Tag: 1970’s recipes

Name Plates: Pizza a la Garibaldi

What do an Italian revolutionary, a biscuit, a beard and this post have in common?  They are all named Garibaldi!  This Pizza a la Garibaldi comes from The Italian Cuisine I Love (1977) by Jules J Bond.  I have a particular fondess for Jules J so I was eager to pick this book back up again.  And who doesn’t love pizza?

Pizza a la Garibaldi1

What is Pizza a la Garibaldi?

Ok.  So, I’m not going to explain pizza.  Because it’s pizza!

Pizza a La Garibaldi though? Has cheese, green and black olives, oregano / marjoram, and anchovies.  I also added some strips of roasted red pepper for reasons which will become clear right about now!  This is the picture of the Pizza a la Garibaldi from The Italian Cusine I Love.

The OG Pizza Garibaldi

 

And this is me trying to recreate it.  I think Jules J piped lines of tomato sauce on his pizza.  There was no way in hell I was going to do that so strips of piquillo pepper it was!  I wish I’d had some of those cute rolled anchovies with capers to get the same look as Jules.  Mine looked like blobs.  

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The Recipe And Variations

Pizza a la Garibaldi recipe1

I was interested to see that Jules uses bread dough as a base for his pizza.  I have not been able to find yeast for love or money since the start of the first lockdown when everyone went sourdough mad so I was unable to test that part of the recipe out.  Also, my preference is for a thin and crispy base rather than a thicker base so I used one of those souvlaki pitas for my pizza. 

The Pizza a la Garibaldi was very tasty but for me the big disappointment was the cheese.  Part of the joy of pizza, for me anyway is that beautiful streeeetch of the mozzarella. 

Parmesan may be tastier but does not give the same joy!  I will definitely use mozzarella next time I make this.  

Who Was Garibaldi?

Well, we don’t have all day so here are a collection of fun facts about Giussepe Garibaldi

Unifier of Italy

Garibaldi was almost single-handedly responsible for helping Italy move from a collection of city-states to the country we know today.  He and his volunteer army of guerilla fighters, the Redshirts,  conquered Lombardy and later Sicily and Naples. 

Anti Slavery Advocate

Abraham Lincoln offered Garibaldi a job as a Commander in the American Civil War.  Garibaldi refused the post partly because Lincoln did not condemn slavery strongly enough for his liking.

Pacifist

Even though he was a soldier for most of his life, in his later years Garibaldi became something of a pacifist beliving that war was generally neither righteous or an effective means of getting what one wants.

Champion of the Underdog

Garibaldi believed in worker’s rights, women’s emancipation, racial equality, and the abolition of capital punishment.

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Garibaldi spent some time in South American and for the rest of his life work the clothing of the gauchos.  He is also the originator of the Garibaldi beard.

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Keen Entolmologist*

A little known fact about Garibaldi is that he was an avid collector of flying insects, a love he developed in South America.  In order to keep his collection with him on his travels, he had specimens of his collection baked into little clay tablets.  He could then pop these into his pocket to look at between skirmishes. 

These small clay tablets are believed to be the origin of the Garibaldi biscuit.

(Photo via Delicious Magazine UK)

Modern Day Garibladi

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to find one of these but come on down Navarone Garibaldi.  In case you haven’t heard of him, he is the son of Priscilla Presley and Marco Garibaldi, stepbrother to Lisa-Marie Presley and a member of the band Them Guns.  Hmmm…maybe he could have gone with The Guns of Navarone…or would that be too obvs?  Anyway, here he is!

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Have a great week.  And eat some pizza! It’s scientifically proven to make you happy!

 

*This “fact” is little known because I wanted to have an interesting story for the origin of the Garibaldi biscuit.  The actual truth is that the reason why they are named after Garibaldi is totally unknown.  

Ye Olde Crusty Cellar Cheesecake

At the best of times, a cheesecake (or really any item of food) hailing from “Ye Olde Crusty cellar”  would not sound tempting.  However, these are not the best of times, (these may well be the worse of times) and desperate times call for cheesecake!  Have I ever mentioned how much I love cheesecake?  Next to ice cream, it is probably my favourite dessert.  Also, Fridge, Freezer, Pantry week has come around again and I had half a tub of cream cheese icing I wanted to use up. I did not want to make another cake with cream cheese icing so I thought I could hide it in plain sight as it were by mixing it with more cream cheese, sugar and lemon.

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(Don’t ask me what look I was going for with the fruit decoration!)

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The recipe for Ye Old Crusty Cellar’s Cheesecake came from the book 100 Fabulous Cheesecakes by Ellen Sinclair of The Australian Woman’s Weekly (1971). It is a real shame about the name because the Ye Olde Crusty Cellar cheesecake itself is delicious!!!

100 Fabulous Cheesecakes

Ye Olde Crusty Cheesecake – The Recipe

I did not copy the recipe for Ye Olde Crusty Cellar Cheesecake exactly though.  I changed a few things to suit my personal taste.  You can decide if you make this whether to follow the OG version or mine.  Here is the original with my notes on the crumb crust.

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Here are the instructions on what to do with those ingredients to turn them into a crumb crust:

Crumb Crust 1

Crumb Crust 2

The two changes I made to this were:

  • I did not add any additional sugar as I thought an entire can of condensed milk would be sweet enough
  • I did not add the egg yolks.  Largely because I could not understand what they were doing there.  I totally understand eggs in a baked cheesecake but not in an unbaked.  The only thing I could think that they provided was maybe an additional richness to the mix.  Again, for my taste, cream cheese and sour cream are rich enough.

I was a bit worried that leaving them out would somehow mean that the cheesecake would not set.  But the mixture firmed up beautifully in the fridge overnight to cream a filling that was both light, luscious and not too sweet!

Ye Olde Crusty Cellar Cheesecake2

Ye Olde Crusty Cellar – History

The Ye Olde Crusty Cellar was a wine bar opened at 255 George Street brSydney in 1931 by winemaker Leo Buring.

It was described as having:

“the head of Bacchus…to guide guests in and out’ with ‘shaded lights’ and a feeling of ‘cloistered gloom’.

Hmm, not sure cloistered gloom would be the ambiance I would be seeking were I to open a wine bar. But it worked for Leo!  The “Crusty” was a destination venue, attracting crowds of visitors, many of whom would have sampled the cheesecake!

Sadly the “Crusty” closed in 1974 but luckily the recipe for us, it’s signature cheesecake lives on!

Ye Olde Crusty Cellar Cheesecake4

Have a great week everyone!

 

Prawn and Potato Curry

Greetings people of the internet.  This week we are returning to our sojourn around the world via Good Housekeepings World Cookery. Last time we visited this book we were in Pakistan for a subcontinental take on Scotch Eggs.  Today we are moving south and east into India for a super easy, super delicious Prawn and Potato Curry.

Potato & Prawn Curry1

I threw some baby corn in as well because this is my year of not wasting food and we happened to have some in the fridge that was not going to last the week.  To be honest, the baby corn should never have been bought.  It was on sale and the fussiest eater in the world said he wanted it.

“For what?” I asked.

“I’ll think of something”

Something was not thought of.  Hence the fact that the baby corn went into the curry.

There seems to be something in the air this year around reducing waste/saving money.  I set a goal for 2020 to be my year of reducing kitchen waste.  Halfway across the world, the lovely Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers is also cutting down on waste this year.  My boss  is radically cutting down on her kitchen waste this year by living off pantry supplies every fourth week and donating the money she would have spent on food to charity.  I LOVE this idea!!!! Such a bold and generous move!

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But back to the curry.  This curry is very easy to make and for a curry, few ingredients.  It is also very tasty! Here’s the recipe, direct from the pages of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery.  But please feel free to add in any veggies you may have that would otherwise go to waste!

 

Potato & Prawn Curry8

 

Have a great week!  And please tell me any tips you have for reducing kitchen waste!

 

 

Potato Maraska

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….

Good Housekeeping World Cookery Middle East

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!

Good Housekeeping World Cookery Israel

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…

Butter Kuchen

 

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…

Kuchen Dough

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!

Potato Maraska

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.

Potato Maraska recipe

Potato Maraska2

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!

Potato Maraska3

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!

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

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

Good Housekeeping World Cookery 1972

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…

1972 wig

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.

1972 umbrella

 

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

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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…

Zurich Mushroom Tartlets - Recipe

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?

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

Zurich Mushroom Tarts4I  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.

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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!

 

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