Treats from the decade that taste forgot

I have become quite a fan of '70s Dinner Party' of late, a Twitter feed (@70s_party) which "celebrates the good, the bad and the downright ugly of retro food", with photos and recipes taken largely from 1970s cookery books. It concentrates on the most unappetising, kitsch and "flamboyantly preposterous" examples - hence the most amusing ones - and I am delighted to say that tinned foods feature quite often in the ingredients.

I wish I had seen this particular example in advance of Shrove Tuesday last week - but pancakes need not (nay, should not) be confined to being eaten on just one day, so I may well give these a go at some point before next year. Fry a few slices of SPAM in a large pan, drop spoonfuls of ready-made batter over each one, flip over, et voila - SPAM cakes!

Apparently a new book based on the Twitter feed is in the offing, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the finished product!

A soup you'll be Lust(y)ing after all year...

I'm sure that by now most of you will be as bored of my witterings-on about Christmas leftovers  as you were of the remnants of the festive season themselves, after battling through them for what always seems like weeks on end, causing you to never want to see (or read about) turkey, chestnuts or any kind of dried fruit-based confection again for a very long time.

But for those who aren't...did you know you can prolong the leftovers 'experience', or have it again at any point you wish during the year, with a tin of Turkey, Ham and Cranberry Soup from the good people at John Lusty?

Leftovers? Just add custard and freeze, if you please

As mentioned in my last post, the standard Christmas over-catering back home meant that in addition to leftover goose fat, Christmas cake, turkey, ham, cheese, nuts, nibbles and even chocolate, I also had a large chunk of Christmas pudding in the food package I took home with me when returning to my place after the festive break. Tempting as it was to use it up with the goose-fat fried method, some time ago I'd seen a recipe making use of leftover pud that I was also keen to try. The source was greatlittleideas.com, a website of recipes all featuring one of the wide range of products manufactured by Premier Foods, from Angel Delight to Oxo.

The recipe I'd seen made use of Ambrosia custard - which of course, is available in tins - alongside Christmas pudding, not merely topping the latter with the former (how pedestrian; how vanilla!), but rather creating the far more original and intriguing-sounding "Christmas Pud Iced Logs".

All you need to do is break up a slab of pudding, add a couple of tablespoons of delightfully rich and creamy Ambrosia custard and a small quantity of brandy (which the recipe said was "optional" - an option I chose to go for), and then shape into a log, wrap in cling-film and pop in the freezer for at least four hours, before slicing it and serving with coffee.