My Great Recipes Collection

Great Recipes From the Past

2 in 1

Caviale Con Fagioli

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This distinctive blend of white beans, caviar, herbs, and olive oil and lemon juice is a specialty of the famed Florentine restaurant Paoli, housed in the cellar of a thirteenth century castle in the heart of Florence. The famed white beans of Tuscany are virtually impossible to find in the US, short of smuggling them in your pockets, but Great Northern beans, cooked according to instructions on the package, are a fair substitute. In a pinch, use the small canned white Puerto Rican beans found in the Spanish sections of supermarkets.

Apertifs, Card 35

Negroni

1/2 jigger Campari
1 jigger gin or vodka
1 jigger sweet red vermouth
Stir well with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with orange or lemon peel. May be served on the rocks with splash or club soda.

Berini Bristol

1 1/2 jiggers Campari
2 taspoons Rose’s lime juice
Fugi or Perrier sparkling mineral water
Shake Campari and Rose’s lime juice well with ice and pour over ice into highball glass. Fill up with mineral water; garnish with lime twist.

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Caviale con Fagili

Ingredients

  • 4 cups white beans cooked and drained
  • 1/2-3/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon thyme
  • 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon chervil
  • 6 ounces beluga caviar

Instructions

  1. Place beans in a salad bowl, cover, and chill until ready to serve.
  2. Place olive oil, lemon juice, and vinegar in screw-top jar and shake well; set aside.
  3. Crush oregano, thyme, parsley, and chervil with mortar and pestle; add to oil in jar; shake and refrigerate until serving time.
  4. To serve: bring salad bowl to cocktail table. Toss beans lightly with dressing; add caviar and toss gently. Serve in small consomme cups; pass pepper mill; instruct guests to grind pepper to suite taste.

Cambridge Cold Plate

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A colorful, robust appearance of this cold plate – an Ivy League version of an Italian antipasto – suggests the handiwork of an inspired chef. Who would guess that not a bit of cooking is involved? Open a few cans and jars, unwrap a few delicatessen packages, and you’re in business. That’s why it’s such a favorite with kitchenless collegiates and hosts-in-a-hurry. For “Cambridge Supper Plate” arrange ingredients on four dinner plates. Serve with Harvard Wine, tossed green salad, and hard rolls.

Pretty sure I didn’t have dinners like this as a kitchenless collegiate. I went to the cafeteria or ordered pizza. Then when I did have a kitchen, I was more inclined to make Mac ‘n Cheese from a blue box.

Apertifs, Card 33

 

Harvard Wine

1 jigger dry white vermouth
1/2 jigger cognanc
1 dash orange bitters
Stir vermouth, cognac, and bitters well with ice; strain into 6-ounce cocktail glass. For a Harvard Cocktail, use equal portions vermouth and cognac; substitute Angostura bitters for orange bitters.

Harvard

1 jigger cognac
1/2 jigger dry white vermouth
1 teaspoon grenadine
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Shake well with ice and strain into cocktail glass.

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Cambridge Cold Plate

Ingredients

  • 1 9- ounce jar Harvard beets drained
  • 1 10- ounce jar white asparagus drained
  • 1 6- ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts drained
  • 1/2 pound deli potato salad
  • 1/2 pound deli roast beef sliced paper thing

Instructions

  1. Chill all ingredients thoroughly and arrange in decorative manner on serving platter. Serve with mustard and pumpernickel crackers.

Finger Fruit Platter

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The “recipe” for the finger fruit platter is about as simple as it can get: take some fresh fruit, arrange on platter. Serve with cream cheese chived, and a drink or two. The card also tells you a little about Dubonnet.

Apertifs, Card 32
Copyright 1977 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA

What Fresh Fruits?

The card suggests assorted fruits in season like seedless white grapes, red and purple grapes, papaya chunks, cantaloupe wedges, apple slices, berries, and sweet cherries. The card also reminds you to rub cut fruits (like papaya, cantaloupe, and apple slices) with lemon juice to avoid discoloration.

About Dubonnet

Dubonnet is a quinine-flavored aperitif wine available in red and blonde. A generation ago it was thought of as a ‘ladies’ drink, but today served straight, at room temperature, or on the rocks, it is a popular aperitif wherever serious drinkers converge.

Dubonnet Cocktail

1 jigger red Dubonnet
2 jiggers gin
1 dash orange bitters, optional
Stir gently with ice and strain into cocktail glass; garnish with lemon or orange slice.
Dubonnet and Tonic
Pour 1 jigger Dubonnet over ice in highball glass; fill with quinine water; garnish with lime slice.

Butterfly

1/2 jigger dry vermouth
1/2 jigger sweet vermouth
1/4 jigger red Dubonnet
1/3 jigger orange juice
Shake well with ice and strain over ice into Old Fashioned glass.

Cream Cheese Chived

1 3-ounce size cream cheese
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped
Warm cream cheese to room temperature; blend in sour cream and chives. Serve in small bowl or relish dip

Shrimp Artichoke Canapes

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From the 2-in1- International Recipe Card Collection is this Apertifs, Card 26.

The card contains three drinks and one recipe.
I imagine you could save yourself considerable amounts of time by buying pre-cooked shrimp and a can of artichoke hearts. But if you did that, you wouldn’t have the fancy artichoke leaves to savor.

Byrrh Cassis

2 jiggers Byrrh
1 jigger creme de cassis
Club soda
Place Byrrh and creme de cassis in Old Fashioned glass and stir well with ice. Fill with soda.

Byrrh Cassis Variations

Byrrh Cassis Cooler: Follow instructions above but use highball glass instead of Old Fashioned glass.
Byrrh Cassis and Bitters: Follow instructions for Byrrh Cassis, but add 1 dash Angostura bitters before stirring.
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Shrimp-Artichoke Canapes

Ingredients

  • 1 medium artichoke
  • 24 medium shrimp
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
  • 1/8 teaspoon dillweed
  • 1 dash hot sauce

Instructions

Cook the Shrimp

  1. Fill saucepan half full with lightly salted water and bring to boil. Add shrimp. When water returns to boil took 1 minutes. Do not overcook.
  2. Remove shrimp from water, drain, and rinse with cold water. Peel and devein shrimp.

Prepare Artichoke

  1. Trim bottom stem from artichoke; place in saucepan of gently boiling, lightly salted water. Cover and simmer 24-30 minutes, or until leaves can be removed easily from artichoke. 

  2. Drain and let cool. Pluck off leaves of artichoke and set aside. Discard choke of artichoke and mash heart with fork or puree in blender; fold into mayonnaise.

Prepare Artichoke Mayonnaise

  1. Mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, dillweed, and hot sauce.

To serve

  1. Select 24 of best artichoke leaves and spread with Artichoke Mayonnaise. Top each leaf with 1 shrimp and arrange on serving tray. Cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly before serving.

Smoked Orange Pate

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This smoked orange pate is lovely accompaniment for Lillet, a fragrant French apertif wine lightly flavored with orange.

Lillet is always served chilled. Although both red and blonde Lillet are available, blonde is always used in mixing cocktails unless red is specifically designated.

Apertifs, Card 25 contains two drinks and one recipes. Copyright 1977 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA

Burnt Orange

3 2/3 jiggers chilled blonde Lillet
1 orange peel, 1 1/2 inches long
Pour chilled Lillet into 6-ounce stemmed wine glass. With one hand, light match; with other hand, squeeze orange peel. As oil exudes from peel, touch lighted match to it. Oil will go “pfft” as it ignites. Drop peel immediately into glass and serve.

Bitter Burnt Orange

Place 1 dash orange bitters in bottom of glass and add Lillet; proceed as above.

Lillet Cocktail

1 jigger blonde Lillet
1 jigger gin
Stir well with ice; strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with orange peel.

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Smoked Orange Pate

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup minced green onion
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 pound chicken livers chopped
  • 1 tablespoon orange peel grated
  • 1/4 teaspoon orange bitters
  • 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2 egg yolks

Instructions

  1. Saute minced onion in butter until tender; do not brown. Add chicken livers. Cook, stirring constantly, until red juices cease to run. Remove from heat. Preheat oven to 300.
  2. Pass mixture through sieve or food mill, or puree in blender or food processor. Add orange peel, bitters, liquid smoke, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
  3. Mix cream and egg yolk together lightly with fork. Stir into chicken liver mixture. Grease small earthenware casserole and fill with pate. Cover with wax paper and secure.
  4. Bake one hour or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Remove wax paper. Garnish with parsley or whole-wheat crackers. Serve cold with Melba toast or whole-wheat crackers. 

Recipe Notes

Makes about 2 cups pate.