Pat Phoenix’s Jacket Potato
I am strangely obsessed with Pat's way of pimping a potato. It pops into my mind as something I fancy on a regular basis. I think I read in one of Sophia Loren's cookbooks that cheese with fish is a no-no in Italian cooking but I LOVE this combo on a potato. Pure...
Tessie O’Shea’s Brandy Ice Cream Coffee
It's the penultimate Tessie O'Shea recipe from the slimming cookbook! I pledged to try one a month from this excellent tome way back in January 2019 and I've almost done it. It's taken me ages to get around to making this because I didn't want to buy a huge vat of ice...
Angela Lansbury’s Mustard Vinaigrette
You know how satisfying it is when you find the right tool for the job? And how the smallest thing can give you an immense amount of pleasure in these strange lockdowned times? Here's a tiny tale of one such thing. This is a beautiful bottle of delicious vinaigrette....
William Gallo’s Vodka Pasta
Pink food is weird. This was tasty (no doubt because essentially, it was mostly cream and vodka) but it was a very odd colour. I made this on a lovely summer's evening after my daily constitution. It was a typical British summer kind of evening... The first night I...
Richard Dix’s Sardine and Egg Salad
When I heard a couple of weeks ago that we won't be going back to the film archive until January 2021 at the earliest, I had a little meltdown. Six more months of working from home. I did the maths - I would be on my own five days a week for 27 more weeks at least....
Billie Burke’s Asparagus Salad
Billie Burke sent me a secret message on a packet of cheese recently. It was pure chance I spotted it because let's face it who usually reads the back of a cheese packet? It was on the wrapping of a big chunk of Davidstow Cheddar. This is the cheddar I always buy...
QUARANTINI TIME #14 – Champagne Cocktail Gloria Swanson
The pubs are open, and I have been in TWO. Yes, I have left my eyrie and gone out into the big wide world, leaving North London for the first time in 17 weeks. I went on a train and everything! Here is me having my first pint of beer out in the real world. As I...
Top 100 Greatest Columbo Scenes of the 1970s
I have been meaning to blog about this for ages but just to let all Columbo fans know that the fabulous Columbophile is doing this mega-countdown RIGHT NOW and I heartily recommend you check it out. If you are quick, you'll catch the last two posts where he'll be...
Recipe of the Month – Angela Lansbury’s Angel Hair Pasta With Fresh Summer Tomatoes
Greetings from Cabot Covid! It’s a very special recipe of the month this month. This was tested for the Murder, She Cooked cookbook by a very special person. Drumroll please! The AWESOME Tim Benzie, creator and star of the immersive Solve-along-a-Murder-She-Wrote...
Tessie O’Shea’s Diet Scotch Eggs
Have you sorted out your social support bubble yet? I saw mine last Saturday and it was a RIOT. Mr R's sister and her husband came over and we had a boozy picnic. OK, it was an indoor picnic because the weather wasn't great, but we had lots of picnic...
QUARANTINI TIME #13 – The Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor Giant Martini
This is the penultimate Quaranatini Time! Pubs are set to re-open here in the UK TODAY so there's only one more movie star tipple demo video to go. The last time me & Mr R exchanged money for cold beverages in a pub was on our wedding day - 20th March 2020 -...
QUARANTINI TIME #12 – Marlon Brando’s Godfather @ Silver Screen Suppers Towers
Wanna see Mr R do an impression of Marlon Brando playing the Godfather? Haha! We LOVED our Godfather cocktails (although, these should probably be called a mixed drink rather than a cocktail) and had two each. OK, so I got the movie wrong when I did my 'STELLA"...
Diana Dors’ Flageolet Beans With Tuna
Mr Rathbone's sister recently told me that when her mum was pregnant with her, she craved Mivvis. I am going to ask my mum if she had any particular food cravings when she was pregnant with me. It will not surprise me at all if she says tuna. Whenever I stop plotting...
Burt Lancaster’s Beef Curry – Tufnell Park – The Great Bear Stop #10
There was a time, not too far in the past, when people could do whatever the hell they wanted, whenever the hell they wanted to. Me and Mr R would regularly spend a Sunday afternoon transporting a strange foodstuff to a tube station on the Northern Line and then...
QUARANTINI TIME #11 – The Ralph Bellamy Scotch Sour
Gosh, I've just realised that I am a week behind with the Quarantini Times! So here's a link to the demo for Ralph's Scotch Sour and hot on the heels of this will be the demo for the Marlon Brando Godfather. Where does all the time go? I have no idea!...
A MOVIE STAR LUNCHEON – 282 Ways of Making a Salad
Coo what a spread! Remember when there was a time when you could eat this amount of food on one day because you had OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR ABODE? As it has now been over 12 weeks since anyone except Mr Rathbone crossed my threshold, I find it hard to believe that this...
Mike Connors’ Lamb Chop Hot Pot
Oooh, this was GOOD! Proper old fashioned fodder with no fancy herbs and spices. Just a hearty amount of vegetables and super succulent lamb chops after two and a half hours in the oven. Perfect for a Saturday evening in lockdown. In the Cop's Cookbook the title of...
QUARANTINI TIME #10 – The Gertrude Niesen BUZZ-BOMB
This one comes with a warning, Mr R had to put me to bed for half an hour after consuming just one Buzz-Bomb (and some of the rest of the champagne of course). I lay there like a MUMMY, unable to move a muscle. This cocktail is a humdinger and no mistake. The brain is...
Tessie O’Shea’s Brussels Sprouts (Creamed Cheese Type)
Tessie does it again! On paper, her recipe looks odd, and in the saucepan, it looks even odder... But these were delicious! What an interesting and flavoursome way of cooking yer sprouts! At first, I wasn't sure whether I had understood the recipe...
QUARANTINI TIME #9 – Don Ameche’s Bourbon
Don Ameche was a man's man and didn't have any truck with mixed drinks. He liked his bourbon straight up and with no nonsense about a chaser. Here we raise a glass to him and get excited about next week's BUZZ-BOMB cocktail. https://youtu.be/1LQMf_bxtr0 Mind you,...
Grace Kelly’s Pissaladière
I hereby vow to make no more impulse buys from the "flash sales" section of my online groceries order. I really do love these fresh, herby anchovies but even though I used loads in the David Niven Jansson's Temptation recipe, the rest of the pack has been hanging...
Malik Yoba’s Rhythm and Beans and Squash Stew
I am getting a bit devil-may-care about recipes in these strange times. There are many ingredients I can't put my hands on at the moment for obvious reasons, but rather than ABANDONING recipes for lack of this or that, I am getting CRAFTY. I did not have a yam, but I...
QUARANTINI TIME #8 – The Binnie Barnes Schnorkel
Up periscope! This cocktail is a humdinger. Mr R thought it was "psychoactive" and I saw a yellow aura all around his bonce after drinking just one of these Schnorkels. It was like he'd just eaten a bowl of Ready Brek. The Schnorkel wasn't actually named in Binnie...
Living My Life Like Angela Lansbury (a second time)
Greetings from Cabot Covid (thanks to Tim from Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote for that one). Thursday was the blog's birthday. For FOURTEEN YEARS I've been blogging about movie stars and their favourite recipes. My goodness me, I can hardly believe it. I sometimes...
QUARANTINI TIME #7! The Mary Pickford
This week we propose a Mary Pickford for your cocktail hour. You will need 2oz rum, 3/4 oz pineapple juice and 3 dashes of grenadine. Shake with ice. Serve with a whistle swizzle stick if you have one! https://youtu.be/eGOwudM1ysI Cheers Mary!
David Niven’s Jansson’s Temptation
I think my lockdown quarantine feral eating period is almost over. My panic buying of store cupboard staples seems to have abated and the compulsion to eat salad cream directly from the jar on a spoon seems to be slowing down too. But here is something I made when I...
QUARANTINI TIME #6! Fairbanks #1
This week's Quarantini Time features a cocktail named after the swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks gleaned from the amazing Savoy Club Cocktail Book. As his niece Leticia Fairbanks pointed out to me in a comment on a previous post about this cocktail, her uncle was...
Diana Dors’ Chilli Con Carne
As regular readers know, I am a massive Diana Dors fan and have written lots about the recipes in the Diana Dors X-Cel Diet book. I am so lucky to work in a film archive and have the TV-am collection at my fingertips - well, I did before lockdown! Diana regularly...
Recipe of the Month – Vincent Price’s Toad in the Hole
If ever there was a time for comfort food, the time is now. TOAD. You can't beat it really, with a lovely onion gravy made with a drop of Vincent Price Ale this is TOPS. In possibly the shortest recipe of the month blog post ever, I present to you, Vincent Price's...
QUARANTINI TIME #5! Martin Landau’s Vodka Martini Straight Up
I love Martinis! I waxed lyrical about them here when the Carole Landis Martini was the recipe of the month. So here's a little video demo of the way Martin Landau likes his Martini... https://youtu.be/RqVc_m6yiFA ...and here's the recipe - CHEERS my lovelies! 2 oz...
Virtual Vincent Price Dinner Party!
This Sunday folks! It's going to be an absolute hoot. Hosted by Vincent's daughter Victoria and my chum Peter Fuller of the Vincent Price Legacy UK website, it's only $5 to join and Vincent fans all around the world will be wining and dining together via the magic of...
Vincent Price’s Chicken Sweet and Hot
My brain has gone kind of melty when it comes to cooking during the lockdown. I am usually a stickler for making a recipe exactly to specifications, no deviations, no repetitions. But these strange times are doing something good to my brainbox and I am "subbing" as...
QUARANTINI TIME #4! Shirley Temples and Dirty Shirleys
It's Friday so you know what that means? QUARANTINI TIME! This weeks cocktail du jour is the Shirley Temple. Mind you, I realised after watching an episode of Mad Men the other day that a cocktail should have 3 ingredients and these only have two. I suppose that makes...
Benny Hill’s Nice Salad
I am as old as the hills, so when Mr R brought over his DVD of the Christmas Top of the Pops from 1971 this weekend I thought, I might know some of these songs. But it turns out, I knew the lot! And three of them have special significance too. Slade's Cuz I Luv U will...
Julie Harris’ Curried Zucchini Soup
I can't remember the last time I ventured into a shop, I think it was about 10 days ago now, but I do remember that I bought two courgettes just because I thought they looked nice. Fresh veggies! I am usually very much a forward planner but these crazy days, not so...
QUARANTINI TIME #3! Vincent Price’s Pink Tonics
When I volunteered for the Vincent Price Blogathon I had grand plans of throwing an elaborate dinner party with many dishes gleaned from Vincent's fabulous cookbooks. Remember the days when you could have chums over for food and fun? I could have kicked off...
QUARANTINI TIME #2! The Charlie Chaplin Cocktail
My second movie star lockdown cocktail was a Charlie Chaplin. A very fruity little fella composed of sloe gin, lime juice and apricot brandy. I had a few technical problems with the Mary Astor Painless Anaesthetic video so I may do that one again sometime, but a new...
Godfrey Winn’s Kedgeree
Have you seen that film La Grande Bouffe? It features a group of foodies getting together for a weekend of extreme eating. They eat and eat. and eat, and eat... So it was chez moi over Easter. If I listed what we had over our 4-day lockdown at Silver Screen Suppers...
Vincent Price’s Corn Fritters
After my initial Covid-19 lockdown panic about getting hold of certain foodstuffs, things have calmed down a bit here in North London. I managed to get a grocery delivery last Sunday and I have kind friends who have dropped off a couple of things I couldn't get hold...
Judy Holliday’s Stuffed Tomatoes
I had a nice surprise last week when I found out my lovely blogger chum and food illustrator extraordinaire Miriam Figueras has been making YouTube videos about her love of silent movies. I find her voice lovely and soothing and I love this one about life lessons she...
Suzanna Leigh’s Leeks Vinaigrette
I am very lucky to have an excellent corner shop about 5 minutes walk from my flat. During the lockdown, I am only trundling down there when absolutely necessary but the last time I went, I nabbed two leeks. I had no idea what I would do with them but Suzannah Leigh...
QUARANTINI TIME #1! Movie Star Virtual Reality Cocktail Party this Friday at 6pm
Hello chums! Get your cocktail shakers out and join me on Instagram Live this Friday for a MOVIE STAR COCKTAIL! I was planning to make a little edited video showing this cocktail under construction but I didn't get around to it. A special prize to anyone who can work...
Abby Dalton’s Lamb Stew With Parsley Dumplings
Written in the days where you could have friends and family around for lunch! Recently I read an article which asked whether people were getting tired of food blogs which featured really long rambling personal stories to wade through before getting to the recipe. It...
I Got Hitched!
Here is some good news in these troubled times. Last Friday, just hours before the UK went into lockdown I got married! Regular readers will have heard Mr R mentioned a million times on this blog, and now I am thrilled to officially be Mrs R. Here are a few photos of...
Henry Fonda’s Swedish Meatballs
Regular readers will know that I have been a food hoarder for many years. My frozen archives are legendary amongst chums, all four of the freezer drawers are packed solid. My food cupboards ditto. In the past, I have berated myself for this bad habit, but now we'll...
Recipe of the Month – The Carole Landis Martini
If I am having a cocktail, four out of five times it will be a Martini. I love 'em. AHH, the days when you could get a My Man Godfrey Martini at the 5th View Bar in London wearing red knee-high boots! My Guild of Food Writer chum Richard Ehrlich knows everything there...
Angela Lansbury’s Mustard Vinaigrette
This is a recipe that I am going to have to work on a bit for the Murder, She Cooked book as I think there must be a typo in Angela's recipe. Here's a scan of the recipe from Angela's fabulous Positive Moves book. I did make some vinaigrette to this schema but had to...
Richard Arlen’s Buttered Cabbage a la Maryland
Hello sailor! I've been thinking about cooking for one a lot lately. (Cooking for one person, not cooking for a sailor.) A while back I wrote a blog post about making Vesper Martinis and Martini Cured Salmon Blinis for one and mused on the joys to be had in treating...
Phyllis Diller’s Garbage Soup
Making this soup cures all ills. I was feeling somewhat melancholy last Wednesday evening (can't remember why now) but my fridge was FULL of random veggies and once I got going on this I felt a million times better. The glorious thing about this soup is that you can...
Greg Morris’ Ob’s Chicken
There was a great conversation in the film archive where I work recently about the phrase, "lost in the mists of time." Two of the four people in the conversation had always thought the phrase was "lost in the MIDST of time." I guess that both phrases make sense. I...
MY COOKING WITH COLUMBO COOKBOOK – click on pic for link
MY COOKING WITH JOAN CRAWFORD COOKBOOK – click on pic for link
