1970's recipes Archives - Page 13 of 14 - Retro Food For Modern Times

04
Oct
2012

Retro Food for Modern Times: The Busy Woman’s Curried Chicken Salad Revamp

categories: 1970's food, Asparagus, Chicken, Mushrooms, Salad

Who doesn’t love a chicken salad? Shut up vegans and vegetarians. I heard you. Ok…what normal person doesn’t love a chicken salad?

Busy women of the 1970’s loved a chicken salad. They also loved curly parsley. I have never seen so much curly parsley in my life as in these old cookbooks. They also loved scales. Scales feature heavily in vintage cookbooks. I have no idea why. Some sneaky physics lesson maybe. Which weighs more – parsley or a lead weight? Garlic or clams? Maybe these pictures were the precursor to the BrainTraining games of today where you are shown a kitten and an elephant sitting on some scales and you have to say which one weighs the most (it’s usually the kitten).

The Busy Woman’s Curried Chicken Salad is a a pretty good recipe, all it needs is a few little tweaks to adapt it to modern taste. I suggest the following:

Toast your curry powder before adding to the dressing. It smooths the flavour out.

Use fresh mushrooms – I kept mine raw

Use fresh asparagus – I steamed mine.

I didn’t put red pepper in my version because I don’t like it. I added some tomato for colour and celery for crunch. Other things you could add into ths would be carrots, avocado, steamed green beans, nuts….pretty much whatever you have or you like!

Enjoy!

13
Jul
2012

The Italian Cuisine I Love – Cavolo Nero with Chickpeas and Bacon

categories: Bacon, Cavolo Nero, Chickpeas, Italy

The original recipe for this used escarole. I’ll admit I wasn’t entirely sure what that is. Cook’s Thesaurus said that spinach or rocket could be substituted, so of course I used something completely different. Cavolo Nero, or Tuscan Black Cabbage is an ingredient I love. It is at the peak of its season at the moment so I substituted it for the green in this. As the leaves are a lot tougher than spinach or rocket (or possibly escarole) I adjusted the cooking times accordingly.

The other change I made to the original recipe, with full apologies to Jules J, was that it originally was a soup. I wanted it as a side dish so I decreased the amount of stock I added back in my version. If you want it as a soup, you will need to add 2-4 cups of stock where I have placed the asterisk in the recipe below.

This was, awesome. I have a very fussy easter for a husband, and it is not often he asks for second helpings of sides, particularly ones that are vegetable heavy. Maybe it was the bacon in this but he not only had seconds, he took the last little bit into work for his lunch the next day!

500 grams eacarole / cavolo nero / greens of your choice

2 cups chicken stock

1 medium onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 spring onions, chopped

1/3 cup lean bacon, diced

1 can chickpeas

1 tbsp parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp basil

2 tbsp grated parmesan

Trim cavolo nero. Discard tough ends. Chop into slices about 1 cm thick.

Put chicken stock in a saucepan. Heat to boiling. Add cavolo nero. If there is not enough stock, top up with water until leaves are just covered.

Cover and cook until crisp/tender.

Drain and reserve cooking liquid.

Saute bacon in a heavy saucepan, add onion, garlic, spring onions, and saute until soft but not browned. Add the chickpeas and cavolo nero and a few spoonfuls* of the cooking liquid.

Warm through.

Sprinkle with grated cheese and serve.

Delicious!

13
Jul
2012

The Italian Cuisine I Love – Rolled Breast Of Chicken

categories: Chicken, Italy, Sausage

You may recall this photo from the first post on the Italian cuisine I love. It’s one o f the photos supplied by the Ruffino Wine Company and one of my favourites from the book. I made the Rolled Breast of Chicken and it was delicious. This is a great meal when served with the following recipe for Cavolo nero, and of course some Italian wine!

Rolled Breast of Chicken.

2 tbsp onion, minced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp oil
4 sweet italian sausages (I used spicy…because some like it hot!)
1/4 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tsp tarragon
2 large chicken breasts
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
salt & pepper

Cut the chicken breast horizontally in half.

Heat the oil in a skillet, add garlic and onion and saute or 1 minute. Strip sausage out of the casing, add to skillet and cook until well browned, breaking up any lumps with a fork.

Remove sausage, onion and garlic with a slotted spoon and discard all but one tablespoon of fat from the pan.

Mix sausage, onion and garlic with breadcrumbs, parsley, tarragon, salt and pepper and put a pat of this stuffing on each of the chicken pieces.

Roll them up, tuck in the ends and secure with toothpicks or string. Add butter to skillet, saute the chicken rolls until browned on all sides – two or three minutes.

Remove rolls from skillet to a hot serving platter and remove thread or toothpicks. Add wine to skillet, delglaze quickly and pour sauce over rolls.

My Version

11
Jul
2012

The Italian Cuisine I Love – Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes

categories: Italy, Lunch, Starters, Tomatoes, Tuna

Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes

These would be great for lunch or a light summer supper. Or you could serve just one as a starter.They are perfect for a hot day as there is no cooking!!!!

They would also be really cute if you made them for a tea party or as a finger food using cherry tomatoes and piping the mixture in.

4 firm ripe tomatoes
1 cup canned tuna
3/4 cup pimento stuffed olives, chopped
2 tbsp grated onion’
1 tbsp parsley, minced
1 tsp capers, chopped
2 anchovy fillets, mashed
1 tsp lemon juice
mayonnaise
1 tbsp chives

Cut the top off the tomatoes, hollow out carefully.

Mash tuna and combine with all oth er ingredients except mayonnaise and chives.

Mix well.

Add enough mayonnaise to bind the mixture.

Fill the tomato shells and sprinkle with chives.

Chill before serving.

09
Jun
2012

Food For Lovers – Kelly Brodsky (1973)

categories: Books, Food For Lovers

Published in 1973, Food For Lovers is quite possibly the kookiest book I have ever read. The book is broken into 15 sections, each of which is based on a different type of man and the food an aspiring seductress should cook for him if she wants to win his affections.

The main problem of the book that the descriptions of each of these men are so horrible that I can’t think of why anyone in their right mind would want to be in the same room as them let alone seduce them.

Take this, from the introduction to Jack Snack:

Wow. One day my Prince will come. And he will be a dreary non-event couch potato. Although, in comparison to some of the other types mentioned, the boring (but benign) Jack Snack actually comes up sounding like a winner. He’s certainly preferable to Greek God Rod:

Dreary tv man is starting to look pretty good by comparison isn’t he?

Then there’s Professor Repressor:

At best, he sounds like a pervert. At worst, a sex offender.

If you find yourself attracted by such a specimen, I would suggest you you seek professional help.

Brodsky suggests you whip him up a bowl of borscht, followed by braised wine-steeped beef and an apple strudel.

As if these lesss than appealing descriptions aren’t bad enough, they are combined with some of the creepiest drawings I have ever seen.

This for example is the picture of Willy Wolfe. He looks like he’s just slipped a date rape drug into that glass of wine.

Then there’s Gadabout Guy.

Now, in my mind a gadabout guy is a handsome, debonair, cultured ladykiller, who spends his time flitting from cocktail party to sexy soiree to a jazz club in Paris in the 1950’s. He’s James Bond, he’s Cary Grant, he’s Alain Delon….

Brodsky’s version:

Uncannily similar aren’t they?

However, as we all know the proof of the cookbook is neither in the bizarre text or the even weirder drawings; it is in the eating. Stay tuned for The Food For Lovers Love Feast…

Tag: 1970’s recipes