Tag: weeknight recipes

1940's · 1944 · main dishes · soup · vintage recipes

Vintage Recipe: Mushroom Shrimp Bisque

Anna L Eriksen2 Comments

There are several recipes in my 1944 Good Housekeeping cookbook that immediately intrigued me the very first time I flipped through it. The Apple Cheese Crisp I made a while back was one of said recipes, as was the recipe I tried today: Mushroom Shrimp Bisque.

Right off the bat, this recipe ticked all the boxes for me: mushrooms? Yes, please. Shrimp? Sign me up. Soup? Always. To boot, the recipe looked extremely simple and quick to get on the table during a busy week at the office. But the real kicker was the unique nature of the recipe. Located in a section of the cookbook that focused on combining two different canned ingredients to make a new dish, I thought the recipe for Mushroom Shrimp Bisque sounded creative and I could not wait to try it. 

Easy? Absolutely. The hardest part of this recipe was finding my can opener in the Kitchen Drawer from Hell. Fast? Without a doubt. I had this recipe done and on the table in less than 10 minutes. Now that’s what I call an ideal weeknight supper! This is GREAT, I thought to myself and I could not wait to dip my spoon into the bowl.

As I ladled the soup and delivered it to the table, I could tell the Mister and my Maman were not quite as enthusiastic as I was. “THAT’S what we’re having for dinner??”, the Mister asked. “What’s in here?”, asked my Maman. I excitedly shared the name of the recipe and we all took our first bite.

The glances at the dinner table told the tale. There was no immediate reaction of “wow!” or even furrowed brows whilst we decided if we enjoyed the soup or not. There was silence. 

The Mister, brave former Marine that he is, piped up first with “it doesn’t really have any flavor, does it?” My Maman quickly agreed that it was very, very bland. Staunch defender of my own cooking that I am, even I couldn’t put a positive spin on this one. What a disappointment. 

So what DID it taste like? Well, frankly, it tasted like a warm bowl of milk with things floating in it. Actually, plain warm milk probably would have been better. The soup lacked any taste of mushroom or shrimp. None of us could discern any hint of tabasco, onion, or sherry either. To say it was an unsatisfying supper would be an understatement. It was very, very bland. In fact I commented that it would be a nice soup for someone requiring a bland diet. 

If you do happen to have a medical condition that requires you drop a few pounds and eat a bland diet, nutritionally this soup isn’t bad: in just 77 calories you get 50% of your daily vitamin D needs as well as over 5 grams of protein. Normally I don’t do a nutritional analysis of the recipes I try, but I’m trying to make lemonade here! 

That all being said, I appreciate the recipe for what it was – a creative way for a woman to feed her family a nutritious meal on a tight budget during a time of war and food rationing. If it was 1944 and this was my dinner, I would have been mighty glad to have had it.

Mushroom Shrimp Bisque

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
  • 1 ½ c. bottled milk or ¾ c. evaporated milk and ¾ c. water
  • 1 c. canned or cooked shrimp
  • Dash tabasco sauce
  • 1 teasp. minced onion or chives
  • 1 to 1 1/2 tablesp. sherry (optional)

Directions


Stir together the mushroom soup, milk, and shrimp, which have been flaked after removal of the black vein down the back. Then add the tabasco and onion, and heat well but do not boil. Just before serving, add the sherry if desired. Serves 6.


I used canned shrimp for this recipe, draining the liquid as a treat for the cat. He refused it. I should have known.

Bon appetit!

1940's · 1944 · beans · beef · main dishes · side dishes · vintage recipes

Vintage Meal: Somerville Meat Loaf and Mashed Potatoes with Lima Beans and Scallions

Anna L EriksenLeave a comment

Winter is still in full swing here in the United States and after feeling a bit under the weather for the better part of a month, I decided some good old-fashioned comfort food was in order. 

I asked The Mister what he was craving and all I got was “meat” as a response. Pressing harder, he narrowed it down to beef so I set off in search of a relatively quick dinner – so many of the beef recipes in my Good Housekeeping cookbook take quite a long time. There is one recipe in particular (involving, beef, bacon and dill pickles) that I am especially intrigued by, however it takes a full 2 hours of simmering time and a busy business housekeeper just can’t pull that off during the week. 

So, I gave the Mister three options – Beef Curry, which he vetoed; Creamed Beef on Toast, which he so eloquently referred to by its military nickname of S**t on a Shingle; and meatloaf. He enthusiastically chose the meatloaf, so meatloaf it was. Not quite as quick of a turnaround time as I had hoped, but we still managed to eat at a respectable hour.

I, of course, have made many a meatloaf in my day and tried many recipes – sometimes I’ve used no recipe at all. Meatloaf’s saving grace is that it’s pretty darn hard to screw up. Even a “bad” meatloaf is usually still salvageable with the right condiments. One of my favorite recipes for meatloaf comes from a famous YouTube chef and includes mushrooms, celery, and Worcestershire sauce. It’s divine. It is also extremely time sensitive and also somewhat expensive, making it a special occasion meatloaf. And, somehow, special occasion and meatloaf just don’t belong in the same sentence.

Anyway, of all the meatloaf recipes I’ve tried I’ve never made one with horseradish and I was mightily intrigued. 

It took me about half an hour to get the meatloaf prepped and into the oven, and I was able to prepare the mashed potatoes and lima beans while the meatloaf baked. The mashed potatoes were just average run-of-the-mill. I didn’t use a recipe. 

The lima bean recipe,  however, is also from my 1944 cookbook. I LOVE lima beans. I feel like lima beans are much maligned as a boring bean, not that there’s necessarily an exciting bean I suppose. But I do love them and usually eat them plain, maybe with a touch of salt and pepper for seasoning. Come to think of it, I don’t believe I’ve ever made a recipe out of lima beans. So, I was very excited to try this dish out.

I didn’t time myself making the lima beans, but I would say it took roughly 20 minutes from start to finish. I used frozen beans and microwaved them, so that cut down on the cook time. They were very, very easy to make. I also learned a new cooking term – bean liquor. Who knew? I always call the cooking liquid bean juice. Bean liquor is definitely a more sophisticated term than bean juice and is now firmly entrenched into my vernacular.  

Right at 60 minutes, the meatloaf was done as were the mashed potatoes and the lima beans. At first blush, the meatloaf looked…like it imploded. I was a little worried as I lifted it out of the pan and onto a plate. As I cut two slices for the Mister, the meatloaf started falling down like a brick wall without mortar. Yes, I realize it may have held together a bit better had I let it cool down for 15-20 minutes instead of 2. But we were hungry and I wanted to enjoy dinner while it was still hot. 

And the result?

After one bite of the lima beans, the first word out of the Mister’s mouth was “Wow!” followed immediately by another “wow” and “these are awesome!”.

And they were. The scallions gave a nice hint of onion flavor but were not overpowering. Lima beans, much as I love them, can be a bit flat but in this dish they were elevated to a new dimension. I’m not sure the paprika added much flavor but did lend a nice color to the – ahem – bean liquor that formed the sauce. Perfectly seasoned, creamy, and unique, this dish will most certainly make it into my permanent recipe file. The Mister and I each gave it 5/5 stars (my Maman did not try them). In fact, the recipe was supposed to serve 4-6 but the two of us devoured them all in one sitting – that in and of itself, should tell you how delicious they were. My dedicated carnivore husband loved them more than the meatloaf. 

Speaking of the meatloaf…

The meatloaf, as I mentioned, was so moist it fell apart. Nothing is worse than a dry meatloaf, and this recipe didn’t disappoint in that regard.

As to the taste, well, the results were a bit shocking. Who knew horseradish could be so controversial?

As a backstory, the Mister loves wasabi (and most wasabi sold in the USA is essentially green horseradish). My Maman hates horseradish. I like it, but it wouldn’t necessarily be the first condiment I reach for when I’m rooting around the refrigerator. That being said, my Maman and I loved the meatloaf. We both thought the horseradish gave the meatloaf a really nice flavor and voted it 5/5 stars. The Mister, on the other hand, said the meatloaf was good but the horseradish “just hangs on”. He said if I use the recipe again to skip the horseradish entirely. Then he got up and retrieved the ketchup bottle from the refrigerator. After squirting America’s favorite condiment on his meatloaf, he pronounced it better balanced and finished his serving. He did not go back for seconds of the meatloaf and voted it 3.5/5 stars. He also firmly declined the opportunity to take a meatloaf sandwich to work the next day. So perhaps 3.5 stars may have been pushing it.

Overall, I enjoyed dinner quite a bit. Regardless of what the Mister thought, I would personally make the meatloaf again exactly as it was written. And the lima beans? They were unequivocally the star of the show and I cannot wait to make them again soon.

I highly recommend both recipes and the dinner menu as a whole. 

Somerville Meatloaf

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 lbs. chuck beef, ground
  • 1/4 c. minced peeled onion
  • 1 1/3 c. fine soft bread crumbs
  • 2 teasp. salt
  • 1 egg
  • 4 teasp. bottled horseradish
  • 3/4 tsp dry mustard
  • 3 tablesp. minced green pepper
  • 3 tablesp. catchup
  • 1/2 c. bottled milk or 1/4 c. evaporated milk and 1/4 c. water

Directions

Mix all the ingredients, and turn into a greased or oiled 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ loaf pan. Bake in a moderately hot oven of 400 F for 1 hr. Serves 6. For individual meat loaves, prepare as above. Then form into 6 individual loaves, arrange in a baking pan, and bake at 400 F for 30 min. 1/4 lb sausage meat may replace an equal amount of the ground beef.

Lima Beans and Scallions

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • 2 c. shelled green lima beans
  • 6 scallions, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablesp. butter or margarine
  • 1 tablesp. flour
  • 1/4 teasp. paprika
  • 1/2 teasp. salt
  • speck pepper

Directions

Cook lima beans until tender. Drain, reserving 1/2 c. bean liquor. Simmer scallions in butter for 2 min; then stir in flour. Add bean liquor, and cook, stirring, until thickened. Add beans, remaining ingredients, and heat. Serves 4-6.

I used the entire scallion – both green and white parts.

Bon appetit!

1944 · main dishes · vintage recipes

Vintage Recipe: Baked Bean and Hamburger Savory

Anna L EriksenLeave a comment

“Wow! That’s really good!” 

That was The Mister’s reaction at taking his first bite of Baked Bean and Hamburger Savory – a vintage recipe from my 1944 Good Housekeeping Cook Book. 

Needless to say, this was music to my ears. As I’ve mentioned before, so many of the modern recipes I’ve tried over the last few years have fallen flat. Poor thing has had to suffer through many a bland meal. Frankly, I had gotten to the point where I didn’t even want to cook anymore, because I felt I spent so much time planning, shopping, preparing, and cooking dishes only for them to be flavorless at best or entirely inedible at worst (beet soup, here’s looking at you).

To be honest, I didn’t have particularly high hopes for this recipe. I wasn’t expecting it to be bad – I just wasn’t expecting it to be much more than an upgraded can of baked beans. What a very pleasant surprise, indeed!

After a few more bites, my husband said – not once but twice – “Man that’s GOOD!”. Then he put to words what I was thinking “I didn’t expect the flavor profile to be so complex.” And it was. Far, far more than just a can of humble baked beans this recipe had a wonderfully rich beef flavor that was surprising given the amount of beef (¾ of a pound) that was included. All of the other ingredients worked in perfect harmony to create a dish that was well balanced and robust. The texture was great, too. I cooked my dish in a cast iron pan and the crumbled beef got a wee bit crispy before the 10 minute cook time was up. Of course, I’m not sure if that was supposed to happen (as the instructions don’t elaborate) or if it was a happy accident. But it was delicious and I will crisp the beef again the next time I make it. Despite the beef to bean ratio being so heavily skewed towards the beans, there was little bit of beef in every bite. 

Beyond that, this was another superb weeknight dinner for a business housekeeper. Start to finish, I had this dish on the table in just 26 minutes. Like Swiss Cheese Pie from the prior evening, Baked Bean and Hamburger Savory was extraordinarily easy to make, a speedy weeknight super, easy on the budget, and most importantly, delicious. 

The beans added a nice heft to this dish, making it filling without being heavy. It was a great meal on a chilly Autumn evening. I served this with bread and butter and the last of the applesauce from the night before. 

The recipe serves 4. When I spotted The Mister’s roving eye scanning the kitchen to see if there was more, I knew that there would be no leftovers and that is the best endorsement. I will definitely be making this again and hope you give it a try yourself!

Baked Bean and Hamburger Savory

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • 2 tablesp. fat or salad oil
  • ½ c. sliced onions
  • ⅔ c. diced celery
  • ½ lb chuck beef, ground
  • 2 ⅔ c. baked beans or cooked kidney beans
  • 2 teasp. Worcestershire sauce
  • ¾ teasp. salt
  • ¾ teasp. powdered sage
  • ¾ c. water or canned tomato juice

Directions


Heat the fat in a skillet. Then add the onions, celery, and beef, and cook, uncovered about 10 min. Add rest of ingredients; heat thoroughly. Serves 4.


For this recipe, I used rendered bacon fat as my fat/oil, original recipe commercially prepared baked beans, and tomato juice. I substituted the sage for dried thyme, as my Maman does not like sage.

Bon appetit!

1944 · main dishes · vintage recipes

Vintage Recipe: Swiss Cheese Pie

Anna L Eriksen2 Comments

After months of haphazardly flipping through my 1944 Good Housekeeping Cookbook, I finally began my vintage culinary journey and started cooking. 

For my first foray, I intentionally chose a recipe that was quick, easy, and contained ingredients that are still readily available. I know from my aforementioned haphazard flipping that I am going to have my work cut out for me finding more than a few ingredients in the cookbook. Bottled thick meat sauce? India relish? Suckling pig? Best not to set oneself up for failure at the get go, I reckoned. 

Beyond that, I am what the cookbook so graciously calls a “Business Housekeeper”, meaning I work outside the home and am tasked with “preparing dinner without delay after (I) get home from the office at night.” I made this recipe on a weeknight and was able to have it in the oven in just 17 minutes. I imagine this recipe was popular in 1944, when women held a full third of all manufacturing jobs in the USA and the female labor force had increased by 50% over the pre-war years. If Rosie the Riveter can work in a factory all day and get a hot meal on the table at night, so can I. We can do it, ladies! Grandma didn’t have DoorDash, after all. 

So, Swiss Cheese Pie. I’ve already mentioned the speed in which I prepared this dish but what are some of the other highlights? It was relatively inexpensive for one, and contained just eight ingredients, half of which were seasonings that are staples in a well-stocked store cupboard. The other four ingredients – bread, milk, cheese, and eggs – are all what I consider to be multi-purpose ingredients and will provide the basis for other meals later in the week. 

Of course, a speedy and budget friendly meal is only worthwhile if it’s tasty. The verdict? The Mister gave it 4.5/5 stars. My Maman gave it 5/5. What did I think? I enjoyed it. It was a light dish with an almost custard-like or souffle-esque consistency and most definitely lighter than a standard quiche. Much to my delight the predominant flavor was, in fact, the swiss cheese. I find in many modern recipes that there are so many competing herbs, spices, and other ingredients that the dishes end up tasting like…well, not much of anything specific. But with this Swiss Cheese Pie, the cheese shone through in a perfectly balanced way. I served the pie with a simple salad of mixed greens, cucumber, and tomato tossed in French dressing and a side of applesauce. It was the perfect weeknight supper – hot, fast, and filling with one slice leftover for luncheon the next day. 

I would definitely make this again and hope you give it a try yourself.

Swiss Cheese Pie

  • Servings: 4-5
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • 1 qt bread or toast cubes (6 or 7 slices)
  • ½ lb grated processed Swiss cheese (2c.)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • ¼ tsp dry or prepared mustard
  • ⅛ tsp pepper
  • 1 ½ c. bottled milk or ¾ c. evaporated milk and ¾ c. water

Directions

Place bread cubes in an ungreased 9” oven glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Cover with the grated cheese. Combine beaten eggs, seasonings, and milk, and pour over the cheese and bread. Bake in a moderate oven of 350° F. for 30 min., or until puffed and lightly browned. Serves 4-5.

I used 6 slices of generic, store-brand white sandwich bread, standard Swiss cheese (as I don’t believe processed Swiss cheese is still manufactured – at least I could not locate it), dry mustard, and whole milk. I baked my pie for about 35 minutes.

Suggested Variations: If you have a miniscule amount of leftover ham, it would make a lovely addition to this pie if diced very small. Canned mushrooms would also work nicely – just be sure to drain them very well so as not to throw off the bread to liquid ratio.

Bon appetit!