Thursday, December 22, 2011

Think Thin Man Thursday

The Thin Man is one of my absolute favorite movies. It also happens to be a holiday movie, but thankfully, it's not sappy or sentimental. It's really just a fabulous, witty mystery that happens to be set during the holiday season. Guess what? It's on TCM tonight, followed by all five sequels. The first one is my favorite, but they're all watchable. I LOVE Nick and Nora Charles. They really know how to make marriage look like fun.
Image from Doctor Macro

So, to go with The Thin Man, I had a 1930s menu (straight out of my Modern Meal Maker) all lined up:

White and Green Casserole
Corn Pudding
French Bread
Lettuce with Grecian Dressing
Baked Apple Tapioca
Coffee, Tea or Milk

The only problem? The White and Green Casserole wasn't very nice and neither was the Corn Pudding. I ended up not even attempting the Baked Apple Tapioca! I was scared of what it might be like. However, the Grecian Dressing is very good, but we'd had it before. Overall, this menu is not recommended! The White and Green Casserole might be worth a revisit, because I think its failure is my fault for subbing collard greens for the spinach. It seemed like a good idea at the time... Anyway, the fish-in-cream-sauce bit was actually pretty tasty. The Corn Pudding, however, was made to spec and it will not get a retrial.

Green and White Casserole


Grecian Dressing

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice (or as close to it as you can get without using an extra 1/8 of a lemon or something ridiculous like that)
2 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Put all ingredients in a mason jar and shake, shake, shake. Extras can be kept in the refrigerator.

Adapted from "Grecian Dressing for Lettuce" in Martha Meade, Modern Meal Maker (San Francisco: Sperry Flour Company, 1935), 367.

12 comments:

  1. Oh I love The Thin Man films so much, Myrna is so cool! x

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  2. Ditto on The thin Man. That dressing looks great as well. Happy Holidays!

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  3. Agree on the wonderful-ness of the Thin Man movies. I think with a menu like this, Nick would have mixed up another round of martinis and Nora would have ordered in! Kudos to you for giving it your best shot, Lauren.

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  4. Yummo! loaf it!

    http://jordanstypewriter.blogspot.com

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  5. Hahahah. Some recipes just aren't meant to be. I tried one last night that just didn't work out either. :)

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  6. Glad you told me about the Corn Pudding, I found a recipe recently and was tempted. I've been debating making bread pudding lately...but, it frightens me. On the other hand, I do LOVE Bread Pudding...What to do?

    I don't think I've ever had Corn Pudding. But it sure sounds good.

    I adore THE THIN MAN and always try to watch it at Holiday time. I think I'll line it up for next week.

    Merry Christmas to you and your family, Lauren. What are you making for Christmas dinner??

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  7. LOVE Nick and Nora - especially Nora! I'm going to try to watch it tonight!

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  8. Ah well, it happens to all of us sometimes - we make something that somebody else thought was good, and we just think "meh". Glad your fish was good though.

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  9. @Yvette
    I'm not making anything! My parents and mother-in-law are doing all the work for Christmas this year. I just have to show up and eat!

    This corn pudding recipe isn't anything like other recipes I've seen, so those would probably be tasty. I love bread pudding, too--it's pretty easy to make. (My recipe: http://www.thepastonaplate.com/2010/01/traditional-british-food-part-26-plough.html)

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  10. This is all part and parcel of being a experimental homely cook :)

    I am curious about the baked apple tapioca. I never liked tapioca as a child, but I am willing to give it another try, depending on the sound of the recipe. If your unlikely to make it, can you post the recipe - who knows I may be tempted.

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  11. @Shaheen
    I bought a box of tapioca, so I'll be sure to make the recipe some time in the near future. I've never had tapioca, so it'll be a new experience for me!

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