As a super organized person, I love it when a post comes together exactly as planned. Then again, some of my favorite recipe posts have been the result of last minute changes. That’s definitely the case today. My original plan was to post a recipe from Murder on the Orient Express, but I really struggled to find a good option. Sure, lots of foods are mentioned in the book (soup, chicken, cream), but they aren’t described and don’t have much significance in the story. A week ago I was scouring the book for anything that might work. To get me in the spirit, I decided to play an episode of the Hercule Poirot TV series in the background while I worked. The episode was Cards on the Table, which features Ariadne Oliver, Hercule Poirot’s crime writer friend who always speaks her mind. I kept getting distracted by Ariadne’s funny antics involving apples (her favorite snack), and I stopped all my work so I could watch my favorite moment in the whole episode: when she gets out of her car and half-eaten apples spill out all over the driveway. Then it dawned on me: I’d found my recipe—Ariadne’s Apples!
Our first Agatha Christie recipe was dedicated to Poirot, but we’d be doing the famous mystery writer a disservice if we ignored her other beloved sleuth: Miss Marple. As much as I love Poirot, I’m a Miss Marple fan too, because her style differs from Poirot’s while still being masterful in its own right. One of her most famous cases is Pocket Full of Rye, and that’s where we’re getting our recipe today.
Happy October, everybody! Welcome to our new menu. Last year we spent the month of Halloween making spooky Dracula recipes, but this year we’re taking a murder mystery approach: an Agatha Christie menu! As many of you know by now, I’m a die hard Christie groupie…so I didn’t need much of an excuse to dedicate a menu to her.
Run away! Our Monty Python dessert is coming straight for you! Then again, maybe this isn’t such a bad thing, since these Flying Cow Milkshakes are absolutely delicious…and royally decadent! Made with homemade coconut ice cream, Oberweiss milk, and Oreos—they’re a sweet, refreshing reward after a long, hard day of being taunted by Frenchmen.
This Shrubbery Salad was commissioned by The Knights Who Say Ni! They instructed us to make something that “looks nice and isn’t too expensive,” so we whipped up this delightful recipe from With Salt and Wit. The base is composed of thinly shaved Brussels sprouts, light and tasty enough to make you regret every bad thing you ever said about a Brussels sprout. And the cranberries, bacon bits, toasted walnuts, and homemade vinaigrette bring it all together to create a perfect balance of sweet and savory. Ni!
Watch out—this rabbit’s dynamite! For our Monty Python entree, we glazed chunks of red pepper, bacon, purple onion, and rabbit meat with Center Cut Cook’s spicy bang bang sauce to create kebabs with some kick. It’s our tribute to the Killer Rabbit!
Bring forth the Holy Hand Grenade! September is here, and we’re cooking up our 2nd Movie of the Month: Monty Python and the Holy Grail! I’m a HUGE Monty Python junky, so I’m super excited for this menu. What better way to start it off than with holy hand grenades? These little beauties are white cheddar mini cheese wheels studded with peppercorns and chive, topped with a cross to give them that authentic Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch look. You can throw them at your enemies if you like, but we recommend eating them.
Cotton candy, candy floss, fairy floss: whatever you call it, it’s the perfect dessert for our Odyssey menu. I thought of it immediately when I read about Odysseus’ clever use of sheep to escape the cyclops, Polyphemus. But homemade cotton candy can be intimidating when you don’t have a machine, especially when every recipe you come across requires you to cut the end off your balloon whisk. I knew I didn’t want to go chopping up perfectly good utensils, so I did some experimenting…and I’m proud to announce that no whisks were harmed in the making of this recipe! I recommend buying a special kind of whisk called a ball whisk with silicone ends (available here). You get the same results as a trimmed balloon whisk, and you can use it like you would a regular whisk in most other situations.
This weekend my sister gave me something I’ve wanted forever: one of those slate cheese boards you can write on with chalk! You can bet I was determined to use it in this week’s recipe pictures. Luckily, lotus chips look awesome on a black background! 🙂
I never even knew you could eat lotus roots until I went hunting for this week’s Odyssey recipe, a tribute to the Lotus Eaters. Turns out I was missing out on an awesome snack! These lotus root chips are crispy, delicately salted, and super satisfying (I found the recipe here). Hellooo, healthy potato chip alternative! The best part is that you don’t wind up with a perfumy, floral-tasting chip, even though it’s from a flower. The lotus root actually has a really mild flavor, familiar enough to remind you of a potato chip while still a little unique. You can find fresh or packaged lotus roots in the produce or refrigerated sections of most Asian grocery stores. I found mine at my local Hmart (the kind I used were peeled, boiled slices packed in water).
In The Odyssey, Odysseus must choose between facing the man-eating monster Scylla or the ship-destroying whirlpool Charybdis. A tough choice no matter how you slice it, but these Greek pinwheel sandwiches are an easy choice: truly delicious and easy to make! A recipe that I originally found on Hello Healthy, they’ve got all the flavors you’d expect in a classic Greek salad (feta, cucumbers, peppers), plus some surprises (like herbed cream cheese). I love the way the feta incorporates into the cream cheese, and the roasted peppers add just the right touch of crunch.
, and that’s where we’re getting our recipe today.
). You get the same results as a trimmed balloon whisk, and you can use it like you would a regular whisk in most other situations.
