Meat - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: Meat

28
May
2023

May 2003 – The Letter P

categories: Chicken Liver, Classic Recipes, Crab, Steak, Super Food Ideas

Welcome friends to Twenty Years Ago today, where we find out what the good people of 2003 were eating via a magazine of the time and a self-imposed challenge by which to deliver a menu. Today’s magazine was Super Food Ideas from May 2003 and the challenge was to build a menu that featured the letter P.

But first, let’s set the scene by having a quick peek at what was hot in May 2003. The Matrix Reloaded was number one at the office followed by X2: X Men United and Bruce Almighty. Topping the Australian music charts through that same month were “In Da Club” by 50 Cent, “Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake and “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence. Also, sneaking up on those charts was another favourite of mine, “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes so for my mind, May 2003 had some pretty good music and some fairy average films. In book sales for the month, The Da Vinci Code was #2 and The Devil Wears Prada was #8.

So, pop some JT on your speakers and open that bottle full of bub, because we are going to party like it’s your birthday with a menu featuring the letter P.

The Menu – May 2003

Chicken Liver Paté – To Wake You Up Inside

There were actually a few options for the starter – the paté which I chose, a prawn cocktail and some mini potato cakes with smoked salmon and creme fraiche. I literally eeny meeny miny mo’ed these three recipes to choose one. The pate was easy to make and was quite delicious. It was a little grainier than bought patés but that probably says more about my food processor than any real flaw in the recipe.

Chicken Liver Pate Recipé:

Pepper Steak – To Rock Your Body

The pepper steak main was delicious! And another classic to go with the very traditional starter! And although I am trying to limit my consumption of red meat, this is likely to go on high rotation!

Pepper Steak Recipe:

Pecan and Date Syrup Pudding

I was soooo disappointed that I didn’t have time to make this. I even bought all the ingredients but, the weekend I had planned to make it, I also realised we had most of a bag of apples that were getting a bit old…so apple pie it was. However, as I said I have all the ingredients so this pudding may make an appearance in the coming weeks.

Pecan and Date Syrup Pudding Recipe:

My Nigella Moment – Chilli Crab

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 the most appetising thing in the mag!

I mean…who does not love a Chilli Crab. I mean…who does not love Chilli Crab. We had the most memorable chilli crab in Malaysia. We went on a tour to see the fireflies where part of the tour was dinner. The restaurant looked pretty basic – plastic plates and cups, definitely catering to the tourists going to see the fireflies so we were not expecting much. Then they brought out the chilli crab!!! It was amazing. So fresh and tasty. It was divine. So expectations were high on this one. Could I do our memories of chilli crab justice?

I am not going to blow my own trumpet to say this was as good as our Malaysian meal. For a start, it was not followed by cruising down the river watching fireflies, it was followed by a night on the couch watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall which was this week’s film club choice! BUT…this was AMAZING!!!! A seven-nation army couldn’t hold me back from this one!

Chilli Crab Recipe:

Oh my gosh, Super Food Ideas delivered on the P recipes! This was a great month of eating for me culminating in that chilli crab…possibly the best month yet! And the pudding still to come!

So tell me, if you were making a menu featuring the letter P, what would you make?

And have a great week!

26
Feb
2023

Estofado

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Meat, North and South America

Hola Amigos! Today I am presenting an Argentinian dish from Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972). Estofado is a stew made with beef, Spanish sausage, wine, and vegetables. And it is soo good! Absolutely delicious. We loved it!

The only drawback with the Estofado was that it takes over 3 hours to cook so it would not usually be an after-work dish. I was prepared though and left the office an hour early the night I planned to make it. The good point about the Estofado is that once you have browned the meat, the sausages, and the onions, you add all the other ingredients and then leave it alone for a couple of hours so you can get on with your work (or your life)! Just don’t stay too close to the kitchen because the aroma of the slow-cooked meat and the wine and herbs is quite distracting!

I quite like to hum a tune while I cook. And during the cooking of the Estofado, I found I was singing “Estofado…” to the tune of “Desperado”. I don’t really know the words to Desperado though so my version went:

“Estofado, why don’t you come to my tummy,

You’re smelling so good I know you’re going to be yummy”

I always remember my blogger pal Jenny’s advice on photographing brown food so I served my Estofado with some butter-roasted cabbage and a Parmesan crisp to try to relieve the browness of it all. I’ll be the first to say that my Estofado was not a pretty dish, this is hearty, warming tasty comfort food! And delicious. I will be making this all through winter!

Also, as with most slow-cooked, braised-type dishes, the Estofado tasted even better the following day.

Estofado Recipe

My short trip to Adelaide was amazing. As well as getting through a lot of work stuff I was also able to fit in a quick visit here, I had a delicious lunch here and had an amazing dinner at Two Pot Screamer! On my second and final day we popped across to the Adelaide market for lunch and a Portuguese tart that was to die for! Whenever I go to Adelaide I am always very impressed by what a great food and wine city it is. I can’t wait to get back there!

Have a great week everyone!

28
Jan
2023

Croquetas de Carne with Peruvian Salsa

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Meat, North and South America, Starters

Hola Amigos! Today we are taking a trip to South America via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972) for some croquetas de carne from Argentina. And to accompany them we are staying on the same continent but jumping forward in time to 1990 for some Peruvian Salsa. OMG, these were good! I mean not good for you – these are a treat for once-in-a-while. But…for those times when you get a craving for meaty cheesy fried balls with a spicy salsa…these will become your go-to. And once you have tried these croquetas de carne, believe me, those cravings will come far more regularly than before!

Croquetas de Carne

I have made croquettes once before with a ham and egg filling and the method was quite different. In that recipe, you made a fairly thick bechamel and then combined the ham and hard-boiled eggs and some herbs into the bechamel. With this one, you make your meat filling and then the roux/bechamel-type sauce in the same pan as the meat. It was kind of nifty as it meant you only used one pan. And less washing up is something that always makes me happy! 🤗

The croquetas de carne reminded me of our Sri Lankan short eat of Frikkadels which are also crumbed fried meatballs.

Croquetas de Carne – The Recipe

As good as these croquetas are, they did lack a little something-something. The croquetas are very rich; there is meat and cheese and a fried crumb! I felt something was needed to cut through the heaviness of the croquetas. Now, it just so happened that I made the croquetas on the same day that I wrote the post on my Moscow Potatoes. It was incredibly serendipitous that as I was begining to think about what I might serve with the croquetas that I happened to have the magazine page that contained the recipe for the Moscow Potatoes and Peruvian Salsa open right in front of me! Even better, I had all the ingredients for Peruvian Salsa in the house!

The chilli and lime in the salsa cut through the richness of the croqueta’s perfectly!

A match made in heaven! Or South America as the case may be.

Peruvian Salsa – The Recipe

A Return to The Compton-Batts

It wasn’t until just now that I had probably a tenth look at the menu put forward by the Compton-Batts that I realised how…well the magazine article calls their menu eclectic. I would probably go with batshit (erm Battshit anyone???) crazy. Here it is:

Moscow Potatoes
Pickled Fish
Blackened Tuna Sashimi
Chilli Stir Fried Lamb
Peruvian Salsa
Vegetables Cooked in Virgin Olive Oil
Asparagus with Parmesan
Berry Pudding with Armagnac Chantilly

First that is a LOT of food.

Second, it is a lot of food that does not really go together.

The Moscow Potatoes are, if not exactly Russian, inspired by Russia.

We then move across to…I don’t know where for the pickled fish. I initially would have thought this might be an escabeche so Spain, but there is ginger in the recipe which I don’t think is traditional in an escabeche. There is coriander in the garnish and coriander and ginger to me says Asia. I will say though that the recipe sounds delicious and I may well end up making it! Also, the recipe says to use white fish but the picture of the pickled fish looks like salmon to me. So the pickled fish is an enigma all round. Here’s a picture of it

The sashimi is obvs Japanese. But why would you have pickled fish and sashimi?

Then we have Chilli Stir Fried Lamb which uses a Chinese cooking method combined with Indian-style spices such as cumin and cardamom.

And the Chinese / Indian main is accompanied by a salsa from Peru. Which it doesn’t really need given it already has chlllies and lemon in it.

Also accompanying our stir fry we have some vegetables roasted in olive oil and some asparagus with Parmesan which for simplicity I am going to say is Italian-influenced. Here’s a pic of the asparagus which is drowning in olive oil. So again, two sides both drenched in olive oil and neither works particularly cohesive with the main dish!

Then for dessert there is a berry pudding (not a pudding but some berries soaked in port and Cabernet Sauvignon) served with an Armagnac Chantilly. So French inspired.

That is one wild menu I thought as I reached for another croqueta de carne dipped in some Peruvian Salsa. I’m glad I’m keeping it simple!

Have a great week!

04
Dec
2022

Spicy Mac And Cheese Bites

categories: 20 Years Ago Today, Magazines, Pasta, Prosciutto, Salami, Super Food Ideas

How many of you have ever had a horror day on the cooking front? The day when nothing went right? So It was with me when I went to make the “Baked Curly Shells and Proscuitto Cake” recipe from the November 2002 editiion of Super Food Ideas mag. For various reasons, about to be elaborated upon, these morphed into these spicy mac and cheese bites!

Spicy Mac and Cheese Bites – The First Error

The base of the OG recipe was ricotta cheese. I went to the deli section of my local supermarket. “Can I have 250 grams of ricotta cheese please?”

The little gobshite behind the counter (believe me, the truth of this statement will bear out) said. “We don’t have any”.

“Ermmm…..could you check out the back please?

He went out the back but he returned far to quickly to have checked for anything.

“We don’t have any””

Ok. So I was shopping at around 7pm so the proper, non-supermarket, deli was closed. The tubs of ricotta in the dairy aisle were all the size of small swimming pools. I didn’t want to be spending the rest of the week finding recipes to use that much left over riicotta. So I decided to use bechamel, for which I had all the ingredients for at home.

“‘Ok, no worries, can I have 12 slices of proscuitto please?

“‘Of what?”‘

“PROSCUITTO”

Let me be clear, we’re still not at the point where he became a gobshite.

Spicy Mac and Cheese Bites – The Second Error

So I got my proscuitto. Sorry, PROSCUITTO. And headed home. Boiled up my macaroni. Made my bechamel. Mixed my macaroni and bechamel together. It was a little bland. I added some chilli flakes. It’s the Sri Lankan in me. I like things a little spicy. I then went to line my muffin tins with proscuitto. (Just like last weeks cupcakes, I was making smaller versions of these “cakes” to work with my picnic theme.

I opened my pack from the deli and was faced not with proscuitto but with Sopressa! Which is an incredibly spicy salami.

Now my first ever job was in the supermarket deli. Never ever would I have mixed up proscuitto and sopressa!!!! And this my friends, is what made him a gobshite!

But by now it was close to 9pm. I did have the energy to get back in the car, drive back to Woolworths, explain what had happened, swap out the sopressa for proscuitto, drive home…

So I remembered that old Italian adage. “When life gives you sopressa, make….mac and cheese bites anyway”‘.

These little mac and cheese bites were so good! I would probably drop the chilli from the pasta mix when making again though as, with the sopressa they were really quite fiery! They were also good reheated and cold / ambient temperature! So would be great picnic food.

The OG Recipe

My Spicy Mac and Cheese Bites

Spicy Mac And Cheese Bites

Print Recipe

Spicy mac and cheese! Perfect for picnics, lunch or anytime!

Author: Taryn Nicole
Yield: 12 1x

Ingredients

Scale

250g curly shells or other macaroni
12 slices or proscuitto or 24 slices of sopressa
Chilli flakes (optional)
2 tbsp bread crumbs
Butter

Cheese Sauce

500ml milk
4 tbsp plain flour
50g butter
100g grated vintage cheddar cheese
Freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
salt and pepper

Olive oil spray / butter for the mufffin tin

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Cheese Sauce

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat.
Add the flour to the butter and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.
Gradually add the milk, whisking all the while to remove any lumps.
Cook, stirring all the time, until the mixture boils and thickens.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently for 5 minutes or until the sauce is the consistency of custard.
Remove the sauce from the heat, add stir through the cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add a pinch or two of freshly grated nutmeg and some chilli flakes if desired.

Macaroni

Cook the macaroni according to the directions on the packet. You can reduce the cooking time a bit as the macaroni will be baked later.
Heat your oven to 180C.
Mix the cheese sauce into the macaroni.
Grease your muffin tin. I prefer to use a spray for this but you can use butter or olive oil if you prefer.
Line the bottom and sides of each muffin cup with sopressa or proscuitto. Cut the proscuitto into 2 pieces.
Spoon the pasta mixture into the lined muffin cups.
Sprinkle with breadcrumbs
Dot with butter
Place into the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the tops are nicely browned.
Let sit for a few minutes before removing from the pan.

Let me know if you make either recipe!
Have a great week!

04
Sep
2022

Roast Lamb Shawarma – (The Other) Death on the Nile

categories: Dining With The Dame, Lamb

Hello crime readers and food lovers! Today we are reading (and eating) our way through another Agatha Christie story called Death on The Nile! And finally, we are getting the lamb I was craving during the first Death on the Nile by way of a Roast Lamb Shawarma. But first, let’s address the Nile-sized elephant in the room. Why on earth would you name two stories the same thing? True, one is a novel, and one is a short story. One features Poirot and one features Parker Pyne. I just can’t fathom why one of the most creative writing minds of the 20th century could not come up with two different titles!

Death on The Nile (Parker Pyne)- The Plot

We have not yet met Parker Pyne because, apart from a few instances, where we are diverting into the short stories, I am trying to get through all of the Christie novels first. So, who is Parker Pyne? He is a detective but not in the sense that Poirot is a detective. More of a psychologist, he advertises his services in the newspapers, something, we feel the elitist Poirot would never stoop to do.

However, in this version of Death on the Nile, Parker Pyne is not helping people to become happy, he is in Egypt trying to enjoy a relaxing holiday aboard the SS Fayoum as she journeys down the Nile.

Also aboard is Lady Grayle, who Christie dryly informs us

had suffered, since she was sixteen from the complaint of having too much money

Oh to have that complaint!

Lady Grayle is petulant and fretful and is initially, not at all happy to have an interloper in the shape of Parker Pyne on the boat she thought was just going to contain her travelling party. However, before too long Parker Pyne is summonsed by Lady Grayle. She confides that she suspects her husband is poisoning her. She feels ill when he is around but starts to recover when he is away. Her Nurse, Miss McNaughton (reminiscent of Amy Leatheren from Murder in Mesopotamia ) confirms that this seems to be the case and is not the imaginings of a hypochondriac.

Lady Grayle then dies of strychnine poisoning, a packet of which is found in her husband’s pocket.

It seems a foregone conclusion that the henpecked husband has finally reached his limit. But are things as they seem? It’s a Christie mystery so of course not! Despite being too late to fix any unhappiness on Lady Grayle’s side, it is up to Parker Pyne to reveal the real murderer.

Death on the Nile – The Covers

Given this is a short story, contained within the book Parker Pyne Investigates aka Mr Parker Pyne, Detective there are no covers specifically for this version of Death on the Nile. The first cover I have shown is the Cosmopolitan magazine in which this story was first published. The second is an early cover of Parker Pyne Investigates so readers who are not familiar with the character can get an idea of what Parker Pyne is meant to look like.

The Recipe – Lamb Roast Shawarma

Here is Adam Liaw’s recipe for lamb shawarma from scratch. I have made this a few times and can highly recommend it. However, generally when I make Shawarma, I use the leftover meat from any roast lamb. (The fussiest eater in the world is very fond of a Sunday Roast and as we are only two people we inevitably have leftover lamb.

The following day I chop up some of that leftover meat, sprinkle it with Adam’s shawarma seasoning and warm the meat in a pan. After the meat is warmed, I remove that from the pan and then warm the flatbread in the same pan.

After that I assemble my wrap with the warmed bread and lamb, some salad ingredients and a few dollops of Adam’s tahini sauce.

If there is any sauce left over after we have our shawarma, I either dollop it onto some avo toast or mix a big spoonful into some chopped-up hard-boiled eggs and make a sandwich with some crunchy lettuce.

The benevolent figure of Mr Parker Pyne entered the lounge. Behind him came the picturesque figure of Mohammed, prepared to say his piece.

“Lady, gentlemans, we start now. In few minutes we pass temples of Karnak right-hand side. I tell you story now about little boy who went to buy a roasted lamb for his father….”

– Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile

Links to The Christieverse

There was nothing I could find here. Except of course that four years later Agatha Christie would reuse the name of this short story for what would become one of her best-known novels!

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Death on The Nile

If you would like to taste some Egyptian food, why not try Eggs Hamine?

September’s read will be one of the novellas contained in the Murder in the Mews collection. Not the titular story, I am saving that for November. Instead, we are going with The Incredible Theft, a Poirot mystery.

Happy reading and cooking!