Fantasy Veggie Dinner Guest - MICHAEL PORTILLO

If politics should be kept from the dinner table, inviting an ex-politician might seem a strange choice. However, Michael Portillo did not earn this invitation for his views, but for his televised railway journeys.

I love a knowledgeable enthusiast. Since leaving Parliament, Portillo has spent his time presenting numerous radio and TV programmes (one of which was Dinner with Portillo where he discussed current affairs with guests as they ate). We are enjoying watching re-runs of his 'Great American Railroad Journeys', where he crosses America using Appleton’s Guide from the 1870s. In this clip he hams it up in a Dodge City shootout.

In Series 2 he takes ‘The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway’ so I thought it would be appropriate to make him a little something which would once have been served on board its most famous train, the Santa Fe Super Chief. 

And, as it happens, I have access to some of that train’s most iconic dishes courtesy, once again, of the fabulous Mr Vincent Price who, along with his wife Mary, produced the wonderful book ‘A Treasury of Great Recipes’.

Here is a page from the book, showing what the man himself says:

The Prices enjoyed the meals so much that they included them in The Treasury, along with a copy of the menu from the 1960s:

So, I think 'French Toast Santa Fe' would be a good choice.

Here is the version immortalised by Vincent and Mary:

And this is how I adapted it to share with Michael who can come to dinner and discuss the American West all he likes, as long as he refrains from mentioning Westminster.

FRENCH TOAST SANTA FE

3 slices bread (2 or 3 days old is best) cut ¼ inch thick

2 eggs

½ cup (120ml) single cream

pinch of salt

½ tsp nutmeg

60ml cooking oil

Trim the crusts from the bread and cut each slice diagonally to make triangles.

In a bowl, beat the eggs until light and frothy. Add the cream, salt and nutmeg and mix well.

Soak the bread, a few pieces at a time, so that they absorb the egg/ cream mixture.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the bread in batches on both sides to a golden colour.

Remove and drain on kitchen roll to absorb any excess grease. Place all pieces on a baking tray. 

Cook at 400°F/ 200°C/ Gas 6 for about 5 minutes until puffed up.

Serve 3 slices per person. I sprinkled them with some caster sugar and served them with fresh raspberries and a drizzle of the remaining cream.

‘POSH’ MUSHROOMS ON TOAST

'Posh' Mushrooms on Toast is what Dave christened my way of using up the mushrooms and cream we had in the fridge.

The evening before, I had been looking through A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price, one of the greatest cookery books ever written. So, their recipe for Mushrooms in Cream popped into my head. I looked it up and decided to use it as a starting point, with a few additions.

150g mushrooms, sliced

25g butter

salt and pepper

1 garlic clove, crushed

75ml double cream

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

Heat the butter in a pan until it foams.

Add the mushrooms and toss to make sure they are all coated, then allow them to cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the garlic and cook for a minute more. 

Then pour over the cream and sprinkle in leaves from two of the sprigs of thyme. Bring to the boil.

Turn down and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then until it thickens. Season to taste.

Meanwhile, toast the bread.

When ready, serve the mushrooms on top with the rest of the thyme. (I even served it on a piece of sliced bread taken from the freezer. To make this a lovely snack, lunch or starter, use fresh crusty bread.)

HALLOWEEN COOKALONG - A Meal for Vincent Price

Something a little different here at Dinner with Zelda Manners, as here I revisit a post from last year, originally on my previous cookery blog.

This time the recipes are not my own. In fact, they were created by the wonderful Vincent Price. But I could still fantasise that he was coming round to enjoy them, cooked by my own fair hand...

October 31^st was a very special evening, as I took part in the Vincent Price Halloween Cookalong.

The event was organised by the very talented Jenny at Silverscreen Suppers and The Vincentennial Cookblog.  It involved some of us with cooking/ film obsessions reproducing a selection of Vincent Price’s dishes and watching House on Haunted Hill. Fellow Cookalongers will be listed at the end of the post - all well worth checking out.

As well as the universal Pumpkin Pie, I was allocated Champignons Grillés Marie Victoire (with its rather more pedestrian title of Broiled Mushrooms Mary Victoria in brackets).

Vincent Price, as well as being a hugely successful actor, noted especially for his ability to play the extremely suave but slightly unhinged, was also an enthusiastic and accomplished cook. He even had a TV series called Cooking Price-Wise which is well worth a view if you can track it down. The accompanying book contains dishes from around the globe. With his wife Mary he also wrote A Treasury of Great Recipes.

On Thursday, I had to be well prepared in advance as I had tickets to watch a lecture on Richard III and then a performance of the play during the afternoon. So, after immersing myself in the seductiveness of evil, I returned home to put the final touches to my meal.

My given recipe, Champignons Grillés Marie Victoire, was very tasty. I thought it might make a suitable starter but another time I would definitely serve it as a side-dish (as Vincent actually intended). It was easy to cook, although I couldn’t, as specified, keep the pan 6 inches from the heat so I curtailed the cooking time slightly. 

The mushrooms were still hot, soft and tasty. The shallots and butter gave an extra dimension but, as a starter, we (sorry to say) missed the garlic. I would serve this again as an accompaniment to another dish; Vincent suggests barbecued steak but I will find a suitable vegetarian alternative. 

And so, onto the Pumpkin Pie. As with so many of these old recipes, a certain amount of flexibility is required to turn the recipe on the page into the food on the plate. I think I made a ‘rookie error’ in that, caught up in the heat of the moment, I purchased a big old pumpkin so that D could carve it into a spooky face. Some of these pumpkins are grown more for their size than their flavour (waist rather than taste). Vincent actually suggested buying canned mashed pumpkin but that was not an option in Nottinghamshire. I diligently cooked and mashed the flesh which D had scraped out before sculpting his masterpiece. 

Incidentally, in the spirit of ‘waste not want not’ I also roasted the seeds and made soup for the next day. I’ll be making dresses from curtains next. 

The pie took longer to cook than Vincent envisaged and (probably because of my inferior pumpkin) tasted less ‘pumpkiny’ than I was expecting. However, it was still delicious and we indulged in huge slices.

I have copied the recipes below, along with any of my adjustments in brackets.

This was a fabulous project to be involved with and it led to a thoroughly enjoyable evening and a fantastic meal.

And then there was House on Haunted Hill to finish it all off. So, presumably Frederick Loren will now be looking for a new wife. Well, if applications are open…

Check out the blogs...

Jenny at  Silverscreen Suppers

Sally at My Custard Pie

Carol at Craftypants Carol

Erica at Retro Recipe

Lisa at Beyond the Fringes

Catherine at Battenburgbelle

Emily at Dinner is Served 1972

Mimi at The Retro WW Experiment

Brian at Caker Cooking

Ruth at The Mid-Century Menu

Angela at Glamorous Glutton

Saucy Cherie

(If I have missed you out, please let me know and I will be pleased to add you too.)

And the recipes...

CHAMPIGNONS GRILLÉS MARIE VICTOIRE

Serves 6

18 large (how large is large?) brown mushrooms (I used chestnut) lightly scrubbed (I brushed them clean)
5tbsp butter
1tsp finely chopped shallots (I used 2 shallots)

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

Remove mushroom stems.

Heat 2tbsp butter in a large skillet (pan).

Place mushrooms, tops down, in the butter.

Blend 3 tbsp softened butter with the shallots and the salt and pepper. Fill the mushroom caps with the mixture.

Broil (grill) 6 inches from the heat for about 5 mins (My griller was only 3 inches from the gas so I cut the time to 4 mins).

Turn off broiler (griller) and allow mushrooms to sizzle for 5 minutes more.

Baste mushrooms with any juice in pan. Serve without spilling contents of caps.

PUMPKIN PIE

Makes about 8 servings

1 X 9 inch unbaked pie shell
350g / 1.5 cups mashed or canned cooked pumpkin
3 eggs well-beaten (I used free-range)
350ml/ 1.5 cups heavy cream (double cream)
145g/ 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp mace
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Make the pie shell with a high scalloped edge, refrigerate several hours. (I used pre-made sweet pastry and rolled it to the thickness of a £1 coin)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F / 220 degrees C .( I used Gas 7)

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin with eggs, then the cream, sugar, salt, and spices.  

Blend well, then pour into the chilled pie shell.  

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F / 175 degrees C (I used Gas 4) before serving (I needed to keep it in the oven at this temperature for about 45minutes before the filling set).