Those of us who accumulate cookbooks have seen plenty of them: spiral-bound amateur recipe collections, for 50 years or more a common fundraiser for civic and (especially) women's groups, typically full of 1950s-era comfort food with a side of local color and often some humor. I know my mom helped compile one for our church in the '70s, I wonder if my sister still has it.
This particular private cookbook, dated 1977, isn't from a church or charity and probably wasn't a fundraiser; I think it was sort of a memory album to record stories of crazy stuff these people had done in the '60s, and also recipes. I heard about it circa 1990 from a friend who had been involved and the group was definitely past tense by then, but the cookbook wasn't. "My ex-wife still has a box of them in her garage, I'll get one for you. Five bucks."
They called themselves "Friends of the Wagnerian Opera", the name inspired by the "Friends of the Italian Opera" in the movie Some Like It Hot. The group formed around 1960 and seems to have been mostly about eating and drinking, especially an annual summertime lamb roast. The cookbook is a fun read, at least for me since I know several people who are pictured and/or mentioned in it, and includes some recipes I really enjoy.
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Joanie's Lamb Roast Salad
A mutant coleslaw - for 6 or more
1 head green cabbage, cored, diced small
2 tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, diced
4 green onions, chopped
6 radishes, sliced
½ cup mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, pressed
½ teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
½ teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
½ teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
½ teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
¼ cup catsup
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Mix garlic and herbs with mayonnaise. Let stand at least 1 hour.
Put all the vegetables in a large salad bowl. Mix catsup and vinegar into spiced mayonnaise. Pour dressing over salad and toss very well.
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How to make sixty Enchiladas with One Small Chicken
This recipe makes 12 enchiladas, which should serve six. If you really want 60, stew the whole chicken instead of a breast and multiply the filling ingredients by 5 and the sauce ingredients by 4. [You can tell it's an old recipe; these days you can't buy a
small chicken, fryers are 5 pounds not 3. ]
1 whole chicken breast
3 cups water
1 clove garlic
¼ onion
¼ teaspoon oregano
sprig cilantro
1 bay leaf
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Combine above ingredients in saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Remove and cool chicken; strain and reserve broth.
1 7-ounce can chopped mild green chiles
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 12-ounce can tomatillos, drained
2 to 4 jalapeño or serrano chiles, chopped, or 1 to 4 tablespoons salsa jalapeña
1 clove garlic
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Chicken broth
Combine above ingredients in blender and whirl until smooth. Thin to desired consistency with chicken broth.
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 medium onion, finely chopped
salt to taste
Cream
Shred cooked chicken breast. Blend with above ingredients. Add a little cream to make the mixture fairly soft.
1 dozen corn tortillas
1 cup vegetable oil
Heat oil in a medium size skillet over high heat. Fry tortillas one at a time for just a few seconds on each side until softened. Don't cook too long; if they 're crisp they won't roll.
Dip cooked tortilla in the sauce, fill with some of the chicken mixture, roll and place in oiled baking dish. When all tortillas are done, pour remaining sauce over them and top with grated Parmesan. Bake 15 minutes at 350.
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Big Shrimp Sandwich
about 20 appetizers
1 long loaf sourdough bread
1½ pounds prawns or large shrimp
1 5-ounce package soft herb cheese spread such as Rondelé
1 large avocado, sliced
Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon dill weed
Shell and devein the prawns. Cook them in boiling water until just pink, 3 or 4 minutes. Drain and refrigerate.
Split the loaf of bread in half lengthwise. Remove about half of the bread from the middle of each section, leaving the crust around the edges. Spread the cheese over the bottom of the loaf. Arrange the cooked prawns on the cheese, then top with slices of avocado. Sprinkle with lemon juice and dill weed. Place top on loaf and press down well. Cut sandwich carefully into ¾-inch slices.
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I'm not sure yet what's for dinner tonight. What's for dinner at your place?
Please consider sharing your own knowledge of food and cooking with the community; message ninkasi23 if you can write a future WFD.