Dinner and a Movie: Trouble in Paradise

Beginning of February section in A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband--the book was first published in 1917, but I have an edition with the 1932 illustrations.

Today's menu is from chapter 104 in the February section of A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband.

A Company Dinner for Bob:

Broiled Lamb Chops with Pineapple

Baked Potatoes

Creamed Cabbage

Egg Rolls with Currant Jelly

Date Bars

Lamb Chops with Pineapple

2 lamb loin chops (about 4 oz. each)
salt and pepper
2 pineapple rings
1 tablespoon butter

Season the loin chops with the salt and pepper. Set aside.

Over medium-high heat, heat the butter in a skillet until it bubbles. Add the lamb chops and cook three minutes per side (don’t overcook!). Set the lamb chops on a plate to rest.

Pour out all but about ½ tablespoon of fat from the skillet and add the pineapple rings. Cook a minute or two on each side then place one on top of each lamb chop.

Serves 2

Adapted from Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron, “Broiled Lamb Chops and Pineapple Slices” in A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband: With Bettina’s Best Recipes, The Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping (New York: Blue Ribbon Books, 1940), 365.

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Creamed Cabbage

¼ head of green cabbage
1 tablespoon butter
1 ½ tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
½ tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons cracker crumbs

Preheat oven to 350˚ Fahrenheit.

Finely chop the cabbage and boil 5 minutes in salted water. Drain.

Meanwhile, make a roux by melting the tablespoon of butter over low heat and stirring in the flour and salt. Turn the heat up to high and stir in the milk. Cook two minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in the cabbage then pour mixture into a buttered small gratin dish.

Melt the ½ tablespoon of butter, add the cracker crumbs and toss to combine. Top cabbage with crumbs and place dish in the middle of the oven. Bake fifteen minutes.

Serves 2

Adapted from Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron, “Creamed Cabbage Baked” in A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband: With Bettina’s Best Recipes, The Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping (New York: Blue Ribbon Books, 1940), 432.

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I only made the lamb chops, baked potatoes* and creamed cabbage (we had already eaten chocolate cake for tea), so here are the recipes for egg rolls (not what you'd think) and date bars (from Google Books):






*The baked potatoes will take about an hour and fifteen minutes in a 350˚ oven.  Prick them with a fork, wrap them in tin foil and just place directly in the oven.  When they're ready, top them with salt, pepper, butter and sour cream (or whatever else you want to use).

*****

Fair-use image from Wikipedia

Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932)

I love pre-code films, of which Trouble in Paradise is an excellent example.  The main characters are thieves, businessmen, and thief-businessmen, all enjoying the high life in Europe.  Charlie Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton battle each other and con man Herbert Marshall for the affections of perfume company owner Kay Francis.  Miriam Hopkins joins in the fun as Marshall's accomplice and girlfriend.

Trouble in Paradise is available on DVD.