Maybe it’s because it’s Halloween week but here I am with another thing, actually two things that scare me. Batter and deep-frying. Because I made Sliders. And not just any sliders, Oyster Sliders. And not just any Oyster Sliders but Old Bay Oyster Sliders!
Ooooooohhhhhyeeeeeaaaahhhh!!!
Can I just say that these were as good as they look?
Start off with some mini brioche…..hmmm..now where would you find some of them? And toast them up.
Whip up some aioli ( I had this saffron and roasted garlic aioli from something else I had made), but any aioli or even mayo would be fine. But the saffron makes it look so pretty!
Choose your vegetables. I used lettuce, carrot, red cabbage and red onion.
Don’t forget the pickle! I used a pickled jalapeno but a dill pickle would also be fine.
Next up a tempura style batter loaded with Old Bay! Heat some oil, drench your oysters in the batter and drop into the hot oil. These only need a minute or so to cook. Drain on crumpled paper:
And assemble.
Now, you have to promise not to laugh or judge me too harshly…(oh wow does that make a third thing that frightens me, in this post alone?) but I made my first ever gif.
Ok, deep breath, here ’tis…
Eeek….if anyone’s left after that, here’s the recipe!
If you read my last post you would have already seen these amazing cucumber candlesticks…now you get to learn how to make them yourself!
Cucumber Candlesticks
I found the original recipe in, yep, you guessed it, the delight that is Salads For All Seasons by Rosemary Mayne Wilson, because that book never gets old. Well, technically yes it does but you know what I mean.
I fancy pantsed mine up a bit by adding a little bit of hot sauce into my crab and mayo mix but you could use wasabi or tomato paste or chilli sauce, chopped herbs, chopped up sun-dried tomatoes, or pretty much any flavouring you liked. You could also swap out the crab for canned tuna or salmon if that’s how you roll.
I also added a strip of sun-dried tomato as a flame.
The only bit of making these that was even a little bit difficult was scooping out the flesh of the cucumbers and not having them break. I don’t have a grapefruit knife as suggested by Rosemary Mayne Wilson so I ended up using a 1/4 teaspoon measure and scooping out a little bit at a time.
Cucumber Candlesticks
These were really tasty and pretty easy to make. And a pretty cool retro canapé to kick off the celebrations.
Cucumber Candlesticks2
To eat these you can slice them either across into rounds down the middle into half or quarter moons.
But before the recipe, I thought I might do a quick “retro” spective. I spent some time the other day going through some old posts and one thing became clear. If there was going to be a sub-sub title for this blog, it would surely have to be “I like round food. And I really, really like small round food”
May 2012 – Cucumbers Stuffed with Cream Cheese
July 2012 – Moccha Mousse
July 2012 – Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes
February 2013 – Barbra Streisands Coffee Ice Cream
April 2013 – Devilled Chestnuts
April 2013 – Rosé Wine Cup
May 2013 – Television Eggs
September 2013 – Ice Cream Muffins
September 2013 – Vietnamese Inspired Aubergine
Minh Mang-o Daiquiri
November 2013 – Kale and Onion Pies, Smoked Salmon Frittata
December 2013 – Pepperoni Pizza with Boccocini, Olives and Mint
December 2013 – Cabbage Rolls with Meatballs
January 2014 – Saffron Risotto Balls
April 2014 – Ox Eye Eggs
August 2014 – Autumn Rosti With Smoked Salmon
August 2014- Meatball Sandwich
Umami Meatballs
November 2014 – Cheesy Eggplant Sandwiches
Eggplant Salami Sandwich 4
November 2014 – Chargrilled Aubergines from Persiana
It’s been a while so I thought I would give you a little update on how I am getting on with the Tasty Reads Books.
Slow: Valli Little: August 2014 pick
Slow – Valli Little
Recipes in book: 60
Recipes marked to cook: 34 38
Cooked to date 12 22
Newly Cooked
p50 Fresh Piccalilli
I did not make the Ham Hock Terrine that this was supposed to accompany but this was one super pickle!!! So fresh and tasty and zingy.
p60 Roast Chicken With Pan Roasted Romesco
This was delicious!
p64 Oven Baked Thai Chicken Curry
Meh…take it or leave it…a solid chicken curry but nothing to write home about.
Oven Baked Chicken Curry
p66 Moroccan Chicken with Olives
Sorry, I took this photo on the fly during a dinner party. Not the best quality but this dish was great. Very tasty and you can pop it in the oven and pretty much forget about it until serving time! Oh, and in the background you can see the fennel and apple salad from Persiana.
Slow – Moroccan Chicken With Olives
p70 Massaman Roast Chicken
I really wanted to cook this in style of the cover (above) but we had a heap of chicken breasts…this was delicious!
Slow – Massaman Curry Roast chicken
p74 Fish Pie
OMG. So good.
Slow – Fish Pie
Slow – Fish Pie2
p76 Green Curry With Smoked Salmon
This was ok. I probably would not make it again. It was a bit too salty with the smoked salmon and the soy and the fish sauce.
p84 Fish Tagine
Superb!
Slow – Fish Tagine
p102 Baked Mushrooms with Pine Nuts & Feta
Absolutely delicous!!!
p124 Deep Fried Brie with Sweet Chilli Sauce
Of this lot, my top three were the mushrooms, the fish pie and the tagine. And you know…fried cheese is never wrong!!! The piccalilli was really good too.
The worst was the smoked salmon curry. Funny thing was, I don’t think I had it marked as something to cook, however we bought some hot smoked salmon which was on sale so I thought I would give it a go. I should have stuck to my initial instincts.
Still To Go
p6 Braised Beef Cheeks With Salsa Verde
p8 Braciola (you’ll notice I’ve added a few in)
p10 Steak with Wild Mushroom Sauce
p22 Lamb & Apricot Tagine
p24 Massaman Curry Lamb Shanks
p28 Lamb En Croute
p36 Macaroni Cheese with Truffle Oil
p44 Meatballs with Heavenly Mash
p62 Roast Quail with Split Pea Dhal
p88 Mushroom Soup with Garlic Bread
p92 Cauliflower Cheese Soup
p104 Pumpkin, Goat’s Cheese and Onion Marmalade Jalousie
p106 Twice Baked Souffles
p110 Mushroom & Potato Tarts
p116 Bagna Cauda with Baby Vegetables
p118 Instant Fondue with Roast Vegetables
Sixteen to go.
I’d like to cook them all before this August which will be the 12 month mark. Technically, that should be easy. Then again, I also have retro books, Persiana, Healthy Every Day and two Tasty Reads selections I have not even told you about yet!!! Plus at least one other bloggy project I am keen to get off the ground. We’ll see…
About a billion years ago, the wonderful team at the Spice Peddlers sent me some fabulous Ancho Chillies to have my evil way with. I had never cooked with Ancho chillies before so this was a totally new and delicious experience for me.
I also have a new manifesto for my Spice Peddler treats – I’m going to try to cook one thing in the spirit of which it was intended and then I’m going to go kind of out there with the next one. So, to familiarise myself with the anchos and also to push my own boundaries I decided to make a ceviche. I have always been terrified to make sashimi or any “raw” fish at home in case it killed me. And before you start shouting, I am aware that ceviche is technically cooked but it’s not like it’s been crumbed, fried and coated with cheese is it?
Ancho Scallop Ceviche
But I did it and hey, still alive!!!
And it was super delish!!!!
So why the century ceviche I hear you ask? First I am fond of alliteration but second…the last post I wrote was the hundredth for this blog!!!
So let’s all raise a glass of something (Jenny, I hope it’s another of those Joan Crawford Cocktails) and join in as I do a little celebratory dance….
It seems fitting to celebrate this milestone by showing off some of the ingredients from the amazing team at the Spice Peddlers. They have been such big supporters of this blog and I, in turn adore them and their products!!! The ancho chilles were a very dark blackish red colour, and quite fleshy. They were not not very hot at all but were quite fruity and had a touch of sweetness ( this actually went really well with the scallops which are also slightly sweet.
Spice Peddler Ancho Chillies
The perceptive of you may have noticed from the photos that my ceviche is loaded onto a very un-Mexican pappadam. I guess traditionally this should be a tortilla chip. However, we had gobbled all of them with Joan Crawford Danti-Chips and I couldn’t be bothered going back to the shops so pappadams it was. And in some weird Indo-Mexican affinity they actually worked quite well with the ceviche.
Ancho Scallop Ceviche
The last 100 posts have been super fun to do and I am really looking forward to the next 100. In fact, I have so many ideas for posts at the moment, I feel like I have the next 100 already planned.
I was going to end this with one of my favourite ever Blur songs “End of A Century” then I realised the key lyric is “End of a century, it’s nothing special” which is completely wrong because whilst I love doing this you guys are what makes it special. Thanks to you all for reading and your comments, it is always lovely to hear from you.
You’re the best.
Around.
So, as you wax on, wax off this week, make it fabulous!
Those of you who don’t live in Australia may be unaware that the Melbourne Cup is run on the first Tuesday in November. The Melbourne Cup is our version of the Kentucky Derby or Ascot or the <<insert the biggest horse race from your country here>>.
Melbourne Cup Crab and Pineapple Appetizer
They call it the race that stops a nation because, come tomorrow at around 3:00pm, just about everyone in the country will stop what they are doing to watch, or listen to, the running of the Cup. If you happen to live in Melbourne, you get to stop for a hell of a lot more than that. We get the WHOLE day off work. Seriously. We don’t go to work all day because for about 5 minutes in the afternoon some horses run around a track. It’s awesome, the most mad and random holiday ever!!!
And because we’re not working, if people aren’t actually going to the races, they have parties and bbq’s or set up parties in the car park at the track, kind of like tail gating but classier. Every one dresses up and the weather is generally good – it’s party time here!!! Apart from the hay fever. That’s still sucking.
Melbourne Cup Crab and Pineapple Appetizer
And what better way to celebrate your Cup Day holiday, than this adorable vintage salad from Rosemary Mayne-Wilson’s Salads for All Seasons and the accompanying MC Cocktail which I made up to go along with it?
The unifying element between the two is pineapple. And can I just say. Forget Chanel #5.
Pineapple has got to be the best smell in the world. When I opened that can? I just wanted to take a big swim in that glorious scent. Soooo good. And yes, I used pineapple from a can. Fresh pineapple is great. If you happen to live in Cambodia…OMG, the best, sweetest most heaven scented pineapple ever…or you have a couple of spare hours to pfaff about with peeling and coring and taking the eyes out and blah blah blah. As far as I am concerned, canned pineapple is the way to go.
Melbourne Cup Appetiser 3
What was not so good was the tinned crab. It was….fairly bland is a nice way of putting it. Completely tasteless would be another. Despite that, the pineapple was sweet and the dressing was surprisingly good. I think that if you used fresh crab meat this would become super good.
RMW recommends decorating this with crab legs. Even if I had made this using fresh crab I would find that a bit creepy. I used some chopped up chives and mint (both can I add, fresh from my garden)!
Alternatively you could forgo piling the crab into and onto the pineapple rings and mix them together and serve in these amazing bits of crabby kitsch!
Crab Salad Bowls
I would still use the watercress to line the crab bowls. That peppery goodness added a real bit of zing to this dish.
But I will tell you something totally weird. As I was making it, I believed I had spotted a huge flaw in the logic of this salad. Cos that’s the kind of thing I think about, The logic of food. As I may have said a couple of times before, it’s nice to see that Philosophy major isn’t going to waste!
So, here was my concern. You pile your crab meat onto and into the hole of your pineapple ring. However, the law of gravity would suggest that when you picked up your pineapple ring that the crab meat in the hole would not, should not lift with the ring….
Weird thing is? It totally does. Well nearly totally does. A smidgeon of crab may remain on the plate but it will lift. You need to pack it in fairly tight though.
I would definitely make this again. But I would definitely use fresh crab meat.
MC – Midori and Chartreuse Cocktail
So, what do you do with the leftover juice from the can of pineapple? Well, if life gives you pineapple juice, I say make a super refreshing and tasty as hell cocktail. I also happened to have a bottle of Midori hanging about. It was given to me as a housewarming present when I moved into my old apartment. How on earth it managed to survive 13 years I have no idea. Anyway on that bottle was a tag and on that tag was a recipe for a cocktail called a 24/7 which was Midori, Chartreuse, lime cordial and pineapple juice. I made this and it was ok. Then I made a second one where I subbed in some fresh lemon juice for the lime cordial and it was much better. Then I made a third…(see what I mean about being surprised that bottle hadn’t been drained long ago?) where I added a splash of ginger beer. And ladies and gentlemen, we had a winner!
The MC Cocktail
I’m calling my version the MC – Midori and Chartreuse, Melbourne Cup…
Oh, and the left over salad dressing? Was really good on some oysters the following day! It had that Bloody Mary Shot vibe about it. Kind of retro in it’s own way!
Oysters with Tomato – Horseradish Dressing
I will be spending Cup Day cooking up a Joan Crawford inspired Romantic dinner for two courtesy of Jenny at Silver Screen Suppers…stay tuned, I think it’s going to be awesome! Whatever you do, I hope it’s fabulous!
For the Tomato – Horseradish dressing (can be made in advance)
Mix all the ingredients together and chill
For the Melbourne Cup Crab and Pineapple Appetizer
Arrange the watercress on a large plate or six small plates.
Place the pineapple on top of the watercress.
Mix 1-2 tsp of the dressing through the crab -just enough to help it stick together. Pile the crab onto the pineapple rings
Spoon a little bit of the sauce over the crab (a little goes a long way, so go easy) or serve the dressing on the side. Sprinkle with the chives and mint.
For the MC Cocktail
Fill a long glass with ice. Add the Midori, Green Chartreuse and Lemon Juice. Add pineapple juice to about 2 cm below the rim of the glass.
Ooooooohhhhhyeeeeeaaaahhhh!!!
Whip up some aioli ( I had this saffron and roasted garlic aioli from something else I had made), but any aioli or even mayo would be fine. But the saffron makes it look so pretty!
Choose your vegetables. I used lettuce, carrot, red cabbage and red onion.
Don’t forget the pickle! I used a pickled jalapeno but a dill pickle would also be fine.
And assemble.
Eeek….if anyone’s left after that, here’s the recipe!
