Jane Asher’s Chocolate Trifle
Happy Easter! Hope you have lots of fun things planned, maybe even dressing up as an Easter bunny? Crikey! This was a trifle and a half! Soooooo delicious with its prunes and its orange segments and its custard and its chocolate topping. But most of all because I...
Joan Blondell’s Sunday Night Special
Over on my Dinner and a Movie blog, Gold Diggers of 1933 is the movie of the month. It's a fab whirlwind ride and I heartily recommend it. Skip over here (or press the button below) if you fancy joining our fun online community - we sometimes have international...
Shirley Jones’ Mexicali Corn Casserole
This recipe was part of a batch of cards that the wonderful Yinzerella of Dinner is Served, 1972 sent over to me many moons ago. It mysteriously appeared on the floor of my writing room a couple of weeks ago, separated from the rest of the cards. I took this as a...
Chalk Farm Great Bear – Jane Fonda’s Granola
This blog post is going to be a great test of the memory box! It was the penultimate stop on the Great Bear adventure that began in August 2018 and this visit to Chalk Farm station was on December 17th, 2022. I cannot believe this was over 2 years ago and I'm only...
Dead Movie Stars Taught Me To Cook
Short notice my lovelies but I am doing a live "show and tell" tomorrow featuring some of my favourite movie star cookbooks and ephemera, including the thing that started it all... The event is called Dead Movie Stars Taught Me To Cook and is part of a 3-day online...
Gene Hackman’s Steak Diane
So sad to hear that Gene Hackman has gone to that Hollywood in the sky. It's pure coincidence that The Poseidon Adventure is my movie of the month over at Dinner and a Movie. Let's celebrate Gene by having a Poseidon Adventure Cocktail, cooking his Steak Diane, and...
Audrey Hepburn’s Chocolate Cake
Audrey's cake looked delightful as I was making it Not so much when it came out of the oven, though... I have made Audrey's cake twice. The first time I burned it too. I blamed the oven in my old Muswell Hill flat, which always ran hot. I always had to set the...
Marlene Dietrich’s Lamb Chops (Nancy Spain Style)
When asked what my favourite movie star recipe is, in ye olden dayes I used to say Marlene Dietrich's Lamb Chops en Casserole. But that was before I tried Elizabeth Taylor's Chicken Steamed in White Wine.Currently #1 in my personal hit parade. I haven't made the...
Cher’s Hawaiian Meatballs American Style
Man alive these were good! I had to test them for this February's shebang over on my Dinner and a Movie Substack. I'm proposing a Cher movie. I wonder if you can guess which one? Want a clue? I'd made this recipe once before, but I hadn't read it right and got the...
Vincent Price’s Chicken Curry
Happy New Year lovely readers! Did anyone get this for Christmas? It was such fun to be a small part of this excellent release of Vincent's TV show. I'm in the extras chatting about Vincent's food writing and demonstrating a couple of his creations. If you can't get...
Carole Landis’ Vodka Martini #1
A little tipple you might fancy trying over the holidays. Hereby wishing you all a wonderful, fabulous and fun festive season. Here's how Carole liked her martinis. Notes - A bit sherry-like. Unorthodox - lots of vermouth. We used Noilly Prat vermouth. Mr R said,...
Zoë Wanamaker’s Tagliatelle with Pesto and Bacon
This is a great little recipe. It's a very easy weeknight dish if you are settling down to a Poirot featuring ARIADNE OLIVER. She's my favourite supporting character in the Poirot series and Zoë plays her perfectly. This is another recipe destined for Cooking the...
Mary Eaton’s Champagne Cocktail
Well, this was a revelation! Mr R sent me a text in the week to say he'd found a couple of bottles of prosecco (where? behind the sofa?). Did I have a cocktail recipe we could try that involved fizz? Well yes, I did! And it was fab! The angostura bitters really...
Vincent Price Month
We are celebrating all things Vincent Price over on the Dinner and a Movie Substack this month. There is a competition to win a copy of the forthcoming Blu-ray release of Vincent's 1974 TV cooking show. I'm on the "extras" of this, talking about Vincent's brilliant...
The Lee Tracy Cocktail and Sam H. Harris’ Cradle Snatcher Cocktail
I think we are getting close to having a critical mass of movie star cocktails tested for the Down the Hollywood Hatch book. Me and Mr R gave this one a whirl last week and we both enjoyed it. One of those cocktails that tastes different with every sip, the...
Philip Michael Thomas’ Macaroni and Cheese
Wowzer! I impressed myself with this one. Macaroni and Cheese (or Macaroni Cheese as we call it here in the UK) has never been a big favourite of mine and I think I have only made it once before - to the fabulous Pearl Bailey's recipe. That was GOOD, but at the risk...
Ruth Gordon’s Zucchini Omelette
I found this in my drafts while I was looking for something else... This was written not long after we'd been through the Covid epidemic. I absolutely LOVE the creative energy and inventiveness of the Rebel Reel Cine Club so despite this post being OLD, OLD, OLD, I am...
Psycho and Murder, She Wrote Watch Parties – with prizes!
It's been quiet here on the blog for a few weeks as I'm super busy over on Substack with two free online watch parties coming up in October. First up is this one... Then next day this one - which is the episode of Murder, She Wrote where Jessica visits the Psycho...
Carole Lombard’s Golden Fizz Cocktail
This is fast becoming a favourite tipple here at Silver Screen Suppers Towers. It's from the 1933 Celebrity Cocktail Book - which would be a perfect Christmas prezzie for a loved one. There are only 50 or so left of the facsimile copies I commisioned so don't...
Roger Moore’s Chicken Luisa
This was a very easy way of making a chook just a little bit special. The recipe appeared in a newspaper article about what Roger liked to eat, Luisa was his wife and this was her way of preparing chicken. Roger will feature twice in the forthcoming Cooking the...
Diana Dors’ Flageolet Beans With Tuna
If Diana hadn't already made an appearance in the Top 100 Movie Star Recipe countdown with her Artichoke Bean Bowl, this tuna salad would have gone in. It's something I make quite a lot, with variations. I usually have a tin of tuna and a tin of beans around the...
Murder, She Cooked Round-Up
It's a while since I told you what's been going on over at my Murder, She Cooked Substack. I'm serialising the Murder, She Cooked book - with screengrabs! The Substack is an online Murder, She Wrote fan club. It's free to join, just pop your email into the subscribe...
Audrey Hepburn’s Penne alla Vodka
Who would win in a fight? Audrey Hepburn or Heinz? There's only one way to find out... Fight! Or, to be slightly more refined, to invite chums round for dinner and a blind-tasting experiment. I was well-chuffed to score a jar of the limited edition Heinz/Absolut...
Brenda Blethyn’s Venison with Blueberries
It is two years to the day since I had one of my favourite days EVER, going on the Vera tour in Northumberland. For those who don't know, Vera is a British TV show featuring the fabulous curmudgeonly TV detective, Vera Stanhope. I am so obsessed with Vera that I...
Raymond Burr’s Fish Soup – My Top 100 Movie Star Recipes #92
Want a simple fish soup recipe? Well, here it is! This is one of those, "chuck it all in a big saucepan and be completely surprised about how delicious it is" kind of dishes. I reckon you could add all kinds of spices or herbs if you wanted to, but you could equally...
Paul McCartney’s Egg and Chips
COR! This was utterly delicious! I've never made chips before and neither had Mr R so we approached this test cook with great trepidation. As we grew up in the 1970s we had fear installed in us about CHIP PAN FIRES by many public information films, consequently Mr...
Dennis Weaver’s Taos Pesto
I invited my chum Lady Jane (not a real lady) around for pesto but when my grocery delivery arrived, there was no basil to be seen. I swiftly pivoted and made her Mildred Natwick's Tomato Pie instead, which was a big hit with both of us. But when she turned up she...
Online Book Launch Cocktail Party – Everyone Invited
Everyone is hereby invited to party like it’s 1933. Stick this in yer diary! Live on Instagram @silverscreensuppers Hello, my lovelies. A big announcement. I have a new THING and it is a gorgeous limited edition reprint of a rare 1933 cocktail booklet. This delightful...
Stanley Tucci’s Fish Stew
This stew was utterly spectacular. As someone who is afeared of crustaceans, when this recipe was allocated to me by my Goddaughter Ringo, I had a mild freakout. My best buddy Cathy and I had made a vow to cook every recipe in the Stanley Tucci food memoir, and Ringo...
Angela Lansbury’s Salad Sandwich
When I wrote a book all about Murder, She Wrote including recipes from the kitchen of Angela Lansbury and many of her co-stars, I had ten of Angela's recipes in my collection. Imagine how thrilled I was recently to hear from blog reader Linda DeWeese-Brown that she...
Harry Morgan’s Dragnet Garlic Nut Butter Sandwich
When I was writing about Dragnet for the Cooking the Detectives book I found lots of reports online about a peanut butter and garlic sandwich rustled up by the Harry Morgan character. In an episode called A.I.D. The Weekend he talks some chums through how he prepares...
Melissa Gilbert’s Tuna-Noodle Casserole
When I moved from London to Hastings there was a bit of an involuntary grouping together of of like things with like. As per the teachings of Marie Kondo. This resulted in my discovering quite how much I had of certain foodstuffs. In the "overflow sideboard" there...
Lana Turner’s Super and Easy Salsa
When I first started this blog way back in 2006 thought of it as an online diary. I just recorded the movie star dishes I had tried, without sharing the recipe or even a photograph. Remember the days when nobody took photos of their food?! I am always happy to share...
Pierce Brosnan’s Vegetable Orzo Primavera
I feel slightly ashamed of the amount of food my removal men hauled across the country in their enormous van. I blame the pandemic combined with my tendency to hoard. But now I am installed in a lovely new kitchen; I plan to really try and eat up stocks. My food bill...
Vincent Price’s Potato and Fish Chowder
It's Vincent Price's birthday today so here's one from the archives, I was SO YOUNG! No grey hair, a great set of spex that I no longer wear because my eyesight has got worse and some fab dungarees I can no longer squeeze into. Oh, the passage of time! Great chowder...
Stefanie Powers’ Pierogies
Problematic Pierogies x 2. Before I share my woes, an announcement. I had never made pierogi/pierogis/perogies before, and I had never even eaten pierogies before, so I had no idea what I was doing, BUT I tried two different recipes attributed to Stefanie and both...
Happy Birthday Silver Screen Suppers!
My blog is 17 years old today. 1,741 blog posts. My goodness! So much water under the bridge and so many recipes tried, with only a few FAILS. I thought I'd do a little round-up of where I am up to with the Top 100. Let's go! Counting down from #93...
Cybill Shepherd’s Hamburgers Cybill Style
This has immediately taken #1 spot in the Silver Screen Suppers burger recipe leader board, knocking Ernest Hemingway and William Holden down to 2nd and 3rd. This burger was UTTERLY DELICIOUS. Highly recommended and so easy. Mr R was in charge of this one, and he...
Doris Day’s Stuffed Potatoes
I keep forgetting to let y'all know that April's Dinner and a Movie selection for the Silver Screen Suppers Club is Pillow Talk with the divine Doris Day. If you fancy cooking up one of her brilliant fluffy baked potatoes, skip over here for the recipe... LINKS TO MY...
Don Adams’ Health Sandwich
Don Adams was mad about peanut butter and so am I. In the fabulous Singers & Swingers in the Kitchen he shared 3 recipes for ways of pimping up this most splendid of all foodstuffs. Here are the other two... I will probably try them ALL before I decide which one...
Amanda Burton’s Chicken Zorba
Lest I incur the wrath of any Turner Classic Movie fans (as I did when I wrote about a Cameron Diaz recipe), I realise that Amanda is a modern television actress rather than a silver-screen movie star. I also realise that in 17 years of writing about the favourite...
Karl Malden’s Salmon Fillets with Apricot Sauce
Mr Rathbone is a very good egg and has volunteered to test cook at least 3 recipes for the forthcoming Cooking the Detectives book. Well, by my reckoning, this was number 4 as he has already done Robert Wagner's Chili, Sheila Hancock's Sardine Pizza and John Nettles'...
Henry Fonda’s Meatballs – Belsize Park – The Great Bear – Stop #19
We were on home turf with this stop on the Great Bear adventure, as Belsize Park is the nearest tube stop to Mr Rathbone's pad. His place is my second home as we alternate between his gaff and mine at the weekends. In Simon Patterson's great artwork, Belsize Park...
Penelope Keith’s Apple Chutney
Who would have thought that Tom and Barbara Good's neighbour, Margo, would make chutney? Of course, I know that Margo is a character and Penelope is a real live woman, but it is truly difficult to separate the two when you grew up at a time when she was the biggest...
Joan Fontaine’s Chicken Fontaine
This month's selection for the Silver Screen Supper Club Dinner and a Movie is the wonderful Rebecca (1940) and we had a super fun watch-party last Sunday. Folks joined us here in the UK from Canada and the USA to chat about Mrs Danvers giving our heroine the side-eye...
Jack Lord’s Island-Style Chicken
I wasn't sure if I would like this dish, but I did. It is weird, but good! Jack is best remembered by me as the dapper gent starring in Hawai Five-0 and as I have written about this series in the Cooking the Detective book I wanted to try Jack's Island-Style...
John Nettles’ Un Piot et des Pois au Fou
Bergerac has been all over the news this week as it's rumoured that there is a reboot in the offing. Oooooh, goodie! Names being bandied around for the main role are Aidan Turner, David Tennant and James Norton. Aidan Turner, please! I do not know what Un Piot et des...
Errol Flynn’s Resucitator
Potential for a hangover fairly high this weekend? Here's a cure! I had to test this myself for the cocktail book I am working on with Mr Rathbone as he is not a fan of tomato juice. He has a way with words and almost always comes up with a pithy comment about each...
Sheila Hancock’s Cheese and Sardine Pizza
It's pizza, Jim, but not as we know it. More like cheese on toast with sardines on top! I had to try it though, as I really want to feature Inspector Morse in the Cooking the Detectives book and there are ZERO recipes from John Thaw in my collection. As John and...
Joan Crawford at the HippFest Silent Film Festival
I'm thrilled to have been asked to celebrate the wondrousness of Joan Crawford at the Hippfest Silent Film Festival by introducing their Gala Screening of Our Dancing Daughters on Saturday 23rd March - Joan's birthday! I'll also be hosting a Cocktails and Canapés...
Mike Douglas’ Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
Occasionally, I made a non-movie-star-related dish that I am really proud of. For the Mildred Pierce Dinner and a Movie extravaganza, I made a chicken and waffles dish that made my chest puff up like a proud pigeon! This is a dish featured in the fabulous Brunch at...
Preston Sturges’ Old Fashioned
Always a pleasure to be forced to test a bourbon-based beverage, and this one popped to the top of the list one Friday recently. We might include screenwriters and directors in our Down the Hollywood Hatch cocktail book (Preston was both) so thought we'd give this...
Sharon Acker’s Oatmeal Crisps, Van Johnson’s Salmon Salad, Cesare Danova’s Risotto ala Milenese, Craig Stevens’ Quick Margarita Chicken, Dick Van Patten’s Lemon Chicken Casserole, Robert Stack’s Duck a L’Orange, Karen Black’s 10-Minute-Tomato-Beef Chinese Number, Robert Sterling’s Cherry Chicken,
What’s been cooking over at Murder, She Cooked? Quite a lot since I last did a round-up. If you are a Murder, She Wrote fan, skip over to the Substack for episode reviews and companion recipes delivered monthly to your inbox. Here’s what’s been going on in Cabot...
Mildred Natwick’s Tomato Pie
Mildred's pie surprised me by being really good! I love it when a pie does that! It's one of those recipes that doesn't look very interesting on paper but makes you raise your eyebrows when you eat it. I used a mixture of cherry tomatoes and larger ones and served it...
Anne Bancroft’s Tamale Pie – February’s Dinner and a Movie
If you fancy treating yourself to a classic movie plus a movie star din-dins to go with it, over on my Substack the featured movie for February is The Graduate. Here's a link to the post that contains Anne's tamale pie recipe - come and join us!
Roger Moore’s 007 Spuds
This is a cute little recipe for when you fancy potatoes dauphinoise but you don't possess a fancy mandolin to slice the spuds thinly. Just chop your potatoes into little dice instead! This recipe appeared in a kids' cookbook, hence the simple way it is written. But...
Jack Webb’s Friday Night Beef and Tomatoes
Just before I published this I realised I had made a schoolgirl error. I did a brain-leap and accidentally renamed this recipe Jack Webb's Friday Night Beef and Tomatoes and now I look at it PROPERLY, I see it is actually Joe Friday's Beef and Tomatoes. For Jack...
Michael Douglas Saturday Night Special Veal Stew
I experienced a resurgence of that "fear of the butcher" feeling this weekend. It was my fault for leaving it to the last minute to get the veal for this recipe, so it was a valuable lesson learned. I'd known that I was going to make it on Saturday (because of the...
Andy Clyde’s Baked Ham Casserole – My Top 100 Movie Star Recipes #93
I'm kicking off 2024 with a great little recipe that I return to almost every new year. It's a brilliant way of using up your leftover Christmas ham or, if it is a different time of year, your Thanksgiving ham or basically, any lovely ham you have kicking around your...
Robert Mitchum’s Eggnog
It's big, it's boozy, it's brilliant. Robert said the following of his very Christmassy tipple, "This recipe will make five quarts. I make no apology for the excessive quantity on the theory that only a dope would go to the trouble for less.” Five quarts is almost 5...
Dinah Shore’s Maple Walnut Ice-Cream
In my two-year looky-aftery home, there is a secret cupboard in the kitchen. It's hidden under a work surface, and if you didn't know it was there, you'd never know to look for it. This has already become The Cupboard of Rarely Used Gadgets. The waffle maker is in...
John Nettles’ Mediterranean Frittata
Pepperoni in a frittata? Yes! I wasn't sure how this would turn out but as the only other recipe I have for John Nettles involves pigs trotters I thought I would give it a whirl. I've been writing about John this week for the forthcoming Cooking the Detectives...
Michael Landon’s Tuna-Vegetable Dinner in a Pouch
Oooh, this is a handy little recipe to have up your sleeve. So simple, so delicious, so adaptable. Bravo to the man those of us who are of a certain age will always think of as being Pa Ingalls. I didn't have exactly the combination of veggies that Michael...
Jerry Orbach’s Wine Pan-Fried Steak with Balsamic Sauce
Cooking steak, just for myself, always feels like a big treat. But actually, I wouldn't be confident about cooking it for someone else. I don't do it enough to be blasé about it being done to their liking. But when you are home alone, with a nice juicy steak in the...
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan Special Cocktail
Mr R called this, "A soft drink bourbon," and I thought it was a great way of trashyfy-ing a bourbon with a cherry. It felt a bit like a drink you would have in a tiki bar to me, although now that London's Trader Vic's has closed, I am going to have to hunt a bit...
William Conrad’s Salmon Pâté
I woke up yesterday morning to a scribbled note that read, "No kettle, no toaster, but I had a wonton crimper." It took me a while to remember what this related to but eventually, it came to me. It was a line from a conversation with an old friend Matthew the night...
Adolphe Menjou’s Cock O’ The Roost Cocktail
Ooooh, this was a perfect Autumn warmer. I loved this and think it would be great as a Halloween tipple. It's the season for one or two of these for sure. Mr Rathbone insisted on calling the originator of this beverage Adolphe Mangetout, which in turn led to him doing...
Tony Curtis’ Hungarian Goulash
This is an easy peasy and very dependable goulash recipe from Boinie, who I didn't know until I googled it, was of Hungarian heritage. Goulash is one of those things like chilli, where there are a million different ways of making it, but some things crop up in most...
Ernest Hemingway’s Wild West Hamburger and Death in the Afternoon Cocktail
Mr Rathbone once had a party in his flat, and someone bought him a bottle of absinthe as a gift. But then some big boys in the kitchen drank it all and ran away. Because of this and because it is in a Jimmy Durante cocktail I want to try, I bought him a bottle for...
(Potentially) Marilyn Monroe’s Cheese Lasagne
Here's a post from before my move where I was trying to eat as much food from my frozen archives as I possibly could. Marilyn's lasagne is GOOD my friends, very good! I am in a "use it up and wear it out" phase at the moment and this dish was a perfect way of using...
