Banana Cream Pie

Recently, my daughter came home from school with tales of a fabulous treat she had tried at school, made by one of the teachers. She began to describe the wonders of it to me, and asked if we could make one ourselves. This is the beauty of having a 6 year-old: when I told her that yes, we could make banana cream pie, she was awestruck, and we set out to make it right away.

Cream pies are so easy, you almost don’t need a recipe, but I do love to refer to something along the way just to make sure the proportions are correct, especially with something like custard – but then again, I also like to skip that altogether and use Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding as the filling! So quick, and really? Nobody cares that I didn’t make the custard. We did make our own crust, and my daughter gleefully crushed the Nilla Wafers herself with a re-purposed lemon-squeezer. (I find you can do amazing things with tools that are actually designed for other things. That and a zip lock bag. More things to add to the Desert Island list…)

Here, then, is the recipe for Banana Cream Pie as set out in the Bible – I mean, the 1975 edition of The Joy of Cooking. Note that in the book, they refer you back and forth to various pages and separate listings, so I have edited slightly for this preparation to make it read smoothly. Got about 20 minutes? Then you, too, can amaze your children with the Wonder of Pie!


Banana Cream Pie

Cookie Crumb Crust

Crush or grind fine, or crumb in a blender as directed until very fine: 1 ½ cups of graham crackers, zwieback, vanilla or chocolate wafers, or gingersnaps

The flavor of the filling should determine which of the above to use. Stir into the crumbs until well blended:
¼ to ½ cup sifted confectioners sugar
6 Tbsp melted butter

Reserve 2 to 3 Tbsp of the crumb mixture. Pat the rest into the pan or press out to the desired thickness. Bake in a 350 oven about 10 minutes; cool completely. When the pie is filled, scatter the reserved crumbs as a toping.

Filling

In top of double boiler combine:
2/3 cup sugar
½ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp salt

Add, stir and cook over – not in – boiling water 10 minutes or until mixture thickens:
2 cups milk

Remove from heat. Beat slightly:
3 egg yolks

Stirring well, pour half of hot mixture into eggs. When smooth, return eggs to rest of hot mixture and cook until thickened. Remove from heat and add:
2 Tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla

Cool slightly.

Peel and slice thinly:
2 ripe bananas

Place them in the baked pie shell. Pour the cooled filling over them

Apricot Chutney (2 versions)

“Oh my GAWD, Mom, not CHUTNEY again!?!?!” This must have been heard at least once a month in my house during the 70s. My mom made chutney often, and I, ummmm, didn’t appreciate it. In fact, I HATED it, and I FREAKED out when it was cooking – something about the vapors of boiling onion and ginger really seemed painful to me at the time. It wasn’t just that I refused to eat the stuff, but I literally howled and whined each time she made it. Oh, brother!

Since then, however, I’ve come to appreciate, and in fact to seek out, chutney – most often in the form of the English tea sandwich made with sharp cheddar and chutney, though also served as a side to meats. The extreme reaction of my youth is now just a ridiculous memory, so I decided (bravely) to attempt to make my own. OK not my own: I decided to make my mother’s chutney, the very recipe that used to send me running out of doors for fresh air as a child. A hitch, though, was the fact that my mom couldn’t find the book with the recipe she used all those years, but we were able to find a few similar ones that I cobbled together, with great success.

First, Madhur Jaffrey’s book on Vegetarian Cooking was one of my mom’s favorites, and in it there is an entire chapter on chutneys (!) so I had plenty of inspiration there. Second, The Joy of Cooking never fails, and sure enough there was a basic apricot chutney recipe there that looked very close to mom’s old favorite. Finally, I have to admit that I can’t stand raisins, so I left them out entirely, basically making Ms. Jaffrey’s recipe with the addition of ½ sautéed onion. The basic recipe is really tasty, and you can experiment with the various spices. Enjoy, even if it does scare your kids!



Apricot Chutney with Raisins and Currants

Madhur Jaffrey’s “World of the East Vegetarian Cooking” 1981

1 pound dried apricots
10 large cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
A 1x3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 ¼ cups red wine vinegar
2 cups sugar
¼ tsp salt
1/8 to ¾ tsp cayenne pepper
¾ cup golden raisins
½ cup currants

Put the apricots in a bowl. Pour 4 cups of hot water over them and let them soak for an hour.

Put the garlic and ginger into the container of an electric blender or a food processor along with ¼ cup of the vinegar. Blend until smooth.

Empty the apricots and their soaking liquid into a heavy stainless-steel or porcelain-lined pot. Add the garlic-ginger mixture, the remaining vinegar, sugar, salt and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Simmer on a medium flame, stirring frequently, for 45 minutes. Do not let the chutney catch at the bottom of the pot. Lower heat if necessary. Add the raisins and currants and cook, stirring, another half hour or until chutney takes on a thick, glazed look. (Remember that the chutney will thicken slightly as it cools.) Let the chutney cool and store, refrigerated, in lidded glass or ceramic jars.




Curried Apricot Chutney

“The Joy of Cooking” 1974 Edition

Combine and simmer for 30 minutes:

2 cups water
2 cups dried apricots (11 oz package)
¾ cup chopped onion
¼ cup sugar

In a separate pan, cook for 5 minutes:
1 ½ cups vinegar
1 tsp ginger
1 ½ to 2 ½ tsp. curry powder
1 stick cinnamon
½ tsp salt

You may remove the stick of cinnamon before combining the apricot and spiced vinegar mixture. Stir in:

2 cups white raisins (10 oz package)

Place in sterile jars and process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Super Brandy Alexander

I do love gadgets – back when I had TV, whenever an infomercial came on, I’d be reaching for the phone before you could blink. (Where’s my credit card? So what if I don’t have a boat, I *need* that special boat cleaner!) Fortunately, I have a small kitchen, so I’ve quit buying just any old gimmick-y doo dad – but when I found a bunch of late 60s / early 70s kitchen gadgets at an estate sale (for MY price of $1 each!) I had to have them all. And the best of the bunch was the Popeil Brothers’ 1974 Whip-O-Matic, with Planetary Action. (Never mind that we have no idea what that is, it sounds So Good!)

This beauty came complete in its original box, with instructions and recipes! I read with glee that the Whip-O-Matic was perfect for making meringue, scrambled eggs “deluxe”, batter for crepes, (naturally) whipped cream, salad dressing, chocolate milk and, lo and behold, my favorite after-dinner drink: the Brandy Alexander.

Not just any Brandy Alexander, though. There were plenty of recipes for those in ordinary cocktail guides. (Including one called Alexander’s Sister Cocktail in the definitive Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) that features Crème de Menthe and bears this warning: “Ladies are advised to avoid this Cocktail as often as possible.”) This one, using the revolutionary Planetary Action so lovingly touted by the Popeil Brothers (this must have JUST pre-dated their split and the creation of brother Ron Popeil’s “RonCo”) was not ordinary but Super.

I will say that it was in fact super! But that comes as little surprise since I already knew I loved the drink. One issue I had was that the ice, though crushed, was NOT dissolving, and despite the completely safe, non-electric, rubber-tractioned bottom, I poured the mixture through a strainer just to remove the few big ice chunks left. The other issue is with the quantity – I think for two drinks, you really need to double the recipe, and even then they are dainty in size, though just right in taste. Whip one up (or use a regular cocktail shaker with strainer if you lack your own Whip-O-Matic) tonight and see for yourself!

NOTE: I just discovered that Tupperware makes a mighty similar item, their “Whip ‘n Prep Chef” which you can buy from my dear friend Karen Finlay, right here!


Super Brandy Alexander

1 oz. Brandy
1 oz. Crème de Cacao
1 oz. cream
6 oz. shaved or finely crushed ice

Whip until ice dissolves. Pour into cold cocktail glasses and top with groud nutmeg. Makes 2 generous size drinks.

Devilled Eggs 3 Ways

Well, good folks: the results are in! Of the three varieties of Devilled Eggs, (also known as Deviled Eggs, take your pick), the hands-down winner was none other than The Master of the Feast himself, James Beard! 

This pronouncement made official by yours truly and Celebrity Judge, Mr. Grant K. Gibson, Easter Sunday, 2011. I present all three recipes here, since they were all tasty. Make up a batch of each and YOU BE THE JUDGE! 

 Having been asked to make devilled eggs for Easter, and knowing there were to be 40 guests, I decided I had better make three different varieties – mostly so that I wouldn’t be bored out of my scull with the boiling, shelling and stuffing of 6 dozen eggs! I also must admit to skipping the sieve step – instead (hello! Child of the 1970s!) I ran the cooked egg yolks through the Cuisinart. Oh thank heavens for electricity! And for the French. Actually, the experiment turned out to be quite amusing, and we really did carefully evaluate the results. I should point out that each book I consulted offered several variations on devilled eggs, so it really was a difficult choice. Next year: three more! (And someone else to crack them all…) 

 I assumed from the get-go that the entry featuring bacon would be the winner, bacon being so hot these days. And in fact, the bacon-eggs flew off the trays, even before I had finished preparing them! Note: the bacon crumbles were too large to fit through my piping tube, so I had to abandon the lovely presentation for those. People didn’t seem to notice, as they were too busy gobbling. As Grant put it, though, the bacon mixture was “surprisingly not my favorite” – it was too sweet. (Catsup was the culprit there.) Next time: hot sauce instead! I was happy with the minced chives as a garnish, which did help to cut the sweetness a bit. 

The curried eggs were quite good, and a very familiar taste, but I left off the parsley on those as I had previously used it to garnish the “plain” ones, and I felt the paprika sprinkle was perfect. They were really good and I would be proud to serve them any time. But…. James Beard’s were just THAT MUCH BETTER! 

As Grant said, “James Beard gets an A!” and I agree. His version is a basic deviled egg: not fancy, just perfect. It differs from my mother’s only in that she uses parsley only as a garnish (not part of the egg filling) and she omits the Worcestershire. I also added about ½ teaspoon of apple-cider vinegar when the mixture tasted too grassy (parsley) and that did it. These are the ones I will make over and over, and it pleases me to know that I must be doing “America’s Greatest Chef” proud! 

James Beard “Hors d’Oeuvre and Canapes” (1940)

James Beard just can’t be beat, in writing (Historical quotes! The source of foreign words! Wit!) and in recipes, and this little book is a definitive resource for every possible detail of a cocktail party. Though written in 1940, his advice still seems fresh and sensible. “The cocktail party no longer means a bottle of gin, a can of sardines, and a package of potato chips from the corner grocery.” (!!) He also endorses what my grandmother always said, that no party was complete without deviled eggs: “No matter what else is served at a cocktail party, you will always find that a tray of stuffed eggs will be one of the most popular items. These disappear more rapidly than anything else.” Boy was he right: even as I was assembling the eggs on Easter, guests were snatching them right off the trays before they were garnished! 

Deviled Eggs:

Remove the yolks from 6 hard-cooked eggs and force them through a fine sieve. Add one teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of dry mustard, one half teaspoonful of freshly ground, black pepper, one teaspoonful of Worcestershire Sauce, one and one half tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley, and at least a tablespoonful of mayonnaise. Beat well with a fork till the mixture forms a full paste, adding more mayonnaise if necessary. Fill the white halves, using a pastry tube, and garnish with chopped parsley or tiny strips of pimiento. 

Peter Pauper Press with recipes by Edna Beilenson and decorations by Ruth McCrea “The ABC of Canapes” (1953) I had to mention the decorations, because Peter Pauper Press was known as much, if not more, for its graphic design, than for the recipes, but it turns out that both are delightful, despite the vagueness of the quantity needed. 

Eggs, Deviled with Bacon:

To the mashed cooked yolks, add double the amount of crisply fried, crushed bacon. Moisten with catsup, a little mustard, and a little mayonnaise. Heap into halves of egg-whites. 

Jules J. Bond “The eggs & cheese I love” (1978) This cute little book offered probably the most comprehensive and step-by-step instructions, as well as a surprising number of creative recipes along with old standards. For a beginning cook, I would absolutely recommend this one, for the clarity as well as the good end result. 

Curried Devilled Eggs (for 4 to 5):

12 hard-boiled eggs (the smaller the better) 1/3 cup mayonnaise 1 tsp. curry powder (or, if available, curry paste) 1 tsp. Dijon mustard Salt and pepper to taste 1 tsp. paprika 2 Tbsp. minced parsley Shell eggs and cut lengthwise in half. Remove yolks and rub through a strainer, then blend with all other ingredients. Fill the egg halves. The best and easiest way to fill them is using a pastry bag with a star tube. Garnish each egg half with a sprinkle of parsley and paprika.

IF you find yourself needing any deviled egg trays or carrying cases, I have some suggestions here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/carriedawaysf?ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_pub_carriedawaysf_dp_3937eiSikBOjM

Marshmallow Pineapple-Lime Mold Salad (Jell-O #4)

I am a sucker for Jell-O. I am also a sucker for anything old, so imagine my delight when I was bequeathed the recipe card collection of a dear lady, Norma Finch (seen in photo with my dog, Rhubarb, expert canine beggar) and found it to contain NO LESS THAN 43 RECIPES for Jell-O!

Norma was an expert hostess who entertained weekly for nearly 70 years, often making elaborate dishes that were served on divine antique and mid-century platters and trays (some of which I also inherited). She carefully typed out her favorite recipes and kept them well-organized by type in her card box. She also swapped recipe cards with friends, as I discovered when sorting through them – here and there were cards written out by different hands, all signed. When I asked her son about the other ladies, he had stories about each one, often hilarious. Something about the friendships these cards represented still gives me chills, and makes me grateful to my own friends for the things we share.

Norma Finch, I am a woman after your own heart: I too have carefully written out my favorite recipes (I started doing this about age 8) and I too am happy to share them with friends. My blog entries are the modern equivalent (in my humble opinion) of your lovingly hand-typed cards, and I hope my friends value them as much as yours did. And so, in your honor, I have been going through the recipe cards and preparing one Jell-O mold every Easter.

This one was simple, without bizarre ingredients and with no surprises – that is, because I left out the mayonnaise! As I read the recipe, everything made sense and sounded good but that. Honestly: you have a perfectly good fruit and marshmallow Jell-O mold that you THEN PUT MAYO ON? There is a limit, people! (And by “people”, I mean the advertising executives of Kraft, who most obviously supplied the original recipe that Norma faithfully copied out, even including capitols on the name brands and omitting the brand “Jell-O”) So let’s be sensible and skip that part. I also skipped placing it on a bed of lettuce, favoring instead canned whipped cream and cherries to decorate the finished product, and it is quite yummy! Served on one of Norma’s own Depression Glass trays, I present Marshmallow Pineapple-Lime Mold Salad!



Marshmallow Pineapple-Lime Mold Salad

Dissolve 1 package lime gelatin dessert in 1 cup hot water. Drain the juice from 1 cup canned crushed pineapple and add water to make 1 cup of liquid. Add this liquid and 1 Tbsp lemon juice to the gelatin mixture. Chill until almost firm. Fold in the crushed pineapple and 2 cups of Kraft Miniature Marshmallows. Pour into a 1 quart mold. Chill until firm. Unmold onto a serving plate covered with lettuce. Serve with Kraft Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip Salad Dressing.

Tuna Ring (Jell-O #3)

It has long been an obsession of mine to research vintage Jell-O recipes, and when my great friend Karen started a Mid-Century Supper Club Pot Luck where participants are to re-create, in faithful detail, a vintage recipe and present it in corresponding vintage serve-ware, I though to myself: It must be Jell-O. But not just any Jell-O, because I frequently make plain Jell-O, fruit-added Jell-O, marshmallow Jell-O, even adding Jell-O to cake mix if I need a quick cake that tastes better than cake mix. But this event called for a new Jell-O experience, one that, regrettably, featured tuna fish.

Heck, if it was considered good enough to publish in a national cook book, how bad could it be? Um, bad. Fearfully bad, in fact. The sad thing is, it didn’t even look delightful, but was murky – a warning, perhaps, of what lurked inside! I took plain gelatin and added mayonnaise, chopped onions, celery and tuna fish. On purpose. And lovingly served it on a bed of lettuce. And I think I actually ate a bite! I know of one other person who did, but it was not actually a hit. But it was one of those things, you know, you just HAVE to do - once.

Sadly, not a single photograph exists of the concoction, so all I can do here is to reproduce the elegant full-color photo from the 1963 edition of Better Homes and Gardens “Lunches and Brunches”. This is a book full of fun photos of what sound like barely edible yet time-consuming recipes, all served on glorious mid-century table finery. Such contradiction! Such adventure!


Tuna Ring

1 envelope (1 Tbsp) unflavored gelatin
¼ cup cold water

1 can condensed tomato soup
1 3-ounce package cream cheese
1 cup salad dressing or mayonnaise
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup sliced stuffed green olives
¼ cup chopped green pepper
¼ cup sliced green onions
¼ cup chopped pimiento
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2 6-ounce cans (2 cups) tuna, in chunks

Soften gelatin in cold water. Heat soup to boiling. Add gelatin; stir till dissolved. Add cream cheese, beat smooth with electric or rotary beater. Blend in salad dressing; stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into a 5-cup ring-mold; chill firm. To serve, garnish with greens (See picture page 45). Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Pork Chop Casserole / Buttered Carrots and Celery

1959’s “The Electric Cookbook” was “your complete guide to cooking electrically” and it sure is a good thing I have it, ‘cause in my apartment, I have an electric stove. Now, I was raised cooking with gas, and I greatly prefer it, but I’ll leave off that particular tirade for the moment, and be glad that as long as I must use an electric range, I have a guide. My guide, in fact, tells me that perhaps this whole “electricity” thing is gonna be huge: “For the homemaker, electricity takes the “work” out of housework…Tireless electric servants do most of the work, affording more time for the fun of creative cooking.”

SO! That explains how cooks in the 50s had so much time to come up with all the TOTALLY BIZARRE and INEDIBLE concoctions I encounter in vintage recipe books. Anyhow, there is something completely sensible about this book that I just love. Basically, you decide which electric appliance you are going to use (Roaster? Broiler? Electric Skillet?) and then the book presents an entire menu, all to be cooked at once, at the same temperature for the same amount of time. Genius!

And, happily, THIS RECIPE TASTES GOOD. And in fact, it is one I had been taught to make by the mother of an old boyfriend (by the way, moms always LOVED me because I wanted to learn all their recipes and hang out in the kitchen with them rather than trying to sneak off with the boyfriend or smoke cigarettes. OK, enough of the goody-goody show!). She called hers “White Trash Casserole”, and it was essentially the same thing, with the addition of sautéed onion and garlic added to the canned soup. I always add in sliced fresh mushrooms (sautéed), and organic “healthy” mushroom soup, when I’m not using Campbell’s for the whole “Andy Warhol” effect. So I already knew the pork chops would be yummy. But I had no idea the carrots and celery would – and it turns out that my daughter went bonkers over them and asked for them again the next night! There was a third element to the menu, but I ran out of time so I’ll have to try the Steamed Devil’s Food Pudding another time. Probably the next time I make these yummy pork chops!


Pork Chop Casserole

Temperature: 375
Time: 50 minites
Serves: 6

Preheat roaster to 375 degrees. Trim excess fat from 6 loin chops; salt and pepper; brown on both sides in skillet; place in meat dish. Combine 10 ½-ounce can cream of mushroom soup, ¼ cup water; pour over chops.

Buttered Carrots and Celery

Temperature: 375
Time: 50 minutes
Serves: 6

Peel 4 or 5 medium carrots; cut in lengthwise quarters. Cute celery in 2-inch pieces to make 1 ½ cups. Place vegetables in covered dish. Add ½ cup water, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons butter. Cover to cook.