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Those of you who don’t watch the New Zealand police drama called
The Brokenwood Mysteries, will not understand the reference to Mrs. Marlowe;
those of you who do are smiling right now. If you haven’t seen the series, you
must give it a watch. The story takes place in the small town of Brokenwood, a
town full of murder, and quirky characters. I seriously could go on and on
about this show, I enjoy it so much, but I want focus on Mrs. Marlowe (played
by actress Elizabeth McRae), the kindly octogenarian with many talents, who
belongs to almost every organization in Brokenwood, attends every public event,
engages in gossip, is as good of an interrogator as main character Detective
Mike Shepard (Neill Rea) in her zeal for getting information, and is known for
her cheese rolls. People will attend events just to get their hands on her
cheese rolls.
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Mrs. Marlowe sharing her thoughts
with Detective Mike Shepard. |
Naturally, I had to find out about these. It turns out they are an actual thing, and I found a recipe for them in Annabel Langbein’s cookbook. The filling is phenomenal, but I had difficulty rolling this up in slices of white bread, and getting it to bake up properly. The other day, I was re-watching the series from beginning to end (there are six series at all) and came upon an episode where someone had made the similar sausage rolls with far less success than Mrs. M. One reason for this, she postulated, was that an egg wash had not been used. According to Mrs. Marlowe, “[An egg wash is] absolutely essential. They get really claggy without one.” So I tried it again with an egg wash, and mine still turned out, umm, claggy. So, I decided I was going to use puff pastry. Wow! What a difference. I know these are not traditional, but they are really good. They go very well in place of a roll for dinner, along with a soup or salad, or, if you cut them smaller than I did, a tasty snack.
Mrs. Marlowe-Inspired Southland Cheese Rolls
Adapted from Annabel Langbein
6 oz. evaporated milk
1/2 c. cream
1 small Melissa’s shallot, grated (about 2 T.)
½ t. dry mustard powder
¼ t. white pepper
9 oz. edam cheese, grated
1½ T. dry onion soup mix
1 pkg. frozen puff pastry (2 sheets)
Place evaporated milk in a pot with cream, onion, mustard powder and pepper. Heat until almost boiling. Remove from heat, add cheese and soup powder and stir until cheese has melted and sauce has thickened. Allow to cool before using (it will thicken further as it cools). This mixture can be made in advance and stored in a container in the fridge for up to a week.
To bake rolls, preheat oven to 375° and line 2 oven trays with baking paper.
Allow puff pastry to thaw. Place each sheet onto a lightly floured surface and roll flat to seal fold lines. Spread cheese mixture over top of each sheet almost to the edge. Roll up firmly, jelly roll-style, placing seam side down and, with a sharp knife, slice into two-inch sections. Place seam side down onto baking sheet and bake until crisp and golden (15-20 minutes). Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.
