Music - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: Music

27
Mar
2022

Lady Marmalade Salad

“Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister, Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister”

Who doesn’t love the opening lines to Lady Marmalade, the amazing disco hit from La Belle. I knew the iconic phrase “Voulez vous couchez avec moi, ce soir?” before I even knew it was in a foreign language. Or what exactly it meant! Today, we are celebrating Lady Marmalade hitting number one in the charts way back in 1975 with a Lady Marmalade salad via Jamie Oliver’s Veg.

Lady Marmalade Salad – The Recipe

He met Marmalade down in old New Orleans, strutting her stuff on the street
She said, “Hello, hey Joe, You wanna give it a go?”

If you want to give it a go, here’s the recipe!

Why Should You Try This?

It has a very cool name and will have you humming and possibly busting a few of your best disco moves while you make it. It is also a gorgeous mix of crispy, crunchy, sweet, sour and touch of bitter!

As Jamie mentions it is lovely with creamy cheese. Although I preferred mine with a rose!

This is so good, it will make

the savage beast inside, Roar until it cried, more, more, more

Variations

I could not find different colours of chicory so I just used the green one. The red shallots added a splash of colour.
I also could not find chervil so I used some finely chopped tarragon to give that anise flavour.
I also used a mix of seeds and nuts to add the crunch

Ok, so promise me that some time this week you will play this track and sing along with me

Itchi gitchi ya ya da da
Itchi gitchi ya ya here
Mocha-choca-lata ya ya
Creole lady marmalade

Have a great week!

15
Jan
2021

Whiskey and Rye Blondies

categories: Baking, Brownies, Music

A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile….

Why I am I quoting that bit of pop perfection and rock and roll enigma that is American Pie? Because today, 15 January, way back in 1972, American Pie reached number one on the Billboard charts. And we are celebrating that event not with an American Pie (because that would be waaay too obvious…and we want options for the 50th Anniversary next year!) but with some good ol’ Whiskey and Rye Blondies!

Whiskey and Rye Blondies

The recipe for these Whiskey and Rye Blondies comes from Ella Risbridger and her wonderful book Midnight Chicken. I can heartily recommend this book – it was my choice for a Tasty Reads book last year but if you don’t want to buy the whole book, you can get the recipe for these blondies here!

The Blondies are very rich – a little really does go a long way with these. But they are also delightfully fudgy and more-ish so if you are tempted by a second helping I won’t blame you!

Why not whip up a batch now as we delve into the 8-minute 33-second opus that is American Pie?

American Pie – The Song

American Pie is the titular track on the Don McLean album American Pie. The album with its absolutely iconic cover was in my parent’s record collection for as long as I can remember. I am sure they played other songs but the only ones I can ever remember hearing are American Pie and Vincent. And I remember hearing a LOT of American Pie and Vincent when I was growing up.

I also occasionally like to torture my friends by choosing American Pie as a karaoke song. By which I mean I did it once and was politely asked to never repeat the performance. By management. And my friends.

American Pie references many people and events – the recurring theme of the “day the music died” is about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper in February 1959. It also mentions The Beatles, The Byrds Bob Dylan, Karl Marx, Charles Manson, the Rolling Stones, James Dean, the Kennedy’s and good lord…so much more! There are multitudes of explanations about the lyrics of American Pie on the internet. You can find one of them here. This is an absolutely fascinating rabbit hole to go down if you have a few hours / days to spare.

But before you do that, let’s all join together and sing…

Bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die

Have a great weekend!

And if you have another 8.5 this parody is also worth a watch!

24
Oct
2019

Mr Kransky’s Panel Van Meatloaf

categories: Meat, Music

So people of the internet, we’re going to start today’s post with a little quiz. I’m going to show you some pictures and you can try to guess what these things have in common. Are you ready? Ok, picture #1 is my version of Matt Preston’s Mr Kransky’s Panel Van Meatloaf. No, I don’t know why it’s called that either.

Next up? Clue 2…

Any takers? Okay, clue 3 coming up!

And finally…

Have you got it? Meatloaf, 1979, Bat, Hell…shall I take the words right out of your mouth?

Today we are celebrating Meatloaf’s album Bat Out of Hell which was released this week 40 years ago! My parents had a copy of this album and in particular my Dad LOVED it and played it often so Bat out of Hell is part of the soundtrack of my childhood. There would have been a time where I could have song every song word for word. Those days are gone but, I will confess that if I’m in the car and radio hopping and I catch a few bars of “Paradise by the dashboard light” I will always listen just because it reminds of the time when “We were barely 17 and we were barely dressed” was the most risque thing I had ever heard! Nowadays I will crank the volume up and join in that operatic crescendo at the end “So now I’m praying for the end of time so I can end my time with you” Which in the words of PJ O’Rourke is definitely a case of age and guile beating youth, innocence and a bad haircut.

I celebrated this 40 year anniversary by making the aforementioned Mr Kransky’s Panel Van Meatloaf. I don;t know who Mr Kransky is or why he decided to make (eat?) his meatloaf in a panel van (aka a shagging wagon) but I can tell you it is delicious. That sweet glaze over the top? Mmmmmmwha!

I used lamb mince in my meatloaf as I don’t eat pork and added a little chilli into the meat mixture too.

This was so good.

The only downside is that the recipe makes a TON of meatloaf, I have been eating it all week! Still, it was worth it as this really is very tasty.

My two favourite ways of eating this are first, very traditionally with mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. The other is in a long roll with some lettuce and pickled vegetables (carrots, daikon and onion), coriander and with a little chilli sauce mixed into the glaze to become a kind of cheat’s bahn mi! Perfect for work lunches!

Have an awesome week everyone! I’ll be eating so much meatloaf and trying not to hum “Two out three ain’t bad” out loud.

PS – let me know at what number clue you guessed the quiz topic!