Crepes

Crepes are one of life’s delights. Relatively simple to make, they have somehow acquired a mystique that is usually reserved for more finicky dishes like soufflés, or aspics. Crepes! The very word sounds decadent and, well, “fancy”. And so it was with joy that I recently accepted the offer of my dear friend Ann Tindall to make some for me when I stayed at her house. Ann is a gourmet cook who isn’t afraid of anything, (though you really don’t need to be afraid of these!) and she made some killer crepes that we garnished the heck out of – with Bacon and Other Delights!



Ann used a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, which is a time-trusted tome, but here I provide a recipe from a well-known writer of food articles from Vogue and The Saturday Evening Post in the 50s and 60s: George Bradshaw. I picked his 1969 book of “Suppers and Midnight Snacks” because, heck, I’m feeling kind of fancy, myself! See his version below, complete with brandy, vague measurements, and un-explained instructions. Of course this was written by a writer first, a cook second! And though you may giggle at him, as I did, he knows his crepes. Make up a batch and see for yourself – whether it be for a romantic midnight supper, or for a lazy morning with a friend. Experiment with fillings (lobster comes to mind in the first case) and enjoy!



“Crepes are handy things to have around the house,” he says. “They give a certain panache to a meal…If they have a drawback, it is that they are monotonous to make – pancake after pancake – so I advise you to put a bit of Scarlatti on the kitchen hi-fi. It helps.”



Crepes



1 cup flour

Good dash of salt

3 eggs

7 tsp of melted butter

1 Tbsp. brandy

1tsp grated lemon rind

1 ½ cups milk



Place all ingredients in electric blender and run until batter is smooth. You must let this batter rest for a couple of hours. Don’t ask why, just do it.



A utensil that is highly convenient for this operation is a crepe pan, although an iron skillet 6 inches across will do. You also need a spatula.



To cook, heat the pan and drop a small piece of butter into it, then tip the pan in all directions so that its surface is well greased.



Pour a small amount of batter, 1 or 2 tablespoonfuls, into the pan, and then tip the pan again in all directions so that this small amount of batter covers the entire surface.



In about a minute lift up the corner of the cake and look; if it is golden brown, it is done. Run a spatula under the cake, turn it, and in another minute it will be done.



Repeat until all batter is used up. Remember to start each time with a little hunk of butter and watch skillet. It must not get too hot.



From this recipe: 18-20 crepes.

Ham-Fruit Ring

Oh goodness, I LOVE theme parties! And when I was invited to the Luau of the Mid Century Supper Club, I sought a vintage recipe that featured something semi-grody yet tropical, and hopefully also edible. (My history for this event has tended towards the disgusting, something I revel in: searching vintage cookbooks for The Grossest Concoction I can find, and actually making it!) But what with the rise in food costs, I decided that making something just for the Yuck factor was too wasteful. So I went to my trusty Betty Crocker green 1975 plastic recipe file, and found this recipe for what is much like a ham version of a Waldorf salad, nicely displayed inside rings of fresh pineapple. My goal was to accurately re-create the look of the dish from the photo on the card, which included laying each ring out on a bed of lettuce.

Though it was edible, it did pain me to sacrifice just about THE most perfect fresh pineapple to the cause. I saved a bit of it out to eat plain, and then forced myself to mix the rest up with sliced celery, ham and mayonnaise. It did look great, but along with much Luau food, not much of it was actually eaten that day. At that particular event, the cocktails were the biggest hit. Oh, those any my friend Lynn’s stellar pineapple-upside down cake, which I think I actually ate THREE pieces of. I’m sorry, cake? Beats ham ANYTIME!


Ham-Fruit Ring

1 medium pineapple
½ pound canned ham, cut into bite-size pieces
2 medium stalks celery, sliced (about 1 cup)
1 cup seedless grapes
¾ cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
2 tsp. lemon juice
½ tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. garlic salt
½ cup chopped salted peanuts or slivered almonds
Lettuce leaves
Seedless grapes

Remove top from pineapple; cut pineapple crosswise into 4 or 5 slices. Cut pineapple from each slice, leaving 1/2 –inch ring as pictured; reserve rings. Core and cut up pineapple. Toss 2 cups of the pineapple with the ham, celery and 1 cup grapes.

Mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, ginger and garlic salt; toss with ham mixture. Just before serving, fold in peanuts. Arrange reserved pineapple rings on lettuce leaves; fill with ham mixture. Garnish with grapes. 4 or 5 servings.

Taco Salad

Taco Tuesday has become a big thing around my house, but recently I wanted to change it just a bit – to make something that I adored growing up: Taco Salad. How tasty! How tidy! How similar to nachos, but somehow without the guilt…

I found a recipe for Taco Salad in my 1980 cookbook from the Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey, called “Cooking is Our Bag” (and YES it is mine too, thank you very much!) and was overjoyed to see that it called for the favored food of my dear friend, Karen: Taco Flavored Doritos! (Note: In addition to loving Doritos, Karen also sells Tupperware, and here you can find yourself a nice container to transport your very own Taco Salad!)

Taco Salad was a big treat for me growing up, so I got out THE actual CatherineHolm serving bowl and Dansk bowls my mom used to serve her own Taco Salad in, and whipped some up. Sorry, Karen, I used plain chips, though I do like to indulge in Doritos as you know! I also added corn and avocado to make it just a little more “salad”. My mom made hers with beans, heating up a can of pinto beans and adding a can of stewed tomatoes which provided the “dressing” for the salad, which is just the perfect finish, whichever type of chips you select.


Taco Salad

1 lb ground beef, cooked
¼ tsp cumin
Salt
Half head of lettuce, shredded
2 onions, chopped
1 ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
1 ½ cup chopped, peeled tomatoes
12 sliced ripe olives
Taco-flavored tortilla chips, broken
7 ½ oz mild taco sauce

Mix ground beef with cumin and salt, chill. Toss with all other ingredients. If layered ahead, add lettuce, tortilla chips and taco sauce just before tossing to serve.

Serves 6-8

Cheddar-Topped Apples

When asked to bring a dessert to a Tupperware party recently, I naturally reached for my copy of their own cookbook from 1986, “Quick and Easy Cooking with Tupperware”. In the section entitled “Cabinet Cuisine”, I learned that “the secret to off-the-shelf success is stocking the right foods”, and sure enough, I had all these items at hand, so I deiced to make their Cheddar-Topped Apples and transport them in, what else, vintage Tupperware.

Now I will admit I was in a bit of a hurry when I first read over the recipe, because I got the WRONG IMPRESSION ENTIRELY about what the dish was going to be. Somehow, I envisioned apple slices with a topping sprinkled over them, such as might be served on a tray as finger-food. However, these are in fact, nothing like that. At all. Not that I’m saying they aren’t good, they just are NOT what I thought they would be. Nor, in fact, are they very attractive, so they turned out to be NOT IDEAL for a party. But, where would I be without the failures along the way, right?

So if for some reason you are really in the mood for apple pie filling, and you like that topped with cheddar cheese (a big thing, I know, I know!) but you also do NOT want to suffer the added enjoyment of a crust, this dish might be for you. Or, I thought, possibly it could be made in individual ramekins – but to be honest, just plain baked apples with cinnamon would seem tastier, and easier. This was tasty enough, just not quite… RIGHT. Read on and see what you think!


Cheddar-Topped Apples

3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
6 medium baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
½ cup raisins (NOTE: I left those out because I can’t stand raisins!)
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese (2 oz)
¼ cup broken walnuts

In the Ultra 21 1-Quart Casserole (NOTE: just use Pyrex if you don’t have Tupperware / don’t want to cook in plastic!) combine the sugar, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the water and lemon juice. Add the sliced baking apples and raisins; stir to coat.

Bake, covered with the vent closed, in a 350 oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the apples are tender. Uncover, sprinkle with the shredded cheddar cheese and the broken walnuts. Let stand, covered with the vent closed, for 2 to 4 minutes or till the cheese is melted. Serves 6.

Jell-O Pretzel Salad

I am sure you’re all SHOCKED to read yet ANOTHER post from me on Jell-O, right? Well this one is quite possibly the most important of all. Not only was it taught to me by my dear friend Kim Mejia as an indispensable element of every 4th of July, but it is one of those dishes that sounds horrible but is actually delicious. OK let’s be honest – it is rather obscene, but take one bite and you’ll grab the whole tray and a fork and run off for some Alone Time. Honest.

The other fantastic thing about this dish is that I found it in my 1986 [comedy] gem of a cookbook, “Cooking with Country Music Stars”, as given by none other than the Oak Ridge Boys! Come on, do you mean to tell me they really fixed this up and brought it to a pot luck? THAT is something I’d pay to see (note 1973 photo of them looking smooooth!) “Elvira – hey guys, get in here and help me with this cream cheese!” Umm, yeahhhhh…..

I must point out that the version Kim makes is the one I used, so compared to the one below, you make a few changes, as follows: use whole pretzels and melt an entire cup of butter over them as the first layer (no sugar needed). Bake for 10 min at 400 degrees, then cool. DO NOT add the cool whip to the sugar and cream cheese mixture – these are two separate layers under the Jell-O! Finally, just mix up the Jell-O as you would normally, no pineapple juice needed. You can add fruit, but it isn’t necessary. Finally, you won’t be able to serve this in nice little squares – just let people scoop blobs out for themselves, and forget the lettuce leaves. Like this is a salad, oh PLEASE!

Don’t forget that if this is for an Independence Day Party, you need to work the canned whipped cream into stripes over the red Jell-O base, and you can use blueberries for the blue part with the stars. Or just go crazy and spray the whipped cream everywhere. Heck, it’s a party, right?


The Oak Ridge Boys’ Pretzel Salad

2 cups crushed pretzels
¾ cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp sugar
1 8-oz package cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 8-oz carton Cool Whip
2 cups pineapple juice
2 3-oz packages strawberry Jell-O
2 10-oz packages frozen strawberries
Lettuce leaves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix pretzels, melted butter and sugar and press firmly into 9 by 13-inch baking pan. Bake 6 to 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Blend cream cheese and sugar in bowl. Add Cool Whip. Spread mixture over cooled pretzel crust.

In saucepan, heat pineapple juice to boiling. Add Jell-O. Stir until dissolved. Add frozen berries. Stir. Pour over cheese mixture and let set in refrigerator. Cut into squares. Serve on bed of lettuce if desired.

Makes 12 servings.

Barbecue Bean Salad aka 3 Bean Salad

Recently, I was invited to a barbecue, and what better place to turn than Better Homes & Gardens' 1963 classic, “Barbecues and Picnics”. I do already have several tasty cold bean salad recipes (variations on the great Three Bean Salad), but I always enjoy trying new ones. And this one is particularly tasty – even 6 year-olds like it!

I couldn’t find wax beans, so I used white beans – and I had to use 2 cans to make the proportions /colors look right. Also, I cut the sugar a bit, added more pepper, and I added sliced red onion. OK, to be honest, I did my own rendition of it, but I’m sure it would be just as good exactly as written. In fact, I liked it so much that I made a second batch for dinner the next night. So easy and tastes of summer.

“Barbecues are such delicious fun – plan one soon!” – so instructs the book – and I say, YES INDEED!


Barbecue Bean Salad

1 1-pound can (2 cups) cut green beans, drained
1 1-pound can cut wax beans, drained
1 1-pound can kidney beans, drained
½ cup chopped green pepper

3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup salad oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Combine vegetables; toss likely to mix. Combine sugar, vinegar, and salad oil; pour over vegetables. Add salt and pepper; toss lightly. Chill overnight. Before serving, toss again to coat beans with marinade; drain. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Summer Salad Bowl

“The enticing salad on the cover,” proclaims Better Homes and Gardens in the 1969 edition of their “Salad Book”, is "perfect for celebrating summer!" Enticing, maybe if those were marshmallows rather than cauliflowers… No, it’s OK, I love salad! And in summer, I actually crave it. (With or without marshmallows.) I tend to make the same salad over and over again, so it’s always great to find a new one, and this one was easy and tasty, so I’ll make it again for sure. NOT that I can say that for everything in this book, but really, that is part of the fun.

I also find that one of the true tests of parenthood is what you can get your kids to eat, and I am delighted to report that my 6-year-old daughter said she loved this, giving it “two thumbs up” after she carefully extracted the bell pepper slices.

The real fun was letting her use the salad spinner to play our new game: Salad Spinner Race (since I have 2 that match), where we pretended the salad spinners were high performance vehicles, and gleefully revvvvved their engines! It was a party till the lid flew off one spinner and crashed into the fridge, sending a shower of little magnets and kid art all over the place…

Ahh, the joy of cooking!



Summer Salad Bowl

Leaf lettuce
4 cups torn lettuce
2 cups sliced raw cauliflower
1 cup bias-cut celery
1 cup sliced radishes
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
Italian salad dressing

Line salad bowl with leaf lettuce. Arrange lettuce, cauliflower, celery, radishes, and green pepper in bowl. Sprinkle cheese over. Serve with Italian dressing. Serves 8 to 10.