1970's recipes - Retro Food For Modern Times

Tag: 1970’s recipes

26
Jan
2025

Veal with Cream Sauce

categories: 1970's recipes, Austria, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Meat

Hello Friends, today we’re continuing our journey into Austria in 1972. We started with some Eggs in Sour Cream a few weeks back and that was a great dish! Now, I’m sure some of you might be expecting a Wiener Schnitzel as the main course. However, as I have already shared a fancy version recently, I thought I would choose something a little different. So today, we are dining on a dish of Veal in Cream Sauce. This recipe sings to my soul! Capers, mustard, lemons. As they say in Austria, a few of my favourite things!

However, the Good Housekeeping World Cookery chapter on Austrian cuisine, gives us, a world of hearty peasant fare for mains. Now, don’t get me wrong, I adore a good, wholesome dish, but let’s be honest, ‘hearty peasant fare’ doesn’t always translate to the most Instagrammable plate.

As Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers so eloquently put it, ‘brown food is the enemy of the photographer.’ Therefore, I implore you, dear reader, to feast your eyes on the words, not the pictures, for this dish is a revelation

The cream sauce was glorious! Honestly, I could bathe in it. Furthermore, it worked perfectly with the veal, but I could see it gracing chicken, fish, and shellfish. In fact, I would have eaten it with just the potatoes and the broccoli, never mind the veal! To accompany the veal, I served steamed broccoli, a vibrant green counterpoint to the rich sauce, and Nigella’s divine Salt and Vinegar Potatoes, a perfect accompaniment. Finally, as the good Doctor Seuss might say, ‘I would eat this on a plane, I would eat this on a train, I would eat this in a box, I would eat this with a fox!

This is how eating this made me feel!

Veal In Cream Sauce – The Recipe

As a total aside, can I say how hard it is for me to type “Austria”? My fingers automatically move to “Australia”! I have had to correct this so many times in these posts! I, for one, will be glad when I hit the chapter on Belgium, so that I don’t have to keep correcting my spelling!

Have a great week!

19
Jan
2025

Pebbles on A Peruvian Beach

categories: 1970's recipes, 500 Recipes for Quick Meals, Cheese, Eggs, Potato, Recipe Fail, Recipe Revamp

Hello friends and retro food lovers! Remember back in your school days when you got marks/grades for effort? Alternatively, does the phrase “the soul was willing, but the heart was weak” resonate with you? Well, they will indicate how I feel about the recipe for Pebbles on The Beach, which I’ve renamed Pebbles on a Peruvian Beach.

I understand what they were trying to do here…it just didn’t work! This recipe was also an anomaly because, so far, everything else I’ve made from Marguerite Patten’s 500 Recipes for Quick Meals has been great! Remember the Sardine Toadstools? (It’s still my favourite thing from last year)!

Pebbles on The Beach – The Intent (I think)

So, I assume that in this recipe the tops of the eggs and the potatoes would poke out of the cheese sauce like pebbles on a beach! If pebbles were white and pink and the sea was a cheese sauce. So, even then, the analogy has problems. Pebbles on the moon? Pebbles in the desert? These may have been more accurate visual descriptions of this dish.

Pebbles on The Beach – The Actuality

Without it’s Peruvian flavour bomb, this dish was as bland as could be. Potatoes don’t have much flavour nor do eggs. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of these ingredients but even combined with a cheese sauce this was dull. My best description would be nursery or invalid food. It even looks dull without its garnish!

The second is that the recipe requires you to take eggs that are already hard-boiled and then cook them for another 20 minutes. Those eggs were rock-hard!

Oh!

Surely that was not why they called this dish pebbles?

The cure for the blandness was to serve the Pebbles on the beach with some Peruvian Salsa. We last saw this salsa paired with some Croquetas de Carne almost exactly two years ago, in January 2023.

The cure for the eggs? Maybe keep them raw and cook them in the cheese sauce? I don’t quite know how to fix that one. And, to be honest, it wasn’t tempting enough, even with the Peruvian Salsa to give it another go! Honestly, if you want a really good tasty combination of potatoes and eggs, then I would recommend Roseanne Cash’s Potato Salad over this any day of the week!

Oh well, you can’t win ’em all….here’s the recipe in case you have any bright ideas or want to feed a three-year-old or an invalid.

Have a great week!

22
Dec
2024

Eggs in Sour Cream

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Austria, Eggs, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, World Cooking

Guten Tag, friends! Today, we embark on a culinary journey through Europe, guided by the pages of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. Our first stop? The enchanting land of Austria, where the hills will soon be alive with the delightful aromas of delicious food. We’re starting with a simple yet elegant dish: Eggs in Sour Cream.

As the holiday season approaches, life often becomes a whirlwind of activity. It’s during these hectic times that simple, comforting meals become invaluable. Eggs in Sour Cream is the perfect solution, providing a quick, easy, and delicious meal that requires minimal effort. This Austrian dish resembles the French Ouefs en Cocotte, both involving eggs baked in a creamy mixture.

I’ve loved Ouefs en Cocotte, ever since my aunt introduced me to them during my primary school years. Discovering this Austrian variation was a delightful surprise, offering both familiarity and novelty. The tangy sour cream and the light, creamy texture create a truly divine experience. The crunchy breadcrumb topping adds a delightful textural contrast, elevating the dish to new heights.

Paired with a fresh green salad, Eggs in Sour Cream make for a perfect lunch or supper. It’s quick, easy, and incredibly cost-effective, making it a win-win. Feel free to experiment with different herbs to suit your taste preferences.

This dish was a pure comfort, a tranquil oasis after a long, busy day. While I opted for a simple green salad to accompany the eggs, you can also serve it with roasted vegetables, crispy bacon, or a slice of crusty bread. The endless possibilities allow you to customize the dish to your liking.

So, let’s dive into the recipe and experience the magic of Eggs in Sour Cream for ourselves. This dish promises to warm your soul and satisfy your taste buds, making it a perfect addition to your culinary repertoire.

Eggs in Sour Cream – The Recipe

Happy cooking, friends! Have a great week!

01
Dec
2024

Sardine Toadstools

categories: 1970's recipes, Devilled Eggs, Eggs, Fish, Sardines

Hello friends and retro food lovers. These little sardine toadstools may just be the most wonderfully whimsical vintage things I’ve ever made here! They are as cute as a button! A button mushroom, that is! The recipe for the Sardine Toadstools comes from what is fast becoming a favourite around these parts: Marguerite Patten’s 500 Recipes for Quick Meals (1972).

Imagine serving around a little tray of these at your next Halloween party. Or an Alice in Wonderland-inspired children’s party. I showed photos of these to one of my work colleagues. He loved them so much he is going to make them for his nieces on Christmas morning. Another colleague heard him talking about them and has also asked for the recipe to make for his daughters for weekend breakfasts!

Sardine Toadstools are a dish for any occasion where you want to add a touch of magic, which could also just be lunch! Your guests will be delighted and, by the way, these taste pretty good too!

Variations on The Theme of Sardine Toadstools

Now, I know that some of you, bizarrely, in my opinion, hate sardines. I feel the same way about cooked carrots. And beetroot. So there’s no judgement here. But please don’t discount this recipe if you do. You could swap in some tuna. Or leave out the fish altogether and just add mayo and mustard for a classic deviled egg.

If you want to get fancy and don’t mind the fiddliness of trying to coax the yolks out of boiled quail eggs, think how spectacular a miniature version of these would be! Use quail eggs and cherry tomatoes, and voila, not only are you magical, but you are also sophisticated!

Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, ‘One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.’

‘One side of what? The other side of what?’ thought Alice to herself.

‘Of the mushroom,’ said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.

Lewis Carroll – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

The Recipe – Sardine Toadstools

As you can see, I’ve not bothered with the rounds of bread and butter, but you do you!

Please let me know if you make these! With Christmas just around the corner, many people may be wondering what to serve guests as fun finger food or a starter. These sardine toadstools could be just the thing for your entertaining needs! And if you do make them, please tag me on Instagram if you post them or ping me a photo. I would absolutely love to see how your creations turn out.

Have a great week!

03
Nov
2024

Pineapple Snow Pudding

categories: 1970's food, Desserts, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Jelly

Hello friends and welcome to our final voyage to the South Sea Islands aboard the SS Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. Today, we’re crafting a delightful Pineapple Snow Pudding bursting with tropical flavours of pineapple and coconut. As Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery doesn’t include many visuals, sometimes you need to use your imagination to envision the final product.

And sometimes my imagination runs a bit wild. I pictured the coconut settling at the bottom, so when I inverted it, the Pineapple Snow Pudding would resemble a miniature Mount Fuji. Unfortunately, reality didn’t quite align with my vision. I’m not even sure why I had a Japanese vision for my South Sea Island dish…maybe it was because the previous recipe from this chapter, Mainland Teriyaki, was Japanese-inspired?

No surprises but it didn’t look anything like that…

The Pineapple Snow Pudding may not have looked like how I imagined, but nor did it taste that way. It is almost impossible to describe how light and airy this is. It is almost as if you are just getting pure flavour from air! Absolutely delicious!

I loved the Pineapple Snow Pudding!!!!

It’s light and airy, fruity and tropical. Never mind Mount Fuji, this dessert tasted, if not exactly like summer, then more like the promise of summer. And with the coconut, pineapple and strawberry garnish, it also smelled of summer.

Pineapple Snow Pudding – The Recipe

This ends our trip to the South Seas and also technically ends Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. However, those of you with a wanderlust for World Travel and 1970’s versions of classic dishes needn’t worry. For some reason, lost to time, I started cooking from this book with Swizterland which starts at page 400. So, from next month, we are heading to the start of the book to check out the best of pages 1-399!

Have a great week!