Vegetables have not featured much on this blog (Check out ‘Crea-Peas‘ and ‘Scalloped Potatoes‘).
That’s because, as I’ve found in looking through dozens of vintage cookbooks, recipes for vegetable are not common.
Vegetables get a bum wrap, I suppose, because they are not sweet and beautiful to look at.
But, on the practical side, they can be versatile, easy to work with, filling, nutritious, and affordable on a tight budget. Oh, yeah, and delicious!
According to Julia Child, the French culinary scene treats vegetables as much with respect as they do a main course (at least they did when she was filming her ‘The French Chef’ series in the 1960s – check it out on Youtube – I’ve learned so much!)
Mom didn’t serve broccoli or any other green veggie when I was growing up, except peas.
As a young mother, I was determined to feed our family more cruciferous veggies. I tried to implement it into meals weekly.
The trouble was, my husband was not a fan of broccoli on its own. That meant I had to ‘disguise’ it with cheese.
That can be hard on a budget.
This recipe I’m certain would have contented him and our kids, sans the pricey cheese. The addition of almonds as a garnish and crunchy treat didn’t add up financially and the rest of the ingredients are always on my pantry shelf.
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I found this delicious recipe in a cookbook put out by the Oster Corporation. It is called ‘Every Day A Gourmet’ and is written by Cynthia and Jerome Rubin of Boston, Mass. The publisher is Dorison House of New York.
The hardback cover with its small drawings of food made me think it was a children’s cookbook. It’s not, though of course, children could make many of the recipes inside with adult help, including today’s feature.
I just happened to have an Oster blender so it seemed an appropriate implement to use. See my notes at the end about using the blender in this recipe.
By the way, I’m happy to say today that all of our kids like broccoli, as well as asparagus, avocadoes, salad greens and more greenies. Yay!
Here is the recipe as in the cookbook with my notes at the end as usual.
Broccoli Amandine
2-½ T. all-purpose flour
1-1/4 c. milk
¼ t. salt
Dash cayenne pepper (I used regular black pepper)
4 T. butter or margarine
2 egg yolks
2 T. lemon juice
1-½ pounds broccoli
1/3 c. toasted blanched sliver almonds*
Assemble Blender.
Put flour, milk, salt, pepper and half the butter into blender container.
Cover and process at MIX until well blended.
Pour into saucepan and cook until thickened.
Return to blender container; add remaining butter, egg yolks and lemon juice.
Cover and process at BLEND.
Return to heat. Cook, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes longer, but do not boil.
Pour over hot cooked broccoli and sprinkle with toasted slivered almonds.
Serves 5-6 servings.
*To toast almonds, put them in single layer in flat pan. Toast, stirring often, at 300 degrees for about 15 minutes or until they begin to turn color. Do not wait for nuts to become golden brown. The heat in the nuts will continue to toast.
My notes:
- Two 12-oz. bags of broccoli steamed in the bag worked well.
- My pantry yielded whole almonds, which I cut up to blanch. I may add more for reheats.
- Looking back, it seems pointless to use the blender for mixing and have an extra dish to wash – I know, I know, this was a recipe from the Oster Company so they had to sneak in the use of one of their products. Next time, I’ll use just a pan on the stove for all of the mixing.
I didn’t look for MIX and BLEND on my blender, but pulsed it a few times to get a proper mix.
Degree of Difficulty based on the following scale:
1– Easy (5 ingredients or less; little prep time)
2– Somewhat easy (10 ingredients or less; less than 1 hour of prep; some cooking on the stove)
3— Not for a weeknight (between 1-2 hours of prep)
4—Challenging (you’ve got to be kidding; who thought up this recipe?)
My vote for Degree of Difficulty is #2 – it was about a 30-minute prep and few steps were involved.
At one point, I was stirring the almonds on the stove with one hand and using a whisk for the sauce with the other. It felt like a proper chef!
**
Vintage Find of the Week
This pretty serving dish looks so vintage that I scooped it up at my local thrift shop for about one dollar.
It is stamped ‘Lido W.S. George’ on the bottom. An Etsy entry said W.S. George White “Lido” Dinnerware was made in the USA in the 1930’s.
It looks from other items of this brand available for sale online that it might be worth $10.00.
I like it for its appearance alone. I admit, I use it rarely, but for an elegant dish like Broccoli Amandine, it was just right!
Bon Appetit!
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Vintage Eats of Kayleen Reusser 