November, 2020 - Retro Food For Modern Times

23
Nov
2020

Castilian Leg of Lamb- Dining with The Dame 7

categories: Dining With The Dame, Lamb, Poirot

Hello crime readers and food lovers! Today we are dining on a Castilian leg of lamb as we uncover the evil machinations of a shady group of evildoers known as The Big Four. This is certainly not my favourite of the books I have read so far as the plot seemed a little silly in parts. However one of the early stories significantly involves a leg of lamb This seemed like a great excuse for a roast dinner and the meal did not disappoint!

The Big Four- The Plot

This novel pits Hercule Poirot against four evil genius’ bent on world domination – they are an American – the richest man in the world, a female French scientist, the Chinese leader of the group – a criminal genius and “the Destroyer” the group’s assassin who is also a master of disguise and (wait for it) a British actor.

We have:

Sinister cabals
Poisoned curries
Poisoned grandmasters
Hijinks on trains
Stolen radium
Secret lairs under mountains
Twin brothers
Telltale tics
And, course Hercule Poirot (or is it twin brother Achilles?) using his little grey cells to thwart the villains and their evil plans.

The Covers

Given that we are talking about the Big Four – I’m showing four covers today. The third from the left is the one I read but I am rather taken by all the others.

The Recipe – Castilian Leg of Lamb

The recipe comes from the wonderful Keith Floyd and his journey through Spain – not in the search of arch criminals but in search of some damn fine nosh!

You can find the recipe here. You can also watch the entire series of Keith Floyd’s adventures in Spain on YouTube. Floyd is so engaging it is well worth investing the time.

In his hand he was brandishing a leg of mutton! “My dear Poirot!” I cried “What is the matter? Have you suddenly gone mad?”

“Regard, I pray you , this mutton. But regard it closely!”

I regarded it as closely as I could but could see nothing unusual about it. It seemed to me to be a very ordinary leg of mutton.”

Agatha Christie, The Big Four

Other Food Mentioned in The Big Four

Have a wonderful week! Next book in the list is The Mystery of the Blue Train from 1928.

22
Nov
2020

Homemade Ricotta – Finding my Whey!

categories: Cheese

As regular readers will know I am cooking my way through Sylvia Colloca’s Made in Italy which was a Tasty Read’s book whey back in 2015. To date, I have two recipes left to cook and I am going to try to get them both done this weekend. However, one recipe which bamboozled me was Silvia’s recipe for homemade ricotta.

I really wanted to make my own ricotta but there was something in Silvia’s recipe that was a stumbling block. It called for a whole litre of whey. I had no idea where I could get that from. I mean I eat a lot of yoghurt but even for me, collecting a whole litre of whey would take about a year! The internet abounds with recipes and ideas to use your leftover whey but falls strangely silent on how to get it in the first place. There’s whey protein powder but that seems to be more for bodybuilding than cheesemaking.

I asked a friend who regularly makes her own ricotta. “Where do you get your whey from?” The answer was a largely unhelpful “From the previous lot of cheese”.

Hmmm….so, with no seeming way to get whey, I turned to the internet. Which did not disappoint. I found an Epicurious recipe that used water and lemon juice instead of whey!

Well whey, hey we are good to go for the making of ricotta! It’s so easy!!!! It’s not a pretty process as it involves curdling the milk and cream with lemon juice.

And then straining the curds out of the whey.

So simple! And the end result is proper ricotta!

Making anything from scratch is great. Making cheese…amazing!!! I was so proud of myself! And this is a great way to use up cream that you may have leftover from making other things. I guess that technically I should have saved the whey from this batch so I could make Silvia’s recipe but I totally forgot. I am thinking about what a goat’s milk ricotta might be like so maybe I will save that batch.

Silvia says you can use your homemade ricotta for breakfast with honey and fruit. I used mine, with some homegrown oregano to make Ottolenghi’s Ricotta and Oregano Meatballs . They were delicious and I thought I would have some over to take some photos of the following day but we ate them all!

Homemade ricotta and homegrown oregano!!! Look at me being all homestead! I felt like I was from the little house on the prairie!

Now excuse me, I’m off to turn a hollow log into a meat smoker!

Have a great week whatever you get up to!

11
Nov
2020

Devilled Biscuits – Be Tempted!

categories: Snacks

I made this recipe for Devilled Biscuits almost as a dare. I did not see how they could work…but I had just made a big old batch of mango chutney and was looking for something to do with it apart from using it as an accompaniment to a curry. This recipe fitted the bill perfectly. I had all of the ingredients in the house so it was also a no brainer.

The recipe for deviled biscuits is so simple. Mix chutney, Worchestershire sauce and butter. Spread on thin water crackers and grill. Serve with cold cream cheese and radishes.

The bit that perplexed me was the grilling of the biscuit. I thought the chutney butter would slide right off. Instead, it sort of sunk into the biscuit leaving a slight spiciness from the chutney. Just as a test, I spread the chutney butter on a bagel on the third day I made this recipe and it didn’t work. The thinness and crispiness of the water cracker worked much better with the chutney butter!

And yes, I said the third day I made this. I made the deviled biscuits for lunch two days running. They were really (and surprisingly) good. And definitely moorish! The cream cheese and radish topping was also great! When I made the bagel version I added a little sprinkle of chopped chives and some freshly ground black pepper which also worked really nicely with the other flavours.

The recipe for the deviled biscuits came from a book called Recipes From An Edwardian Country House by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall so comes from the early years of the last century.

And here it is!

The Recipe – Devilled Biscuits

Also, you can scale up the butter mixture and freeze it for next time!

I did have a little laugh at this review of the book on Amazon:

Well, I beg to differ Bank of America, I thought this was a great little tasty snack or work from home lunch. Also, don’t you have better things to do, Bank of America, than leave 2-star reviews on Amazon? Shouldn’t you be saving the economy or something? Why are you searching for good old recipes! Who are you? Me?

Enjoy!

And have a great week!

Month: November 2020

The Big Four- The Plot

The Covers

The Recipe – Castilian Leg of Lamb

Other Food Mentioned in The Big Four

The Recipe – Devilled Biscuits