over that ganache will not go astray either!

Get ready for YUM!!!!

This ice cream will make you feel like a million dollars!

And don’t worry, in case you get too excited by the ice cream, the good Doc is on hand to keep things in check

Have a great week!

14
Jan
2020

Pasties (inspired by Cornwall)

categories: Cornwall, England, Pastry, Travel, United Kingdon, World Cooking

We have had a few wet days this week (not complaining if it will put out some of the fires that are burning out of control). But the rather damp summer weather reminded of being in England last year and most particularly our trip to Cornwall where it rained buckets for the first two days. Which in turn reminded me of that great staple of Cornish food, the pasty! These are everywhere in Cornwall, well all through England actually, but eating proper Cornish Pasties was the very first thing we did when we got to St Ives. BTW, the people of Cornwall are tremendously possessive of their pasties. It is for this reason that I am not calling my version Cornish Pasties. Mine are more Cornish-ish Pasties.

We had an odd discussion after I ordered our pasties at the bakery.

“What did you call them?” asked the fussiest eater in the world.

“Pasties” In Australia, we pronounce these with a long A. Pah-sties.

Apparently, the correct pronunciation is with a short” A” like in “pastel”.

I can’t get on board with this, even if it is technically correct. They will always, and only ever be, pah-sties to me. If you’re British or a pedant, knock yourself out with that short A. For those of you not familiar with pasties or pah-sties, just remember that it is never pronounced “Paste-ies”. They are what strippers put on their nips and not delicious beef and veg cooked to perfection in a pastry case!

The pasties in Cornwall are crimped to perfection, each one the exact replica of its neighbour. Mine were a little bit more….hmmmm…let’s call them individualistic.

The perfectly shaped pasty:

Mine:

Pasties came about as food for Cornish tin miners. Originally, the pastry was just to protect the meat and veg from the dirt inside the mines so I guess that a few misshapen pastry shells would not have mattered back in the day!

There is a great article from The Guardian about the history (and contents) of the pasty which you can read here. My favourite bit of that article is the legend that the Devil was scared to cross the River Tamar from Devon because the women of Cornwall were renown for putting anything and everything into their pasties. Imagine popping down to your local bakery for a Satan Pastie! Although actually not quite everything – the carrot – which you will see in many recipes for pasties is a big no-no in the traditional recipes. Potatoes, swedes and onions are the only veg your pasty needs! It also needs LOTS of pepper.

Swedes are such funny things! I only recently found out that the colour difference in the swede is due to the white part growing underground and the purple part growing above ground!

I pretty much followed the recipe given by the Cornish Pasty Association except that I used bought shortcrust pastry! Another legend says that the pastry needs to be solid enough to be dropped down a mineshaft (and land) without falling apart. Mine were going from the oven to my lunchbox so I didn’t have to worry about their structural integrity so much!

Let’s wrap this baby up and pop it in the oven. While it’s baking away, let’s have a look at some of pics of St Ives and Mont St Michel.

This would be a great hill to have a picnic on. Get some pasties to go and enjoy the view!

Here is another article from the Guardian about where and how to eat your pasties. I actually think they are great for picnics as the pastry holds in the heat of the filling for a while. As for condiments – ketchup and the more of it the better for me. Maybe a teeny splash of tabasco with it!

This is The Sloop Inn where we stayed in St Ives.

And here is St Michael’s Mount. You can only reach this at low tide otherwise the causeway is underwater!

Let’s take a peek at our pasties…ah perfectly done!!!

What always astonishes me with pasties is how the meat and veg cooks exactly at the same time as the pastry. You never get any hard lumps of raw potato. It truly is like magic!!!! Now, where’s that ketchup?

Cornwall is so beautiful. I was really happy to be reminded of the trip and all the delicious food we ate there!. I made these pasties way back in October and just writing about them has made me want to make them again. Let’s hope the weather stays bad so I can get baking!

And finally, if you can’t get enough of pasties, here are some more facts….oops! I just realised I crimped my pasties in the Devonshire way! Good thing I said right from the get-go that these were only Cornish-ish (Cornish adjacent?) pasties!!!!

Have a great week everyone!!!!

06
Jan
2020

Sriracha Deviled Eggs

categories: Devilled Eggs, Eggs, Starters

Happy New Year Everyone!!!! Let’s hope it is wonderful for all of us. And speaking of wonderful – let’s talk deviled eggs! Specifically, let’s talk Sriracha deviled eggs. For Christmas Day, I wanted an appetiser that could stave off hunger pangs while the main meal and sides finished cooking. Ideally, I also wanted something that I could cook the day before so there was one less thing to worry about on the big day. This recipe for Sriracha Deviled Eggs fitted the bill perfectly! Plus, I got to use my gorgeous deviled egg plate!! That’s a definite win-win situation!

I tell you, cooking Christmas lunch was hard work, By the end, my plan looked like one of those walls you see in murder mysteries, with scribbled notes and arrows linking timelines all over the place. At best, timing is my bête noire so trying to ensure 3 appetisers, 4 different kinds of meat, two sides and a dessert all arrived at the table at the right time required a lot of planning and, let’s be truthful, a little bit of luck! Here’s a facsimile of my plan!

So, it was a massive relief that the Sriracha Deviled eggs could be made the day before. And, despite my wonky piping, they looked so pretty on the plate! The recipe I had for these eggs had a garlic breadcrumb topping which, to be honest, I did not like the sound of. They would have also been one more thing that would have needed cooking on what was already a mad schedule. Instead, I topped my eggs with a slice of fried shallot (bought at the Asian grocery), a sliver of red chilli and about a third of a coriander leaf. A sprinkle of smoked paprika and voila, the eggs were done. And the colours not only matched the plate but the red chilli and green coriander were also very festive.

The gorgeous plate was a birthday present from my dear friend Ali a few years ago. I love it but do not use it nearly enough. This year may well become the year of the deviled egg just so I can use it more often!

The eggs went down a treat and were the perfect start to our Christmas festivities. I was, at the time unaware that the great, great granddaddy of the deviled eggs we serve today were served way back in Roman times to the wealthy patricians as a first course called gustatio. (Which is, I guess where we get the word gustation)

Well, if you would like to have a gustatio of your own, here’s the recipe!

A disclaimer on the recipe. Usually, when I clip a recipe I write on the back the details from whence it came so I can give credit where credit is due. This clipping has no reference so maybe someone gave it to me or it might be from before I started blogging and just clipped things because I liked the sound of them! The font of the clipping makes me think it might be from a Delicious magazine but I cannot find a recipe online to confirm or deny. If the recipe seems familiar to anyone, please let me know so I can reference it properly. The eggs are basically that recipe with a few tweaks, the garnishes are my idea.

Sriracha Deviled Eggs

Print Recipe

A delicious appetiser, perfect for a festive celebration

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

For the Eggs!
6 hard boiled eggs, shelled and halved
2 tbsp Sriracha chilli sauce
2 –3 tbsp Mayonnaise
4 Chives, finely chopped
For the Garnish!
Crispy fried shallots
Red Chilli, finely sliced
Coriander leaves
Smoked Paprika / Cayenne Pepper

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Remove the yolks from the eggs with a teaspoon. Tip into a bowl.
Add the Sriracha and mayonnaise and mash until smooth.
Stir through the chives.
If you want to be fancy, put the yolk mixture into a piping bag and pipe the mixture back into the egg halves using a star nozzle.
Otherwise, just spoon the mixture back into the egg halves.
Eitherway, garnish with a slice of crispy fried shallot, a thin slice of red chilli and a small piece of coriander leaf.
Sprinkle with smoked paprika, or if you are feeling brave enough for a triple dose of chilli, some cayenne.

Notes

Please try to use free range eggs for this!

Have a fabulous week!