#anAWWyear - February 1948: Food

For a recipe to catch my eye in this process, I either think it sounds tasty or I'm thinking "WTF, 1940s?" I make mostly the former, and share information about the latter, as making recipes which I don't think will be nice strikes me as a waste of food.

This month, however, I present you with one of three "Ways with Carrots" which I did make, despite some serious doubts.  This is basically diced cooked carrots in the most bland "satay sauce" ever - peanut butter added to a white sauce.

"Creamed With Peanut Butter: Cut cooked carrots into dice. Add 1 tablespoon peanut butter to ½ pint white sauce, and pour over carrots. Top with crumbs, brown lightly in hot oven. Serve as an entree or supper dish."

It looked more appealing in person. Honest.
Australian Women's Weekly, Feb 7 1948, p 34.

 I didn't hate this, and the four-year old even ate a few pieces once told it was in peanut butter. My husband was not a fan. While this will never be repeated, it has inspired us make our satay stir fry this week, after a long hiatus, and gives us hope the boy will like it.

I'm trying to make at least one savoury and one sweet recipe, and the illustrated dessert from the 'Stay for Supper' feature in the same issue tempted me to try it - prunes and peach halves on a coconut meringue base.

The dessert I considered, top right.
The whole menu is " frankfurts with tomato-mustard sauce, potato cakes, shredded cabbage,
tomato wedges" and the dessert named "black-eyed susans".
Australian Women's Weekly, Feb 7 1948, p 33

But I decided to make something from what I already had in the cupboard, as an activity on a rainy Sunday afternoon, and made the Fruited Scone-Ring  - which isn't even a full recipe, just a partial one with illustrations top and bottom of the reader recipe page of February 28th.

As in the magazine...
Australian Women's Weekly, Feb 28 1948, p 34. 

And as made by me and a helpful preschooler., Feb 2018. 

"FRUITED SCONE-RING is simple to make. First step: Roll 8oz. scone dough thinly, spread over 1½ cups mixed dried fruit simmered 2 or 3 minutes with squeeze of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon marmalade, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and cooled. Moisten edges, roll to long, thin roll, press ends together to form a ring. Place on greased tray. Using floured scissors, snip nearly through at 1 in. intervals. Turn sections sideways, as illustrated. Bake in hot oven (475deg. F.) 12 to 15 minutes. When cold, top with lemon-flavored icing."

Now I suspect my scone dough (the basic simple scone recipe I've got written in my recipe book and I turn to on many an occasion) wasn't 8oz as there is no way, even had I been able to roll it to my desired thickness and not just to 'preschooler hasn't gotten bored yet' thickness, that my ring would have been as large as the illustrated one. But the basic premise is good. I've usually seen these rolled and then cut completely through, and the rolled sections baked flat, but I liked this better - it came out more scone-like still. The boy helped measure out sultanas and sugar, helped roll the scone dough, helped spread the fruit, and very much enjoyed moistening the dough with the pastry brush, so this gets the child-helper friendly recipe tick of approval. 

This page of reader recipes had a few interesting options actually - I may yet try the Boston Veal with Pineapple - so I think February is a definite win for reader recipes over the magazine's own features, which were largely uninspiring.