Alan Ladd’s Kidney Deluxe

Feb20

As some of you may remember, we have a vast collection of “Golden Oldies” (movies) – limiting the movies up to the early 1980s……. (See much more on Jo’s own Blog “manningtreearchive.com” for your enjoyment).

We enjoy watching those wonderful movies leisurely in our home with a glass of wine (or two!) and appreciate the many ‘stars of yesteryears’ and we bemoan the sad fact that they don’t’ make stars and films like that anymore, and what a pity it is.

A few days ago I wanted to see a 1957 film which at a much younger age I must have seen at least three times; “The Boy On A Dolphin” – I remember that I liked the story, I liked Alan Ladd but most of all I liked Sophia Loren whom I had met and had tea with at a fashion show in Frankfurt/Main.

There is a song in this film, sung by (unaccredited) the smoky-voiced Julie London – oh how we love this song (ok I admit it here – we love them all) and particularly, her wonderful voice and interpretation of each individual song (you remember her “Cry Me A River?”). Who cannot remember this (to us) slightly haunting performance of one of her most famous songs “…Saddle the Wind” from the film with the same title which was released in 1958 (See in-depth review of this film posted on October 18, 2012 in Jo’s own site.)

“There’s a tale that they tell of a dolphin
And a boy made of gold.
With the shells and the pearls in the deep,
He has lain many years fast asleep;
What they tell of the Boy on A Dolphin,
Who can say if it’s true.
Should he rise from the depths of the ocean,
Any wish that you wish will come true.
You say he’s only a statue,
And what can a statue achieve.
And yet while I’m gazing at you,
My heart tells my head to believe.
If the boy whom the Gods have enchanted,
Should arise from the sea,
And the wish of my heart could be granted,
I would wish that you loved only me.”

And whilst Jo was looking for the Alan Ladd film in our library he came across an old recipe, tucked away many years ago in the cover of this DVD of one of Ladd’s favourite recipes “Kidney Deluxe”. It is a slight variation of our very own “Devilled Kidneys”, which I nevertheless will post here shortly.

I was not able to get mushrooms, bacon and Sherry for the moment and so I cannot show you any photographs. But I leave you with some images from this enjoyable movie instead.

So, here I am with the recipe (for 4 people) for Alan Ladd’s “Kidney Deluxe”

Ingredients:
¼ x kg lamb kidney
2 x Tbsp butter
4 x slices bacon, diced finely
5 x Spring onions, chopped
10 x large button mushrooms, chopped
1 ½ x Tbsp butter
1 ½ x Tbsp flour
¼ x tsp salt
Dash of pepper
1/3 x cup Sherry (dry) (or equal measure of red or white wine)
Parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Method:
Wash kidneys. Cover with cold water. Bring slowly to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain and slice, cutting away fat and tubes.

Sauté bacon in 2 Tbsp butter until crisp. Add scallions and mushrooms; sauté for 5 minutes.

Add kidneys and cook for another 5 minutes.

Melt in a saucepan 11/2 Tbsp butter and stir in flour. Cook over low heat until blended. Add water. Bring to a simmer, stirring: cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add gravy, Sherry wine, salt and pepper to kidney mixture. Cover and simmer for another 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley.

That’s it! Enjoy.
Carina

Valentine – Memories of Torcello

Feb13

Anyone 4 Curry & Other Things


Tomorrow once again is Valentine’s Day all over the world – but why only one (mainly commercial) day in a year? We like to have this special day many many times over.

This year alas we will not be travelling to one of the most romantic places for us in Italy but our memories of this beautiful place, Torcello with the Locanda Cipriani, will have to do for now and therefor I like to re-blog my Valentine’s post from 2016.

Have a wonderful happy day.
Carina (13 Feb 2020)

PS: A funny quote to our loved ones: ‘I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.’ Rita Rudner American comedian

Below is my Valentine’s Post of 2016:

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View original post 684 more words

Bejewelled Cupcakes

Feb7

Hallo – hallo! I am once more back again!

Some of you might remember telling you that my late mother never taught me to bake any of her beautiful cakes. Was that the reason why I never even attempted baking for my family and friends? I don’t know really; and to be frank with you I also was always a bit “scared” in case I made quite a fool of myself.

Luckily neither Jo nor I have a so called ‘sweet tooth’ – so we never missed that divine piece of ‘sweet temptation’ on our extensive travels around the world, with the exception of one of the various times when we visited the world famous Hotel Sacher in Vienna. How can anyone decline a piece of their Sacher Torte (with 2 spoons, please) and a glass of delicious champagne?!

But the other day we suddenly both felt like having a piece of cake with our tea but could not be bothered to call a UBER to take us to a bakery. Then I remembered a cake recipe my friend Heidi in Berlin used when cake was needed at very short notice. So a quick call to her, recipe written down, needed ingredients checked, cake baked and 20 minutes later enjoyed with a nice cup of Darjeeling tea whilst listening to the heavy unseasonably rain outside.

So here now I share with you Heidi’s recipe and hopefully you too will bake this cake.

I am quite proud of myself for having done this after decades shying away from this but, as the saying goes “…one is never too old to learn” – so watch out for maybe another cake experience soon.

Take care and Namaskaram
Carina

Ingredients for 6 Cupcakes
100 g Butter, softened
250 g Flour
200 g Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Sugar
4 Eggs
1 tsp Baking powder
Pinch of Salt
Ingredients for top
100 g Almonds (skinned and cut into little sticks)
100 g Sugar
Any good jam (solid, not liquid)

Method
Heat your oven to 200 C.
In a bowl mix Butter, Sugar and Vanilla Sugar very well until creamy.
Slowly add eggs, one after another, and mix well
Mix flour, baking powder and salt and add to the above mixture.
Now butter your baking sheet or cupcake pan, sprinkle flour over this and shake off any excess flour.
Cover your baking sheet with the batter, smooth out top.

With a small spoon make a dell in the batter and add a good generous dollop of your favourite jam into this.
Mix the almonds and the sugar and sprinkle over the batter with tiny butter flakes on top.
Bake in the hot oven for app. 20 minutes.

That’s it – enjoy Heidi’s recipe with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

PRAWNS MOILEE for 2

Jan9


My goodness – does time fly!

It is already Epiphany, 06th January, and Christmas is now most definitely over – until next time.

But before I post my Prawn Moilee today I like to share with you a picture of our own (Christmas) Crip with the Three Wise Men having now arrived at The Stable. Jo gets all the credit for actually building this one and the figures, angles etc. were all purchased by us over the years in Germany, England, Thailand and here in our own town in India. So many good and happy memories are attached to this tableau.

For New Year’s Eve we once again stayed at home – we have always preferred it like this.

But what to cook for this special occasion? –Very simple, one of our other favourite dishes, Prawns Moilee! Prawns simmered in slightly mild and creamy coconut gravy. Having the Arabian Sea as our coast, gives us all this beautiful sea-food for our kitchen. The prawns used in this preparation by me are acquired directly from the Chinese Nets (pictured above) workers.

Kerala is known of course, amongst other things, as the land of coconuts and there for one will find in most of our local cuisine either freshly grated coconut or/and coconut milk –absolutely delicious.

So, come and join us at our table, have a glass of wine or whatever, and enjoy this wonderful local dish

PRAWNS MOILEE for 2

For you who like to know – Moilee just means “An Indian curry, originally from Goa, containing fish or seafood and coconut milk”

To marinate the prawns you will need:
1 x cup of shelled and deveined prawns
1 x tsp Turmeric powder
½ x tsp chilli powder
½ to 1 whole lime
1 x tsp Salt

To make the Moilee you need:
2 x Tbsp Coconut oil (or any other vegetable oil)
1 x large Tomatoe, sliced
Curry leaves (10 – 15 numbers)
1 x cup of Onions, sliced
3 x green Chillies slit in middle
1 x Tbsp Ginger, finely sliced
2 x Cardamom
2 x Cloves
½ x tsp Fenugreek seeds
½ x tsp Mustard seeds
A small piece of Cinnamon (stick)
3 x dried red Chillies
3 x Garlic pods, very finely chopped
½ x tsp Turmeric powder
1x tsp Coriander powder
1 x cup of Coconut milk

How to make the Moilee:
1. In a bowl mix together all the items mentioned under ‘to marinate…’ and keep aside for ca. 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil and when hot add and fry the Fenugreek seeds. After this add the Mustard seeds until they ‘pop’. Add Cardamom, Cloves, Cinnamon stick, dry red Chillies. Stir and add Onions, Ginger, green Chillies, Garlic and the curry leaves and fry until the onions turn translucent.
3. After this add Coriander- and Turmeric powder and keep stirring for ca. ½ minute. Now add the prawns, ½ x cup of Coconut milk and the sliced Tomatoes and cook until the Prawns turn pink.
4. When this is done add the remaining ½ cup of Coconut milk and bring this to a slight boil for a minute only.
5. Serve with Rice or Appam and enjoy!

Notes:
Having all the fresh Coconut at our disposal we make Moilee with two kinds of Coconut milk; first we squeeze the freshly grated Coconut with some water to extract the initial thick (first) milk and repeat the process on the same to extract the thin (second) milk.

That’s it! And Happy New Year to you all.
Carina

Jo’s Pork Vindaloo

Dec30

Hello my friends – after a somewhat lengthy hiatus I now have come back and will try to share one of our delicious recipes again once a week.
But first of all Jo and I like to wish you all the very best for the coming year; good health (and good fortune), joy and happiness and may at least some of your wishes, if not all, come true!

Christmas came and went – now is the time to say “good bye to 2019 and hello 2020”. Like most of us we too will be spending time with relatives and friends here in India whilst dreaming of snow, cold etc. in my own native country Germany. Hm – maybe next year!

Today I like to share with you one of our most favourite dishes, Jo’s very special Pork Vindaloo from a recipe he has devoped into his very own over the last few years. For any kind of celebration we will serve, amongst others, Biriyani and of course his Vindaloo. It is so delicious that we will never have any left-overs here.

We like our food really hot, but if you want to scale down on chilli by all means do so, but remember Vindaloo is by nature a very spicy dish. It is a jumbled pronunciation of the Portuguese dish “carne de vinha d’alhos” (meat marinated in wine-vinegar and garlic), which was introduced to Indians in 15th century by Portuguese explorers.

So, go ahead and enjoy this Vindaloo and, if you like, let me know what you think.

Take care
Carina

Ingredients:

1 kg Pork, cut into medium sized pieces
3 x big onions, thinly sliced
4 x Tbsp grated coconut
1 x inch ginger, crushed
5 x large garlic pods, crushed
4 x Kashmiri Chilli, dried and whole
1 x tsp cumin powder
1 x tsp fenugreek
5 x cloves
3 x cinnamon pieces
5 x cardamoms
6 x black peppercorns
1 x star anise
1 x small bay leaf
2 x tsp mustard seeds
1 x cup white vinegar
½ x tsp black pepper powder
3 x Tbsp chilli powder
2 x tsp coriander powder
1 x tsp turmeric powder
1 x tsp ginger/garlic paste
4 x Tbsp Vegetable oil
2 x sprigs of curry leaves
2 x cups of water (initially)
Salt, as required

Method of Preparation:

1) Wash the pork pieces well, drain and pat dry with kitchen paper.
2) Rub a little bit of chilli powder and salt into those pieces and keep aside.
3) In a Mixi grind into a fine paste, with a little water, grated coconut, portion of one sliced onion, cumin powder, mustard seeds (1 x tsp only), pepper powder and coriander powder.

4) Heat oil. When quite hot add fenugreek, cloves, cinnamon sticks, cardamoms, pepper corn, star anise and the bay leaf and mix. After a few seconds add the remaining mustard seeds and let them ‘pop’ and then add the Kashmiri chillies and the sliced onion.

5) Fry this on medium heat until the onions turn golden brown.
6) Now add the grinded mixture, ginger/garlic paste and turmeric powder and fry until the oil rises.
7) Add the Pork pieces and fry in this mixture for app. Five minutes.
8) Add vinegar, water, salt and curry leaves and slow cook until the water almost dried up and the meat is deliciously tender.
9) Done – serve with rice, chapatti, naan or paratha and enjoy!

A beautiful Cauliflower and green peas curry

Aug15


“……… I DO THIS, MY WAY! …..”

A beautiful Cauliflower and green peas curry.

Our festival season is slowly starting off with today’s Independence Day celebration and most people will have been watching on their TV the splendid celebrations all over the country.

Next week Kerala will be celebrating their most famous annual festival – ONAM. Malayalis around the world are all ready to welcome the Hindu mythological king Mahabali. Onam is mainly a Hindu Harvest festival.

The Onam feast, also known as Onam Sadhya, is one of the most important parts of Onam celebration. The Sadhya comprises mainly of 26 sensational dishes and there is a set order in which the dishes are served during the Onam fest, wherein the meals are only served on fresh, clean banana leaves (locally known as “Kerala plates”).

There is of course no way that we will cook 26 dishes just for the two of us, but instead we will enjoy some of our well liked and tasty (vegetarian) dishes during that time.

I will start Onam off with this lovely Cauliflower and green peas curry – a curry enjoyed by Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian alike.
This recipe here is for 4 people.

Ingredients
1 x big cauliflower, cut into small florets
4 x big potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 x cup of green peas (I use frozen peas, thawed)
2 x tsp sugar (or jaggery, if you can get it)
¼ x tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil

For Grinding
4 x big onions, peeled and cut into pieces
2 x inches of fresh ginger
4 x green chillies
4 x green cardamom
2 x cloves
Piece of cinnamon stick
4 x big tomatoes
Small ball of Tamarind paste
For frying
2 x tsp oil
1 x tsp cumin seeds

Method
Boil potatoes until nearly ready – add cauliflower florets and continue cooking for a few more minutes. Drain and keep aside.

In a wok heat 2 x Tbsp of oil, add the cooked vegetables plus the green peas, stir and cook for 2 more minutes. Take off flame and keep aside in a dish.

Now, in your ‘mixy’ grind all the above mentioned ingredients into a smooth paste, adding tomatoes at the end. Keep aside.

In your wok again heat 2 x tsp of oil and fry cumin seeds for a few seconds. Add the grinded masala, salt, turmeric powder and 2 x tsp of sugar (or jaggery). Stir.

Add all the cooked three vegetables and mix gently. Let gravy thicken for just a couple of more minutes (this is not a liquid curry).

Rice or any roti (chapatti, paratha etc.) and some pickle are good with this.

That’s it – enjoy
Namaskaram
Carina