Sticks and Stones

Murder, She Wrote - S2:E10

Dec 07, 2022

It's great when folks from the big city turn up in Cabot Cove and think it is all very quaint. We find Seth in Jessica's kitchen trying to fix her toaster

when a travel writer called Michael Digby drops in unexpectedly.

He is utterly charmed with the domestic scene before him and exclaims, "This humble abode reeks of yesteryear. It's like a set! From 'Ma Wilderness.' Right down to the village repair man!"

Seth is not amused, and neither is Jessica.

Digby writes a series of books called "Great Little Places to Live" and announces that he's planning to put Cabot Cove on the map. "If I'm not much mistaken, it already is," says J.B.

When Digby gets excited about a jar on Jessica's countertop and says, "It's your grandma's pickle crock, right?" he's informed that she bought it just the day before. When she was out and about antiquing with Seth, I expect!

Jessica makes a meal for the travel writer, "This is a great dinner, Mrs Fletcher," he exclaims, "I bet this recipe came over on The Mayflower." But, unfortunately, we don't get to hear what dish J.B. has rustled up.

Instead, she is preoccupied with solving two mysteries, an accidental death that she thinks might be murder and a poison-pen campaign that has the whole of Cabot Cove afraid of the mailman.

In this episode, Marsha Hunt plays a character who may, or may not, be behind the dirt-dishing,

so her ham would be a great dish to serve alongside it. It's a bonkers recipe but lots of fun to make. She suggests serving it with blueberry muffins and coffee, which to my mind, makes it a brunch dish. However, she also suggests accompanying it with Liebfraumilch, so perhaps it's a romantic dinner à deux?

However you serve it, though, do it with love!

Marsha Hunt’s Ham - With Love

Butter or margarine
2 pineapple rings and juice
Honey
1 orange
2 slices cooked (tenderised) ham
Ground clove
Sherry
Slivered almonds
Fresh (or frozen) spinach
Salt and pepper
2 bananas
Nutmeg
Cointreau (optional)
In a frying pan, melt a couple pats of butter or margarine. Add ½ cup pineapple juice, 2 tablespoons of honey and grate the peel of the orange into the mixture. Blend all of these ingredients and place the ham in the pan and baste with the mixture. Let this simmer on a low flame. Dust the ham with powdered clove. Add a jigger of sherry, just before serving.
Brown the slivered almonds in butter and add them to the spinach when it’s ready (cooked the usual way), season with salt and pepper, of course. Slice the bananas in half and lengthwise. Fry them gently in butter till golden (about 10 minutes), then dust them with nutmeg. Add 1 teaspoon of Cointreau (optional) just before serving.
Serves 2 (of course, says Marsha!)

Next time on Murder, She Cooked a recipe from the kitchen of Robert Vaughn.

Do join me and other Murder, She Wrote fans for a worldwide watch party on Sunday December 18th - all the details can be found here - Watch Party!

The Murder, She Cooked book is out now!

It covers the first six seasons of the show and contains extra material including test cook verdicts on the star-spangled movie star favourite dishes. It has reached Cabot Cove and word on the street is that J.B. is finding it even more enthralling than The Sins of Castle Cove…