Murder at the Oasis
Jessica is in Desert Springs visiting her old school friend Peggy, who is all grown up and super glamorous now.
They reminisce about their culinary adventures in the boarding school dormitory, “grilling cheese sandwiches on a plate,” and J.B. reveals that since those days she, “can’t look at a brussels sprout.”
When a character called Milo Valentine is mentioned, and Jessica can’t quite place the name, Peggy tells her that she must lead a very sheltered life in Cabot Cove.
She confides that he is an “entrepreneur of strictly illegal activities”, to which J.B. responds with great glee, “Of course, he’s a gangster!” When you are in show business, and Milo Valentine is the man who has given you your lucky break, it’s all very Rat Pack!
In a classic Murder, She Wrote life-imitates-art piece of casting, 1960s Rat Pack member Joey Bishop plays Buster Bailey. He’s just the kind of wise guy you would expect to be hanging out in a place like Desert Palms, cracking jokes.
Joey’s way of preparing potatoes is a free-style number; there are no specific measurements. Don’t you just love the recipe title, though? A lovely surprise landed on my doorstep after one of my test cooks rustled this up. Check out this fantastic illustration by Ruby Roth in Berlin, which she kindly sent me all framed up and ready for my kitchen!
Can you imagine the joy this brought me, arriving out of the blue in the post?! I was as happy as Joey!
Joey Bishop’s Make-Me-That-Potato-Jazz
Irish potatoes, peeled
Hard-boiled eggs, diced
Yellow onion, sliced and browned in schmalz*
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Schmaltz (rendered chicken fat)
Boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain, mash them until light, adding a little hot water if necessary. Add the eggs, onion and some salt and pepper. Mix well.
Heat a little schmaltz in a cast-iron frying pan and add the potato; or place in a casserole dish lightly rubbed with schmaltz and heat in a moderate oven.
If making the dish in a frying pan, cook over a low flame for about 5 minutes.
Serve this as a main course for luncheon or supper, or as a side dish for roast breast of beef.
* If you can’t get your mitts on schmaltz, vegetable shortening such as Crisco or Trex would be a suitable alternative.
Next week on Murder, She Cooked, a recipe from the kitchen of Kathleen Beller.
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.
All testers will receive a postcard featuring a specially commissioned illustration of an Angela Lansbury recipe, artwork by Miriam Figueras. Not this big though!
If you like Columbo, you might like my Cooking With Columbo cookbook
Got a Joan Crawford fan in your life? My Cooking With Joan Crawford book is only available from Blurb.
Only a few copies of the Vincent Price cookbook left so don’t delay if you’d like one of these.
Check out Tim Benzie’s Solve-Along-A Murder-She-Wrote website here. His shows are an absolute HOOT - Tim did a private show for my hen night. Can you guess which episode we did?
Check out Thom Kofoed’s etsy shop for loads of great goodies plus he’s doing T-shirts now, including one featuring our beloved Angela Lansbury.
Cheerio for now, tune in for another episode next week!
