It's a Dog's Life

Murder, She Wrote - S1:E4

Tally Ho! There are red hunting jackets, top hats and jodhpurs a go-go in this episode,

plus the very English and most excellent Lynn Redgrave playing Jessica's cousin Abby.

She's in charge of the horses for a wealthy American family who seem to want to live like the British aristocracy.

The toffs in this episode sure do know how to throw an early morning event, so be inspired by them and get a gang round for an enormous breakfast buffet. As pointed out in the show, a hunt breakfast requires a lot of liquid refreshment;

so you might want to supply chilled champagne and a massive bowl of punch. To my mind, Lynn's kedgeree is a perfect brunch dish and you could offer halved watermelons filled with fruit salad to finish.  

If you prefer a more sedate afternoon screening of the episode, you could heed Jessica's comment that "Under stress, the English always head for the teapot," and as a Brit myself I can tell you that this is true. You could definitely have a nice mug of Rosie Lee and some biscuits on the go during this episode, if you have a silver-plated tea set and proper china cups, all the better.

As Lynn's character observes, Jessica is "maaarvelous" in this episode. I do not condone fox hunting, but I do love seeing J.B. in a riding outfit.

Enjoy sprinkling some stardust around your kitchen! If you try Lynn’s Kedgeree, do let me know how it turned out in the comments below. All thoughts on this episode are welcome too.

Lynn Redgrave’s Kedgeree

¾ lb smoked haddock or cod

½ cup milk

½ cup raw long grain rice

¼ cup butter

2-4 tablespoons whipping cream

2 hard-cooked/hard boiled eggs, 1 chopped, 1 sliced

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Ground black pepper

Put haddock in a skillet/frying pan with milk and ½ cup water.  Cover and poach for 3-4 minutes or until fish begins to flake.  Drain, flake the fish and set aside.  Meanwhile, cook the rice in 1½ cups boiling water until rice is tender but not mushy.  Combine the haddock, rice, butter, cream, the chopped egg, parsley and pepper to taste.  Toss lightly over the heat until the mixture is piping hot.  Place the sliced egg on top of the kedgeree as a garnish.

Lynn suggests serving at once with a green salad and dry white wine.

Serves: 4

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Next week on Murder, She Cooked, a recipe from the kitchen of Greg Morris.

Here come all the linky-links!

More movie star recipes can be found over at the Silver Screen Suppers blog - 15 years and counting.

You’ll find me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook by searching for Silver Screen Suppers.

Would you like to test a recipe for the forthcoming Murder, She Cooked book? Leave a comment on this post or drop me a line via this link to my contact page.

If you like Columbo, you might like my Cooking With Columbo cookbook

and if you have never been to a Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote live show, check out the amazing Tim Benzie’s website here. Tim did a private show for my hen night. Can you guess which episode we did?

My typewriter logo was designed by the divine Thom Kofoed - do check out his etsy shop for loads of great goodies.

Everyone who tests a recipe for me will receive a postcard featuring an Angela Lansbury recipe, commissioned from my wonderful food illustrator friend Miriam Figueras.

It won’t be that big, of course! Do you like my Jessica Fletcher raincoat?!

Cheerio for now, tune in for another episode next week!