Salmon Loaf Vintage Dinner Menu

 

Here I am again with another Vintage Menu Madness. I really enjoy cooking up these Vintage Menu's and recipes.  Many of them remind me of my own childhood and I am sure they do that for you as well!  

I have always loved recipes and old cookbooks. This is a love that began when I was just a child and a love that has carried on into adulthood. I began collecting older cookbooks and vintage recipes when I was just a teenager. Sadly I had to leave a lot of them in the U.K when I moved back to Canada three years ago, but I am slowly re-collecting a few of them now.

I enjoy creating and cooking menus from them and I enjoy sharing them with you. I hope you are also enjoying this latest project of mine.  Just because something is old that doesn't mean it isn't still valuable. There is still a lot of tastiness in these old books!

Once again this week I am channeling this book, Betty Crocker's New Dinner for Two Cookbook.  Instead of sticking to one menu this week, I did jump around a bit in the book to put together the type of menu my mother might have cooked for us when I was a child.

Mom always loved canned salmon and would often use it for our school lunch sandwiches  and in the summertime she would sometimes open a tall can and serve it to us on a cold plate with potato salad and sliced tomatoes, etc. (Not much of a fan of that one!)

Salmon loaf was a real treat however and today I have cooked a Vintage Menu from this book with  a delicious canned Salmon Loaf as the centerpiece of the menu!  Here is what I cooked:

SALMON LOAF

CREAMED PEAS

MACARONI AND CHEESE

WEDGE SALAD WITH AMERICAN 

FRENCH DRESSING

CANNED PEARS WITH COOKIES

I did cut the salmon loaf recipe in half, but kept everything else the same. The creamed peas are from my Big Blue Binder. The original recipe suggested an egg sauce consisting of a cream sauce with chopped hard boiled egg.  I did not fancy that, but, I have always enjoyed creamed peas with salmon, so I went with the inspiration!

This is something very similar to what I might have cooked for my own family back in the 70's/80's as well.  My own  salmon loaf  is a lot fancier than this one.  This recipe today is taken from the chapter in the book entitled Hurry Up Dinners. 

I made only half of the loaf recipe as the original one served 4 and there is only one of me. It still made a loaf of quite a substantial size. I, personally, think that even at half the recipe it would serve 3 people adequately. 

I will however give you the original full sized recipe. You can decide whether to cut the recipe in half or not.

I have a love/hate relationship with canned salmon. I do love the stuff, but I hate, hate, hate the skin and bones in it. If I can I will always buy the boneless, skinless salmon.  I know you pay more for it, but it is worth it to me to not have to put up with the ick of bones and skin.

I had to use a regular tin on this day and I spent forever taking out all of the bones and the skin and what I couldn't remove, I pulverized beyond belief, lol.

Also, the recipe specified buttering half the tin. I am not sure why.  I buttered the full tin. It did not make sense to me to only butter half of it!

Yield: 4

Author: Marie Rayner

Salmon Loaf

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 55 Min

A simple salmon loaf recipe. It never hurts to have a couple of tins of salmon in the store cupboard. They always come in handy for things like this, if not for sandwiches.

Ingredients

• 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tall can or two short cans of tinned salmon, pink or red, drained, boned, flaked, skin removed and discarded
• 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
• 1 1/2 cups (about 150g) coarse cracker crumbs
• 1 TBS lemon juice
• 1 tsp finely chopped onion
• 1/8 tsp each salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter one half of a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf tin really well.
2. Blend the egg into the flaked salmon. Stir in the remaining ingredients, combining well.
3. Spoon the mixture lightly into the prepared loaf tin. Pat into a loaf shape.
4. Bake 45 minutes until the top is golden and crisp.
5. Serve garnished with lemon wedges and parsley flakes. Pass egg sauce/creamed peas if desired.

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As I said, I made the creamed peas to spoon over the loaf rather than an egg sauce. I am just not that into eggs most of the time and I knew I definitely would not enjoy them boiled and with fish.  So I made the creamed Peas.

Creamed peas are not all that difficult to make, for two cups you will need:  

2 TBS butter
2 TBS flour
2 cups (480ml) whole milk
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup frozen peas, thawed (use a large mug and just measure out a mug full)

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan.  Whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute or so to cook out the flour taste. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook, stirring constantly over moderate heat until the mixture comes to the boil and thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

I thaw the peas out by pouring boiling water over them and letting them sit for a few minutes. This also partially cooks them.  Drain them really well.

Fold the cooked peas into the cream sauce and heat through for several minutes.  This is an excellent sauce to use not only on fish, but its also great served on hot buttered toast.

Creamed peas on toast, a taste from my childhood.

The Macaroni and Cheese recipe was very similar to one that I used to make for my children when they were growing up.  It was a recipe that I had gotten from my friend Leona and did not involve having to make a cheese sauce. 

The macaroni and cheese was layered in a baking dish and then milk was poured over top. Very simple but delicious.

Sometimes I would add chopped onion and canned tomatoes, drained. And buttered cubes of bread. That was really delicious as well. Kind of like a scalloped tomato macaroni! 

This version is not as rich as the sauced version, but it is quite delicious. Really with the richness of the salmon and the creamed peas you don't need a really rich version of mac and cheese! 

Yield: 4

Author: Marie Rayner

Macaroni and Cheese

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 1 Hour

This recipe makes 4 servings. Not quite as rich as other versions, this is still very delicious. Simple and delicious. Use a well flavored cheese to make this. It will make all the difference in the world.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (115g) dry macaroni, uncooked
• 1 cup (115g) sharp cheddar cheese, cut into cubes
• 1 cup (240ml) whole milk
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• black pepper
• paprika to sprinkle

Instructions

1. Drop the macaroni into 3 cups rapidly boiling salted water (2 tsp salt.) Bring back to a rapid boil. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes.
2. Cover with tight fitting lid and remove from the heat. Let stand 10 minutes. Rinse with hot water and drain.
3. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Place alternating layers of macaroni, cheese and milk in a buttered 1 qt/liter baking dish.
4. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown on top.

Notes

Any leftovers can be combined with 1/2 pound of cooked hamburger and reheated for another time.

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Because there was already a vegetable (peas) in the creamed sauce for the salmon, I opted to just have a simple iceberg wedge salad on the side.  I cut the iceberg into smallish single sized wedges and added some sliced tomato.

A simple  French Dressing, American style,  was drizzled over top.  I think a smattering of parmesan cheese would also go well, but since there was already cheese in the macaroni, I decided not to add any to the salad.

Yield: 1/2 cup

Author: Marie Rayner

French Dressing, American Style

Prep time: 5 MinTotal time: 5 Min

A simple vinaigrette dressing which is delicious on all kinds of salads, or even sliced tomatoes.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (120ml) olive oil, vegetable oil, or a combination
• 2 TBS vinegar
• 2 TBS lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
• 1/4 tsp paprika

Instructions

1. Beat all of the ingredients together with a rotary beater or shake well in a tightly covered jar to combine.
2. Keep in a covered jar in the refrigerator.
3. If dressing is made ahead of time it may separate. If so, shake before using.

Did you make this recipe?

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I decided to keep dessert very simple. Everyone likes a bit of something sweet at the end of the meal and this simple dessert adds just a bit of sweet without going over the top.

When I was a child I loved it when my mother would offer us tinned fruit for dessert. This was always accompanied by a cookie of some sort.  To this day I loved tinned fruit.  The flavor of it is greatly enhanced if you chill the tin in the refrigerator first!

And that was my vintage menu for this week! I really hope you have enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed preparing it! I will be back next week with another one. I have my thinking cap on! Watch this space!

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