1960's recipes - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: 1960’s recipes

12
Oct
2018

Treasure Island Sundae / The Sunday Girl

categories: 1960's recipes, Books, Desserts, Icecream

Who would have thunk that so soon after the lack of crushed pineapple in London in August for Pieathalon that, I would again have it on my shopping list? Luckily for me, now I am back home and pineapple of all varieties is once again, freely available!

The recipe for the Treasure Island Sundae comes from The Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book, which was a birthday present from my gorgeous friend Ali, a few years ago. I’ve been meaning to make something from it for ever so long because, quite frankly, this book is BONKERS. With a subtitle of “Every day meals with a Tropic Holiday Flavour” you just know that this is going to be full of recipes containing pineapple crammed into places pineapple has no business to be.

And speaking of Pieathalon, someone out there should be thanking their lucky stars that I didn’t inflict this on them!

Or what about turning that Tropic Holiday vibe Italian with some Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Tropical?

There are also some recipes where the pineapple seems perfectly normal compared to another totally random ingredient. Let’s take a look at a Hungry Man Salad.

So like me, you’re probably wondering what the slices between the pineapple slices are? My guess was crusty bread. Because maybe hungry men need more carbs than all that white rice. Or maybe crumbed pineapple rings? Weird I know but so far what’s been normal? I was wrong. On both counts. Quick, before reading any further, drop down to the comments and tell me what you think they are….

Okay…so the reveal?

A Hungry Man Salad “combines Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple and Beetroot with cooked rice, red and green capsicum, celery, eschalots, gherkin, tomato lettuce and….. a sliced meatloaf.

WTF? Who does that?

Although I suppose it’s no worse than pineapple, oops, I mean Tropic Holiday Flavour in your spag bol.

I’ll definitely share more from this book in the not too distant! But for today, it’s the Treasure Island Sundae. And thankfully the treasure in that Sundae is not a sliced meat loaf!

The reason we are making the Treasure Island Sundae is because whilst on holiday I read a book called Sunday Girl by Pip Drysdale. I actually read it in its entirety on the plane to the UK because it’s one of those books that once you start, you can’t put down!

(Also I couldnt’ resist the idea of writing about a sundae and a book called the Sunday Girl while listening to the Blondie song Sunday Girl on a Sunday. No nasty riverside for me today. I’m safely ensconced with the four ant-free, bird free and bird poo free walls of my own home…and it’s bliss!).

But back to the book. How’s this for a premise?

Some love affairs change you forever. Someone comes into your orbit and swivels you on your axis, like the wind working on a rooftop weather vane. And when they leave, as the wind always does, you are different; you have a new direction. And it’s not always north.’

Any woman who’s ever been involved with a bad, bad man and been dumped will understand what it feels like to be broken, broken-hearted and bent on revenge….

So Taylor consults The Art of War and makes a plan. Then she takes the next irrevocable step – one that will change her life forever.

Ah, revenge…a dish best served cold right? Just like a tropical ice cream sundae!

Here’s the original recipe. Look at the super gorgeous pineapple page numbers! 😍😍😍

I made a few changes to the recipe as given above. My supply of maraschino cherries has vanished! Lord only knows what has happened to them so my fruit component was a strawberry and some blueberries. Instead of a jelly cross, I used popping candy! X may not have marked the spot but it was a lot more fun! And finally, the real treasure for those of you, who like me are counting their calories? Instead of strawberry ice cream, I used Halo Top Birthday Cake – at 280 calories per TUB you could eat these sundaes all the live long day and not increase your waist size!

The Treasure Island Sundae is a great little dessert. There’s lots of different flavours and textures and so it is super fun to eat. The blend of pineapple, lime jelly and the ice cream reminded me of one of my favourite icy – poles the Pine-Lime Splice!

I can see myself making a heap of these as the weather warm up!

And that’s me done! Have a great week!

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17
Dec
2015

REPOST – History Happy Hour – 1959 – On The Beach

categories: 1960's recipes, Cocktail, Eggplant, Eggs, History Happy Hour, Peach Schnapps, Vegetables, Vodka

+Hello and welcome to a very special history happy hour.

Because today, December 17, not only do we have a super fruity and delicious cocktail to celebrate today’s event but also two yummy recipes courtesy of one of my (and hopefully your) favourite bloggers, Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers. Jenny is also making the same trio of recipes so when you have finished here, please head over there to have a look.

But what, and how are we celebrating?

On The Beach – The Film

December 17, 1959 saw the première of the film On The Beach. And just look at this for a cast list – Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins. There’s galaxies that wish they were that star studded!!!! Oh and just for fun, Frank Sinatra came along too. Not to be in the film, Just to hang out with Ava. On the beach.

And that beach was in my hometown of Melbourne! Or in a place called Frankston on the outskirts thereof. In fact, for many a year, there was a scurrilous rumour that Ms Gardner had made the snarky comment that Melbourne was “the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world.” Not true my friends, not true. Said quote was totally invented by a junior reporter from a Sydney newspaper, obviously miffed that we got Ava, Gregory, Fred, Tony (and Frank) and all they got was a bridge and an Opera House.

On The Beach, based on a novel by Nevil Shute (which I have not read but now really want to) is a post-apocalyptic romance in which Australia is the only country to survive a nuclear war. However, it is only a matter of months before radiation clouds doom the survivors to the same fate as the rest of the world. Unless…Dah dah da dah….

This is a film worth seeking out. A stellar cast, some superlative acting, and an engrossing storyline, which although somewhat dated has much to speak to us about our current situation. And, if you can watch the scene with Tony Perkins and Donna Andrews without welling up? You’re already a little dead inside.

On The Beach – The Drink

What more appropriate way to celebrate the release of On The Beach than with the classic cocktail Sex on The Beach! And it’s so good. Peach schnapps where have you been all my life?

This is fruit, fruit and more fruit – peach from the schnapps, cranberry, orange juice and pineapple juice all playing a role. With a hit of vodka to give it some backbone.

This is the best summer you have ever had, in a glass. And unlike its namesake you don’t have to worry about getting sand in your privates if you have one. And you can have two, maybe three in one night with lots of different people without anyone looking askance at you!

On The Beach – The Food

Jenny (this woman is a marvel!!!) sent me a host of recipes by the stars of On The Beach but there was one that stood out for me above all others.

Gregory Peck’s recipe for Happy Pappy Eggs. Oh my…..it’s not often that words fail me. But….first up how you could you not love something called Happy Pappy eggs and second…the recipe came from Gregory Peck. AKA Atticus Finch (pre Go Set a Watchman). And then I also chose a Gregory Peck recipe for ratatouille.

The Happy Pappy Eggs were scrambled eggs with some slow cooked onions. Simple and delicious!!! But oh man, that rataouille was amazing!!! I have no idea why I don’t make it more often. It went really well with the eggs. And together they would make a super brunch dish after a long night of Sex on The Beach (either way).

I also ate the rataouille for lunch for a few days with some cheese in a toasted turkish roll and OMG…it was a revelation! So good!

On The Beach – The Recipe

There were some rather frightening copyright restrictions on the Gregory Peck recipes so we decided not to print them. However, I’m sure if you asked Jenny very nicely she would send you a copy. For personal use only. Don’t let us find you in a dingy alley handing out illegal copies of the recipe of Happy Pappy Eggs!

There are also a myriad recipes and variations for the Sex On The Beach Cocktail. This is a fairly classic take on it.

History Happy Hour – 1959 – On The Beach

Print Recipe

Recipe from Wiki-How:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Sex-on-the-Beach-Cocktail

Ingredients

Scale

1.5 oz (45 ml.) peach schnapps
1.5 oz (45 ml.) vodka
2 oz. (60 ml.) cranberry juice
2 oz. (60 ml.) orange juice
2 oz. (60 ml.) pineapple juice
Orange slice for garnish
Maraschino cherry for garnish
Ice cubes

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Pour peach schnapps, vodka, cranberry juice, orange juice, and pineapple juice into a shaker filled with ice.
Shake until the outside of the shaker gets frosty – about 20 seconds.
Strain the mixture into a glass filled with more ice cubes.
Garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry

This was so much fun, it was great collaborating with Jenny and getting to watch a fabulous movie to boot! Thank you Jenny for the awesome recipes, I can’t wait to see what you have dome with them!

Have a great week you lovely people, happy drinking (and eating)!

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07
Nov
2015

Vincent Price’s Chicken in Champagne Sauce

categories: 1960's recipes, Champagne, Chicken, Cook A Long

When the opening sentence of a blog post is:

“I am drinking champagne alone, on a Monday night, in bed”

I know I am reading the words of a kindred spirit.

So began Jenny’s blog post on Vincent Price’s Poularde Pavillon aka Chicken in Champagne Sauce. I was therefore delighted to see that this was one of the recipes that Jenny had chosen for us to cook as part of the Vincent Price Cookalong.

So, if you’d read my last post you’d know I’d brunched like the King of the Grand Guignol himself on a Buckingham Eggs Jaffle. A few hours later, on what turned into Vincent Price Sunday, I was ready to take on the main event. Here ’tis:

If my chicken looks a bit weird it’s because it was a butterflied one I had in the freezer. It tasted lovely but just did not have the classic appearance of a normal roast chicken. The recipe calls for the chicken to be trussed and, in a moment of dumbarseness I got out my kitchen twine ready to do the necessary. Then paused. How do you truss a chicken with no bones? Short answer you don’t.

To tell the truth, I was a bit narky with this recipe when making it. Basically because I am terribly lazy and Doctor Who was on the telly. Walking the maybe ten steps from the couch to the oven (voice of the pedant – 9 steps) every 8 minutes to baste the chicken seemed like a bit of a palaver at the time. In retrospect those 56 steps were utterly worth it. The chicken was beautifully tender and cooked to perfection. And the champagne sauce went perfectly with the sides of steamed asparagus and roasted potatoes.

The sauce, as also noted by Jenny is much more than what you need for the chicken. She was going to try freezing hers. I had mine over pasta with the leftover veg and some steamed broccoli and beans the following night and it was…..

Just kidding, it was deeeelicious.

The Chicken in Champagne Sauce was a lovely classic, and elegant, way to finish the weekend! If the two recipes I have cooked are any reflection on the rest of the book, then I totally understand why Jenny sings its praises so highly.

So, although it is not Monday and I am not in bed, I am alone and drinking a little champagne toast to Jenny and, of course, to Vincent and Mary Price and their fabulous book. (And in an “it’s all about me” side note, OMG!!!!! You have no idea how long it took to get an even half way decent photo of me trying to concurrently do a wink like the little girl in my sign off logo and raise the champagne glass and take a selfie. Half of them looked like I was heavily sedated on anti-pyschotics and the other half looked like I needed to be. In the end I gave up and took a picture of the glass by my “movie star” mirror!

If your idea of a good time involves doing a bit more than poncing round your bedroom for HOURS looking more and more deranged with every click of the camera, there are a host of events to celebrate the release of the 50th edition of A Treasury of Great Recipes. To find out the wheres and whens, click on the links below:

Vincent Price Treasury Cookalong with Silver Screen Suppers

Vincent Price Legacy Tour – for details of celebratory events in the UK

Amazon Page for the 50th Edition of A Treasury of Great Recipes

Treasury of Great Recipes Facebook page

Silver Screen Suppers Facebook page

Vincent Price’s Chicken in Champagne Sauce

Vincent Price Chicken in Champagne Sauce1

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

For The Chicken

1 x 3lb chicken
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
2 cups dry French champagne

For The Sauce:

4 cups cream
3 shallots, finely chopped
4 mushrooms crushed with a bottle or rolling pin
1 sprig parsley chopped
2 bay leaves
pinch of thyme
2 tbsp butter
1 glass dry champagne

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For The Chicken:

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / Gas mark 4.
Season the chicken with the salt.
Truss it and place in a small casserole with the butter and the two cups of Champagne.
Cook in a moderate oven about 45 minutes.
Baste every eight minutes and turn until the chicken is an even golden brown on all sides.
Remove chicken, cut off string and keep warm on a hot platter.

For The Sauce:

Add to the juices in the casserole the cream, shallots, mushrooms, parsley, bay leaves and thyme.
Simmer on top of stove until the sauce has reduced to two thirds of the original amount.
Strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan.
Place over a medium heat and swirl in the butter.
Add the glass of champagne

For The Presentation

Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken. Serve the rest separately.
This recipe is originally from Le Pavillon in New York. To serve the chicken as per Le Pavillon take the chicken to the table whole and carve it there.

Have a great week! Signature 1

04
Nov
2015

Vincent Price’s Buckingham Eggs Jaffle

categories: 1960's recipes, Anchovies, Bread, Breakfast, Brunch, Cheese, Eggs, Jaffle

You made a what???

For for those of you who are already totally confused, let me explain. A Jaffle is an Australian term for a toasted sandwich. And it is a much loved food for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper, a midnight snack or any of the times inbetween.

And I made one based on Vincent Price’s Buckingham Eggs. And it was very good!

Like I guess many of my generation, the first real inkling I had of Vincent Price was as the voice in Thriller….

I had no idea he could not only cook, but cook like a boss, until I started blogging. It’s one of the reasons why I am so excited that the 50th edition of Vincent and Mary Price’s A Treasury of Great Recipes is about to be released. And I am reliably informed by Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers that, in her view, it is the best cookbook ever written! And Jenny knows her stuff!!!

Only a few more sleeps ’til that happens but first, Jenny invited her blogging pals to take part in a cookalong with some of Vincent and Mary’s recipes.

I hadn’t really intended on making the Buckingham Eggs for the cookalong . I was totally primed to make Vincent Price’s Champagne Chicken but, it was only 10:00am. Possibly a little too early for a roast dinner. But I was hungry and a jaffle seemed like the perfect thing to tide me over til dinner time. A quick glance at the fridge revealed eggs, cheese and anchovies. I had a thought process that went something like this:

You could make the Buckingham Eggs
But I want a jaffle
The Buckingham Eggs sound really good.
So does a jaffle.
Anchovy and Mustard butter…-
Egg and Cheese Jaffle
Hmm…what if we…
I like where you are going with this

And thus the Buckingham Eggs Jaffle was born. I’m sure neither Jenny or Vincent would disapprove of my tweaking the recipe slightly to satisfy both the devil and the angel on my shoulder! For the purists, here is a link to the original recipe as cooked by Jenny:

Buckingham Eggs

For my version make an English mustard and anchovy butter. I could not find any anchovy paste so I mushed up an anchovy. The mustard adds some heat and makes it a beautiful colour!I could just eat this on toast forever and be totally content!

But, wait, there’s more!

Eggs and cream and cheese and onions. I meant to add some Worchestershire Sauce but I totally forgot! Oh well, all the more reason to make it again next Sunday!

Now, add the onions to the egg mixture and scramble them really lightly. You need them to thicken up but still be quite moist as they will continue to cook once they are in the jaffle iron.

Now, butter both sides of the bread (if you’re feeling decadent ) or the one side if not. Place the buttered sides on the surface of the jaffle iron. This is important otherwise your bread will stick like crazy. Place the cheese on one side and the thickened egg mixture on the other side.

Fold The Iron over. Trim any bits of bread hanging out of the iron and place over a low heat.

The only tricky bit is that once the iron is closed you have no way of telling how much the inside has cooked unless you open it up and have a little peek. Make sure you turn it over at least once so both sides get toasty. As a general rule, once the outside is a dark golden colour, the inside will be perfect. This is the colour you are aiming for:

At the risk of sounding a bit hippy dippy, when cooked like this, the egg and cream mixture and the cheese become one in a gorgeous creamy melange. This is surrounded by crispy, salty, slightly spicy bread…..OMGZ delicious.

This made a super brunch, but if darkness is falling across the land and the midnight hour is close at hand, this would also make a super late night snack!

A massive thanks to Jenny for including me and to Vincent and Mary Price for the recipe.

For all the deets on the cookbook launch and activities around it, click any (ALL) of the links below:

Vincent Price Treasury Cookalong with Silver Screen Suppers

Vincent Price Legacy Tour – for details of celebratory events in the UK

Amazon Page for the 50th Edition of A Treasury of Great Recipes

Treasury of Great Recipes Facebook page

Silver Screen Suppers Facebook page

Champagne chicken up next! Stay tuned….

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25
Aug
2015

Birthday Beatles Cake

categories: 1960's recipes, Birthday Cake, Cake, Margaret Fulton Cookbook

They say it’s your birthday
It’s my birthday too, yeah
They say it’s your birthday
We’re gonna have a good time
I’m glad it’s your birthday
Happy birthday to you

Hey there

So yes, it was my birthday…and I made us all a cake. And, oh boy, what a cake. Just in case you thought that after that weird stroking meat hand we were done with Margaret Fulton? No way. No how. Nyet.

Because I saved the best for last. Because back in the 60’s Margaret Fulton made a very special cake. Which I totally copied for my birthday. And it was awesome.

What made it so good?

The burnt sugar cake? Incidentally a first for me (and utterly delicious)…

The caramel icing?

That it came with four….huh…maybe fab four friends to help get the party started?

Yes, I made The Beatles Cake!!!! Which of course, you already knew if you read the heading so my attempt at suspense was all for nought.

Here is Margaret Fulton’s original version, made back in the day.

And here is mine:

I think I did a pretty good job of this. I was very pleased with my Beatle cookies. Dare I say they may possibly even look slightly more like their counterparts than Margaret’s original? And I know they’re not going to win any form of identikit prize and it may not be the face of Jesus on a grilled cheese sandwich but it’s almost recognizably The Beatles. If you squint. And look from far away…

I found the recipe here, although the burnt sugar cake is also included in the Margaret Fulton cookbook.

http://www.womansday.co.nz/food/recipes/everyday-recipes/2013/7/retro-recipes-for-a-beatles-party/

I changed it only slightly, I used the same icing pen for the eyes as I used to pipe the yeah, yeah, yeah biscuits and I rolled my liquorice flat (9-10 seconds in the microwave and it became soft enough to roll out). Then I cut the hair shapes out with a pair of scissors.

Also, the template in the link did not work so I had to make my own face templates. I looked at a few things and I decided my best option was actually to use some of the images I found looking under Beatles cartoons. I printed them, cut them out, then cut around them to get the face shapes.

I felt very sorry for Ringo. The original recipe called for a peanut for each of the other Beatles’ noses and THREE cashews for Ringo’s! Too cruel Margaret, too cruel. I used a whole peanut for Ringo and a half peanut for the others.

Beatles Cake Ringo — Beatles Cake – Ringo

To be honest with you I did not think I could pull this one off. There were so many points of worry – the shape of the cookies, decorating them, the right amount of burnt for the burnt sugar cake, the caramel icing. This whole thing was FRAUGHT with a lack of confidence in myself more than any real complexity in the cooking. I mean it wasn’t the easiest thing I have ever made but it also was not as hard as I made it out be in my head.

Beatles Cake - George — Beatles Cake – George

The secret was like most things to give myself plenty of time and to break the recipe into little pieces. I baked the cookies on Friday night, baked the cake on Saturday and did the icing and all the cookie decorations on Sunday. For me this was about right. I think trying to do more would have lead to madness.

Did I mention this was delicious? And in the end….haha…worth all the bother. Margaret Fulton sure knew how to make a cake! It was also HUGE.

But only fitting this time round to finish some words from my favourite Beatle, George Harrison:

All the world’s a birthday cake,
So take a piece….but not too much

Wise words to live by.

Have a great week!

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