I see quite a few Jell-O based holiday "treats" that are labeled as salad but often secretly dessert, so that's what I expected when I saw the title Christmas Ring Mold in Louisiana's Fabulous Foods and How to Cook Them (Lady Helen Henriques Hardy and Raymond J. Martinez, 1960?). That was, however, not the case.
This is a bunch of spinach bound with white sauce and eggs, then baked in a ring mold.
Sure, that provides the green, but what about the red? This is supposed to be a Christmas specialty, after all, and few people would really think of creamed spinach as being Christmas-specific.
Check out the last line: fill the center with hot buttered beets! Very Christmassy! Plus, the family can have a little extra holiday drama when everybody momentarily freaks out in the next day or so before remembering they recently ate beets. It's the gift that keeps on giving.
I'm sure that kids will be thrilled to get this for Christmas. Bitter greens in paste with ornament sized orbs of fiber that taste like dirt. Being too excited to eat on Christmas is a good self defense.
ReplyDeleteYes. No amount of Christmas spirit could make this sound appealing to me then or now...
DeleteYknow, it would probably be pretty decent if you added a lot of cheese.
ReplyDeleteI've never had beets, ever, though.