Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Constance Bennett's Spanish Chicken


Version 3 of Constance's chicken was the best so far, by far. The secret being having a whole fresh chicken hacked into bits by the crazy Wood Street butcher I think. As Connie put it, "Take 2 fat hens jointed as for frying..."

Rosalind came over to borrow a 1930s frock for her Wind in the Willows party. She selected the Fritzi of California number, an excellent choice. Both the ladies were home too so we had a lovely al fresco dinner in the garden. We discussed how delicious the chicken was and how women of our generation have got into the habit of buying bland cuts of chicken vacuum packed by the supermarket. As Rosalind observed, when we hear a piece of plastic being pierced by a knife we think, "Ooh, someone is cooking..." But the difference between that kind of chicken and this was definitely noticable. From now on I'll try and frequent the butcher for my chooks, even though he thinks I am a figure of fun with my absurd questions about how to cook meat.

Ha ha! I am watching a great Lana Turner film on TCM and faded fashion model Ann Dvorak was just escorted out of a restaurant as she was smashed. A man offered to get her a cab and she said, "What a gentleman. My mother told me that if I stuck around for long enough I'd eventually meet one." Fabulous line, I may memorise that!

Ooh, Lana just called Barry Sullivan a "small time chisler". Ha ha!

3 comments:

Lisa said...

Hello there! Love your blog and am getting incredibly hungry and wanting to watch a classic movie as I read it. Is it possible to wangle an invitation to the recipe site? I'd love to do some Hollywood cooking also! I write for the Turner Classic Movies blog as Medusa, and I eat as myself, Lisa!
lisa@mateas.com

Lya de Putti said...

Hi Lisa

Thanks for getting in touch! Alas, the recipe blog is now defunked. I just didn't have time to keep up with them all! We are currently talking to a publisher about a book deal for the recipes though. Would you like to go on our mailing list as a test cook?! We are planning to email out a recipe a month for people to try out and feed back.

Are you UK or US based?

I'd love to know how you stumbled upon the blog?

Glad you like it anyhow - best wishes from Lya x

Lya de Putti said...

Ha! Just saw the Obama 08 logo so USA based I guess!

Lya x