So as promised, I did a thing using this stuff. That's right, another episode of Ye Olden Time Cooking, where I cook something from Grandma's recipe books and hope I'll still be married when dinner's over.
Today's recipe is from the 1972 Fanny Farmer Cookbook, and it's one of their variations of Tomato Jelly (aka Tomato Aspic).
Technically it's a salad or light dinner that would be served in the summer, not a rainy, cold October day, but I couldn't find unflavored gelatin for FOREVER and was finally able to make it after @amykhar mailed me some. (Internet friends are the BEST friends.)
So here's the rest of the recipe, and what I *almost* made. Perfection Salad, I mean, the name is so tempting! But I knew I'd have little odds of Hubby touching it. But Perfection. Salad.
Had to leave Perfection behind and go for something Hubby might at least try, so I did the Shrimp version, with the extra bonus Avocado added. Hubby loves shrimp and he loves avocado so maybe there's hope.
Assembled the ingredients and jumped right in, tossing the gelatin in the pan on medium heat and I'd screwed up already because the "more seasoned" directions weren't nested in the recipe and I hadn't heated the juice with the basil before adding the gelatin and sugar.
Oh well. They're whole leaves, I'll just mash 'em around a bit and fish 'em out.
Simmer thicken thicken simmer simmer thicken, then add more juice and worshestererererer sauce (which is how we pronounce it here because we're uncultured like that).
Tasted the juice and it tasted "seasoned." Left it on low while I artfully and tastefully arranged the shrimp in Grandma's Tupperware mold.
Poured in the gelatin mixture and added my chunks o' avocado. They sorta... floated a bit, which I thought might be a problem? maybe? I dunno.
(Like making a tomato juice "Jello" isn't itself a problem, right?)
OK there's a lot to say here: 1) the floating avocado was a little bit of a problem, because the bits not submerged darkened a bit in the fridge. BUT THEY'RE ON THE BOTTOM so no one will know
aw crap, I just told y'all so now everyone knows.
The beauty of the Tupperware mold with removable shaped inserts is not just the pretty shapes that you can then fill with whatever to make the design stand out better. The true utility is when you turn the mold over, you remove that part and it lets the molded jelly down easily!
That was #2. #3: Rub some water on the plate you're going to put the mold on, then invert it on the mold and flip the whole thing over (then remove the insert part. I guess #2 and #3 need to be inverted). Water on the plate means you can move the mold if it's off-center.
(And centering the mold on the plate is probably another thing that is less of an issue than TOMATO JUICE JELLO.)
It was impressive on the platter. Notsomuch on the plate. Also, tomato juice makes more of a slurry-textured jello, not a JELLED jello, IYKWIM. Still jelled and kept its shape, but not JELLO.
(that is freshly baked french bread on the plate, the peace offering Hubby didn't know was a peace offering. or maybe a mea culpa. I dunno.)
The Verdict: the tomato aspic tasted flat, even with the salt, basil, lemon juice, and worchestererererer sauce. I got up and got me some horseradish to sprinkle on top and that made it much better, almost like shrimp cocktail.
Hubby took a bite and said, "OH WAIT, this is COLD."
Then, "What is this called again?"
Then, "Is there more bread?"
He fished out the shrimp and avocado and politely said that while it was nice, he wouldn't be sad if I never made it again.
The verdict: *might* make again in summer, for other people, because it really wasn't *bad* and looked impressive on the platter. Would add much more seasoning (it being cold you couldn't taste the salt etc as much) and, if doing shrimp again, horseradish.
*fin*
If you missed the last one (which was a month ago! I'm sorry!), it's here:
So while I'm stuck sitting at the computer, listening to @WGR550 to catch #BUFvsMIA since it's blacked out down here, I might as well share the latest #YeOldenTimeCooking adventure, from this 1964 book full o'awesomeness
Yearning for seasonings and herbs that give a special lift in this case is not a thinly-veiled allusion to ganja, and also note the casual sexism in the intro to the section, just above the Ham and Macaroni Toss that is today's special dish.
I ended up turning to the @Campbells cookbook because I had some leftover ham and needed a way to disguise it from Hubby, who may not know when I'm experimenting on him but definitely knows (and rebels) when I serve him the same dish two times in a row. Ingredients:
OK, it's time for Part II of this recipe! buckle up for another #YeOldenTimeCooking ride as we take the cranberry relish from Saturday to NEW LEVELS in a NEW DISH.
quick recap, we're using this book from the 1970's and these two recipes. The relish is already done, now we're making the Molded Cranberry Salad with the relish.
Our new collection of ingredients! that's the relish in the square container, a re-appearance of Grandma's Tupperware Mold and ... yes, Jell-o, celery and nuts!!!