Crimson is the colour that my heart pours out to you

[venta]

Last night I was rummaging about in the cupboards wondering what else I could put into my vegetable bake to make it look more like a meal and less like something constructed out of things I'd found in the back of the fridge.

I unearthed a tin of spinach (in brine). Yes, I know that sounds vile, but I like spinach. And since the blood donor people sent me packing today with mutterings about low iron I figured it couldn't hurt.

Actually, I don't know quite what possessed me to buy it, because the picture on the tin is possibly the least appealing label I've ever seen.

Now would you, in your right mind, think "ooh, that looks yummy!" and buy anything with this label?



No, thought not. I particularly like the "look what you could have won" touch of including a basket of fresh spinach. Ironically, it did say "serving suggestion" on the label. I suppose they never claim that it's a good suggestion.

Really, the problem is that I'd never serve spinach by itself in a tureen. I'd put it in something else. But I suppose there is a limit to what you can put on labels - showing a vegetable bake with a dark green layer in it is probably held to be pushing the limits, since the poor ignorant public might think the tin contains the entire bake.

Do packets of lasagne habitually show entire lasagnes ? The one in my cupboard has no picture at all. Presumably the thinking is that if you're buying things which cannot be eaten in isolation, you know what you're doing and don't need pictorial guidance. Has anyone got any idea how much leeway there is in the "serving suggestion" guidelines ?

More importantly, can anyone find me a tin of spinach with a nicer label ? Not that I'll stop buying Tesco's - it tasted perfectly fine - I'm just curious.

Note for the mother: have you ever tried putting other things into Canadian Casserole ? Today's had one layer each of spinach and grated cheddar, sliced carrot and chopped portobello mushroom in addition to the usual. Oh, and some wholegrain mustard dobbed about the place. It worked quite well as a main dish.

Note for everyone else: Canadian Casserole is a vegetable side dish of some repute. Fill a casserole in the following manner: layer of thinly sliced potato, layer of thinly sliced onion, small blobs of butter/marg, sprinkling of seasoned flour, repeat until you nearly run out of dish. Finish with a layer of potato, pour some milk over it, put in the oven a couple of hours at Gas 3. Great with bacon chops.

Comments

[al-fruitbat.livejournal.com]

Canadian Casserole sounds rather like Pommes Dauphinoise without the garlic.
Alternatively, if you stack the slices on their ends and then pour over the milk and butter, you get the scottish dish 'stovies'.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ah. Yes. I think I've been served Pommes Dauphinoise in a posh restaurant before and been confused by it. In my mind, Canadian Casserole is an extremely cheapskate wartime recipe, and thus unlikely to be served anywhere posh.

For some reason, I got it into my head some years ago that PD are something like Duchess Potatoes, ie mashed with cream and piped. I know this is wrong but it's one of those ideas that just won't shift.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

You are so northern.

[venta.livejournal.com]

In this case, I'm somewhat confused as to what exactly prompted that. Unless it was just intended as a generalised insult ;)

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

It's Dolphinwars Potaters to poor folks.

[pm215]

My family calls them 'Dolphin-nose'...

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

The way I make it, it has no flour,a nd uses cream rather than milk, which I suppose makes it slightly less war-time. My mum used to do a version with left-over gammon in between the layers, which was fabulous.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Back in wartime Oxford, I often put streaky bacon between the layers. I reckoned that was impolite when I was feeding it to my vegetarian housemate, though :)

I'll have to try the cream instead of flour-and-milk idea.

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

I got it into my head some years ago that PD are something like Duchess Potatoes

You might be thinking of pommes Dauphine. Mashed potato mixed with choux pastry and then deep-fried. They are like crack, and about as good for you, too.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Good lord, no, I've never eaten heard of something like that. What a mad idea. Where do I try them ?

[satyrica.livejournal.com]

mmm, yeah, our household had a version of that with layers of sliced tomatoes for good measure (and thermonuclear heat retention)

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

They could put a picture of a vegetable bake with a dark green layer, and then put "serving suggestion" with an arrow pointing to the green bit. THat would be more appealing.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

And also right, this is where I'm confused.

When I do something like that with potatoes, the potatoes don't come out cooked. I pour not milk but runny white sauce over the top, and leave it in for about 30 minutes. Am I:
-Using too thick a sauce
-Not cooking it for long enough
-Other?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'd expect "not cooking for long enough" (or possibly not hot enough, but it doesn't need to be very hot, so I'd rule that out unless you're cooking on Gas 1/2 or something).

Mine came out after about 70 minutes yesterday owing to us being in a hurry, and though it was edible the potatoes would have liked longer.

Am an ad hoc cook rather than an expert, though, so could be talking out of my proverbial.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

I have seen products where the packaging photo is just the product, on its own, on a plate, and it still says "serving suggestion".

So I suspect that "serving suggestion" is by now completely meaningless, it's just part of the template you get from the branding department when you set out to design your packet. I wouldn't be surprised if fruit started coming with a "serving suggestion" sticker on the actual fruit.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Next time you're passing through your kitchen, could you tell me whether pet food has "serving suggestion" next to its picture of the tin/packet contents dumped into a bowl ? Or is anyone who has responsibility for an animal expected to be smart enough to realise that the tin doesn't contain the bowl as well ?

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Cats are currently on specially-formulated diet food. No photo, just a logo of a cat with a BMI within the politically-correct range.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

'Canadian Casserole' sounds like a cross between pommes dauphinoise and pommes boulangere, both classic French dishes.

Pommes dauphinoise is thinly sliced potatoes baked with cream and garlic (cheese topping optional), pommes boulangere is thinly sliced potatoes and onions baked with a little chicken or vegetable stock.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

If it has a cheese topping, doesn't it become potato gratin?

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

Ah, that would explain why I was about to post 'I've never heard of this pommes dauphinoise thing, but it sounds a lot like potato gratin'

Now, who's for a nice stottie sandwich and some singing hinnies?

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of a dish my parents used to do called 'taties and pork done in the pressure cooker'! Layer potatoes and onions in the bottom of the pressure cooker, with pork chops on top. Add butter and whatever water pressure cookers need (I don't know - I've never used one) and sprinkle paprika on the top.

It works well in a casserole, I should imagine. It did leave me thinking that I didn't like paprika - but I've since realised it shouldn't be orange and dried up on the pork :-/ (old paprika)

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I just call that potato and onion pie. :) I have been known to add layers of grated cheese to it, and sometimes the cream sushidog mentions. I imagine it's rather yummy with spinach.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Pie ? Pie ? Where's the pastry ? What kind of a cheat are you trying to perpretate on the world ?

For heaven's sake, even the phrase "shepherd's pie" gives me a twinge of guilt when I make it, without people trying to foist casseroles on an unsuspecting and pie-expecting public!

:)

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

Exactly, pies have pastry. And more importantly pastry all the way round. Stew in a dish with some pastry on top is not a pie, whatever some pubs try and tell you.

[(Anonymous)]

The original recipe for Canadian casserole (now greatly added-to and varied)came from a Canadian magazine used as packaging in a food parcel (ask anyone around in the 1940s, Canadians sent them to rationing-starved Brits) so maybe had a link with French Canadians. Stovies (so my Scottish-origin readers informed me when I wrote about the dish) is made on Mondays to use up Sunday's leftover spuds and slices of beef.