Month: September 2021

Cooking With Christie!

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This Week’s Recipe: Roast Chicken & Stock

This is a recipe that’s now my own – as its evolved over so many years! And because it’s mine I can share it with you – hence the longer than usual post. (It’s not groundbreaking but it is a hit in this household.) The most recent innovation is a navy blue roasting pan with lid I found at IKEA that’s the perfect size for roasting a whole chicken with veggies underneath.

This is a really simple recipe:

Take one whole chicken

3 Tbsp salt

1 tsp each – turmeric, paprika, cayenne, black pepper, onion powder and garlic granules

Mix everything, but the chicken, in a small bowl. Then rub mixture on chicken. (I find the flavor best when you get the rub under the skin.) Let sit in a gallon ziplock bag overnight in your fridge.

The next day:

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Get your roasting pan out, layer the bottom with chunks of carrots, parsnips and onions (generally any root vegetable will do). Then get your bird out of the fridge & bag and set on veggies in pan. Here you can add rosemary, lemon, parley and thyme into the cavity of your chicken for extra flavor.

Now cover and put into oven! (If your pan doesn’t have a lid don’t sweat it – I used this same recipe without a lid for years. All that happens is the skin gets really crispy. If you want to avoid this – tent the bird with foil.)

The size of the chicken determines how long it needs to cook – so long as the meat thermometer reads 170 degrees your good! (I usually buy a 9 – 10lb bird and it usually takes 3 – 3 1/2 to cook thru.)

Now here’s the best part – if you remove the meat from the bird right away (well after it cools a bit so you don’t singe your fingers) or alternatively after dinner…you can make soup stock!

Pop all the veggies that lined the bottom of the pan, the herbs from inside the bird and the remaining bits of bird into a large pot. (I don’t recommend putting the skin in, but the cartilage and bones are great.)

Pour in enough water to cover the contents of the pot by three inches. Then let simmer for two or three hours or until it reaches the taste you’re looking for. (The liquid will reduce some – don’t worry this is a good thing.)

Then take off heat, strain (because you’ve extracted every bit of flavor from the components and don’t need them anymore) and let cool.

I then pour the stock in half gallon freezer bags and pop them into the freezer for the next time I make soup! (I take off any excess fat after it’s frozen, as it’s way easier.)

Agatha Christie: Now this is a dinner I can see Miss Marple enjoying. Not only because it has a homey feel when served with potatoes and veggies – but because it doesn’t waste any of the bird. Having lived the WWII economizing is definitely in Marple’s wheel house!

Aurora Teagarden Mysteries vs. Movies

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I know this small admission won’t shock a single soul out there – I enjoy watching the Hallmark Mystery Channel (cozy mysteries in film form, basically). Most especially their original movie series like Mystery 101 (which features a college professor who teaches classes based on classic mystery novels, who uses this knowledge to consult on police cases), Chronicle Mysteries (which finds a true-crime podcast teaming up with a newspaper editor to solve cold-cases) and the Crossword Mysteries (which is about a crossword writer and a detective who team up from time to time). However, the ones I really enjoy watching are the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, adapted from Charlaine Harris’s book series. 

A true-crime-loving librarian who happens to solve the occasional murder, I mean, what’s not to love about that? 

But here’s the thing…

Enjoying the movies as I did (and do), I decided to read the books and discovered (much to my delight) the films bore a striking resemblance to their paper counterparts. However, the movies do reconnoiter several characters and their backstories along with gently massaging the storylines. A phenomenon that happens in any adaptation and, in this particular case, is executed with a deft hand. 

However, much like the Agatha Raisen series by M.C. Beaton, which I first listened to on BBC radio (and then the audiobooks) – I eventually decided to dive into the written versions….and found myself disappointed by the text.

In the case of Agatha Raisen, Penelope Keith did (does) a delightful job in lending her voice to Agatha. In doing so, Keith makes Agatha’s snark and sarcasm shine rather than her bouts of misery, obsession, insecurity, and jealousy. Thus, making Agatha, a charming listen rather than (for me) a difficult read.

Similarly, Aurora’s unhappiness, waffling, and insecurities pervaded her point of view – and thus the entire story. As a result, the engaging mysteries, immersive settings, and interesting ancillary characters dull under the miasma of negativity and turned me away after plowing thru the third installment. 

Fortunately, this foray into the text didn’t blunt my enjoyment of the movies. Instead, it made me appreciate the skill of the screenwriters and actors (amongst them Candace Cameron Bure, Marilu Henner, Yannick Bisson, and Niall Matter) who brought the citizens and mysteries of Lawreceton to life in a way the books, for me, had not.  

Or perhaps I need the filter of brightly colors cloth, shelved books, and trees on the screen to connect with Aurora – hard to say. Either way, I’ve already got enough gloom floating around between my ears that taking on more, even fictional, is unappealing.

Hence my recommendation – if you enjoy reading mysteries tinged by a sense of glumness – these would be an excellent read for you. Otherwise, I would recommend watching the Hallmark movies starting at A Bone To Pick and working your way up to the latest Honeymoon, Honey Murder.

(I’d also recommend listening to the audiobooks of Agatha Raisen – they are fun!)

Historical Mystery Review: The Abduction of Pretty Penny – Leonard Goldberg

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This book is an interesting mash-up of Sherlockiana and Jack the Ripper. Set in Whitechapel twenty-eight years after the original murders of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly in 1888. Watson’s Sr. and Jr. plus Joanna and her son all get embroiled in the abduction of a talented actress and a Ripper copycat bent on besting Sherlock’s daughter…

Goldberg skillfully weaves together bits and pieces of Ripper lore, theory, and fact into a tightly packed narrative pitting Sherlock’s daughter and his methods against this notorious murderer.

I think what I enjoyed the most about this book is that the solution is purely fictional, meaning there’s no need to argue over its validity. A feature I find refreshing, as debates about the Ripper’s real identity can turn rather nasty if they don’t tally.

Not unlike the Shakespearian authorship question, which has plagued the literary world for well over 230 hundred years without a definitive answer. The cause celebre around the Ripper’s identity is younger at just over 133 years, ranks far higher on the pop-culture scale, and has had scores more eyes on it – and yet we are no closer to an answer.

And frankly, I don’t see a conclusive way to prove after all this time if someone’s great, great, great grandad was the Ripper. Unless the missing organs and/or the blood-stained implements are unearthed in someone’s attic, basement, or within a wall and still sporting viable DNA linking back to one or all of the aforementioned five victims.

Though, if such a find was made, and Jack turned out to be an unassuming, uninteresting person (rather than a royal surgeon or member of the Royal Family – as some theories claim), the legend of the Whitechapel Killer would probably die under the weight of this knowledge…

Thus I’ve demonstrated how provoking this unsolved case can be – and why a purely fictional ending set against facts, generally agreed on deductions, and widely held suppositions makes for enjoyable reading. Throw the Watsons and Holmes into the mix, and you’ve got yourself a tremendous late-night read!

Historical Mystery Review: A Fiancee’s Guide to First Wives and Murder – Dianne Freeman

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The Countess of Harleigh is back! And this time, she only needs to go as far as her front door to find a brand new mystery: in the form of a French woman who claims she’s Mrs. George Hazelton…which is awkward as Frances (i.e., the Countess) is engaged to the aforementioned gentleman.

On top of this ludicrous claim, Frances finds herself contending with one nosey butler, a moralizing neighbor, a fretting frienemy, culminating in yet another murder in her back garden…

I always enjoy Dianne Freeman’s Countess of Harleigh mysteries, and A Fiancee’s Guide to First Wives and Murder was no exception. This book was a pleasurable read that never lets up its’ rollicking pace from start to end.

I even learned a new bit of trivia – which I’m sure you all already know. Periodically in different books, I’ve read about butlers ironing newspapers for people and now I finally know why! (Not sure why I never looked into it myself…) As Frances deftly explains to Aunt Hetty – that ironing newspapers sets the ink, so you don’t get the black smudges on your fingertips!

In any case, if you’re looking for a new lighter historical mystery, I would highly suggest this series. Of course, you could start with A Fiancee’s Guide – but I highly recommend you start with the first in the series – A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette And Murder. As the characters and storylines grow and evolve as the books go – trust me, you won’t be sorry for spending the extra time.

Cooking With Christie

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This Week’s Recipe: Crockpot Baked Beans

This week’s recipe owes its origin to a craving for a full English breakfast. However, because my husband and I are watching our pennies, going out to eat to our favorite tea room isn’t in the cards. But purchasing a bag of dried beans is, and that’s precisely what I did.

Of course, when looking up the recipe, I made a slight strategic error. Instead of looking up British baked beans – I looked up baked beans. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but there is a subtle difference between the US and British baked beans. Whereas the British version tends to be in a lighter, brighter sauce – the US version tends to have a darker, sometimes spicer, sweet/savory sauce.

Unfortunately, I didn’t ping to this difference until after I added all the ingredients to my crockpot. Meaning, there’s another Cooking With Christie in the offing with the recipe closer to the one I’m craving!

In any event, here’s the base recipe I used…(Thanks to Spruce Eats for the recipe.)

…and being me, I did fiddle around with it: I crumbled in four strips of bacon, switched the called for hot sauce with Harissa paste, swapped the chopped onion for 1/2 tsp of onion powder (which I like better), added 1/2 tsp granulated garlic, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 2 tsp spicey Worcestershire sauce, and 1 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar.

(The extras, other than the bacon and Harissa, aren’t pictured. After taking the photo, I decided the beans needed a few more layers of flavor!)

Christie: The Christie detective I can see as most likely to trying and enjoying a darker, spicer version of the traditional beans found in a full English breakfast is Colonel Race. Mainly, due to his adventurous, globe trotting and espionage filled exploits. Miss Marple or Poirot might try them on their travels – but I can’t see either truly enjoying them…or any sort of spicy food for that matter!