Dinner and a Movie: Design for Living

Another February menu from A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband:

"Alice Practices Economy"*

Head Lettuce with Celery Seed Dressing

Baked Eggs

Potatoes Escalloped with Bacon

Both the eggs and the escalloped potatoes are baked in a 350-degree oven.  You can prepare the salad dressing and the eggs while the potatoes start baking.  When the eggs go in the oven, you don't have to do anything else until everything is ready to be plated up, which is really nice.  I don't know if this dish is economical or not, because I didn't do the arithmetic, but the authors of A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband say it's cheap, so it must be!

Head Lettuce with Celery Seed Dressing

1 head iceberg lettuce
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon paprika
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons sugar

Shake together all ingredients except the lettuce in a mason jar. Use an eighth to a quarter head of lettuce per person. Store extra dressing in the refrigerator.

Serves 4-8.

Adapted from Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron, “Celery Seed Salad Dressing” in A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband: With Bettina’s Best Recipes, The Romance and Cookery of Housekeeping (New York: Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., 1940), 85.

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Baked Eggs

2 eggs
½ cup milk
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 350˚ Fahrenheit. Butter two ramekins and crack an egg into each. Stir the salt and paprika into the milk and divide mixture evenly between ramekins.

Melt the butter over medium heat. When bubbling, add the breadcrumbs and stir for a couple of minutes until slightly browned. Pour breadcrumbs over the top of the eggs.
Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes.

Serves 2.

Adapted from “Baked Eggs” in ibid., 362.

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Escalloped Potatoes with Bacon

1 lb potato, thinly sliced
3 slices crispy cooked bacon, cut into small pieces
1 ½ tablespoons flour
1 ½ tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350˚ Fahrenheit. Butter a casserole or au gratin dish and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sliced potato, bacon, flour, butter, salt and pepper. Mix to combine then pour into the casserole. Pour the milk over and bake 45 to 50 minutes.

Use a casserole that is big enough so that the potato mixture only comes about ¾ of the way to the top. Place casserole on a baking sheet, in case it bubbles over.

Serves 2.

Adapted from “Potatoes Escalloped with Bacon” in ibid., 362 and “Escalloped Potatoes” in ibid., 159-160.

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Fair-use image from Wikipedia

If you're ready for another pre-code Lubitsch picture with Miriam Hopkins and Edward Everett Horton, may I suggest Design for Living (Ernst Lubitsch, 1933)?  The premise would still be unconventional today: an independent American woman (Hopkins) in Paris becomes muse to a playwright (March) and a painter (Cooper), which, naturally, requires moving in with them.  Be prepared for bohemian living--sex without benefit of marriage ensues and complicates the entire living arrangement.

Further reading:
Here's an article about Miriam Hopkins on the blog Allure.
George Hurrell photo of Miriam Hopkins at Art Deco.

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* From Google Books: