The Liberated Pineapple

The Liberated Cook by the Reluctant Housewife, to aid research into Muscular Dystrophy NSW Date?

Pineapple Stuffed Onions  

Peel the onions and remove a small slice off the root end. Slice about 1cm from the top of each onion. Place in dish with sufficient boiling salted water to cover and cook for 25-30 minutes or until onions are tender. Drain and cool slightly. Remove the centre sections of the onions, leaving sufficient flesh for them to retain their shape.

Fill the onions with heated crushed pineapple and place in a buttered oven proof dish, in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes.

You will need – 6 medium onions; 1 X 470g tin crushed pineapple

Jellied Waldorf

Make up pineapple jelly, using the pineapple juice from the can and extra water. Use ice-cubes to get jelly to set quickly, if desired. When jelly is almost set fold in the rest of the ingredients.

Serve with sour cream on a bed of lettuce.

You will need – 1 packet pineapple jelly; small tin pineapple pieces; 1 apple (large) chopped in cubes; ¼ cup chopped celery; ¼ cup chopped walnuts.

Pineapple Breeze  

Chill evaporated milk. Bring crushed pineapple to the boil and add lemon jelly. Stir until dissolved. Mix in sugar and extra water – cool until almost set. Whip evaporated milk until thick and mix with the pineapple mixture. Put in fridge until set – about 2 hours.

You will need – 1 X 185g tin evaporated milk; 1 tin crushed pineapple plus ½ cup water; 1 packet lemon jelly; 2 tblspn sugar; 1 tblspn lemon juice.

Pineapple in Sue's Scrapbook

Our friends Sue and Noel have a fabulous owner-built pole home in the Hunter Valley decorated with treasures from the not so distant past. Their collections of kitchen utensils are particularly curious. This recipe scrapbook is from Sue's assortment of found objects.

Newspaper clipping: First prize of £5 to Miss Richardson,
14 Harwill Street, Camp Hill, Brisbane.

Pineapple Dreams 

One tin crushed pineapple; 1 tblsp gelatine (softened in 2 tblsp cold water), 2-3 cup sweet sherry, 300ml whipped cream or thoroughly chilled evaporated milk, 24 marshmallows (approximately 350g), glace cherries, angelica

Cut marshmallows into small pieces, place in basin, pour sherry over; cover and allow to stand overnight. On the following day dissolve softened gelatine, stir into pineapple. Fold in marshmallow mixture and, lastly, whipped cream. Fill into sweet dishes; chill until set. Decorate with cherries and pieces of angelica.

I'm pretty sure Noel brought these essences home from the "exchange" - purely for decorative not culinary purposes! Anne.

“Housewife Superstar” and pineapple

I recently read a copy of ‘Housewife Superstar: The Very Best of Marjorie Bligh’ by Danielle Wood, given to me by my sister-in-law, Colleen. I’m not known for my skills as a housewife so I was a little suspicious at first, but was soon very impressed by the book itself and the productive career of Tasmanian, Marjorie Bligh.
http://textpublishing.com.au/books-and-authors/book/housewife-superstar/

I won’t give too much away but the book is not only an excellent bio but also a wealth of recipes, recycling tips, verse and hints from how to find a lost contact lens to hatching chickens in an electric frypan.

Danielle has published a follow-up to ‘Housewife Superstar’, ‘Marjorie Bligh's HOME: Hints On Managing Everything’. She describes this book as “a compilation of more of Marj's greatest hits and various celebrities (including Barry Humphries and Margaret Fulton) have nominated their favourite Marj hints, tips and recipes.”

“Barry Humphries chose Marj's Candle Salad, which I think you might enjoy.  When Barry makes the recipe, he adds a lettuce cup and some mayonnaise dribbling down the side of the banana, ‘to represent wax’. “

http://textpublishing.com.au/books-and-authors/book/marjorie-bligh-s-home/

“. . . the doily underneath the serving plate was crocheted by the great lady herself,”  Danielle.

She goes on to say “Incidentally, in other Marj news, ‘Housewife Superstar’ has been translated into Dutch and published in the Netherlands, and has just been released in the US where she's being billed as a nonagenarian Martha Stewart.”

Congratulations Danielle and Marjorie!

Marjorie Bligh’s Pineapple Chantilly   

3 dstspns gelatine, 4 tblspns hot water, 6 slices Swiss roll, 2 or 3 dstspns sweet sherry, ½ tspn vanilla, 2 eggs, 2 ¾ cups milk, 1 ½ tblspns arrowroot, 3 oz sugar, 1 tin pineapple, 5 tblspns coconut

Dissolve gelatine in the hot water in a vessel standing in a pot of hot water. Place slices of Swiss roll in serving dish. Sprinkle over the sherry. Mix the sugar and arrowroot with a little of the milk; add the rest, then stir over heat until it boils 3 minutes, slowly. Cool slightly, then add vanilla, beaten egg yolks, dissolved gelatine, chopped pineapple and coconut. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into lined cake dish and chill until set. Decorate with a slice of pineapple and cherries. Serve with cream. Serves 6 people.

Special Diet Pineapple Mousse

300g can Golden Circle Dietetic Pineapple Pieces and juice (as this product is no longer available, pieces in juice rather than syrup would be the better choice) 1 dstpn sucaryl solution (sugar substitute), 2 level tspns gelatine, 2 dstspns lemon juice, ½ cup chilled unsweetened evaporated milk (undiluted).

Sprinkle gelatine over pineapple pieces and juice in a saucepan. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, then dissolve over low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from stove, add sucaryl and lemon juice. Chill until just beginning to set, then beat until thickened and fluffy. Beat milk until thick and creamy and fold into pineapple mixture. Place in freezing trays. Freeze until firm.

This dessert was quite light and fluffy. However I think it would be more enjoyable with the addition of something like fresh mango slices, Anne.

Marshmallows and what ?

Marshmallows and celery !

Tropical Mallow

Golden Circle Pineapple and Orange Drink with Pineapple Pieces set in lime jelly, add chopped celery and a white marshmallow.

Marshmallows and sherry ! Why didn’t I think of that !

Pineapple Delight

440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, ½ cup sweet sherry, ¼ pint whipped cream, 24 white marshmallows, 1 tblspn gelatine, ½ cup boiling water.

Cut marshmallows into quarters, soak in sherry overnight. Place crushed pineapple and syrup in saucepan, bring to boiling point and stir in the gelatine soaked in the ½ cup boiling water. Stir to blend. Cool. Fold in soaked marshmallows and whipped cream. Turn into 18cm soufflé dish or glass serving dish. Chill until firm.

Let it roll . . .

I love this jelly mould and Ann has found me many suitable recipes to experiment with, Anne.

Pineapple Milk Jelly

Ingredients:1 packet pineapple flavoured jelly, ½ cup boiling water, ¾ cup milk (or according to quantity of liquid specified on packet instructions).

Method: Dissolve the jelly in the water. Cool slightly and then whisk in the cold milk. Pour into a mould and allow to set. Turn out to serve.  You could garnish the plate with halved pineapple rings and fresh mint leaves.

I snuck this Marshmallow Jelly into Elsa’s Mozambiquan feast – it couldn’t compete with her fantastic Pudim Laranja.

Marshmallow Jelly

Ingredients: 1 pineapple flavoured jelly, ½ cup cut up marshmallows, ½ cup canned pineapple pieces, cut in half.                                                                                                                                                                  

Method: Make up jelly according to packet instructions (you could substitute some strained pineapple syrup from the can for an equal quantity of water). Allow to cool but not set. Add pineapple and marshmallows. Pour into rinsed mould. Turn out when set.                                                                                                                                                                

Originally the filling for a cheese cake I adapted this recipe for the mould.

Tropical Pineapple Cheese

440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, 1 packet pineapple jelly crystals, 250g Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Drain the fruit. Reserve the syrup and make up to 1 ½ cups with water. Heat. Add pineapple jelly crystals and dissolve. Beat the cream cheese til smooth and gradually blend in partially set jelly. Stir in some of the crushed pineapple and mix well. Serve garnished with more pineapple and whipped cream.

Note: This beautiful Queensland souvenir tablecloth was brought back as a Queensland souvenir by my good friend Sue, thanks, I love it!

Jelly Whip is very fluffy and light, easy to eat!

Jelly Whip

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces or Fruit Salad, 1 packet pineapple jelly crystals, 1 cup boiling water, 1 cup chilled Carnation Evaporated Milk.

Dissolve jelly crystals in boiling water, cool until the consistency of unbeaten egg whites. Whip chilled Carnation Milk until thick, add jelly mixture and continue whipping until thick. Stir in the fruit. Set In refrigerator. Decorate as desired.

It’s a Retro Cookoff ! Desserts.

Apricot Nectar is the dessert that my mother Moira loved to create when entertaining guests in the '60s and '70s, complete with the Crème de Menthe cream. So last night we relived the old days and made it once again. Unfortunately we couldn’t buy any Crème de Menthe (which I think deserves a comeback). We made do with a tad of food colouring! (A little food colouring goes a long way!) I have included a photo of Mum’s recipe as it tells its own story! We enjoyed the memories together, Anne.

Moira’s Apricot Nectar

Apricot Nectar:

1 tin evaporated milk, 3 level dstspns gelatine, 2 tblspns hot water, 3 tblspns lemon juice, 1 ¼ cups apricot nectar, 2 rounded tblspns sugar.

Method: Put evaporated milk in fridge and freeze until beginning to set. Dissolve gelatine in hot water, add lemon juice. Empty evaporated milk into large bowl. Beat while gradually adding gelatine mixture, add apricot nectar and sugar. Beat until thick and doubled in volume. Empty into wet mould chill in fridge until quite set. Turn out mould or spoon into mould on plate. Decorate with prepared cream and extra mint leaves and apricot halves.

Minted Cream:

½ pint cream, little sugar to taste, Crème de Menthe, 2 large mint stalks, extra mint leaves, apricot halves.

Method: Empty cream into bowl. Wash and pat mint dry. Crush in hands, breaking leaves, add to cream, mix in. Cover and refrigerate all day. When required remove mint, lightly scraping cream from leaves with fingers (Don’t lick!) Add a dstspn Crème de Menthe to cream, little sugar if liked. Beat until thick.

These next two desserts are from Ruby Borrowdale’s “Golden Circle Tropical Recipe” book which I choose for their sheer decorative potential and hey, how pretty are these! Anne.

Whispering Shells.

Spoon Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple into a shallow round dish. Place a large strawberry ice cream scoop in centre and surround with button meringues to resemble shells. Dust over with green tinted coconut and top the ice cream with a cherry.                                                                                               

Meringues: 2 egg whites and ½ cup sugar makes approx. 24 meringues.

Pineapple Paradise.
440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, 1 layer 20cm sponge cake (with the brown crust removed to ensure an even colour to the finished dish), 1 level tblsp gelatine, 1/3 cup cold water, ½ cup desiccated coconut, ½ packet chopped white marshmallows. NOTE: if your family or guests like a really sweet dish, you can also add ¼ cup sugar and 2 ripe passionfruit.
Soak gelatine in water. Bring contents Golden Circle can to boil, sweetened if desired. Remove from stove. Immediately add soaked gelatine, stirring till dissolved. Break cake in pieces into large mixing bowl. Stir in marshmallows, coconut (and passionfruit). Add cooked pineapple mixture and blend. Spoon into mould and chill till firm.

Ann's Aunty Flora’s Chocolate Pudding.

·         Sift 1 cup SR flour, pinch salt, ¾ cup sugar and 1 Tablespoon cocoa.

·         Add ½ cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 Tablespoons melted butter.

·         Mix until smooth and pour into greased dish.

·         For topping, mix together 3 Tablespoons sugar and 1 Tablespoon cocoa, sprinkle on top of mixture in dish.

·         Pour over all 2 cups hot water, completely covering the whole pudding.

·         Bake in moderate oven about 50 minutes.

Click  here                                                                                                        

http://lucyvioletvintage.blogspot.com.au/      

for links to some more wonderful Retro Recipes!