Vegetables - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: Vegetables

19
Jun
2022

Hummer Strudels

categories: 1980's recipes, Lobster, Magazines, Seafood, Spinach, Vogue Entertaining & Travel

Welcome friends. Today we are channelling our inner Gordon Gekko’s and subscribing to the credo of Greed is Good” to make some luxurious Hummer Strudels. These are coming to us via Vogue Entertaining and Travel from Autumn 1986. Now, greed and huge shoulder pads may have been good in the 1980s but this name is not. To me, hummers are giant gas-guzzling cars nearly always filled with semi-drunk teenagers off to a school formal (aka prom for my American friends). It makes no sense why this is called a Hummer strudel. It also possibly made no sense to the magazine editor who added a subtitle to the recipe so everyone knew they were going to be eating Crayfish and Spinach Strudels.

Or were they? Let’s address the Hummer-sized elephant in the room. These also aren’t really strudels. I guess it depends on a definition of a strudel but to my mind, a strudel has layers of pastry wrapped around a filling. I would call this thing a pasty or an empanada or, if these are considered cultural appropriation, then maybe a hand-pie. Maybe these terms were all too common for the la-di-dah folks of 1986?

Hummer Strudels – The Recipe

The pastry was really short and rich and the spinach, lobster tail and cream filling was delicious! But just because we are adopting the 80’s creed of “greed is good” for today’s meal, it doesn’t mean our 2020’s sensibilities need to suffer. I waited to make this until I could find some highly discounted lobster tails in my local supermarket. These were on sale for $1.50 each! If you are unable to find cheap lobster tails most other seafood would work in this – prawns, scallops, or even any firm white fish. Or a mix of any of them. If you are not a seafood lover, chicken would also work and for a vegetarian version, mushrooms would be great!

A quick note on the pastry too. The OG recipe calls for both lard and butter. I used coconut oil instead of lard and as mentioned above, the pastry turned out beautifully!

For the two lobster tails, I used half quantities of all the other ingredients which made 8 hand pies. So enough to share…or not!

The Hummer Strudels were delicious! So why not channel your inner 80’s icon, stream Wall Street and make these this soon!

Have a great week everyone!

02
Jan
2022

Leek and Hazelnut Salad

categories: Leeks, Salad

Hello food lovers, welcome to 2022!!!! Recently I reposted an old recipe and it got me thinking that I had not posted a Dishiest Dish post in a very long time. One of my intentions for 2022 is to resume that practice, primarily because over the last few months I have misplaced a few recipes that were really good! So, for every month this year, I will be posting the recipe for the best thing I made in the preceding month. And for December, it was a delicious Leek and Hazelnut Salad.

I have recently become obsessed with leeks. They are in last week’s Detox Soup and I also made Rachel Khoo’s Leeks in Vinaigrette with Bayonne Ham.

For full disclosure, I do not like hazelnuts. I’ll eat them if mixed with other things like chocolate in Nutella but if it is possible to pick them out of something, I’ll do it. So, for my salad, I use macadamias which are, to my taste, a far superior nut! Almonds would also work here. As you can also see from the photo above, in this particular iteration, I have also swapped out the spring onions for red onions.

The combination of the sweet tangle of leeks, the tanginess of the pickled onions, the creamy goat’s cheese, the crunchy nuts and the cooked to perfection (even if I do say so myself ) soft boiled egg is a delight! And if you want to take the newspaper’s suggestion of accompanying your leek and hazelnut salad with a glass of sparkling wine, well I will not try to stop you. In fact, I am now questioning why I have not done that in the many times I have made it. Oh well, another reason to make it again! (As if I needed one).

Leek and Hazelnut Salad – The Recipe

I snipped this recipe from the newspaper (Possibly The Age), years ago. I do not know whose recipe it is in order to credit them. Whoever you are, thank you. And if by chance you happen to be reading this, please let me know so I can update the post!

Other Favourites of The Month

Reading

The Appeal by Janice Halllett

This is a darkly comic mystery story told through emails, text messages and other forms of media. The Appeal is possibly the best book I have read all year.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the second in the Thursday Murder Club Series, The Man who Died Twice by Richard Osman.

My audible book of the month was The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault. This was a great story but I did not love the male narrator’s voice. I think I would have preferred this in normal book format.

Cookbook

Through December, I also became obsessed with the Australian chef Karen Martini and bought three of her books – Cooking At Home, Feasting and Where the Heart Is. Given I have bought so many of her books, I hope to feature one of her recipes very soon!

Our cookbook club book of the month is not a book at all but we are cooking from tv shows. I am torn between the Jamie Oliver series for his new cookbook Together and Adam’s Liaw’s tv show The Cook Up.

Watching

My current fave thing to watch the British tv show Bargain Hunt. I love thrift shopping so watching other people do it has great appeal!

Cooking

This month I am keen to finish the remaining recipes in the Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall book which was a Tasty Reads pick back in 2015. I have only 4 recipes left to cook from this book!

I will also be making this recipe from the aforementioned The Cook Up. Using homegrown zucchini!

These are the books I will be cooking from this week

Shopping

Queenies

My boss introduced me to these which come in a gorgeous array of designs and give your hair a very cute and somewhat vintage-looking wave. I bought the Mojo design. Below is the first time I used it and I was pretty happy with the result. Apologies for the gormless look on my face, I am incapable of taking a good selfie!

Saint Belford Curation Diary

I am constantly on the search for the perfect planner. I bought one in champagne pink to help keep me on track this year! It really does seem to have everything in the one place – Habits, meal planner, gratitude, goals, bucketlist and of course, space for your to-do’s, appointments etc.

And just because, here is a pic of Oscar and Holly. Holly has not been well through Christmas and still needs some further testing done once the specialist vets return to work. But for the moment, she is doing well and happy cuddling up to her big bro:

That’s it for me, I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my life!

Have a wonderful week!

24
Dec
2020

Christmas Zucchini Rolls

categories: Starters, Vegetarian, Zucchini

Season’s greetings my friends! I’m going to say right from the get-go that making these zucchini rolls is a fiddly business. However, they look so Christmassy with the green and the red that I couldn’t resist. They will be part of our appetiser plate for Christmas lunch. Luckily for me, we are a very small group this year so it is definitely worth the pfaffing about in order to serve these delicious little morsels!

Zucchini are also in season here at the moment so this is also a seasonal treat! If you can’t get fresh Zucchini I’m sure you could make these with those char-grilled zucchini strips you can buy at the deli!

So, let’s get started. First, finely slice (I used a mandoline) your zucchini. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper and place on the griddle pan. You want to cook your zucchini until the griddle marks show but it is still soft enough to roll.

While that is happening you can also blacken your chilli. I try to get them well and truly scorched all over. We are going to be removing the outer skin anyway. If you can’t tolerate the heat of chilli, get out of the kitchen…or use a red capsicum instead!

Then, add a dollop of goat’s cheese, a strip of chilli and half a mint leaf onto your grilled zucchini strip and roll it up. Tie it all up with a little chive. Note, tying the chives is really fiddly so feel free to chop them and sprinkle over the top if you can’t be bothered with the faffing about!

These are very nice to eat just as they are but I particularly like them on a cracker to add some crunch!

The recipe I use for these is based on this recipe from Serious Eats. I don’t use the arugula. Instead, I have my mint leaf sticking out the top to get some festive red and green.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!

I hope you have a merry Christmas wherever and however you are celebrating. If you are in Corona lockdown, look on the brightside – there is more Christmas goodness for you. I’m not going to admit that I ate a whole plate of these by myself when I did a pre-Christmas trial run. But, if you were so inclined, a plate of these make a very good dinner with a couple of rolls leftover for breakfast.

All the best! I hope Santa brings you everything you want!

15
Oct
2020

Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets

categories: 1970's food, Asparagus, Bacon, Pie

I’m not exactly sure where this recipe for Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets came from. It has obviously been clipped from a magazine and sticky taped to a piece of paper. But when? And by whom? It has been floating around in my collection of “Recipes to Cook” for as long as I can remember.

The recipe gives both imperial and metric measurements which would indicate it comes from some time after 1970 which is when Australia went metric but not too far after because people still understood imperial measures. So it likely was not me who clipped it but whether it was my mum or my nana or a complete stranger I do not know!

Well, whoever clipped it so it could fall into my hands deserves a round of applause because I thought these were really delicious. Emphasis on the” I” there. The fussiest eater in the world was not convinced. “What’s in these? It is cream? It’s not like the usual quiche you make.”

“I used cream cheese”

“It’s too much”

“Well…you did eat six of them….”

Both sides make a fair point here. The Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets are richer than a normal quiche, primarily due to the cream cheese filling. But you also don’t have to eat half a dozen of them in one sitting.

I made these twice recently which is something I rarely do with recipes for the blog. Usually, I make something, eat it, blog it and move on. However, the first time I made the tartlets I used fresh asparagus. I was going to post that version. But it felt like cheating. Of course a fresh asparagus and bacon tart was going to be amazing. It’s asparagus! And bacon! And for those of us who like a little bit of rich – cream cheese!. Would these taste as good using tinned asparagus?

They weren’t quite as good as the fresh version but they were still really good. And I am not being an asparagus snob here. I grew up on tinned asparagus. My nana’s asparagus rolls which only ever used tinned asparagus are one of my top ten things to eat ever! The only reason I have not posted that recipe here is that I honestly think I could not do nana’s memory justice as my version would never live up to hers!

Anyway…that’s given me some food for thought…maybe I will post that recipe one day. But as for the Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets? They’re really good. And if you find them too rich? Stop at four, or two or one.

These also reheat up well and I thought they were also quite nice to eat cold.

They are also perfect fare for a socially distanced picnic in the park!

The Recipe

Have a wonderful week!

13
Aug
2020

Steamed Artichokes with Bearnaise Butter

categories: Artichokes, Leftovers, Vegetables

Wondering what to do with your leftover bearnaise sauce after making my steak frites with Bearnaise? Well, worry no more because I’ve got your back on this! You can use that leftover sauce to create some delicious Steamed Artichokes with Bearnaise Butter. Poached egg technically optional but really…you know you want it!

Artichokes Are My Spirit Vegetable

“Artichokes again?” asked the fussiest eater in the world. “I don’t know why you keep making them. They’re such hard work”.

“They may be hard work. But they are worth it. And if you think about, treat ’em wrong and they might kill you. Treat ’em right and they make everything sweeter…in fact they are a lot like me. I think artichokes are my spirit vegetable”.

The more I think about it the more I am convinced that artichokes are my spirit vegetable. Why else, for no apparent reason, years ago did I buy a little ceramic artichoke? It’s all becoming clear now though, it was my spirit vegetable calling to me!

I fear lockdown may be making me lose my mind.

I did a quiz to prove that my spirit vegetable is an artichoke The quiz said I was a mushroom so it was obviously wrong. It also said that people may find me pretentious and depressing. As Marcel Proust said, “What a load of bollocks. I am a fucking joy to be around!”*.

If you would like to do a quiz that not very accurately tells you what your spirit vegetable is you can find one here.

Bearnaise Butter?

So, bearnaise sauce is a bitch of a thing to reheat. So, if you want to use some leftover “sauce” you can pop your sauce container into a little saucepan full of water and gently heat it up, whisking the whole time. The result will not exactly be a Bearnaise sauce but it will be an amazingly tasty thick melted butter just perfect for drizzling over your artichokes or seafood or chicken or asparagus. You could also pout it over your Eggs Benny instead of Hollandaise. But only if you then call then Eggs Bearnie.

A (Helpful?) Tip

You can use a melon baller to help scrape the choke out of your artichoke.

It is by no means mandatory but it is fun, while doing this, to sing that Skee-Lo song “I wish I was taller, wish I was a baller, wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her”.

To be honest though, this works any time you use a melon baller, not just for artichokes.

The Recipe – Steamed Artichokes with Bearnaise Butter

Steamed Artichokes with Bearnaise Butter

A great way to use leftover Bearnaise Sauce

4 Artichokes
4 Eggs, poached (Optional)
1 Lemon
1 serve Leftover Bearnaise Sauce

Halve the lemon and squeeze the juice into a large bowl of cold water.
Snap off the outer leaves of the first three or four outer layers of leave from bottom of an artichoke. Use a serrated knife to cut off the stem at the base and the top half of each artichoke.
Using a small spoon or melon baller, scrape out the choke and any sharp leaves from the centre of the artichoke.
Repeat Steps 2 & 3 for all the artichokes
Drop the cleaned artichokes into the acidulated water as soon as they are trimmed.
Tip the lemon water into the bottom of steamer. Add the artichokes to the steamer basket and set over a high heat for around 15 minutes or until the bottom of the artichoke can be easily pierced with a skewer.
Meantime, warm your bearnaise sauce over a water bath, whisking every now and again to keep the bearnaise as emulified as possible. Do not worry if it splits, we are aiming for flavoured butter not a perfect sauce with this recipe!
When the artichokes are steamed, pour the bearnaise butter over. Top with a poached egg if using.
Enjoy!

Have a great week! Here’s some Skee-Lo to get you through!

Stay safe and let me know what your spirit vegetable is!

*Marcel Proust said no such thing.

On record anyway.