Calling all Poirot fans!
I have a treat for you. Every now and then, Taryn from Retro Food for Modern Times and I do a cookalong together. If you put an enormous skewer through the planet with the top of it going through London, it would probably emerge somewhere near where Taryn is in Melbourne (although, as you can probably tell, geography is not my strong point). I love the idea that we are cooking the same dish just about as far apart as human beings can possibly be. Apart from if one of us was on the moon, I suppose.
As I have been watching back-to-back Poirot’s to see which episode I want to feature in the Cooking With the Detectives book, and as Taryn is the EXPERT on food in Agatha Christie, I asked for her guidance. Her suggestion of Sad Cypress was spot on, I absolutely loved the episode, and fish paste sandwiches are central to the plot.
Taryn not only gave me lots of leads for foodie episodes, but she also agreed to make David Suchet’s Chinese Lemon Chicken so we could do a sort of Chickeny double act.
By email, Taryn and I discussed the wearing of Chinese dressing gowns as David and his family do when they enjoy this dish, but I resisted the urge to buy myself this little number…
I also had to use all my willpower not to buy a fancy salmon paste jar for all the imaginary 1930s-style tea parties I will be having when I move to the seaside.
Stop me buying stuff!
The first time I made David’s chicken dish, I had it with some stir-fried green beans and some carrot salad that I needed to use up. It was so good!
I froze the rest of the dish in single portions, labelling it POIROT’S CHICKEN, and it was lovely the second time too. This time I made egg fried rice using this recipe, and it was DELICIOUS.
Taryn writes lovely blog posts about Agatha Christie’s books and encourages people to read along with her. She writes about the food she discovers in each tome and cooks something appropriate. Do check out her blog and choose DINING WITH THE DAME in the categories drop-down menu (or click on this link), and you’ll see all the books Taryn has covered so far. It’s such a great project.
I think you’ll get a taste of Taryn’s lovely cooking when you compare what I made to eat whilst reading Sad Cypress,
with Taryn’s Salmon Rillettes and cucumber sandwiches. CLASSY!
My favourite part of the Dining with the Dame posts is Taryn’s round-up of book covers. I was so pleased to see my chosen one made it into her collage…
I love my little paperback with a passion, partly because the pages have green edges – it’s so cute. I will be seeking out these versions of Poirots wherever I find a second-hand bookshop. Oh, one last thing for all you Agatha Christie fans. The lovely Mr Rathbone bought me the perfect present recently. This gorgeous set of playing cards.
Stick ’em on your Christmas present wish list!
To see how Taryn’s version of David’s chicken dish turned out just click on this link…
LINKS TO MY STAR-SPANGLED COOKBOOKS
Cooking With Columbo Murder, She Cooked Supper with the Stars Cooking With Joan CrawfordNEWSLETTER SIGN-UPS
Dinner and a Movie Murder, She Wrote Episode Guides and Recipes
What a lovely post, thank you so much for all your very kind words and for the delicious David Suchet recipe. I cheated and bought some fried rice to have with mine! Your homemade one looks delicious!!! Let’s definitely do it again sometime soon! xx
Yay, Taryn! Shall we do a Miss Marple next?! Jxx