Vintage Movie, Vintage Recipe--It's Visions of Sugarplums!

If you're like I am and you get tired of all the "Christmas miracle" holiday movies, may I suggest Bachelor Mother?

Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers) is a seasonal employee at Merlin's department store, wondering where she's going to find a job after Christmas. Due to an enormous misunderstanding, her boss David Merlin (David Niven) believes Polly is an unwed mother and can be convinced not to give up her baby if only she has permanent employment. While Polly gets to keep her job she also ends up responsible for a baby that isn't hers! It's really only a holiday movie in the sense that it's set around the holidays and it's more about the time between Christmas and the New Year than about Christmas itself (although it does start on Christmas Eve), but don't let that stop you. I don't think there are enough post-Christmas movies anyway. Bachelor Mother is available on DVD and will be on TCM December 20th at 10:15 pm (CST).

Maybe it's in my genetic material or something, but I can't seem to pass up a recipe with sausages. So, when I saw this awesome 1940 ad, I knew I had to try the Sausage Cobbler. (I'll definitely be trying the other recipes, too.) What's not to love about combining an apple cobbler with sausage? It seems terribly strange, but it's yummy and it's an awesome way to use up leftovers. How very 1940.

Sausage Cobbler

1/2 lb pork sausage links (the breakfast-sized ones)

1 cup unsweetened applesauce (this recipe, without sugar)

1 cup cooked cubed squash or yam (fork-tender)

1 small red-skinned apple, sliced into 1/4"-thick slices

Biscuit topping:

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch salt

1 tablespoon lard, duck fat or other animal fat

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450˚ Fahrenheit. Set aside three of the sausage links and cook the rest over medium-high heat until cooked through. Slice into medallions.

Spread the applesauce over the bottom of a baking dish (I used a small oval gratin), top with the sausage, then top with the squash or yam. Season with salt and pepper.

To make the biscuit topping, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt then rub in the fat until the mixture resembles sand. Stir in the milk then dollop over the top of the cobbler. Top with the three reserved sausages and the apple slices. Bake for 30 minutes or until nicely browned.

Serves 2

Download and Print

Bachelor Mother photo source

Coming up in 2013:

I want to start a video Q&A segment. I'm not sure of how often I'll make them, but I've been wanting to "dip my toe" into making videos for this blog for a while. If you have any questions you'd like me to answer, please post them either a) in the comments, b) on twitter, or c) via e-mail. My twitter handle is @hairstoncollado and my e-mail is l.h.collado@gmail.com.

Check out today's other Visions of Sugarplums bloggers:

Lori (my mom!)
Lisa
Ira
Maria
Sandy
Regina

There are also giveaways from:
Regina at The Cutting Cafe
Moonlighting by Mary
Paper Sweeties