The Joy of Spam Folder Cooking

Hey there, sugar!

Now Fred liked the idea of this week’s recipe. He thought it sounded just yummy. I, on the other hand, refused. I think it might be watching Bambi too much as a kid. Or maybe reading Watership Down. I don’t know, I just don’t like the idea of eating rabbit. Suppose that means I’d be a horrible survivalist. Of course, my idea of roughing it on vacation is a hotel without enough towels. Camping is just not happening.

Fred loves to go. He says he and his friends hunt and fish but I think it’s really just an excuse to sit in the woods and drink whiskey.

Anyway, on to the recipe!

Curried Hare.

Clean and cut the hare or rabbit as for fricassee. Simmer slowly 
in just enough water to cover, add a thickening of 1 tablespoonful 
each of butter and flour, season with salt, pepper, and 1 
tablespoonful of curry powder.

And isn’t that nice.

I went back to my emails to find where that recipe had shown up.  (Yes, Fred, I didn’t click on anything.  You made it so I can search through this mess without clicking.)  It seems it is a popular recipe ’cause it showed up quite often.  It was either ‘Get back to your youth’ (no thanks!  Not with rabbit!) or ‘Walgreens gift card!’  (yeah, free, right) or credit reports (sure, I’ll trust a spammer with my social security number… about the same time I go camping with Fred!) and I even found it in ‘Hearing Loss Reversed!’… and then I stopped looking.  I guess curried hare is popular with spammers.  Maybe they should make curried spam next time.

Until then, toodles!

Hey there, sugar!

After last week’s disastrous attempt at cinnamon rolls, I decided not to cook this week. Not that Fred would have eaten this recipe, he’s against any cheese that didn’t originate from a cow. Don’t ask me why, apparently his mother told him other cheeses would make him ill and you just can’t argue with mother. At least, he can’t. I told her she was out of her mind, but there’s no way I can convince Fred otherwise.

And this recipe uses a cheese that comes from a mixture of goat and sheep, so there’s definitely no way to get Fred to take even a small taste. That man, when he gets an idea, just will not let it go.

On to the recipe! This one had no title. Just a list of ingredients and, luckily, instructions.

Ingredients :

2 x 250g blocks halloumi cheese , cut into 6 slices each
olive oil
1 large fennel bulb , thinly sliced
3 stalks celery , thinly sliced - keep any leaves for salad
200g Kalamata olives , pitted
1 lemon , zested and segmented
small bunch mint leaves, torn
small bunch flat-leaf parsley , leaves picked
45ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
crusty bread , to serve
Directions :

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, then drizzle the 
halloumi slices with a little olive oil and cook for 2-3 minutes 
on either side, till golden.

Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl (except the bread) 
with another 3 tbsp olive oil, and season. Pile onto plates, 
top with halloumi and serve with bread.

I’m going to guess that this recipe originated in Europe, based on the ingredients and how they listed the amounts. I don’t have a scale, so I guess making this would have been difficult too. That and apparently halloumi is Turkish. It does look interesting. Sort of a salad with cheese on top. I visited Pittsburgh once and those people… they put french fries on top of salads. So I guess putting a block of fried cheese on top isn’t so odd. Doesn’t sound particularly healthy either. Then again, those fries on top of my salad were pretty tasty too!

Until next time, toodles!