Retro

The three post below come from articles I wrote for the excellent Retro Magazine. 


Check it out... it's very good indeed. 


http://www.theretrocollective.com/


I should be doing some more food writing for them shortly, so got any food memories, retro classics or dishes that time forgot that you'd like to be seen given a modern twist? 
Just leave a comment. 


A couple of people have also asked if there was any recipes to go with the articles. The answer? 
Yes. Yes there was. And here they are. If you try them out, let me know how they tasted.


Angel Delight

Angel Delight is basically a fruit fool, one of the simplest and tastiest desserts there is. 

You can substitute any soft fruit; black berries, raspberries, banana and get a fantastic result although you might want to slightly alter the amount of sugar for less tart fruits.

For 2 good portions.

250g strawberries

50g icing sugar

A lemon

250ml double cream

A large spoonful of full fat Greek yogurt.

Take your strawberries and remove any green leaves, cut in half and if they are particularly large cut out the tough hull.

Blitz them in a food processor with 2/3 of the sugar.

Taste and if its too tart add a little more sugar. 

If it’s too sweet add a squeeze of lemon. 

Keep tasting until you are happy but remember this is a chilled dessert and chilling dulls flavour so you want your fool to be as punchy as possible.

In a separate bowl whip the cream until it reaches a firm consistency, but don’t over work it. Fold in the yogurt, which will help stabilise the mixture and then fold in the strawberries. 

If you want to be extra fancy, pass the strawberry pulp through a sieve first to get rid of any little pips or hard pulp.

Place in suitable glasses and put in the fridge for about an hour.

If you want to be particularly classy garnish with squirty cream and a glace cherry. 

Coq Au Vin   

You will need:

A large jointed chicken

Half a dozen rashers of un-smoked streaky bacon 


2 onions 


A large carrot 


A stick of celery

2 or 3 cloves of garlic 


Sprinkling of flour 


Slosh of brandy 


Chicken stock

A bottle of red wine 


A few sprigs of thyme 


A couple of bay leaves 


Butter 


Plain flour

Large handful of small brown mushrooms not white buttons.

Cut the bacon into strips and fry off with a little butter in the bottom of a large casserole until they are golden brown but not burnt. 

Remove and put to one side.

Season the chicken with salt & pepper and place skin side down in the casserole. 

You want to develop a golden colour to the skin. This is where your deep flavour will come from. Once the skin looks beautifully browned turn the chicken over and briefly colour the flesh side. 

Take the chicken out.

Put your chopped onions, carrots and celery in to the pan. 

If you want you can dice all the veg relatively small to give the dish a more refined look or leave them chunkier to make the whole thing more peasantry. But don’t cut them straight through, cut small or on an angle to increase the surface area.

Just before returning the bacon and chicken to the pan add your chopped garlic. 

Add you thyme and bay.

Cover with your red wine. 

You have to be prepared to give up a whole bottle of decent French red and if you want to be bang on the money it should be Beaujolais. 

Put shit wine in… you’ll get a shit flavor out.

If there isn’t enough wine in one bottle to just cover what’s in the pan make up the rest with chicken stock. If you can’t be bothered to make chicken stock try and get the fresh wet stocks that most supermarkets carry. Don’t use a stock cube, everything will get too salty and kill the flavor of the chicken. 

Better to use water than a stock cube.

Bring to a gentle boil, cover and reduce to a simmer.

Fry your mushrooms in a little butter in a separate pan until golden brown. 

At the last minute deglaze the pan with a slosh of brandy, flambéing it to get all the extra flavour into the mushrooms. Always make sure someone is around to see you do this… it looks impressive and everyone will think you must be a serious chef even if it does cost you your eyebrows form time to time. 

Set to one side.

You are looking at about 1 hour for the dish to be cooked. The chicken should be soft but not falling off the bone. Once you are happy that its cooked take the chicken pieces out and add the fried mushrooms while kicking up the heat to reduce the sauce.

Make a beurre manie by taking some butter and forming a paste with you flour. It should look like a white gob stopper. The more flour you use the more your sauce will thicken. Better to add crumbs of the beurre manie gradually because you can’t take it away once it’s in the pan.

Drop the beurre manie into the sauce and stir on the boil until the sauce looks thick and glistening. 

Taste and adjust the seasoning if it needs a little pepper or salt. 

Return the chicken to the pan and serve. 

Prawn Cocktail

For the perfect Modern 1970’s Prawn Cocktail you will need

Raw king prawns on the shell. 3 per person depending on size.

2 tbsp Helman’s Mayonnaise

2 tbsp Crème Fresh

1 tbsp Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

A dash of Tabasco.

1 Baby gem lettuce per person.

Olive oil.

Lemon.

Fresh chives.

To cook the prawns:

Boil a pan of water, reduce to a simmer and place the prawns ‘shell on’ into the water to poach. Depending on the size this can several minutes. While still warm peel the prawn but leave the heads on. (If you are a serious prawn lover the meat gained from crushing the heads in your mouth is not to be missed.) 

Dress the prawns in a very small drizzle of olive oil. 

Season with salt and pepper.

To make the sauce:

Mix the Mayonnaise, with the Crème Fresh and the Ketchup. The Crème Fresh helps to keep the sauce lighter and less claggy. Add Tabasco to taste, a squeeze of lemon salt and pepper. Marie Rose sauce is so intensely personal that there is no other option than to taste as you go along and balance the sauce in the way you like. 

Mix together and put to one side.

To prepare the lettuce:

Shred as finely as possible, preferably into long thin strips. Just before assembly dress in a very little olive oil and add some finely chopped Chives. Do not add salt as this will draw water out of the lettuce.

To assemble:

Place the dressed lettuce in the bottom of a glass, pile the prawns on top and spoon some of the sauce over the prawns. But don’t flood the glass with the sauce – let the prawns be the stars. Sprinkle a small amount of chopped chives on top, twist of pepper and serve immediately.