Oyster Soup

This seems the best of the four oyster soup recipes published in the Argus in 1928, but two of those recipes appeared in ads for "Oystero" - "a concentrated oyster powder made from fresh, clean, whole oysters by vacuum process". The first Argus recipe for real oyster soup calls for 18 fresh oysters, the second for 36.

Oyster Soup

18-24 fresh Sydney rock oysters
125 ml milk or 2 tablespoons cream
600 ml fish stock, or less stock and some milk

squeeze of lemon juice

1 teaspoon anchovy sauce, or 1 small anchovy finely chopped

30g butter

45g plain flour

cayenne

Melt the butter, add the flour, cook on a low heat for a minute. Add the stock gradually, stirring until it comes to the boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice, anchovy sauce and cream, and "as much cayenne as will cover a threepenny bit".

Put the oysters in soup bowls and pour the stock over. Serve with small thinly-sliced buttered sippets of toast. Serves 4 to 6.

Episode 10 - Death by Miss Adventure

This week's episode features Phryne Fisher as usual, but it isn't based on any of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher novels. The similar-sounding Death by Misadventure is an alternative title for Cocaine Blues, used by the U.S. publisher.

According to the ABC TV website, in Death by Miss Adventure Phryne investigates the death of a young female worker in a factory ‘accident’ and soon learns that the woman’s death might not be the misadventure the police think it is. Phryne's companion Dot is sent to the factory to work undercover as a tea-lady... It's a linking episode in which the killer suspected of abducting and murdering Phryne's sister comes back into the story. And there's a lesbian love triangle.

Since there's no actual novel to work with, this week's menu comes from Argus recipes published in April 1928. It's the sort of food a hard-working factory girl might enjoy:

Oyster Soup

Mutton (or Lamb) Pie

Quince Jelly and Cream

Passionfruit Souffle

Emboldened by the success of Boulestin's vanilla souffle, then his raspberry souffle, I adapted the basic recipe to passionfruit. The passionfruit pulp was heated and sieved to remove the pips, but some additional pulp (with pips) would have added a decorative touch to the plate. The quantities are sufficient for 6 to 8. 
Passionfruit Souffle

8-10 passionfruit (approx 100ml juice)
400 ml milk
vanilla bean
60g plain flour
240g white sugar, plus extra for dusting the souffle dishes
6 eggs, separated

Heat the milk with a vanilla pod and keep it hot.

In the top of a double boiler on a low heat, make a creme patisseries by beating together five egg yolks, the flour and sugar. Stir in the milk, little by little, whipping well until it reaches the consistency of thick cream. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

In a small pan, gently heat the passionfruit pulp. Sieve the pulp into the creme patisserie.

Whip the six egg whites into a stiff froth, then fold the whites into the passionfruit creme patisserie.

Fill six souffle dishes, buttered and sprinkled with sugar, up to the top. For eight, fill the dishes to three-quarters full. Cook in a moderate oven 20-25 minutes. After 20 minutes test to see if done. Serve with vanilla ice-cream.

Agneau Jardiniere

Boulestin's lamb with vegetables calls for a leg or saddle of lamb - shoulder would probably do - and button onions, baby carrots and turnips. The meat and vegetables are browned, then simmered in white wine. Unusually for lamb, the sauce is based on cream, parsley and tarragon.

Agneau Jardiniere

Leg or other joint of lamb
50g butter
6-8 small brown onions
6-8 baby carrots
3-4 turnips, peeled and halved
250 ml white wine
100 ml cream
fresh tarragon and parsley
salt, pepper

In a cast iron or earthenware pot, saute the onions, carrots and turnips in butter until lightly browned. Remove the vegetables, and brown the lamb turning on all sides so it is sealed. Season with salt and pepper, pour in two small glasses of white wine, cover and simmer for two hours. After one hour, add the vegetables.

When the meat is cooked, remove it and the vegetables and keep warm. Pour the pan juices into a glass, put in the freezer for a few minutes to allow the fat to rise, and skim this off. In a small saucepan, simmer the meat juices until reduced. Stir in 100 ml cream, and add a little finely chopped tarragon and parsley.

Carve the meat, place in a serving dish with the vegetables arranged around it and the sauce in a sauceboat. Serve with boiled new potatoes.

Devilled Scallops

Devilled scallops seem to be a Tasmanian speciality. Time was, there was only one type of scallop - the Tasmanian scallop. And Keen's curry powder was more popular in Tasmania than in any other Australian state. Not surprising then that Devilled Scallops, made with curry powder, won the Launceston Examiner's best scallop recipe competition in 1936. From over 400 entries Miss C. M. Busby from Culzean, Westbury took out the One Guinea Prize. Her recipe was so good that nine years later a woman from Hobart won 15/6 with an identical entry. With minor tweaks - a squeeze of lemon juice, a teaspoon of curry powder - the same recipe won in 1947 and again in 1948.

Devilled Scallops

18-24 large Tasmanian scallops (3-4 per person)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp plain flour
1 dessertspoon Keen's curry powder
cayenne pepper, to taste
1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 teasp mustard
1 cup milk
lemon
fresh breadcrumbs


Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook on a low heat until the mixture leaves the side of the pan. Add the curry powder and cayenne, Worchestershire sauce, mustard and finally the milk. Squeeze in some lemon juice. Let it cook for at least five minutes, until thick.

Place the scallops in a shallow dish (or in individual ramekins or on the half-shell), spread the sauce over, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and bake in a moderate to hot oven for 15 minutes. Serves 6 as an entree.

Episode 9 - Queen of the Flowers

No prizes for guessing that Phryne Fisher is Queen of the Flowers. The St Kilda Flower Parade is on, one of Phryne's adopted daughters is missing and one of her flower maidens has washed up dead on the beach. At least Phryne has a celebration dinner to look forward to at Anatole's after the parade - soup, fish, lamb and a peach dessert.

To celebrate Anatole's and in honour of the flower maidens, tonight's menu is French and predominantly white: 

Devilled Scallops

Agneau Jardiniere 

Passionfruit Souffle

Raspberry Souffle

Boulestins' recipe for raspberry souffle is essentially a creme patisserie flavoured with maraschino, rum or Curacao. He adds a strawberry, not raspberry, puree and a few whole raspberries before folding in the whipped egg whites.

Instead of strawberries, I used a small punnet of raspberries, reserving four for decoration, and simmered the rest in a little sugar and pinot noir, then sieved the liquor into the creme patisserie.

My souffles turned out a little raw in the middle after 15 minutes, and required another 5 or 10 minutes in the oven.

Raspberry Souffle

125g raspberries
75ml pinot noir
280 ml milk
vanilla bean
30g plain flour
120g white sugar, plus extra for the puree and dusting the souffle dishes
4 eggs, separated

Reserve four raspberries, and in a small saucepan cook the remaining raspberries in the wine and sugar, simmering slowly until reduced to a thick liquor.

In another pan, heat the milk with a vanilla pod and keep it hot.

In the top of a double boiler on a low heat, beat together the three egg yolks, flour and sugar. Stir in the milk, little by little, whipping well until it reaches the consistency of thick cream. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Sieve the raspberry puree into the mixture.

Whip the four egg whites into a stiff froth, then fold the whites into the raspberry creme patisserie mixture.

Fill four souffle dishes, buttered and sprinkled with sugar, up to three-quarters full. Cook in a moderate oven 20-25 minutes. After 20 minutes test to see if done and top with the whole raspberries.