Modern twist revives Betty Crocker classics
Fresh ingredients make old favourites more palatable to contemporary tastes
A cookbook that takes readers down memory lane to recipes popular long-ago remembers the legendary cook Betty Crocker. Betty Crocker Lost Recipes: Beloved Vintage Recipes for Today’s Kitchens (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Raincoast, 2017), is a good read as well as being a collection of more than 120 easy recipes.
How about a cheese ball or hot crab dip with drinks? Or meat loaf, chicken Tetrazzini, pigs in blankets, or a cheese sandwich loaf made with four colours of fillings, no food colouring required? Waldorf salad, Welsh rarebit, baked Alaska made cupcake style, and desserts you set alight at the table? The recipes have been modernized with more fresh ingredients than were customary years ago. Pocket histories of each recipe make interesting reading. How we cooked over the past 10 decades makes an informative introduction. The modern touch for this recipe is panko crumbs. Cranberry sauce and noodles are accompaniments.
julianarmstrong1@gmail.com
SWEDISH MEATBALLS
1 lb (500 g) lean ground beef
1/2 lb (250 g) lean ground pork
1 small onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup/125 mL)
3/4 cup (175 mL) plain panko bread crumbs
2 tbsp (30 mL) finely chopped fresh parsley 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/8 tsp (.5 mL) freshly ground pepper
1 tsp (5 mL) Worcestershire sauce
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup (125 mL) milk Sour cream for garnish Gravy (*see recipe) In a large bowl, mix together the beef, pork, onion, crumbs, parsley, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, egg and milk. Shape into meatballs 11/2 inches (4 cm) in diameter. Heat a large, heavy, greased frying pan over mediumhigh heat and cook meatballs on all sides just until browned, eight to 10 minutes. Remove from pan and keep warm.
*Gravy: In the same pan over medium heat, melt 1/4 cup (60 mL), butter and use a wire whisk to stir in 1/4 cup (60 mL), all-purpose flour, 1 tsp (5 mL), papritka, 1/4 tsp (1 mL), salt and 1/8 tsp (.5 mL), freshly ground pepper and cook until bubbling. Slowly stir in 2 cups (500 mL), water, cooking until mixture boils and thickens.
To serve, add meatballs to gravy and cook over medium-low heat for eight to 10 minutes or until meatballs are thoroughly cooked. Stir in 3/4 cup (175 mL), sour cream, heating just until hot, and serve. Serves 6.