Stasia's Pig's Foot Jelly

My cat's name is Anastasia Butterscotch. She used to be called Stasia for short, or Stasia-Ann when she was in trouble. For a few weeks she was known as Adventure Cat.

(Now she mostly goes by "Chicken", but that's beside the point.)

Regardless of her name, I think Stasia the Adventure Chicken would love this recipe, especially if I held off on the vermouth and the peppercorns.

Pig's Foot Jelly

2 pair pigs feet

2 onions

2 carrots

1/2 cup parsley

1/2 cup celery

1 leek

1 bay leaf

10 peppercorns

Dash marjoram, thyme, nutmeg, salt

2 egg whites

2 oz. dry Vermouth

Blanch pigs feet. Bring meat and vegetables to boil in 3 quarts cold water. Skim, simmer four hours or until meat falls away from bones. Season. Discard bones. Chop meat into mold, add some carrots. Clear stock with egg whites by boiling up once. Allow to stand until clear. Add Vermouth. Strain over meat. Chill until firm. Unmold. Serve with green salad, olive oil and vinegar.

Get-out-of-Purgatory-Free Sunday Night Salad

Eating this salad of a Sunday evening must result in a partial indulgence at the very least.

Sunday Night Salad

4 good size, cold, cooked beets, chopped coarsely

1 tablespoon minced onion

1/2 cup celery, diced into small pieces

2 teaspoons vinegar

1 can tuna fish (seven ounce size)

Mix and blend with mayonnaise to taste - about 2/3 cup.

Serve on crisp lettuce cups or circled with sliced cucumbers.

Garnish with a ring of green pepper and a dab of mayonnaise. This amount serves four.

Mother's Citrus Orange Cake

I love all orange flavored baked goods, so this one caught my eye even before I realized it was a family treasure.

I also liked that it is not merely an Orange Cake, but a Citrus one to boot.

The artist bio reads "Has worked extensively designing and creating Party Table Decorations for Elizabeth Arden, of the famous Fifth Avenue cosmetic firm".

What a plum gig!

Where do I sign up?

Mother's Citrus Orange Cake

(A Family Treasure)

3/4 cups butter

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs, well beaten

1 cup fresh buttermilk

1 cup walnuts, chopped very fine

1 1/2 tsp. soda

1 whole orange (put through food chopper)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped dates

Method: Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, add well-beaten eggs. Add nuts, dates and ground orange. Sift dry ingredients together and add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Turn into well-greased, floured long loaf cake pan. Bake 1 1/2 hours in 325 degree oven.

When baked and still hot from oven, pour over top the following mixture:

Juice of 1 1/2 oranges (3/4 cups) plus grated rind mixed with 3/4 cups sugar -- mix thoroughly.

Allow cake to age 24 hours before cutting. Will keep moist for days.

Spanish Cabbage Frankfurter Rolls

Nothing says the 4th of July like the smell of cabbage in the morning.

This recipe is it's very own melting pot of nationalities, and is sure to bring a smile to your yankee doodle faces.

Cabbage Frankfurter Rolls

Core a head of cabbage. Boil cabbage, remove leaves, put a frankfurter in the center of each leaf. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Prepare packaged Spanish rice, top with cabbage rolls, bake at 350 degrees F about 15 minutes.

Cannes Seafood Casserole

This artist says "I try to turn out a painting that will speak for itself."

If the statement also holds true for recipes, I'd say that this one deserves a spot in the Cannes Food Festival.

(Get it? Cannes? Oh never mind.)

It's another fine example of the heavy reliance on canned food products during the sixties. With all that white sauce, butter, and cheese it might be rather good using fresh ingredients. I'd probably hold off on the hardboiled eggs, which also seems to be sixties thing.

Have a look.

Seafood Casserole

3 hard-cooked eggs, sliced

2 cups medium white sauce

1 can shrimp cut in halves

1 can tuna, well drained

1 cup bread crumbs mixed with 1/2 stick melted butter

1 2-oz can sliced mushrooms

1 can crabmeat

1/4 lb. grated cheddar cheese

Place in buttered baking dish, layers of sliced egg, shrimp, tuna, mushrooms and crabmeat, pouring white sauce over each layer. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover top with buttered crumbs. Bake in 325 degree oven for 45 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.

Charlie Chaplan's Missing Nephew's Fear-free Swiss Apple Pie

The first thing that struck me about this page is the artist's resemblance to Charlie Chaplan:




Mere coincidence? I don't think so.

The second thing I noticed is that this pie is crustless!

Eureka!

Mom, we are saved!

Swiss Apple Pie

1 large egg, 3/4 cup sugar, beat well and add the following: 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/8 tsp. nutmeg or cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, mix all together. Add 1 heaping cup of apple (chopped fine), pour into greased pie plate, bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Forms own crust, serve warm or cold.

Calling Outdoorsmen! Coot Stew!

I don't think I need to say much about this, other than to say that this guy is clearly a manly man/artist.
You can tell because there is only one butterfly in his gun-centric still life. Not to mention his recipe humor.

Down East Coot Stew

My father had, what he always claimed was a recipe for the finest stew a man could sit down to:

Pluck and singe four or five white winged coot (mud hens).

Marinate the skinned and dressed birds, along with a block of pine wood (needed to remove gaminess) in a solution of water and vinegar for a period of two days, or at least overnight. After marination period; place birds in a large kettle. Add salt, pepper and herbs to taste, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer along with pine block.

When nearly tender, add several large potatoes, carrots, turnip, parsnip, onions, and continue cooking until all is properly succulent. Then throw away the Coot and serve vegetables along with the pine block.

Baked Macaroni d'Olive Oyl soeur

There is something troubling about this page.

Or perhaps "depressing" is a better word for it.

Take a look at the picture. Then couple it with the recipe below.

Then click here to cheer yourself back up.

Baked Macaroni

2 cups elbow macaroni

Large can whole tomatoes

1/2 lb. American cheese sliced

Place ingredients in casserole in layers finishing with cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese bubbles.

Cheese "Fondue"

I'm a huge fan of cheese fondue. Who isn't? It's gooey, unctuous, rich, deliciousness.

But the kind I'm familiar with is kept warmly viscous in a heated pot, awaiting chunks of bread and veggies to be dipped. The recipe below sounds as if it could very well be slice-able.

What gives?

Cheese Fondue

(an often used old South Hampton Recipe)

1 cup milk

3 eggs

1/2 lb. grated cheese

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup soft bread crumbs

1 tbsp. butter

Pour milk over the bread crumbs, add salt, cheese and well-beaten yolks of eggs. Mix thoroughly. Cut and fold in the stiffly beaten whites and pour mixture into a greased baking dish. Bake in a moderate oven (325 degrees) until firm (20 min.). Serve at once.

Baked Chicken Not-so-Continental

This lady looks like a sophisticate to me. Check out her simple but chic hairstyle and circle necklace.

The artwork is also rather sophisticated. It has a certain elegant simplicity.

The recipe that follows sounds as if it would have a similar sophistication, but take a closer look. Can a recipe containing this many prepared American ingredients really be named "continental".

I think NOT.

Not unless you spell "continental" C-A-M-P-B-E-L-L-S.

Baked Chicken Continental

1 1/2 cups Minute Rice - put in buttered casserole.

Heat 1 can cream of mushroom soup and 1 can celery soup with 3/4 cups milk. Pour over the rice and mix well.

Lay chicken pieces on top (one chicken) and sprinkle with 1/2 package of onion soup mix. Cover with foil and bake 2 hours or longer at 325 degrees F. Serves four generously.

Hints: use a flat pan like a cake pan (large) or small roaster because it is better if the pieces of chicken are spread out and not on top of each other. If you double the recipe for a larger group, I suggest that you use two pans or one larger roaster so pieces can be spread out. For variety this dash may be prepared using only chicken breasts. This dish served with a vegetable and salad makes a very complete meal.

Newburyport Art Association's Artists Directory & Cookbook

Time for a new cookbook! Yippee!

The recipes featured in coming days will be from the Newburyport Art Association's Artists Directory & Cookbook from 1971.

I love community cookbooks of all kinds, and this one has a special twist. Each artist's page contains a photo or picture of the artist, a sample of their work, and a recipe. It's fascinating to connect the photo with it's choice of hairstyles and clothing, the artwork which often reflects the highly stylized era, and the recipe. Each one is evocative of its day.

While technically a 1970's book, most of the recipes have an older feel, as you will see if you follow along in upcoming posts.

Some the ads in the back of the book are a trip. Take the groovy example below:

Or the fantastic hairstyles in this one:

Imagine the cans of hairspray sacrificed in the making of those dos!

This ad is a favorite because it's for my bank, which still looks exactly like the illustration, right down to the curtains.

It's good to know that some things don't change, especially good things like this gorgeous old building.

Upcoming posts will highlight recipes that have changed, recipes that have remained the same, and recipes that have gone away entirely (perhaps for the better.) You be the judge of which is which.