supper Archives - Retro Food For Modern Times

07
May
2024

Swiss Eggs

Hello, retro food lovers! This week we have a straightforward but delicious supper dish to delight your tastebuds! Now, I use the term “supper” quite deliberately here. For me, dinner is a much more formal affair – a multi-course spread, often quite heavy. Supper, on the other hand, is all about keeping things quick and light. And that’s exactly where Swiss Eggs come in! While they’d also be perfect for lunch or brunch, these beauties fall squarely into the supper category.

The recipe itself hails from a little gem called “500 Recipes for Quick Meals” by Marguerite Patten, published back in 1972. Get ready for a tasty trip down memory lane!

How good does it look with that combination of both melted and crispy cheese! This is not one for the lactose intolerant! And as the name of the book suggests this is also a quick recipe, it also only has four ingredients! Quick, easy delicious = a suppertime win! It would also be a great brunch or work from home lunch! So, as you might have guessed the Swiss in the title doesn’t refer to this dishes provenance but to the use of Swiss cheese which is first used to line the bottom of the baking dish.

You then add your eggs.

Cover with cream:

And more cheese. And that’s it. Job done. Pop that into the oven for around 12 minutes and enjoy!

Serving Suggestions for Swiss Eggs

While your eggs are baking, why not whip up a simple green salad and some toast? Or, if you’re feeling a touch more indulgent (like me!), pop some garlic bread in alongside the eggs to bake together. The combination of creamy Swiss Eggs, a refreshing salad, and warm, garlicky bread creates a light yet undeniably delicious meal.

Speaking of delicious, a glass of chilled white wine wouldn’t go amiss here, would it? The entire dish evokes a certain European charm, and a glass of wine would only enhance that ambiance. So go ahead, channel your inner Elizabeth David on this one. Of course, if you’re enjoying this as a breakfast treat, it might be wise to stick with Marguerite’s original suggestion of some good old-fashioned (and perhaps very 1972) fried bread! It might not be quite as continental, but it’s certainly a nostalgic and satisfying way to start your day. Then again, who am I to judge? If you want wine with your brekkie, go for it!

Swiss Eggs – Recipe

I thought the Swiss Eggs were holey delightful! (Geddit? Swiss Cheese has…nevermind) And not at all eggtravagant! I”m sure you’ll all be scrambling to make these!

Enough with the puns! Have a great week!

22
Oct
2023

Sunday Night Ham Slaw Supper

categories: 1970's recipes, Salad, Salads For All Season

Hello retro food lovers! Today we are taking a step back into one of my favourite vintage cookbooks, Salads for All Seasons by Rosemary Mayne Wilson. I last cooked from this book way back in 2014. I chose a Sunday Night Ham Slaw Supper as I will be posting this on a Sunday. Also, because I love the word supper. It seems much cozier than the word dinner.

The Sunday night ham slaw is such a good idea! You know that feeling after a big Sunday roast when you feel you might never need to eat again? Except a good few hours later you start to think that maybe a little something-something might be nice? Well this is that something. A little salad, some cold meat, a bread roll and butter. Enough to stave off the pangs, not enough to fill you up too much.

I used ham as my meat of choice but this would be equally nice with leftover roast chicken or beef. It would also be perfect with leftover grilled salmon, or for the vegetarians amongst us, some slices of avocado or as a filling for a baked potato. I also did not mix my ham into the slaw as per the recipe but had it on the side. I thought the ham mixed in with the slaw might not look great. It tasted great though and, with the bread on the plate was just crying out to be made into a sandwich!

Sunday Night Ham Slaw Supper – The Recipe

This is a quick, easy and very tasty meal and a nice way to round off the weekend!

Have a great week!

23
Oct
2017

REPOST – Eggs With Spinach and Fashion Tips From Dinah Shore

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, A-Zof Cooking, Spinach, Supper

Eggs and Spinach are a classic combo. Think Eggs Florentine, Spinach Quiche or Spinach Soufflé. Well today we are using eggs and spinach to create a twist on the dish The A -Z of Cooking calls Eggs With Spinach. Uh huh. What it lacks in imagination, it makes up for in precision. But it’s also from a chapter called Watching Your Weight and, to be honest, the original recipe was a little meh….So, whilst staying in the spirit of Eggs with Spinach here’s my version. What it lacks in weight watching, it makes up for in flavour.

Given that choice, always make flavour the winner. Just go for a run the next day!

My eggs and spinach recipe contains spinach lightly sauteed in garlic, mixed with a little cream, sprinkled with nutmeg, topped with cheese and baked with an egg until the white is set and the yolk is runny perfection!

Did anyone say brunch? These eggs with spinach scale up really well for a group at brunch or make a great quick and easy supper for one!

I used fresh baby spinach in my Eggs with Spinach, however you could use frozen. Below is a great vintage ad for frozen spinach. Note the awesome striped t-shirt being worn by Dinah Shore and the perfectly coordinated polka dot apron. She’s rocking my favourite patterns and showing that the rule of “blue and green should never be seen” is as dumb AF. Go Dinah. OMG, I only just noticed her gorgeous green shoes with the bows. I want that entire outfit! I wonder if back in the day women everywhere were also exclaiming “Glory be….fuck the spinach, get me that t-shirt and those shoes…”

Does anyone say “Glory be” anymore?

Did anyone ever?

Before we travel down that etymological rabbit hole here’s the recipe:

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Eggs with Spinach

Print Recipe

A delicious quick and easy dish for brunch, lunch or supper!

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

500g baby spinach
1 garlic clove, crushed
25g butter
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp cream
4 tbsp grated cheddar cheese

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced.
Lightly grease four 3/4 cup-capacity ovenproof dishes.
Wash the baby spinach.
Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and add the garlic.
Saute for a minute or two until the garlic softens but does not change colour.
Add the spinach and stir until just wilted, about 2 minutes.
Take off the heat and stir in the cream and nutmeg.
Divide the spinach into two and place in two ramekin dishes.
Make an indent in the middle and break and egg into each.
Sprinkle the cheese over the top.
Season with salt and pepper.
Bake for around 15 minutes or until the egg white is just set but yolk is still runny.
Remove from oven. Stand for 2 minutes.
Serve with toast.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 2

If you would also like to rock Dinah’s look here is my take on it:

That was awesome fun! Now I gotta go do it in real life. Have a good one!

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01
Mar
2013

Retro Food For Modern Times – Scotch Woodcock and Sunday Television

categories: Anchovies, Eggs, Supper

“We’re having a little soirée after the theatre tomorrow darling, nothing fancy, maybe some scotch woodcock and a nightcap or two. Do come”

No one’s ever said that to me. Because I don’t live at Brideshead. Or Downton Abbey.

The recipe for Scotch Woodcock appears in the After-Theatre Party Section of The Party Cookbook by Anne Marshall and Elizabeth Sewell (1971). I can’t help it, that combination of the After-Theatre Party and the Scotch Woodcock immediately had me imagining something English and posh and from a bygone, more glamorous era. In my mind, Scotch Woodcock consisted of a game bird shot on the estate by the endearingly eccentric squire and then marinated in gallons of whiskey.

Wrong and wrong. This is Scotch Woodcock.

If you happen to be thinking “But that looks nothing like pheasant drowned in single malt…In fact it looks remarkably like scrambled eggs on toast topped with anchovies”, congratulations! You get this weeks Elephant Stamp!

elephant_stamp

I’m not sure why this is called Scotch Woodcock when it contains neither whiskey nor woodcock. Then again, those cheeky Brits do like to bamboozle the foreigners with their nomenclature. (We’ll be getting on to Welsh Rarebit in a future post. Toad in the Hole will never be mentioned again. Except to say, that the best thing about it is that it doesn’t actually contain toads).

I wish I lived in world where I gave after theatre parties (or was invited to them). Unfortunately I don’t and I suspect not many of us do. I do however, have a penchant for a meal I can whip up as a quick and easy light supper during my Sunday night television marathon.

Scotch Woodcock fits the bill exactly. Here’s how it’s done.

The evening starts at 6:30 with The Super-Sizers Go… If you have never seen this show and have any interest in food history done in the most hilarious way, stop right now. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Watch The Super-Sizers Go… then come back. That last bit’s important. Make sure you come back.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQlanfOun64]

Anyway, during the breaks in The Super-Sizers you can do the following:

Gather your ingredients. If you are thinking that the milk in the photo below looks a little thick, you’re absolutely right. We had run out of milk. (So much for recipe preparation!) I used cream for the photo and mixed it with a splash of water for the cooking. And, no I couldn’t have gone and bought milk. I had FOUR hours of television to watch.

Scotch Woodcock - Ingredients — Scotch Woodcock – Ingredients

Make and Butter Your toast. Make an extra piece of toast. Hot buttered toast is one of the best things in the world. Munch on this whilst you watch the end of Super Sizers.

7:30. Masterchef: The Professionals. I can’t help it. I am an unashamed Masterchef addict. And I am loving the professionals. It’s as contrived and the situations are as silly as the normal Masterchef but Marco Pierre White is amazing. He’s like a wise owl, dispensing advice to the hapless. I want him to be my Dad.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV11bTbK9m4]

During breaks in ‘Masterchef, Scramble your eggs. I chose not to add salt as I thought the anchovy and olive topping would be salty enough. They were.

You might also want to open a bottle at this stage. Sparkling wine is lovely with this…and hey, don’t we all need a little sparkle to help us face Monday?

Next break, heat your grill, load the scrambled eggs, anchovies (I added some olives) onto the toast and warm through.

Serve with another glass of bubbles.

(Just a quick note about the serving sizes. This may feed 4 people as stipulated in the recipe if it is part of a larger “after-theatre party” spread. We had it as a light meal and the quantities listed in the recipe were perfect. We had eaten a large, late lunch though. Adjust your quantities as required).

Creamy scrambled eggs, crispy toast, and the salty hit of the anchovies. Delicious!

8:30 Elementary. I know it’s not as good as the Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman Sherlock which is brilliant, but it’s absolutely watchable.

During the breaks, do your dishes and tidy the kitchen. Better still get your significant other to do the dishes and tidy the kitchen. And send him out for some milk.

9:30 You can both settle back down on the couch and finish that bottle whilst watching The Graham Norton Show.

I admit, it’s hardly high glamour but I can think of many worse ways of spending a Sunday night!

Enjoy your week!