Retro Food For Modern Times - Yesterdays Recipes, Cooked Today

13
Dec
2023

St Niklas Granola

Hello friends! Today we a celebrating the festive season with another lovely homemade gift. Unlike the Sparkling Lavender Mustard or my Christmas Pudding, each of which need to rest for about a month before being ready to gift, the St Niklas Granola can be whipped up in an hour or so and gifted as soon as it cools!

Annabel Crabb & David Sedaris

The recipe for the St Niklas Granola comes from the Book Special Guest by Australian Journalist, Annabel Crabb. I adore Annabel Crabb, she is smart and funny and she writes a good recipe! The St Niklas Granola is inspired by those spicy Dutch Christmas cookies called Peppernoten. In the introduction, to the granola, she also speaks of the rather suspect story surrounding them. I believe this is the same story as told by David Sedaris in his story “Six To Eight Black Men”. I linked to his reading of this way back in 2015 and can heartily recommend it. It is so funny! (And the Fig, Fennel and Pistachio Roulade that was the featured recipe would also make a wonderful Christmas gift for the Foodie in your life!

Listening to Six to Eight Black Men has become one of my Christmas traditions. Making the St Niklas granola may well become one too.

Speaking of Christmas traditions, Fairytale of New York is one of my favourite (Christmas) songs and features on any Christmas playlist I compile. I was upset to hear of the recent passing of Shane McGowan. His duet with Sinead O’Connor, Haunted is also one of my favourite songs. How beautiful is her voice here? It gives me shivers to hear it. It is so sad to think that we have lost two such talented musicians this year.

But back to the granola…

St Niklas Granola Recipe

I am not much of a breakfast person, so I usually eat my Granola as an after-dinner treat instead of dessert. Sometimes, I also just grab a handful for a little snack on the go. Some yoghurt and fresh fruit make it as good in the morning as it is in the evening. The hit of spice and, especially the little hits of ginger when you get them are soooo good! I love Annabelle’s suggestion of serving it with ice cream as a dessert too!

And of course, when I suggest you give this as a gift, what I really mean is make an entire batch and keep half for yourself!

Have a wonderful week!

26
Nov
2023

Nov 03 – Gimme Some Oven

categories: 20 Years Ago Today, Baking, Bread, Cake, Crab, Delicious, Fish, Sandwiches, Seafood

Hello retro food lovers and welcome (back) to November 2003! This month I am using Delicious Magazine to prepare a menu where we use the oven for each component. I know a heap of people who never use their oven so I was hoping this might inspire some people to do so. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite turn out as I was a bit disappointed with a few items on the menu. There were many items to choose from, so maybe I just chose badly. But before we get there, let’s take a little look at what was happening in the world in November 2003.

The War on Terror, the occupation of Iraq, and Paris Hilton’s sex tape were big news in November 2003. There were also some cracking movies out. Matrix Revolutions was number 1 at the box office, followed by Elf at #2 and Love Actually at #7.

The DaVinci Code was still the best-selling book and Baby Boy by Beyonce was #1 on the charts. Personally, Outkast’s Hey Ya (#3) is a much better song but each to their own!

The Menu – November 2003

Crab and Gruyere Tart

I was very surprised to find that the Crab and Gruyere Tart (I made one large tart instead of a few small tartlets) was largely tasteless. This was a Rick Stein recipe and I normally find him very reliable. This is not what I expect from a Rick recipe. I feel this needed a herb or something to liven it up a bit! Neither crab nor gruyere is a cheap item so this also did not rate on value for money.

Interestingly, Nathan Outlaw who, apart from having an amazing name, has worked with Rick Stein and, like Stein has a restaurant in Cornwall, has a recipe for a Crab and Cheddar Tart. His recipe also contains spring onions and leeks. I wonder if this would provide the flavour boost I felt was lacking in the Rick one.

Crab and Gruyere Tart Recipe

Fish in a Herb Crust with Lemon Oil

In total contrast to the above, this is a Jill Dupleix recipe which I loved. Personally, I don’t rate Jill Dupleix. She hosted a night in conversation with Nigella Lawson I went to once and she came across as a bit obnoxious. I really liked this recipe though! It was quick and easy to make and was packed with flavour! It was a lovely weeknight dinner.

Fish In a Herb Crust with Lemon Oil Recipe

Madeleines

I love a Madeleine. So, as soon as I saw that there was a recipe for them in Delicious for November 2003 I knew I would have them as part of my menu. In retrospect, maybe I should have chosen something else as this was not a good Madeleine recipe. I have read many recipes for Madeleines and all, except for this one, call for the cake batter to be refrigerated for about an hour before baking. This one didn’t. It also only said to grease the Madeleine pan, not grease and flour it, again something that is in all the other recipes I have seen.

These were a nightmare to get out of the pan. They also lacked the nice crust that you usually get on the outside. I think that was mostly stuck to the pan. So another disappointment from this magazine.

Madeleines Recipe

My Nigella Moment – Turkish Pizza

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 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 because it is too good not to share.

My Nigella moment this month came in the shape of a Turkish Pizza, which is not a pizza in the traditional sense but a totally yummy combination of spinach, feta, and mozzarella in Turkish bread. I loved this! So easy to make and so tasty! I will defintely be cooking the Turkish Pizza again!

Turkish Pizza Recipe

So, it was very much a mixed bag from Delicious Magazine from November 2003. The oven did not deliver the loving I was hoping for with two of the four recipes not worthy of keeping. The fish was quick and easy and I will make it again. That Turkish pizza though? Perfection! I have already made it twice more and it continues to delight me!

Have a great week!

22
Nov
2023

Ham Slaw Baked Potato

categories: Leftovers, Potato, Salad

Hello friends and welcome to a midweek quickie. Today we are talking leftovers, specifically what to do with leftover Ham Slaw. I recently, please don’t laugh at this, but I only very recently learned that you could “bake” potatoes in the microwave! Combine the two and you get a super yummy ham slaw baked potato. AKA Work from home heaven!

Since then though, I have been making up for lost time and about once a week when I am on a working-from-home day and have suitable leftovers, I have been baking up a potato and having it with my leftovers for lunch. The Ham Slaw was AMAZING!

And how does it taste?

There is something I find so comforting about a baked potato. And at 6 minutes cooking time, you can bake your potato, walk your dogs and eat all in your lunch hour! The ham slaw is a pretty robust salad so will last in the fridge for a day or two so if you make a bit more than you need, you can have lunches for a few days. I had this as a work from home lunch but there’s nothing to stop you re-heating your potato in the office microwave either!

Ham slaw, a baked potato hack and two Taylor Swift gifs? What more could you want in a mid-week quickie! Hope your week is going well.

19
Nov
2023

Sparkling Lavender Mustard

categories: Condiments, Edible Flowers, Lavender, Mustard, Sparkling

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!

You can of course, also keep this for yourself.

Have a great week!

12
Nov
2023

The Moving Finger – Irish Stew

categories: Dining With The Dame, Lamb, Marple

Hello crime readers and food lovers! This month our menu is a tribute to The Moving Finger, a 1942 novel by Agatha Christie featuring many people’s favourite amateur crime solver, Miss Jane Marple. In contrast to the last few novels in which we have dined with the Dame, The Moving Finger is loaded with mentions of food including an Irish Stew. My own opinions of stew match those of Megan Hunter (below) so when I made it, I thought that I would just have a taste and then the Fussiest Eater in the world could eat the rest. This is exactly the type of food he loves. My spoonful ended up being a whole bowl and I would have had another for lunch the following day if the leftovers hadn’t been commandeered by someone else! So success all round. I’ll definitely be making Irish Stew again.

The Moving Finger – The Plot

Jane Marple. Look at her well. I tell you, that woman knows more about the different kinds of human wickedness than anyone I’ve ever known.

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger

Jerry Burton and his sister Joanna move to the “quiet” village of Lymstock so he can recover from injuries after a flying accident. Shortly thereafter, they receive an anonymous letter accusing them of being lovers. They burn the letter but soon learn that they are not the only people who are being targeted by the poison pen writer.

Although offensive, the letters consist of wild speculation and don’t seem to target actual wrongdoing. Then, one of the people from the village is found dead with a letter accusing her of adultery beside her.

We have:

The Police unable to solve the crimes
Another grisly murder where a housemaid is skewered to death. Did she see something she shouldn’t have
A book found with pages ripped out – the source of the letters
Local citizens suspecting each other

Good thing one of the villagers has the sense to call on her friend Jane Marple to set things right!

There are lots of things to love in The Moving Finger. The details of village life and the characters who live in it are well-written. My personal favourite is Mrs Dane Calthrop the Reverend’s wife. She is an original thinker and the person to contact Miss Marple. I love this response from her when asked if she has had a poison pen letter:

Oh yes, two, – no three. I forget what they said. Something very silly about Caleb and the schoolmistress, I think. Quite absurd, because Caleb has absolutely no taste for fornication. He never has had. So lucky being a clergyman

What we might call today “too much information”.

I also very much liked Partridge, Jerry and Joanna’s cook who seems to be in a constant bad temper.

There are also some things not to like. There is a more than likely gay man in the village and a few homophobic comments made about him. And there’s a weird romance going on between Jerry Burton and Megan Hunter.

Also, for a Marple novel, Miss Marple only enters on, in my edition, page 121 of a 160-page novel!

Apart from these few niggles, I very much enjoyed this novel.

The Moving Finger – The Covers

I was delighted to find so many non-English covers for The Moving Finger – we have French, Spanish, German, Czech, Swedish and others I cannot identify. My favourites are the German Die Scattenhand third row second left and the Swedish MordPer Korrespondens on the same row far right. The English cover, bottom row, far left is terrifying!

The Recipe – Irish Stew

“Murder is a nasty business on an empty stomach.”

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger

For my Irish Stew I used the recipe on BBC Good Food by Bruno Desmazery.

As mentioned, this was delicious and, despite my initial reluctance was something I would definitely make and eat again! And, contrary to the quote from Megan Hunter below is not mostly potato and flavour. Although, maybe in 1942 with wartime rationing it may well have been.

I went round to apprise Partridge of the fact that there would be three to lunch. I fancy that Partridge sniffed. She certainly managed to convey without saying a word of any kind that she didn’t think much of that Miss Megan. I went back to the verandah. Ïs it quite alright?”asked Megan anxiously. “Quite alright ” I said.” Ïrish Stew.” “Oh well, that’s rather like dog’s dinner anyway isn’t it? I mean it’s mostly just potato and flavour””

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger

Links To The Christieverse

None that I could find

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in The Moving Finger

Raspberry canes
Cocktails (multiple times)
Duck Eggs
Currant Loaf
Chops, Loin Chops
Breakfast
Tea (hot) (multiple times)
Cup Custards
Coffee (multiple times)
Rhubarb
French Beans, Runner Beans
Sherry (mutiple times)
Cakes
Whisky Soda (twice)
Milk and Bread
Milk (multiple times)
Christmas Pudding
Brandy
Eggs
Bacon
Cabbage
Caulilfower
Lobster
Chocolate
Clear gums
Throat Pastilles

December’s Read is Sparkling Cyanide.