Danish Open Sandwiches (1970's)

The open sandwich has had a bit of a revival recently.  You can purchase open sandwiches to go in some upmarket shops, have a meal in a Scandi restaurant KuPP and you'll see open sandwiches on the menu.  But this is Marguerite Patten's take on this fancy fashionable party food idea.

Marguerite Patten's Stuffed Peppers - 1970's

This is most probably the simplest and healthiest dish that I can make without a recipe book near me.  Here Marguerite Patten gives us a quick simple recipe for this classic dish which I personally reckon was more sixties?  Regardless, Ms Patten gives us some alternatives with Cheese or minced meat instead of rice at the end of recipe, but I'll leave that up to you. A neat little recipe which can be adjusted and modified easily.

4 green peppers
2 onions
3 tomatoes
2 oz margarine
3 oz cooked rice
seasoning (salt and pepper?)
little parsley chopped

1. Halve the peppers lenthwise and remove seeds and hard centre
2. Out into boiling salted water and cook for about 5 minutes early.
3. Take out and drain.
4. Meanwhile fry the chopped onions and tomatoes int he margarine, add to the rice, season well and put into the centre of the peppers.
5. Cover with greased paper , put into a well greased dish and bake in teh centre of a moderate oven (375F - Gas Mark 6). Sprinkle with Parsley.

Golden Cheese Marbles - 1930's

Strangely enough, these appear in the 1936 edition of 'Cookery Illustrated and Household Management'.  These make excellent party appetisers.  This will serve three to four people.



1 and a half cupfuls of grated cheese (Cheddar or Edam)
2 tablespoons of flour
half a teaspoon of celery salt
2 egg whites
Paprika

1. Beat the egg whites till light but not stiff, add the flour, cheese, paprika and celery salt.
2. Roll mixture into the size of marbles and fry till golden brown in deep fat at 373F.

Serve on a hot dish lined with a lace paper d'oyley.

Chocolate Tangerine Cake - 1960's

Here is some perfect sixties party food, and its chocolaty too :) There are two elements to the recipe, the cake and the icing.

2 heaped tablespoons cocoa
4 tablespoons hot water
8 oz. self-raising flour
8 oz. luxury margarine
10 oz. caster sugar
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk

For the icing

3 dessert spoons tangerine juice
grated rind of two to three tangerines
8 oz icing sugar
3 oz luxury margarine




1. Sieve the cocoa and mix smoothly with the water.  Let it cool.
2. Sieve the flour then cream the margarine and sugar thoroughly together.
3. Beat the eggs in separately one at a time, adding a little sieved flour with each egg after the first.
4. Fold in the remaining flour and the milk.  Divide equally between two sandwich tins, (8 x 1.5 inches) lined with greaseproof paper and brushed inside with melted margarine.
5. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes in a moderate oven on the middle shelf.
6. When cold, cut open and sandwich all the layers together with the tangerine icing attaching the first layer to an 8 inch cake board with a little icing before beginning to fill.
7. Ice all over and mark a pattern in the icing.  Decorate how you will, rosettes, oranges and lemons etc.

Icing

1. Sieve the icing sugar, beat margarine until creamy.
2. Add icing sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add the rest of the icing sugar and rest of the ingredients and beat thoroughly until smooth and ready to spread on cake.

Iced Cheese and Pear Salad - 1960's

Mad Men themed party? Perfect party dish.




3 level tablespoons
1 red pepper (chopped)
4 oz crumbled Cheshire cheese
One eighth pint of double cream
2 large pears
4 lettuce leaves
Sprigs of watercress

1. Either turn up your refrigerator up to maximum or make sure you have access to a clear freezer.
2. Mix mayo with the Cheshire cheese, chopped red pepper, double cream and spread in an ice tray.
3. Place in a freezing compartment/refrigerator and stir every 30 minutes until mixture is frozen which should take 1 - 1.5 hours.
4. Wipe pears (peel if skins are tough) and cut in half and remove core.  Place each half pear on a lettuce leaf, pile iced cheese mixture on pear and garnish with watercress sprigs. Serve immediately.

Anchovy Rolls and Twists - 1960's

I don't personally like Anchovy but here is a lovely little recipe for sixties party food.

Pastry (ready rolled)
1 can of flat fillets of anchovy

1. Roll out pastry into an oblong third of an inch (just over 1 cm thick)
2. Cut into two pieces 3 inches wide.
3. Lay strips of anchovy fillet at intervals across one of the 3 inch pieces of pastry, cut between and roll pastry over in quarter inch wide strips and twist the two ends together with a strip of anchovy between.
4. Place on greased baking sheet and bake until golden brown in a hot oven.

Cheese and Orange Salad

Here is a recipe in two parts.  First part is for the salad, second part is the dressing.  As its a French dressing you could get away with a shop bought alternative.  This would be perfect for a sixties themed party.

8 oz. cubed cheddar cheese
2 oranges
2 medium sized onions
4 half inch slices of bread
fat for frying
watercress

French Dressing

6 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of orange juice
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
grated rind of 1 orange
salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

1. Place cheese in a mixing bowl.  Remove rind and pith from oranges and separate orange segments.  Peel onions and slice thinly, separate into rings.

2. Cut bread in to half inch cubes, heat fat to smoking point (really really hot) and fry until golden brown, then drain well.

3. Wash watercress if needed.  Make dressing by mixing all ingredients together.

4. Toss all ingredients in dressing separately and arrange in circles overlapping towards the centre.

*Editors Note*
This is quite a straightforward recipe, but without pointing out the obvious you would need to toss togehter the fried bread, watercress, cheese, onions and oranges depending on the style of salad you desire.  Tossing the salad might not work, laying it out in some sort of order and presentation might work better.  Please feedback if you try this recipe.