My Mother-in-law volunteers at a St Vincent de Paul thrift shop. She keeps an eye out and the girls are often on the receiving end of some beautiful things.
This weekend was my turn. She’d bought me The Australia Heritage Cookbook. She has the same one in her cupboard.
Given my love of heirloom vegetables and heritage seeds, I turned the pages with hopeful anticipation. Drinking in the vignettes of the nineteen-eighties and admiring the photos of our wide brown land.
And then I saw it. The recipe that sums up the seventies and eighties for me.
peaches and squid
Move over Apricot Chicken, we have a new benchmark.
Serves 6 (potentially many, many more once your dinner guests realise what’s for dinner).
Ingredients
- 60g butter or margarine
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 750g squid tubes, rings or slices
- 1 cup sliced peaches
- 1/4 cup orange liqueur
- chopped chives
- seasoning to taste
Method:
Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onion. Sauté until tender then stir in the squid and gently cook until it changes colour.
Stir in the peaches, liqueur and seasoning. Cook for a further 3 minutes and serve with cooked pasta garnished with chopped chives.
I was recently told that the judges of MasterChef are not partial to a meat/fruit combination. So if you’re a contestant googling recipes on a contraband mobile telecommunication device, I’d suggest you swerve the squid and plate up Prawns in a Coffee Cream Sauce instead (yes, that gem also features).
They were truly golden years of food.
Amanda,
Just love reading your posts! I think you are a superstar.
Very sorry to read about your stove though. Thoughts, hugs and kisses as always are coming your way from me. Hope to see you on Saturday. Lots of love Jenny Fitz
Ps, I’m going to try the the squid and peaches receipe but will have to find an outfit and head tie so I really get in to the mood of it.
Thanks Jen. The new cook top should be installed today.
See you Sat!
Amanda x
Oh dear god… No. No. No. No. No. No.
That is all.
I share your assessment Beth. Wouldn’t you love to serve it at a pot-luck dinner though?
I can thank my parents for giving me a foodie childhood and not going down this road Amanda. The most adventurous Mum got with food trends of the 70’s and 80’s with us was Savoury Mince, Corned Meat and Liver & Bacon. Both parents were of European descent so we enjoyed some unusual foods for the time which are considered quite trendy today.
xx
I recently tried to revisit lambs-fry and bacon Anne. Turns out, it’s still too soon! 😛
I don’t think I could ever eat that!
Defining foods from my childhood were always scary. My mum would suggest she was trying something “new”, which meant we had reached the very back of the pantry and she was throwing in whatever she happened to have on hand! I remember a friend staying over one night and the next week his parents bringing us a fridge full of meat! How embarrassing!
Hilarious! I doubt I could eat it either Nathan, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to resist temptation the next time I’m asked bring a plate! 🙂
The back of your Mum’s pantry sounds like the bottom of my chest freezer!
What was I missing in my childhood! My mother was very much a meat and three veg…. Love your master chef advice 🙂
I only hope our children have the same deprived childhoods!
My Mum used to volunteer at a Op Shop and she would always score awesome things for me! Including the Australian Woman’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book, which basically sums up my childhood!! I have to say I’m not a huge squid fan, but my hubby would love this! x Karen #teamIBOT
Love that book Karen. Also love the AWW “Old Fashioned Favourites” – two gems from my childhood! Have you seen the Train Cake song? It’s hilarious – there’s a link on this post.
My MIL volunteers at St Vinnies too 🙂
I remember meat and 3 veg in the 70’s.
For parties, mum would put slices of kabana, cheese, olives and cocktail onions on toothpicks, which she then stuck into the skin of an orange that had been cut in half. Now THAT is a very 70’s memory!
You’ll laugh at us Janet, but some friends and I recently gave a pineapple the same treatment – just for fun.
God bless retired volunteers!
I hate to say it but my mother has always been such an amazing cook, housekeeper etc and it’s only now I am starting to take notice of all her great recipes! Nothing like an Op shop for a great bargain – Emily
Lucky you Emily – from the looks of these comments we were the lucky few.
I don’t know how much that dress cost my MIL, but I wish I had one!
That’s an interesting recipe… I can’t recall a specific 80’s recipe probably because I was too young but my mum use to cook a lot lasagna and I loved it!
Interesting is one word for it Rita!
It’s either got to be sweet or savoury so I am not sure about the peaches squid combination. Unfortunately I was all grown up in the eighties so no Mum to cook for me. I had to do it myself and from what my family say I was a pretty bad cook.
I share your doubts Dawn – I think this would be spectacularly awful!
Oh Boatman would love this!
My mum was a great cook. Good old english, hearty soups and puddings featured strongly. A dish that mum loved cooking, and I have to say she was very good at, was Ox Tail Stew. I was delicious but people all when Ewww when I mentioned it lol
oh wow!!
Not my kind of recipe that’s for sure!!
Hmm lambs fry & bacon you said you re-visited?
Hmm it’s ok in small doses 🙂
Popping in from Blogs & PR on Talk To Us Thursday!!
LOL – love the way you write! Hmmm…I love squid, love pasta, love peaches. All together…not so sure! My memories of food in the 70’s are that mum was a very good cook but our food was not so adventurous……roasts, corned beef, steak and veg…that kinda thing! My mum is hugely way more adventurous with food these days and still a very good cook. Recipes back then were very limited. I remember salad consisted of lettuce, tomato, cheese and beetroot 😉
OOOOOHHHH i love it.. I love collecting old antique cookbooks too!!!! (and stealing my mums!) My favourite recipe (and one I use at every bbq) is Chicken Satay Sticks – aswell as a salmon pasta dish… both from 1985 Womans Weekly Recipe book!
🙂
Visiting from #TTUT 🙂
I just dont think I can do peaches and squid. I tried to comment this morning and it didn’t work and have been thinking about it all day!
But I do love old recipes!
Thanks for linking up with #TUST
Annaleis – Blogs and PR Team Member
That sounds amazing! Two of my favourite things. This recipe will definitely be going on my meal planner for next week. Thanks! (Popping over from ‘With Some Grace FYBF’)
Ah! Delicious!
I remember there was a lot of beef stroganoff going around at the dinner parties my parents were invited to in the 70’s. Yum!!
So wrong. So very, very wrong! And prawns in coffee cream? I’m gonna have nightmares! :-}
Many years ago when I managed a bookshop I picked up that little gem from the sale boxes as I unpacked. It sat on the shelf with my ridiculously large cookbook collection for many years until we were moving & my husband persuaded me to prune my collection to books I might actually use. Surprisingly enough this one went in the op shop pile
I’ve just done a similar prune Heidi, but I couldn’t part with the genius that introduced me to peaches and squid. 😉