Retro recipes and Delia

My lovely neighbour Jessie was doing a big clean out and kindly offered me some cookbooks, which I happily accepted. Today I was browsing through the succinctly named 'The Minced Meat Cookbook' and came across a number of recipes that made me guffaw with laughter at their retroness. When I checked the date of publication, expecting late '70s, perhaps early '80s I couldn't quite believe that it was first published in 1992! Crikey. What a long way we have come since 1992. Some gems from the afore mentioned gem-of-a cookbook...

Chili eggs with crispy coconut crust (brilliant alliteration)
Spicy coconut mince
Fruity meatloaf with tomato apple salsa
Prune and apple roll
Lamb and beetroot bake
Chicken, almond and mango pie
Chicken and fig bonbons
and my personal favourite, Sausage apple roll

I think I missed a clearly essential part of minces history during my life - pairing it with sweet fruits and/or coconut. Bizarre! But obviously extremely popular during the '90s.

Interestingly, Delia (Smith, hereafter only referred to as Delia) would probably still be cooking these, the saucy minx. Her 1998 classic television series "How to Cook" followed closely by "Delia's Summer/Winter Collection" and the all time snigger inducing "Delia's Christmas" - the final episode of which is titled the "The final 36 hours countdown to Christmas day" is one of my all time favourite cooking series. There's something about the sternness and unbending directiveness in her delivery that makes me feel secure that the recipe will work. But she's so stiff and serious that it makes also highly enjoyable viewing.

Classic Delia

Ah Delia, I salute you in all your matronly ways. You got an entire nation of women rushing out first thing to buy the ingredients of the dishes you prepared on their teles the night before. Not many women can claim to have sold supermarkets out of eggs. When Delia showed her devoted followers how to boil an egg it did indeed happen. Seriously. There's even a term coined for it: the Delia effect.

Next time: Erin and I are definitely going to make it to a Wellington on a Plate event this weekend. Location yet to be confirmed though we have narrowed it down to a shortlist of about 4. Watch this space....

Rick and Peta

Well it's been a big week for me! Have had the pleasure of seeing 2 of my favourite chefs and hearing them talk about their expereinces. First up was Rick Stein.

Rick was very funny! The show was co-hosted by Mark Sainsbury and Rick's old sous chef (a kiwi). They had some good banter going on. He cooked a number of delicious smelling recipes and even brought them out to the audience to try. Unfortunately I never got to try any but I'm sure they were yummy.



My lovely colleague Robyn and I went to hear Peta Mathias talk about her adventures in Marrakech on Wednesday night. This was part of the Dominion Post writers series of talks. Now, I've met Peta once before when I worked at an event she was hosting and I thought she was a right madam and not very nice at all. So my expectations weren't very high. But I was really surprised! She was extremely funny, engaging and personable. Peta shared some interesting experiences, not only about cooking, but about life in Morocco, women's fashion in Morocco and how to overcome vertigo. FYI: throwing yourself backwards onto a bed is a helpful vertigo technique. Intriguing!

In other news, I made a rather lovely beef and ale casserole last night which I completely forgot to photograph. The newly brunette Anna and Matt were lucky enough (!) to enjoy this little gem with me. Matt enjoyed it so much he had thirds. There is no greater compliment than devouring the entire casserole, so cheers Matt!

I had wanted to serve the casserole on mashed potato but unfortunately my potatoes had decided to start growing mould so they went into the bin. So couscous was substituted. It worked ok. A good tip I learnt from Peta Mathias is that when you are cooking instant couscous you should always use stock instead of water. I tried this and it made a big difference in taste. I also recommend making sure the 'click' you hear is not the multiplug overloading but the kettle finishing boiling. I did not check this and thus my couscous wasn't as fluffy as it could have been. Somewhat disappointing.

Coming up - Wellington on a Plate is in full swing and there's some cocktails and cupcakes coming up at Martha's Pantry. Also Moore Wilson's Food Heros. And Erin and I keep promising each other that we will try a set menu or two! So there should be some exciting events to report on over the next few weeks.

Mid-Winter Christmas

Mid-Winter Christmas and Emma's triumphant return was a raging success! The menu was as follows...

Nibbles: Chips and dip, cheese and crackers.

Main: Roast chicken, roast vege selection, couscous and roasted vege salad, green salad, potato gratin, spanakopita, lasagne. Oh yes, and nut roast - I keep forgetting the nut roast - according to Emma, it was the star of the show...hmmm.

Pudding: Chocolate eclairs, ice-cream and fruit salad, chocolates.

Well I'm not sure what happened to the ice-cream and fruit salad (I think we were too full) but everything else was spectacular! Thanks to Helen, Emma and Triona for allowing me to delegate parts of the meal. There might have been some spontaneous combustion had I attempted to do it all! Anyway, I did a chicken, couscous, potato gratin, spanakopita, lasagne and the eclairs.

The finished dishes, ready to be transported to the Love Nest

Note the strawberries marinating in Cointreau too. Mmmm! I admit I tried a few, just to make sure they were ok. Quality controll you know...very important...


There was some morphing into Delia Smith as lists of lists were drawn up. Then there was a list of time frame broken down into half hourly segments...I shan't go on, but you get my drift. I was hoping there'd be some magical change into Nigella but this appeared not to happen.

Cooking went smoothly and was completed by 11:30, thus allowing me to enjoy the rest of the day. Until it was eclair time. Didn't want to do these too early as I figured they'd get soggy. I will admit there were 30 eclair cases.... however the full number didn't quite make it to the party... there were a few breakages! I decided to pipe the cream into the cases as I figured it would be easier - and it was. Got a big snaplock bag, filled it with the whipped cream, snipped the corner off and piped away happily.

Note the artfully placed holly - I impress myself no end

Saturday was the first time I'd ever made a lasange! I've made the mince and bechamel many times before, albeit seperately. I was a bit nervous as to how it'd turn out as when I was assembling the bad boy it seemed a bit sloppy, but it was actually fine once it had cooled. We reheated it just prior to serving and it still held together nicely. As requested (thanks guys!) here's the recipe I made up as I went along

Lasagne - Sophie style

Meat sauce:

Oil for browning

500 gm (ish, can't remember how much I used) mince

Garlic, crushed

Tomato paste, a couple of tablespoons

Jar of good quality bolognese sauce

Salt and pep

Brown the mince and garlic, drain off any excess fat. Add tomato paste and bolognese sauce. Season. Cook slowly over a low heat for ages (I simmered slowly for 2.5 hours).

Bechemel sauce:


Butter 2tbsp

Flour 2 tbsp

Cream 1/2 c

Milk 1/2 c

Grated cheese, generous handfull

Salt and pep

Melt butter, add flour to make roux. Cook out for a min, add milk and cream. I used a whisk to ensure there weren't any lumps. Season. Now, I know bechemel doesn't traditionally have cheese but I was concerned it wasn't thickening enough so I chucked some in! Worked a treat. If you are more patient than me then you'll be able to add your milk slowly. I got a bit excited and added it too quickly.

Assembly:

Put a layer of the meat sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Pour a layer of the bechemel over. Place the lasagne sheets on top. Keep layering until you reach the top of the dish. Finish with a layer of grated cheese. Don't do what I did and overfill your dish - there were some interesting hissing noises coming from the oven that alerted me to this. Cover with foil and bake at 180 degrees for hmmm,45 mins or so. I didn't actually time it, just guesstimated and checked after awhile.


In other news, this Sunday I'm off to Rick Stein! My wonderful mother found tickets were heavily discounted and snaffled some for the family. I'm thoroughly overexcited about this as it was something I was desperate to go to but couldn't really afford. I'm hoping I'll get to see some amazing recipes from the Steininator - he's quite a legend really. I hope he brings Chalky - is Chalky still even alive? I would be very sad if he wasn't. He's a great side-kick.

August has arrived and with it the imminent arrival of Wellington on a Plate - hooray! I'm all booked in for Cocktails and Cupcakes at Martha's Pantry and am eagerly looking forward to Food Heroes at Moore Wilson's - last year was amazing! What an exciting month there is ahead of me.

Thailand, Italy and Malaysia - all in 3 days

Right - I'm thoroughly overwhelmed by the lovely feedback I've recieved over the past couple of days! Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my ramblings and let me know what you think. Don't be afraid to leave a comment :)

I made Thai Green Curry on Sunday night for myself and Triona. I'd just like to point out that I'm not an incredible cook who whips up curry pastes in her pestle and mortar - that just isn't the way I roll. Maybe one day when I'm not working?! Does anyone actually do this? I am watching Nigella say the exact same thing on Food TV right now so that makes it all right in my book. Anyway, I'm a great fan of the Kan-Tong brand of Thai green curry recipe base. It comes in a little sachet thing and is enough for 2-3. Here's my non-recipe recipe for Thai green curry

Oil (I use Rice Bran)

1 onion, diced

Chicken - I used breast meat, cut up into smallish pieces, use however much suits you

Thai green curry paste/sachet

Coconut milk/cream - 140/160 ml can (the little one)

Frozen peas

Fry the onion, when softened add chicken. Brown. Add curry paste and coconut milk. Cook until chicken is almost cooked and add frozen peas. Cook for a further few mins. Serve on basmati rice.

Yuuummmm. Thanks Triona for being the hand model!

Tuesday saw my Dad turn another year older so the family trundled off to Caffe Italiano on Cuba St for dinner. Tuesday is also their 2 4 1 pasta night -quite a good deal considering the price of their pasta is pretty dear for what it is ($20 +). Between the 5 of us we had a couple of decent lasagnes, some pretty bright green gnocchi, salmon fettucine and pork and fennel sausages in a red bean stew (good rustic sausies). Service was pretty slow to start but picked up towards the end. We had a pinot grigo and the house red (which was delicious - a Sangiovese) as well as a couple of Peroni's.

Tonight I went to the supermarket for my weekly shop - something I look forward to greatly - and came across some Silk Road corriander and garlic roti in the chiller section. That got me thinking about Malaysian recipes and I settled on Malaysian satay chicken with rice and roti - I was feeling a bit greedy (big day at work!).

I can't understand why my food tastes so good but photographs so badly. This truly was delicious but I think I need to garnish more...

Next time I'll be reporting on the mahousive Mid Winter Christmas that's happening this weekend (and the return of the brilliant and illustrious Emma) and the beaut food and drink that will be being imbibed.

Great India Goodness

Saturday was the kind of day that demanded a filling and delicious lunchon. So my flatmate Millie and I wandered down with one thing on our minds: curry. I had a rather vague memory of a very yummy and appealingly affordable $10 lunch at Great India on Manners St...and my second visit didn't disappoint.

The lunch menu gets you a curry, rice and naan for just $10. I went for a garlic naan, chicken tikka masala and basmati rice. Mil went for butter chicken, coconut and caramelised onion rice and a garlic naan. The smells coming out of the kitchen as we waited for our food made my mouth water in anticipation - it was akin to torture.

All I can say is that it was worth the (barely 15 minutes) wait. Beautiful succulent tandoori chicken pieces in a tasty thick sauce. This wasn't your usual tikka masala though, not a tomato in sight. I asked the waiter what the base was and he said it was the chef's special recipe - a yoghurt and cumin base. Fluffy light naan and decent rice. Great value for $10 - I went away as full as a state school. Possibly could've left a bit but it was too yummy. A really nice touch was that the waiter brought steaming hot minted towels for us to "refresh" ourselves with - what a great way to end the meal!

Highly recommend Great India - I shall give it 4/5 on the Sophie Scale.

Let me introduce myself...

Firstly, thank you for visiting Truly Scrumptious. The name comes from the classic children's movie 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' - and seems to fit nicely as a name for a food blog! This blog will not only feature recipes, musings and new/new to me products, but also my personal opinions on where to eat and, perhaps sometimes, where not to eat! There will usually be photos but my camera managed to get left at home today - so apologies for not having much to look at except my ramblings!

My enthusiasm for food is pretty huge. I think it says alot that I count the supermarket as one of my favourite places to visit. I could spend hours wandering up and down the aisles, mentally planning meals for the week, getting ideas from what's on special and what's freshest. I also love my weekly visits to the vege market and Moore Wilson's.

I reckon I'm pretty lucky to live pretty much right in the city (Te Aro) which means I have loads of options only a few minutes walk away. Today I went to the Willis St fruit and vege market, my usual Sunday morning excursion, and snaffled a few bits of fruit for the week. I wasn't as inspired as usual so decided to wander down to the Harbourside market on Wakefield St. Now, that's not somewhere I usually go, but I was stoked at the great selection of independent stall-holders they have, mostly food orientated. I picked up a beautiful blue cheese and caramelised onion tart for only $6 from a lovely woman who had lots of other delectable goodies in her cabinet - but I had to resist as I know I'm having a big dinner tonight (more on that to come!).

I also checked out the City Market. It's located in the Chaffers Dock Building, just across Waitangi Park. There were so many people packed into there on this nippy Wellington winter morning that it was all I could do to make a lap before I was forced to depart. I'll make sure I go earlier next time; midday is clearly peak time!

I wanted something to go with my blue cheese and caramelised onion tart so made my way up to Moore Wilson's (my old work!). I'd like to just muse for a moment and appreciate how beautiful the new Fresh Market is - it makes shopping much more enjoyable. Anyway, my eyes were drawn, like a moth to a flame, to a half baked loaf in the chiller - its top smothered with caramelised onions and parmesan cheese looked too good to pass by. I hurried home to pop the beauties into the oven - 12 minutes was all the loaf took and I could smell the onions in both as they heated through. What a spectacular result - the tart was so rich with onion and the pastry was flaky and buttery. The bread was oniony and light. Together they were perfect!

Tonight I have a friend coming over and I've promised her Thai green chicken curry. This is currently one of my favourite recipes and I'm salivating slightly thinking about how it's going to taste....mmmm!