Yes, Another Cook Book!

I am one of those strange people who hate cooking but love cook books! I have a vast collection (I think I have mentioned this before) and regularly page through them to find exciting things to make, that is if I was going to make anything exciting!

The first recipe (or is that 'cook') book I really remember well was one that was given to my mum by her close friend when we left England, way back in the middle of the last century! (That sounds scary, but it is true!) It was written in 1960 by an American lady called Peg Bracken and was called 'The I Hate to Cook Book'. Mum regularly made a particular chicken dish called 'Saturday Chicken', an easy and delicious recipe that calls for a tin of mushroom soup, cream and chicken pieces and that's basically it! She made it for special occasions and when (if) people came for dinner, and she usually made a lovely cream cheese tart to follow. It became a favourite of mine too and I cannot remember how many times I have made it and shared the recipe with friends over the years. Funnily enough, I think that the first time I ever made it on a Saturday was just the other day!! Even Rob commented! There is a 'Sunday Chicken' too, that's a curry version of Saturday!

The book has been well used obviously!

So, imagine my delight when last month as I was burrowing through the books at Hospice, I found it! The same book that I had been searching for on and off, for years! Mum's old book is safely in the hands of my sister, so I knew that it was still in the family, but I wanted my own!

And I began reading it. Now, it certainly is not in the Jamie and Nigella league, especially with instructions like: 'Add the flour, salt, paprika and mushrooms, stir and let it cook five minutes while you light a cigarette and stare sullenly at the sink'.

But, apart from the cigarette, it's my kind of language!

How about 'Hushkabobs'?  And I quote, 'So-called because the family isn't supposed to know it's just that old Sunday roast still following them around'.

It's funny and it makes sense and she uses things that you do have in your cupboards like pasta and flour and sherry and paprika and various tins of soup. She feels about carrots as I do, but her 'Oven Carrots' recipe says that 'the dish looks quite polite.'

Her chapter on 'Vegetables, Salads and Salad Dressings' is subtitled 'Or this side of Beriberi'. You have to chuckle hey?

And there, on page 16, I found it! The recipe for 'Saturday Chicken'.

Delicious, I promise you.

And here it is! Enjoy.