Banana Mayonnaise

At a recent dinner party, before we started eating, the usually decorous hostess had the kind of glint in her eye which brings fear to the staid palate. After half-heartedly offering to help in the kitchen, I wandered off to chat to the other guests and drink, only to later hear the words ‘Good Housekeeping’ ‘fifties’ and ‘mayonnaise’.

My salad choices for the blog have mostly been quite conservative, so I was grateful for the opportunity to try a combination of foods which have thus far only gladdened my heart separately.

Rum and Ginger Sherbet

In order to have light, fresh dessert after all the pastry and cream, I decided to try and make a sorbet and like a lamb to the slaughter, I raided The Complete Book of Desserts (Ann Seranne, 1954) again. I’ve had my eye on this for a while – it looks foolproof, yes?

Spanish Salad

This is from Ursel and Derek Norman’s Salad Days (1975), as featured on this blog in the summer. I decided tonight that I needed a salad, having spent the weekend eating nothing but crumpets, toast and pizza. It’s not an ideal diet, I fully concede, but dear lord, the closest I can get to fruit and veg when I’m that hungover is Lucozade Orange. So salad tonight. I wanted cheap and easy, and this with its limited ingredients fitted the bill nicely. Here’s the lovely seventies illustration and instructions:

Fruit drinks

Quick post from ‘Clean Plates’ by Mitzi Perry-Miller, Elizabeth Crossman and Margaret Nicol, described as ‘first published in England 1964’, by Faber and Faber, I assume it’s originally from the US as other recipes include sloppy joes and  fish chowder. This is from the section ‘Cookies, Snacks and Beverages’.

Hope you’re enjoying the sunshine!

Let us know what you think, if you try any of them!

Chin-chin, Elly

Orange Cordial

I hoped this  drink from Kitchen Essays (Agnes Jekyll, originally published in The Times in 1921 – 22, reprinted by Persephone Books in 2001) would be a quick route to a drink almost as good as sloe gin… ah, folly. This recipe is from the ‘Hints for holiday housekeeping’, a short chapter which also  suggests game pie, lemon marmalade, Dundee cake and potted salmon as being suitable for the Easter Holidays.