1970's recipes - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: 1970’s recipes

31
Oct
2018

Potato Maraska

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Israel, Middle Eastern

Today, as we continue our globetrotting trek through 1972 we are saying goodbye to the Balkans and heading to…well, here’s the clue given on page 273 of Good Housekeeping World Cookery….

If the baking dishes of non-descript food didn’t immediately alert you to our destination, then maybe the shisha, the toy camels and the fact that the dishes are placed on SAND may indicate that

a) We are off to the Middle East, and

b)Subtlety was not strong back in the day!

That picture is the worst!

Specifically, our first stop on the trip is Israel.

I really wonder, why, when the line drawings in this book are so pretty, they even bothered with the cliched photography. It was hardly to make the food look attractive!

The Potato Maraska was not my first choice of recipe for this post. I originally wanted to make a Butter Kuchen. I even bought all the ingredients for it. Well, I bought sour cream. I had everything else.

Then I read the recipe…

Hmm….and after you let the dough rise overnight? Then what?

Well, if you’re Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery you move swiftly on to a recipe for Chremzlach and the Butter Kuchen is never mentioned again.

Never mind, I thought, there is a recipe right above the recipe for Butter Kuchen for Kuchen Dough. I’ll just get the rest of the recipe from that…

Or…..not….

I would love to know what Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery has against finishing a recipe for Kuchen. But given the absence of how to cook the risen dough, I decided that mine was going to be a kuchen free kitchen!

I had been going to make a fish pie that night and, in the absence of kuchen I decided that I would use the recipe for Potato Maraska as the topping instead of regular mashed potato.

The Potato Maraska was…..okay. Not as nice as normal mashed potato but if you and didn’t have milk and butter or you wanted to cut down on some calories, the egg adds a richness to the plain potato.

And at least it was a full recipe!

That’s it for me!

Have a great week!

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PS – If anyone knows how to make a butter kuchen, please send me a full recipe!

07
Mar
2018

REPOST: All The Z’s – Part 5 – Zurich Mushroom Tartlets

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Mushrooms, Switzerland, Vegetarian

Hello, and welcome to the fifth and final post of the Food that starts with Z mini-series…We’re heading to Switzerland for some Zurich Mushroom Tartlets. And I have a new book to cook from! Pack your passports friends, we are taking a trip around the world via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery from 1972.

The book promises

222 illustrations, 48 in full colour
672 pages
2316 recipes from all over the world

The World in 1972

So what was this world of 1972 that we are about to enter into? What was the zeitgeist that spawned this tome?

www.thepeoplehistory.com tells us that

1972 This year is marked as a black year in history due to the use of terrorism entering sport with the massacre of 11 Israel Athletes by Arab Gunman. Also this is the beginning of the biggest political scandal in modern times and the start of the Watergate Scandal. On the other side of the Atlantic a worsening of the problems between the IRA and the British government see wrongs from both sides and innocent lives are lost.

Hmm…cheerful.

But who knew years were colour-coded? Who has that job? And can I have it when you’re done?

On a happier note, in 1972 you could buy these awesome shoes for just $9.97.

And this wig was a bargain at $20. The resting bitch face is possibly a sign of the troubled times…

Or maybe she was just worried about getting her wig wet. Problem solved by this umbrella for a mere fiver. Look how much happier this woman is now she doesn’t have to worry about wet hair.

Switzerland 1972

So in the midst of all this trial and trib, what was going on in the notoriously neutral country of Switzerland? Well, hold onto your hats because while chaos and panic were overtaking the rest of the world? The Swiss were creating an International Convention on Safe Containers.

The Swiss are an orderly, well-mannered, and meticulous people. This is why you could probably take your safe container and join a group of Swiss people mushroom foraging around Zurich without fear of dying from some fungi-induced poisoning.

Which brings us back to do…oh…oh..oh (If ANY of you thought we were going to get through a post on Switzerland WITHOUT a Sound Of Music reference, then you don’t know me at all do you?).

ZURICH MUSHROOM TARTLETS

Let’s start with the recipe. It’s a very good place to start…(Refer paragraph above re The Sound of Music) And let’s hope that it isn’t an omen of things to come…

Hmmmm….make the pastry it says Without actually telling you how to do that. So, If they’re not going to tell you?

I will. Here’s what you do.

Put your flour back in the cupboard, your egg and butter back in the fridge and tip your salted water down the sink. Then you get in your car and drive to the nearest supermarket and by some ready-made pastry shells.

Because if they can’t be bothered, why should you?

I used a mix of mushrooms for my tartlets and added some herbs from the garden into the mix.

I pan-fried the small fancy mushrooms in so they could be artfully strewn over the top of the tarts whilst I cooked the regular ones as per the recipe.

IWhile the mushrooms were cooking, I warmed the shells in the oven, then tipped the filling into them.

A sprinkle of parsley and some smoked paprika and these were good to go!

And they were delicious! Creamy and earthy with a lovely crisp and light pastry.

Despite the initial setback with the pastry, the Zurich Mushroom Tartlets were a good start to this book. Easy to make, quick, and tasty! Best eaten in front of the telly watching The Sound of Music, Or wearing your best curtains. Or both.

Have a great week!

30
Dec
2017

This Paté is a Turkey!

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, A-Zof Cooking, Holidays, Leftovers, Recipe Fail

Welcome to the end of the world. Or at the very least the end of The A-Z of Cooking (1977).

Prepare to feel robbed.

Dear A-Z of Cooking,

Look…listen…over the past few years we’ve had joy, we’ve had fun, we’ve had seasons in the sun.

There’ve been many good times.

Remember the Mushroom Cakes?

And the Brioche?

The Profiteroles? They were awesome!

Okay, so it wasn’t always smooth sailing. There were downs with those ups.

There was this:

Still one of the scariest pictures I have ever seen in the pages of a cookbook.

And lets not forget this delightful looking salad:

Or this suggestion for punishing people who drop in without notice:

But on the whole, it’s been good times.

And this is how you end it? With a Turkey Paté that looked like cat food until I slapped a few sage leaves and pomegranate seeds on top? And, I might add, tasted of nothing?

And whilst we’re at it…right from the start you promised me an A-Z.

So…ummm…why are we done after Yesterday’s Leftovers?

Where’s my Z, you dick?

And a really bad turkey paté.

And no Z.

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22
Dec
2017

Moules Marinieres

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, A-Zof Cooking, France, Mussels, Seafood, White Wine

Today we are heading back into The A-Z of Cooking to the chapter called Wine For a Change. And on the menu is the classic French dish of Moules Marinieres. This is one of my favourite dishes. I probably make this around once a month – it ticks all my boxes – it’s healthy, it’s quick and it’s cheap and so, so, tasty! Over the years my recipe has evolved so now I have my favourite version of Moules Marinieres which I will list below alongside a more pared back version from The A-Z.
Before we get into the Moules lets talk about this chapter. Wine for a Change. Not around here it isn’t. Around here it’s a basic food group. So there goes that title. There are some good recipes in this section. The Moules, Coq au vin, Peaches in Wine….oh and veal kidneys with Marsala.

You can’t win ’em all. (Sigh)

If the thought of veal kidneys with anything isn’t off-putting enough on its own, the picture is truly unsettling (It’s also at the very bottom of this post if you are brave enough).

Moules Marinieres loosely translates as Sailor’s Mussels. Be careful of your spelling if googling this. You could end up with this:

Hot damn! Ladies (and possibly gentlemen), don’t ever say I don’t give you anything. Merry Christmas. Happy Birthday and Goodnight Irene!

Where were we? I seem to have lost my entire train of thought.

Oh yeah, mussels. The thing that takes the longest with the Moules Marinieres is all your prep work. First you have to debeard and scrub all of your mussels.

Then cut up your veggies for your mirepoix I use carrot, celery, fennel and onion in mine. And for seasoning salt (I used the Port infused salt I bought in Portugal) peppercorns, a pinch of chilli flakes and a smashed garlic clove.

Cook these down then add some white wine and a splash of Pernod (optional but goes really well with the fennel and the mussels). Cook these down a bit – the longer the better! Then add wine, Pernod if using and stock and bring to the boil. Add the mussels. Add a lid. Shake the pan occasionally and in all of about 5 minutes you will have a piping hot bowl of mussels with a deliciously tasty broth.

Moules Marinieres are great with bread to soak up all that broth. And if that bread happens to be a tasty warm loaf of crusty garlic bread? Heaven…I”m in heaven….

This time though I made mussels other best friend…frites. With aioli. Hard to tell from the pictures but there were three types of frites – potato, sweet potato and parsnip.

The great thing about this recipe is that it is amenable to all sorts of changes. Don’t like cream? Don’t add it. I quite often will throw in a can of tinned tomatoes. Also, (and this is where i am sure I will have the purists tutting at me) if you can’t be arsed debearding and scrubbing the mussels, most supermarkets now sell frozen mussel meat. I always have a pack of this in my freezer so can whip this up at any time. One codicil on that though. The shells on fresh mussels do seem to add some extra flavour. If using mussel meat alone be sure to use a really good fish stock in your broth!

Here is the original recipe from The A-Z of Cooking and the original picture. I cannot tell you how much I love and covet that terracotta mussel pot. Straight to the top of my list of kitchen must haves!!!

And here is my slightly fancier version:

[yumprint-recipe id=’107′]So, there is only ONE Chapter left in The A-Z! Will I be able to get it out before Christmas?

Absolutely not because one of the key ingredients will be a Christmas leftover. And yes, I will be slapping people’s hands away from the plate if there is even the remotest chance of there not being enough leftovers to make it!

Will there be another post of any sort before the big day?

Almost definitely!

See you in a couple of days!

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Oh and for the bravest o the brave? Here are those veal kidneys:

10
Nov
2017

REPOST – Recipe Revamp – SS’s Stuffed Onions

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Onions, Recipe Revamp, Retro Cookbooks, Sausage

The story for these Stuffed Onions starts WAAAAAAYYYY back to my first Pieathalon in 2015. My pie was a Belgian Onion Pie chosen for me by the wonderful S.S. from A Book Of Cookrye. If you are ever in need of a chuckle, giggle or even a downright belly laugh, you must check this blog out. S.S. has a wit drier than the Sahara. You know, I try really hard to be funny. I feel with S.S. that it is just effortless. A Book of Cookrye is always just so, so good!

Below the recipe for the Belgian Onion Pie that S.S sent me there was a picture of some little balls of delight (STOP IT. NOW! ) which I mistakenly took for a picture of the finished Belgian Onion Pies. I assumed that the recipe was going to be some wacky Belgian reverso situation where the onion was the “pastry” and the filling was…I have no idea…crumbly pastry?

Sadly this was not the case. But I hold out hope for the Belgians They invented Smurfs, they can invent a reverso onion pie if they really put their mind to it…maybe after Brexit is over they’ll have some time on their hands for pie shenanigans.

Anyhow, after probably eye-rolling and face-palming at my inability to understand the difference between a PIE and a STUFFED VEGETABLE, S.S then v kindly sent me the recipe for the stuffed onions. Which I promptly printed and lost. Then about six months later I found it again and made them. They were….flawed but had potential. I started thinking about how to improve the recipe. After a while I made them again. And again. Then, earlier this year I was getting ready to post the improved version when my laptop died and I lost all my photos and my improvement notes.

However, cursed as this recipe may be, it was also like a ghost haunting me. So, recently, despite history indicating that the Stuffed Onions post would never see the light o’ day, I made them again. With what I could remember of the improvements.

And they were fabby! So tasty!

I am still waiting for the world to implode when I post this though…

Let’s have a look at the original recipe and then have a chat about how I changed it.

Sausage meat is almost invariably going to have a high fat content. Adding cream to something that is already fatty made the mixture far too greasy. Believe me, your mouth will be coated in it and it almost feels like your whole face is smothered in a layer of grease. Mrs Dan Sartor may have been a fan of the feeling like she had been dragged backwards through a pork chop but I do not. So the cream is gone. As is the butter.
The wine does not have to be white. I used a beef sausage and felt a red was a better match for the robust onion and beef flavours.
Next…I don’t really understand inches but Google tells me that a 1/4 inch is 6mm which I feel is too much onion. I took mine back to 2- 3 layers of onion. Which is more than enough.
Depending on what kind of sausages you have you can also add in flavourings like chilli, garlic, a teaspoon of tomato paste, or even a couple of finely chopped mushrooms (Sorry Jenny) to the mix.
Finally save some of those breadcrumbs for a little sprinkle of the top to add a little bit of crunch. If you happen to have some dukkah to add to that sprinkle so much the better!
I served mine on a toasted piece of baguette. The main ingredients – sausage, onion, bread are reminiscent of a hot dog so you could use whatever you like on your hot dogs. I had some aioli and rocket but swap in whatever condiments you like! Or replace the aioli with a slice of cheese. Maybe if you are using a spicy sausage like a chorizo add some guacamole. And throw some black beans into your sausage mix….
You could pretty much style this baby up into anything you wanted just by changing the type of sausage and the condiments / veggies.

Here’s the updated recipe.

Stuffed Onions

Print Recipe

A modern take on a vintage stuffed onion recipe!

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

8 medium onions
2 tbsp olive oil
2 sausages, your choice of flavour,
2 tbsp plus more for sprinkling over the top, breadcrumbs
1 handful of chopped parsley
1/2 tsp thyme leaves
1 cup beef or chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup dry white or red wine (your preference)
1 tbsp dukkah to garnish (optional)
8 small sprigs of thyme to ganish (optional)

Serving Suggestion

8 slices of baguette
Aioli
Rocket Leaves

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Peel the onions and cut the top and bottom off so they sit flat.
Scoop out the insides so 2/3 layers of onion are left.
Finely chop half of the scooped out onion. (Save the rest for another recipe).
Blanch the cases for 5 minutes then leave to dry.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet then add the chopped onions. Allow them to soften and colour slightly – about 5 minutes.
Remove the sausage meat from the skins and crumble into the onion mix. Cook for around 5 minutes.
Drain off the excess fat and add half of the wine and the breadcrumbs..
Cook for a few minutes then add the herbs, salt and pepper.
Fill the shells with the stuffing mix.
Sprinkle with the remaining breadcrumbs and the dukkah if using.
Garnish with a ting sprig of thyme.
Arrange the onions in serving dish. Pour in the stock and the remaining wine.
Bake in a 180C / 350F oven for 45 minutes, basting occasionally.
Meantime, toast the baguette slices.
Spread with the aioli and the rocket.
Top with the cooked onions.

Notes

Stuffing ingredients and serving suggestions can be modified based on the type of sausages you use and your favourite condiments.

A huge thanks to S.S for the recipe! Sorry it has taken so long! Thanks also to Mrs Dan Sartor for the original recipe. And thanks also to my sadly deceased stepfather who, when ever anyone mentioned anything stuffed vis a vis “Hey I made stuffed onions today” would respond by saying something along the lines of “Oh…I”m sure they weren’t that bad” or “What’s important is that you tried”. Those jokes were running rampant through my head for entire length of this post!

Dad jokes are the worst!

Until you don’t have them anymore…

Huh…Way to finish on a downer.

Ummm….looks around frantically for something to lighten the tone….

Okay, here are some rather unappetizing vintage ideas for stuffed onions!

Here’s a thrifty way to “Satisfy your Inner Man”

I’m not sure. I feel like my inner man would prefer a steak…

And as for this next one all I’m going to say is creamed diced carrots.

You can fill in the blanks on that one….

Have a great week!

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