Hello Food Lovers, Who doesn’t love a homemade gourmet gift? And you know who has time to home-make gourmet gifts? Posh people that’s who! And, as we know posh people like to eat flowers, this is not just plain old homemade mustard, this is sparkling wine and lavender mustard! Very posh indeed. And so easy to make! The recipe for this comes from the xxx edition of that bastion of posh food, xxxxxx. So why not get your retro gifting on and make some for your friends this year? T
As well as lavender buds and sparkling wine, this mustard has a heap of herbs in it which makes it quite green. The lavender is not overbearing, in fact the mustard packs quite a strong mustardy punch rather than some old fusty thing you would find in your nana’s cupboard. It goes perfectly with ham or other meats on your Christmas table or in sandwiches with leftovers. I have also stirred a spoonful of it into mayonnaise and then used this mix as the dressing for a potato salad. It would also be great in a Beef with Lavender Mustard or in an Elsa Greer Roast Beef Sandwich. You could even put some of your leftover Beef in Lavender Mustard into your Elsa Greer Sandwich! 🤯
Sparkling Lavender Mustard – The Recipe
Variations
You could also experiment with the herbs used in this – a handful of tarragon would be lovely. Or, if you are not a lover of sparkling wine you could use white wine as suggested by the actual recipe.
For me though, a little glass of sparkling as I made this was a perfect way to kick off the Christmas vibe!
A quick note on making the mustard. I found that my little food processor shown above, did not process the mustard seeds as much as I wanted them to be processed, so I took the mixture out and bashed it about a bit in a mortar and pestle until I got it to the consistency I wanted. This likely would have been easier to do before putting the seeds into the food processor. Also, bear in mind that the more you bash the seeds about, the more pungent your resulting mustard will be. The photo below shows the difference in texture between the two.
Gifting your Sparkling Lavender Mustard
The mustard will keep for at least 6 months if kept in the fridge after opening. I would suggest making it about a month before you want to gift it to allow the flavours to all settle down and meld together. If you want to decorate the jar as I have done, you need to cut some circles of cloth about 2.5cm larger in diameter than your jar. I tend to save little jars during the year so I have a ready supply of these. Make sure that you sterilise your jars – I do mine in the dishwasher. I then popped a little dab of glue onto the jar lid and place the cloth circle over the lid.
Fill your jar with mustard and close the jar. Wrap with some kitchen twine or raffia. Add a sticker if you wish, telling people what is inside. If you have fresh lavender flowers, your can also add a few of these. I just tucked mine under the string.
And voila, a perfect little gourmet treat as a hostess or other gift!
Over the next week or so election fever will hit many of us like a less lethal but possibly more pervasive version of the ‘rona. After all, the fate of many will ride on the outcome of this highly important and contentious race. I am, of course talking about our local Moonee Valley council elections! And yes, of course, there is another far more important election happening shortly. But today, we are keeping it local and going exotic with a recipe for the Lord Mayor’s Mango Chutney!
The recipe comes from the June 1991 issue of Vogue Entertaining Australia. It features in an article called “Banquet by The Billabong” which is all about posh dining outside
What that glamourous description doesn’t tell you is that the calls of the river life probably include crocodiles that will kill you quicker than you can blink and mosquitos carrying dengue fever, Ross River virus and Murray Valley Encephalitis . Then there’s the venomous snakes and the poisonous spiders and the drop bears. And the occasional serial killer to boot. That rustle of linen could well be the noose around your neck and the chink of silver the knife about to slit your throat!.
Come on, it’s Hallowe’en! if we’re not going to get dark at this time of year when are we????
Something a lot less Wolf Creeky is this recipe for Mango Chutney which comes from Alex Fong Lim who was Lord Mayor of Darwin from 1984-1990. This is a fabulous recipe too. I don’t like a lot of commercial mango chutneys because I find them too sweet. This however, has the perfect blend of sweet and spice and heat. And it is so pretty as well! The chunks of mango become almost translucent as they cook so they look like gorgeous bright jewels. This is the perfect accompaniment to a curry – the picture directly below had it paired beautifully with Nick Sharma’s Chicken Biryani Tagine and the one below that has it matched up with a Sri Lankan chicken curry badun.
Lord Mayor’s Chutney – The Recipe
You can, of course, adjust the amount of chilli to suit your taste. I only used 500g of mango and 2 birdseye chillies in my chutney. I also used fresh grated ginger and sultanas because I can’t abide raisins. Most importantly for those of you who cannot get ripe or under-ripe mangoes, or it is not mango season even if you can, I used a packet of chopped frozen mango for my chutney and I was very happy with the results!
I’m not entirely sure about what the other duties of a Lord Mayor are. I guess they are boss of the council? But if the quality of this recipe is anything to go by, then maybe part of their job description needs to be that they all have to share a recipe with their constituents!
English is meant to be one of the most descriptive and eloquent languages in the world. Why then, do some phrases sound so blah when contrasted to their foreign counterparts? Take Green Sauce, this week’s dish o’ the week. How much better would it sound if it were called Salsa Verde or Sauce Verte or even Pesto?
All of these suggest a zing, a zippiness, a brightness that plain old Green Sauce totally fails to convey. However, out of everything I made from The Meatball cookbook, the green sauce was an absolute standout highlight which I will make over and over.
This stuff is like crack. Seriously, make it once and you will want to smear, drizzle, spread this over EVERYTHING. And here’s the thing – it’s good with everything. Here are some of the stuff I have eaten it with outside of the meatballs:
Steak
Roast chicken //Poached Chicken
Pasta
Bread
Fish or any white seafood – lobster, crayfish, prawns, scallops
Baked and boiled potatoes
And it’s not just me. Everyone in the book club who made this sauce agreed it was the bomb!
It’s also a good way to get rid of some of the herbs you have used in other recipes that might otherwise go to waste. I have added tarragon and mint into the mix and it was delicious both times.
Make it. Make it today. You will not be disappointed. I promise.
Oh yeah, the meatballs were good too! These are the chicken, cheese and corn balls.
No real recipe fails this week – just me failing to make some Banana Buttermilk Pancakes (which have been top of my list for weekend breakfasts) for maybe the tenth week in a row. I’ve given up, I’m making a saffron and pistachio kulfi with the buttermilk as we speak.
This week I am looking forward to cooking:
After the meatfest that was meatball week, I am looking forward to making some salads and this Cucumber, Pistachio, Grape and Feta salad from Australian Gourmet Traveller is hitting every button I have.
So is this Shaved Asparagus, Cured Beef and Manchego Salad but I’m not sure if I can be arsed curing my own beef. Does that make me lazy? Or is that asking too damn much? What is a good substitute? I was thinking I could use pastrami. Suggestions gratefully accepted!
Hmm…there’s buttermilk in that dressing. Maybe the banana pancakes are back on the menu.
In the oven at the moment is Vincent Price’s Champagne chicken for the #treasurycookalong over at Silver Screen Suppers, it is smelling delicious!
In Other News I Am
Listening To
I have downloaded but am yet to listen to The Message Podcast. I’ll let you know how that one works out.
Reading
Still on Orphan #8. Had a moment this week sitting in the doctor’s waiting room to get my foot x-rayed whilst reading about a woman who had her whole life destroyed by x-rays and briefly wondered if I should make a run for it. Sadly, the most I could have managed was a slow hobble.
Reading/Listening
For some reason my computer decided to wipe all the files for Life After Life. Which is a shame because I was really enjoying it.I’m not totally upset though because I think it is something I will like even more by actually reading it.
I have switched to audio reading Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and I am loving it. I think Jon Ronson is brilliant and have read (nearly) all of his books and never been disappointed. There is something about those smart witty British boys (Ronson, Alain De Botton, Louis Theroux) that does it for me BIG time. I am also totally loving that Jon Ronson is reading the audio himself. I would recommend this to anyone who has any online presence (this means you) in terms of how to behave on the old dub-dub-dub that we all share.
Niki Sengit’s The Flavour Thesaurus is a book I have dipped in and out of for years. I am now reading it cover to cover. And loving it too. I can’t tell you what I enjoy more, her scalding wit or the great recipe suggestions.
Watching
I watched Best in Show earlier today and it was as funny as ever. I had totally forgotten some of the mad random bits of hilarity such as Eugene Levy’s two left feet. Utterly watchable!
I have a real hankering to go back and watch some early XFiles. I have yet to scratch that particular itch but it’s there….
Here is the Green Sauce Recipe and if you are only ever going to act on one thing from this blog make this green sauce.
50g (a large bunch) flat leaf (Italian) parsley, leaves picked
50g (a large bunch) basil, leaves picked
1 clove of garlic
35g blanched almonds
10g anchovies
Juice of 1 lemon
120ml extra virgin olive oil
25 parmesan cheese, finely grated
Instructions
Blitz the herbs, garlic, almonds, anchovies, lemon juice, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper in a food processor for around a minute or until a smooth sauce has formed.
Add the parmesan and blitz for another minute.
What’s going on in your life / kitchen? What was the best thing you made this week?
You know how some people step up and excel under pressure? I’m not one of them. I warp. I buckle. I crumple and fold. When the going gets tough you can usually find me sobbing in a corner. And one of the things that really fazes me is cooking for other people – not so much for dinners but a bake sale? Guaranteed disaster. Last time? Yes, that was me running into the 7-11 well after midnight, (after the first four attempts at cupcakes had failed) wild eyed, smeared with flour and frosting and slightly twitchy. “Where’s your cake mix? I need a box of cake mix. And I need it now!!!!” I was like a demented Betty Crocker junkie desperate for my fix…..
Sigh.
The April Daring Cooks Challenge was brought to us by Joanne from What’s On The List. She taught us all about Pathiri and challenged us to create our own version of this inspirational Indian dish!
Challenge was right, I felt the first stirrings of panic rising even as I read the recipe….
So, let’s take a step back before I start hyperventilating (again) and look at this dish called Chatti Pathiri. For those of you, who, like me had never heard of Chatti Pathiri, the best way to explain is that it’s kinda, sorta like an Indian Lasagne where crepes step in for the pasta sheet and, in my case a spicy chicken and chickpea curry acts as the filling.
Yeah, you heard it….yummy, yummy crepes and delicious chicken and chickpea curry. And after you layer these two bits of deliciosuness, you slather them in coconut milk and bake it all together. And mark my words….It’s all good.
So why the fear? Why the cold hand of dread on my spine I hear you ask? Not because of the recipe, that was awesome!!! But because I kind of know Joanne. She reads this. She comments. She’s a lovely, friendly delightful person. And she has entrusted me (and yes, ok thousands of other people on the Daring Kitchen) with a recipe that is obviously very special to her.
And what if I took her delicious recipe and totally screwed it up?
Arrrgggghhhhhh!!!
The pressure….
(I know. Such a Drama Queen. Feel free to roll your eyes. I would be.)
Luckily for me, Joanne’s recipe proved to be idiot proof!!! And super delicious!!!! You can find it here.
I added a little bit more chilli and a can of chickpeas into the chicken mix but apart from that I used Joanne’s recipe as is.
Chatti Pathiri
I served my version of Chatti Pathiri with a coconut and coriander sambol and some cherry tomatoes drizzled with a little bit of pomegranate molasses.
A spicy and refreshing side dish, perfect for eating with your Chatti Pathiri or any other indian dish
Prep Time:15
Total Time:15
Ingredients
Scale
3 tbsp coriander leaves
75g coconut (freshly grated is best, I used dessicated)
3 green chillies, deseeded
1 clove of garlic
2.5 cm piece of ginger
2 tsp mint leaves
1 tsp sugar
Salt and freshly squeezed lime juice to taste
Instructions
Place all ingredients, except lime and salt in a food processor and process until finely chopped.
Add salt and lime juice to taste.
Serve as an accompaniment to curries
Nutrition
Serving Size:4
The sambol will last in the fridge for about a week if you seal it up. Which is perfect because the Chatti Pathiri is also pretty good reheated on the second day!!!
Joanne, if you’re reading this, thank you very much for the recipe. I loved making it and I loved eating it even more. I hope I have done your recipe and you proud!!!
If this has piqued your interest in Pathiri and /or you would like to see how other Daring Kitchen members interpreted the challenge, you can see some of the completed dishes on Joanne’s blog here.
Or just head over and have a read, you won’t be disappointed!
And speaking of reading, I joined the Goodreads Food and Fiction book. And here’s another thing you may not know about me – my first venture into blogging was trying to match food to the books I was reading. It’s an idea I return to every now and again and I may start adding in one or two of those in the not too distant. In the meantime, if, like me you love food and you love fiction…the Goodreads group may be something for you! You can find a link over on the right.
Have a great week!!!!
And if you want to get chatty, leave a comment!!!!
For March’s Daring Cooks’ Challenge, (yes, I know I’m a little behind the times) Ruth, Shelley and Sawsan asked us to totally veg out! We made salads and dressings, letting the sky be the limit as we created new flavors and combinations that reflect our own unique tastes.
My own unique tastes huh? Oh boy. Who smells trouble? With a capital T.
Vanilla Horseradish Dressing with Roast Beef Salad
The salad dressing challenge actually came at a good time as I had just started on “SaladsFor All Seasons” and the 1971 recipe comes directly from that.
Remember a few posts ago when I mentioned that the word “Surprise” when contained in a vintage recipe generally denotes something dubious? Well here’s another instalment of words to strike fear into the heart of any retro cooker. Beware words denoting parsimony of any description – Pennywise, Frugal, Thrifty. Even more than the “Surprise” these should best be avoided.
Then brace yourselves, because today we are taste-testing Rosemary Mayne-Wilson’s recipe for….
ECONOMICAL MAYONNAISE
On page 23 of Salads For All Seasons“, Rosemary Mayne-Wilson describes mayo as
“A process of forcing egg yolks to absorb oil and to hold them in an emulsion, thick and creamy”
And ok, not the most romantic of descriptions but technically correct.
I can only assume that somewhere between writing page 23 and page 24 she was possessed by the devil. It’s the only way to explain the eggless, oilless monstrosity that is the economical mayonnaise.
A lot of the time, if I think something is going to be awful, I don’t make it because I hate to see food wasted. However, by its own definition this is economical. So I thought I would give it a try. So, I made it. And it was…
Drumroll please….
Absolutely fucking horrible.
The best thing you could say about it was that it looked like mayonnaise. And that it tasted like condensed milk mixed with vinegar.
Yeah, I know normally that wouldn’t be a plus. Believe me, I’m scrambling for positives here.
The worst was….
Have you ever bought berry scented nail polish remover? This tasted like how that smells – there was an initial sickly sweetness followed by a throat catching, eye watering sharpness…it was really bad. And not one iota like lovely, gorgeous, creamy, delicious mayonnaise.
However, I wanted to be fair to the recipe and it’s not every day you eat mayo straight off the spoon – which is what provoked the above reaction. And here at Retro Foods For Modern Times we are nothing if not scientific – so I had the idea to do a blind taste testing of the Economical Mayo vs a normal mayo. And what better item to test this on but what is fast becoming this blog’s favourite ingredient, the humble egg.
The Egg Experiment
I wanted to keep this very plain so the flavours of the mayo would be “pure” so I found a very simple recipe for Stuffed Eggs – pretty much just egg yolk and mayo. The idea was to make up two identical mixes, one with a bought mayo and one with the Economical, then mix up the egg halves so it was impossible to tell the difference between them – and blind taste test them. If I couldn’t tell them apart…then any snarkiness on my part was utterly due to my own prejudices and not fact.
That didn’t work.
Primarily because the two versions looked completely different to each other. It was utterly impossible not to tell them apart:
Stuffed Eggs
Even though the recipe was too heavy on the mayo, the bought mayonnaise behaved as it should when mixed with egg yolk and formed a rounded dome. Mixing the boiled egg yolks with the economical mayonnaise just made a yellow runny “mayonnaise”. It was so runny that when I bit into it, the mixture ran out of the egg all over my hand which was gross. The egg did temper some of the sharpness of the vinegar but in this instance – Epic Fail for 1971!!!
So, after the disaster of the Economical Mayo, I was a little apprehensive about trying the modern recipe for salad dressing which also mixed a sweet ingredient with something quite pungent.
The following is based on a recipe for Vanilla Horseradish dressing which I found in “500Paleo Recipes” by Dana Carpender.
I would have through cavemen would have been too busy trying to survive to be pfaffing about with vanilla beans. Then again, my entire knowledge of the paleolithic era is based on B grade movies where scantily clad cavewomen and dinosaurs co-exist. So what do I know?
¼ cup vinegar – I used white wine, the original recipe calls for white balsamic
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp white pepper
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup (175 ml) olive oil
¼ tsp mustard powder
2 tbsp horseradish
Instructions
Put all of the ingredients into a blender and mix together until it looks creamy – around 30 seconds.
Notes
If you can lay your hands on fresh horseradish, it would be good to finely grate your own. I used bought horseradish sauce from the supermarket
This was awesome!!! Really, really good. I had this on a salad I made with some left over roast beef which was rather dry. By the time I came to eat this at lunch time, the beef was gorgeously, melt in your mouth tender – I suspect this was some action of the horseradish or maybe the vanilla. Either way, it was delicious!!!
Vanilla Horseradish Dressing
The vanilla is quite subtle, initially providing more of an aroma and only the teeniest undercurrent of flavour. You know, it’s of those times where, if you didn’t know what it was, you wouldn’t know what it was. But it would drive you mad trying to pinpoint what exactly it was.
I also had this on a few other salads and it was good every time!
I would caution against adding more vanilla into the mix as I found that the longer I kept this in the fridge, and I had it in there for close to a week, the stronger the taste of vanilla became. My vivid imagination? Possibly.
I would love to know what other people think of this recipe and if they noticed the same thing. Please let me know if you make it!!!
Oh, and just in case you thought I meant a different kind of dressing for success, lets take a peek at what the cool kids were wearing in 1971.
For the ladies, it was definitely the year of the hotpant…
Whereas for the gentlemen, it ranged from the high necked and tightly belted straightlaced work attire….
To the “manly gown” which was both smart and comfy for lazing in.
Toupé and soap on a rope optional extras. Sold separately.
And then there was the downright bizarre….hang on…isn’t this the same guy from the first photo? Is this what he’s wearing under that tightly belted turtleneck?
Eww…I’m going to go before this gets creepy…or should that be any creepier?
