Life This Week: February 27, 1939

 Publicity photo and still from Doctor Macro

There are a lot of sub-par Westerns. Thankfully, Stagecoach (the "Movie of the Week") isn't one of them. I've now seen it three times and I've enjoyed myself during each viewing. The ensemble cast works well together, the threat of an Indian attack maintains a high level of suspense and then there's the happy ending I wanted. Even if you're not a fan of the Western, give this one a try.

To go with the movie, I made a February menu from Modern Meal Maker (1935). I can just imagine having this for dinner before going to a movie palace for a showing of Stagecoach. It must have seemed like quite an event! I wonder where it played in Wichita. The Orpheum? The Colonial? The Star? The Wichita? The Kansas? How exciting to have so many different theaters!

I thought this dinner turned out rather well. You can't beat sausage and apples! Yum. As for the Celery Root Creole, celery root isn't my favorite vegetable, but if you have to eat it, this recipe isn't a bad way to go.

Saturday Night Apples

1/4 lb sausage meat
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
1/8 teaspoon salt
pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tart apples (I used Pink Ladies)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a mixing bowl, stir together all the ingredients except apples. Set aside. Core each apple and discard the cores. Hollow the apples out until each apple is only about 1/4" to 1/2" in thickness. Chop up hollowed-out apple flesh, add to sausage mixture and stir to combine.

Place apples in a casserole and fill with sausage mixture. Bake 45 minutes.

Serves 2

Adapted from "Saturday Night Apples" in Martha Meade, Modern Meal Maker (San Francisco: Sperry Flour Company, 1935), 94.

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Celery Root Creole

1 celery root, peeled and chopped into 1" cubes
1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
2 sprigs parsley
1 sprig rosemary
2 sprigs thyme
a few leaves of marjoram
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the celery root cubes in the bottom of a casserole. In a large bowl, mix the tomato sauce with the garlic. Mince the herb leaves and add to tomato sauce, season with salt and pepper and pour over celery root. Bake 1 hour.

Serves 2

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Garlic Dill Dressing

1/2 cup sour cream
1 clove garlic, minced
2 sprigs dill, minced

Stir ingredients together and refrigerate for an hour to two to let flavors combine. Serve over lettuce.

Serves 4

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Just a note: due to the leap year, "Life the Week" will move to Tuesdays starting next week.