Retro Recipes

Dinner for a Summer Sunday (Knox Salad Book)

Melon
Chicken in Aspic — with Vegetables
Cranberry Sauce
Corn-on-the-Cob
Seeded Rolls
Ice Cream-Brownies
Beverage

Chicken in Aspic (Serves
2 envelopes Knox Unflavored Gelatin
2 cups cold water, divided
2 cans (10 1/2 ounces) condensed consomme
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups diced bake chicken
1 cup mixed cooked vegetables
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 tablespoons chopped green pepper
4 tablespoons chopped pimiento

Sprinkle gelatine on 1 cup of the cold water in saucepan to soften. Place over low heat, stirring constantly, until gelatine is dissolved. Remove from heat; add remaining cup cold water, condensed consomme, salt and lemon juice. Chill until mixture is the consistency of unbeaten egg white. Fold in diced chicken, mixed cooked vegetables, celery, green pepper and pimiento. Turn into a 6-cup mold or individual molds. Chill until firm. Unmold on crisp spinach greens. Top with toasted almonds. Serve with cranberry sauce.

Salad a la Boston (Knox Salad Book)
Arrange tomato slice on romaine. Salt lightly. Drain cold baked beans and mix with Fresh dressing (1 tablespoon to a cup of beans). Heap on tomatoes. Top with minced onion and garnish with a sprig of parsley.

Other ways with vegetables “as is” – or in aspic

Beets, asparagus, sweet onions on spinich leaves
Cooked carrots, white turnips, string beans and limas
Corn, snap beans (julienned), sweet pickle, pimiento
Whole cucumber stuffed with chopped, cooked broccoli, sliced ripe olives, celery, green pepper

Ham ‘n’ Cheese on Slaw
Julienne (cut in thin strips) slices of ham and Swiss or American cheese. Arrange on crisp shredded cabbage, sprinkled with mustard seeds. Garnish with ripe olives and serve with mayonnaise to which chili sauce and chopped stuffed olives have been added.

Try these combinations, too
Sardines, diced hard cooked eggs, tomato slices
Eggs deviled with peanut butter, topped with crumbled bacon and served on watercress
Chicken, Mandarin oranges (or tangerines), figs, almonds and ripe olives

Smothered Chicken (Make It Easy)

1 four or five pound roasting chicken
Salt and pepper
Flour
6 tablespoons fat
6 tablespoons flour
3 ½ cups milk

Cut the chicken into pieces for serving ( a stewing fowl may be used if a longer cooking period is allowed.) Measure about one-half cup of flour, two teaspoons of salt, and a dash of pepper into a clean paper bag. Drop chicken into bag, and shake until coated. Brown in fat in a heavy skillet. Arrange in a two-quart baking dish. Pour off fat left in skillet and measure, adding enough butter to make six tablespoons. Return to skillet, add flour and blend. Add milk and cook and stir until smooth and thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper and pour over chicken. Cover and bake at 325 F., for about two hours, or until tender. Serves 6.

Corn and Chicken Chowder ()

2 tabledspoons butter
½ cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely diced potato
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup finely chopped, cooked chicken
1 No. 2 can whole kernel corn
2 teaspoons salt
Dash of pepper
3 cups milk
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons minced parsley

Melt butter in a heavy kettle or saucepan, add onion, and cook until yellow. Add potato and chicken broth and cook, covered, until potato is almost cooked to pieces. Add remaining ingredients and heat only to the boiling point. Add additional seasonings, if necessary. Serves 6. Add one of a variety of garnishes may be used to top each serving of soup. Among them are: buttered popped corn, toast cubes, chopped parsley, a spoonful of salted whipped cream, chopped chives of finely slivered toasted almonds.

Luncheon: Corn and chicken chowder 1, lettuce and tomato sandwich 2, apple sauce and oatmeal cookies, milk and tea 3.

The DC area has been pummeled with snow over the past few days, and we’re expecting more.

Cooking has been a diversion for me. I love retro cooking, but I also love creating my own with the ingredients I have on hand.

Friday night, as I waited for the blizzard to hit, I decided to make some soup, which turned into a pasta dish.

snOMG Pasta
1 16 oz. can of tomato soup
4 chicken breasts
1 cup red wine
1 can mushrooms
1/4 cup green onions
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon cumin

*2 tablespoons flour
additional balsamic vinegar and salt to taste
Whole-wheat pasta

Defrost chicken breasts and cut into pieces. In separate bowl, mix tomato soup, red win, vinegar, cumin, green onions and garlic. Wisk together.

Place chicken in Crock Pot and cover with soup mixture. Cook 8-10 hours on low, stirring occasionally. Approximately 30 minutes before serving, ladle 2 cups of liquid from Crock Pot and mix with flour. Season with additional balsamic vinegar, salt and cumin if desired. Add mixture back to chicken.

Serve chicken and sauce over bed of whole wheat pasta.

*I like spicy food, so I usually add additional spices. I also added water chestnuts, but decided that this recipe really didn’t need the crunch.

Snowed-in Deviled Eggs

Sunday, I woke up wanting deviled eggs. However, I never keep pickles or relish around, so I decided to improvise.

4 eggs
2 tablespoons light mayo
3 strips turkey bacon
1 tablespoon spicy mustard
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

After I boiled 4 eggs and cut them in halves, I crumbled the turkey bacon. Then I mixed the egg yolks with mayo, mustard, Tabasco sauce and the bacon. From there, I filled the boiled eggs with the yolk mixture and refrigerated.

I also tried making a grilled cheese sandwich with string cheese. It turns out that string cheese does not melt very well. Not all of my creations turn out.

Chicken Loaf (What Mrs. Dewey did with the New Jell-O, pg. 18)

Chicken Loaf

1 package Lemon Jell-O
1 pint warm chicken stock, free from fat
1 cup chicken, cut in small pieces
½ cup celery, finely chopped
¼ cup green pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons pimiento, finely chopped
2 tablespoons vinegar
¾ cup stuffed olives, finely chopped
Dash of Cayenne
1 teaspoon of scraped onion
Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Dissolve Jell-O in warm stock. Chill. Combine remaining ingredients. When Jell-O is slightly thickened, fold in chicken mixture. Turn into loaf pan. Chill until firm. Unmold. Serve in slices. Or mold in ring mold and serve as salad garnished with mayonnaise. Serves 6.