by Jenny | 14 May, 2025 | Angela Lansbury, Murder, She Cooked
Just a little heads up for all you Fangelas! A video demo of her salad is now available over on my Murder, She Cooked substack. If you are a fan of Murder, She Wrote it’s well worth putting your email address in for my monthly newsletter – just click on...
by Jenny | 14 May, 2025 | Bette Davis
My goodness. I can’t quite believe that I have been writing about movie stars and their favourite recipes for NINETEEN YEARS TODAY. That’s crazy! When I started I was living on a houseboat and this was my kitchen. I was nursing a broken heart and decided...
by Jenny | 13 May, 2025 | Dick Powell
This is the kind of recipe you can take with you to an island that is 3 miles long and 5/8 mile wide and easily rustle it up for 5 hungry hikers. I’m just back from a glorious holiday on Lundy Island where I was seduced into the wonderful world of bird watching....
by Jenny | 17 Apr, 2025 | Cooking The Detectives, Jane Asher, Joanna Lumley
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...
by Jenny | 11 Apr, 2025 | Dinner and a Movie, Joan Blondell
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...
by Jenny | 24 Mar, 2025 | Shirley Jones
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...
by Jenny | 15 Mar, 2025 | Jane Fonda, The Great Bear Project
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...
by Jenny | 12 Mar, 2025 | Uncategorized
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...
by Jenny | 9 Mar, 2025 | Gene Hackman
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...
by Jenny | 23 Feb, 2025 | Audrey Hepburn
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...
by Jenny | 4 Feb, 2025 | Marlene Dietrich
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...
by Jenny | 3 Feb, 2025 | Cher, Dinner and a Movie
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...
by Jenny | 12 Jan, 2025 | Vincent Price
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....
by Jenny | 24 Dec, 2024 | Carole Landis, Movie Star Cocktails
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...
by Jenny | 18 Dec, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Zoë Wanamaker
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...
by Jenny | 30 Nov, 2024 | Mary Eaton, Movie Star Cocktails
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...
by Jenny | 20 Nov, 2024 | Dinner and a Movie, Vincent Price
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...
by Jenny | 15 Nov, 2024 | Lee Tracy, Movie Star Cocktails
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...
by Jenny | 2 Nov, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Philip Michael Thomas
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...
by Jenny | 18 Oct, 2024 | Ruth Gordon
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,...
by Jenny | 8 Oct, 2024 | Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam, Paula Prentiss, Ron Glass, Ron Leibman
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...
by Jenny | 10 Sep, 2024 | Carole Lombard, Movie Star Cocktails
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...
by Jenny | 26 Aug, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Roger Moore
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...
by Jenny | 14 Aug, 2024 | Diana Dors
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...
by Jenny | 11 Aug, 2024 | Alan Hale, Cesare Danova, Courtney Cox, Craig Stevens, Dick Van Patten, Hayley Mills, Jack Carter, Jackie Cooper, Jayne Meadows, Jayne Meadows Allen, Karen Black, Marsha Hunt, Murder, She Cooked, Robert Stack, Robert Sterling, Robert Vaughn, Sharon Acker, Van Johnson, William Windom, Yvonne de Carlo
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...
by Jenny | 6 Aug, 2024 | Audrey Hepburn
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...
by Jenny | 25 Jul, 2024 | Brenda Blethyn, Cooking The Detectives
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...
by Jenny | 22 Jul, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Raymond Burr, Top 100 Movie Star Recipes
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...
by Jenny | 10 Jul, 2024 | Dinner and a Movie, Paul McCartney
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,...
by Jenny | 6 Jul, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Dennis Weaver
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...
by Jenny | 1 Jul, 2024 | Movie Star Cocktails
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...
by Jenny | 30 Jun, 2024 | Stanley Tucci, Tuccitime
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...
by Jenny | 27 Jun, 2024 | Angela Lansbury, Murder, She Cooked
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...
by Jenny | 14 Jun, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Harry Morgan
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...
by Jenny | 5 Jun, 2024 | Melissa Gilbert
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...
by Jenny | 2 Jun, 2024 | Lana Turner
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...
by Jenny | 1 Jun, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives
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...
by Jenny | 27 May, 2024 | Vincent Price
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...
by Jenny | 22 May, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Stefanie Powers
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...
by Jenny | 14 May, 2024 | Andy Clyde, David Niven, Diana Dors, Gene Tierney, Peter Fonda, Phyllis Diller, Top 100 Movie Star Recipes, Una Stubbs, Vincent Price
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 Andy...
by Jenny | 28 Apr, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Cybill Shepherd
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...
by Jenny | 21 Apr, 2024 | Dinner and a Movie, Doris Day
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...
by Jenny | 19 Apr, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Don Adams
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...
by Jenny | 14 Apr, 2024 | Amanda Burton, Cooking The Detectives
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...
by Jenny | 9 Apr, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Karl Malden
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...
by Jenny | 29 Mar, 2024 | Henry Fonda, The Great Bear Project
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,...
by Jenny | 27 Mar, 2024 | Penelope Keith
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...
by Jenny | 18 Mar, 2024 | Dinner and a Movie, Joan 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...
by Jenny | 10 Mar, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Jack Lord
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...
by Jenny | 5 Mar, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, John Nettles
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...
by Jenny | 23 Feb, 2024 | Errol Flynn, Movie Star Cocktails
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...
by Jenny | 21 Feb, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Sheila Hancock
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...
by Jenny | 17 Feb, 2024 | Joan Crawford
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...
by Jenny | 17 Feb, 2024 | Mike Douglas, Phyllis Diller
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...
by Jenny | 15 Feb, 2024 | Preston Sturges, Screenwriter Cocktails
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...
by Jenny | 15 Feb, 2024 | Cesare Danova, Dick Van Patten, Karen Black, Murder, She Cooked, Robert Stack, Sharon Acker, Van Johnson
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...
by Jenny | 11 Feb, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Mildred Natwick
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...
by Jenny | 7 Feb, 2024 | Anne Bancroft, 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...
by Jenny | 4 Feb, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Roger Moore
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...
by Jenny | 30 Jan, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Jack Webb
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. ...
