Tag Archives: 1950s

TUTTI-FRUITI CAKE

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I’ve always liked this cake, although I don’t know where it got its odd name from. Mum always baked it in a loaf tin and cut it into slices for serving. It has a very light chocolate flavour and you can substitute sultanas for the nuts if you like want to, that makes it lovely and fruity.

Tutti Fruiti Cake

TUTTI-FRUITI CAKE

  • 125g butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 1 level tablespoon cocoa
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
  • ½ cup nuts
  • 1 cup mixed fruit
  • 1½ cups self raising flour

Beat butter and sugar, add beaten eggs, then milk with soda in it. Add other ingredients and mix well. Bake 1 hour in a greased loaf tin.

CHOP SUEY

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I’m not sure of the origins of this recipe, but it’s been a Sunday night staple in our family for many years. My husband’s mother also made it, although her version left out the rice and added carrots. I still make it, but add in soy or teriyaki sauce. I think it’s one of those recipes that enable you to use up whatever vegies are left in the fridge – tasty and versatile.

Chop Suey cropped

CHOP SUEY

  • 500g minced steak
  • ½ cabbage finely chopped
  • 4 sticks celery
  • 2 onions
  • 1 pkt Chicken Noodle soup
  • ½ teaspoon curry powder
  • 2 tablespoon rice
  • Salt & Pepper

Cook the mince steak in butter until brown, then add the onion & celery and cook until soft. Add the soup, curry, rice and salt and pepper, then lastly the cabbage. Cook for about 30 mins until the cabbage is cooked – mixed all together. ***You can add extra vegetables & soy or teriyaki sauce to taste.


APRICOT LOAF

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It looks like this recipe has been cut off the side of a packet, although I’m not sure which packet it came from. I do know that it makes a great slice, really good for afternoon teas or to take on a picnic.

Apricot Loaf crop

APRICOT LOAF

  • 155g dried apricots
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1 level teaspoon bi-carb soda
  • 2¼ cups Self Raising flour
  • ½ level teaspoon salt
  • 60g margarine
  • 125g (½ cup) sugar
  • 1 egg
  • Topping:
  • 30g margarine
  • ½ cup oats
  • 1 level tablespoon brown sugar
  • 50g walnuts, finely chopped

Chop apricots, place into a basin with boiling water and soda, cover and stand ½ hour. Sift flour and salt into a basin, rub through margarine, add sugar, egg and apricot mixture, mix to combine. Grease loaf tin 22cm x 9cm x 6cm deep and sprinkle some oats over from the topping, then spoon in apricot batter. Melt margarine, add topping ingredients and mix well. Spoon topping over batter. Bake in a moderately hot oven 190ºC for 45-50 minutes. Cool slightly in the tin, remove and cool. Serve sliced and buttered if desired.

GREEN TOMATO PICKLE

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At the end of each summer there were always tomatoes left on the plants in Dad’s vegie patch that weren’t going to ripen once the warm sunny days had gone. Rather than waste them Mum would use them to make Green Tomato Pickle. Throughout the year she made a variety of jams and pickles using whatever produce came to hand and that meant we always had a supply of homemade jams, marmalades, chutneys and pickles in the cupboard to spread on toast and sandwiches.

Green Tomato Pickle cropped

GREEN TOMATO PICKLE

  • 3 kg green tomatoes
  • 1 kg onions
  • 500g beans
  • 500g sugar
  • 5 cups brown vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 dessertspoon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon whole spice & cloves (in bag)
  • 2 tablespoons plain flour

Chop tomatoes, onions and beans. Put in large pot with vinegar and spices. Bring to the boil. Stir in flour blended with a little water to thicken mixture. Boil for ½ hour. Pour into sterilized jars.

RICE MEXICANA

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I doubt that this is even close to being a genuine Mexican recipe, but it does show the influence that “foreign” food started to have on Mum’s recipe collection. It was another Sunday night tea – easy to make, filling and tasty. I love that it was written on a brown paper bag!!

Rice Mexicana cropped

 

RICE MEXICANA

  • ¾ cup rice (uncooked)
  • 1 tablespoon dripping
  • 1 dessertspoon lemon juice
  • 1 rounded teaspoon curry powder
  • ½ cup tomato puree
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups stock or water
  • 1 small onion
  • 250g minced steak

Wash rice and fry in dripping with chopped onion till a light brown then add salt, curry powder, lemon juice, tomato puree, minced steak and water or stock. Stir till boiling then simmer for ½ hour or until rice is cooked. Lift lid of saucepan 5 mins before serving to dry out rice. Serve with grilled cheese on top.

PICKLED ONIONS

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Italian families have a tomato sauce day, but the Smith family had a Pickled Onion night. Once a year Mum bought bags of small brown pickling onions, assembled the vinegar & spices, washed the jars and issued the order “If you want to eat pickled onions this year you have to stay home and help”. Not a job any of us particularly liked doing as top and tailing the onions and removing the skin may not sound all that hard, but in bulk it’s a big job. So with my Dad and brothers, who usually stayed well away from the kitchen, we set to work, with Mum supervising of course. The result was jars and jars of lovely pickled brown onions. They were eaten straight from the jar, if Mum didn’t catch you, appeared on salads, with plates of cold meat and in sandwiches – cheese and pickled onion was one of Dad’s favourites. They usually lasted all year and a fresh batch was always anticipated. While they may not be as popular these days, the Smith family still love them. I hope you enjoy them as much.Pickled Onions cropped

PICKLED ONIONS

(Fowlers Saucette is no longer available but we do now have pickling spices so I’ve substituted them and added a few more directions)

  • 2kg pickling onions, peeled (see note below)
  • 2.5 litre Malt Vinegar
  • 2.5 litre sherry
  • 1kg sugar
  • 60g salt
  • 8 tsp pickling spices or
  • 1tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp black peppercorns, 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
  • cloves

Peel onions and soak with salt overnight. Next day drain (do not leave longer than overnight as you want the onions to be crisp). Rinse and dry with kitchen towel. Pack onions into sterilized jars add a few cloves to each jar.

Boil vinegar, sherry, spices and sugar together and let cool. Pour liquid over onions and seal jars.

NOTE: To shorten the onion peeling process you can top and tail the onions, then put the onions in a large heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to cool and once the water is cool the skins will just rub off. Drain and pat the onions dry, but don’t leave in the water once it has cooled as the onions will start to go mushy.