Cooking by the Calendar (edited by Marilyn Hansen, 1978) is excited about April, the time when "A sudden shower freshens the ground and the air and the buds unfold daily while the grass grows greener." I'm not really sure what it means for the air to "unfold," and I would be happy for brief and sudden showers if I could trade them for the deluge my area is experiencing. It's easier to be optimistic about April on paper than it is when you're in an actual April....
April features various meat loaves and terrines, like this simplified version of Beef Wellington that is still pretty darn complicated for a meatloaf.
What with partially baking the meatloaf, making pie crust, smearing the partially-cooked loaf with a liverwurst and canned mushroom mixture, and wrapping the whole thing in the pie crust before additional baking, this is not an easy weeknight dinner. (And that's even before we take the decoration with pastry flowers into account....)
And of course, there's also supposed to be a sauce.
At least this is fairly straightforward-- just doctored-up brown gravy mix.
And if you're more in the mood for a terrine than for a meatloaf, one option is the Walnut-Gherkin Terrine.
This pickle-filled meat reminds me of the bad old days when I worked at a grocery store's deli counter. The week when pickle-and-pimento loaf was on sale was THE WORST. The slicer threw bits of pickles and pimentos everywhere, and by the end of a shift, I'd be covered in green and red flecks like the world's ugliest Christmas decoration. At least this concoction only has the pickles-- no pimentos-- and it won't go through the slicer anyway.
The book also proclaims that spring gives people an appetite for lighter things, like fish, so it suggests Flounder Rolls Florentine.
I picked them mostly because I like the drawing underneath, which looks kind of a like a rejected Muppet. (I could see it wishing "joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea" while Jeremiah shares his wine with Kermit.)
Asparagus is the veggie of the month, and as a further reminder that eggs were cheaper in the '70s, the book recommends an Asparagus Quiche.
The pinwheel-of-asparagus must have been a really popular way to celebrate spring back then.
Meanwhile, I am going to celebrate by buying a snorkel so I can go outside for a walk. (Or maybe swim?)
At least the meatloaf wellington accounted for the fact that meatloaf shrinks and gives off a lot of liquid while baking. That was definitely a recipe for a very bored housewife.
ReplyDeleteI also misread the editor's name. Edited by Marilyn Manson would be a very interesting cookbook. I wonder what that would be like.
I also like the fish picture. I always think of this story when a reference is made of the song "Joy to the World". It's a walk, but the story does get to the song.
https://themoth.org/stories/california-gothic
I imagine the Marilyn Manson cookbook would just explain how to put vodka in a water bottle so you could be sneakily drunk all the time.
Delete