Hal K Dawson’s Zucchini Soup
Just back from an enormous creative boost at the Sheffield Documentary Festival. Met some amazing new people and some much cherished old friends – the wonderful Sarah and Suzanne. I was also thrilled to see my much-adored mentor Hugh. I just bumped into...
Vincent Price’s “Delights From the Sultan’s Pantry” Party
Coo what a feast! Heather, Ben, Sanja, James and my imaginary boyfriend came to help me scoff everything. It was a lot of work but I really enjoyed myself so it was worth it. I am definitely getting less stressed out when I do complicated...
Silver Screen Sunday – Vincent Price’s “Delights from the Sultan’s Pantry” Party
I am getting anxious about tomorrow's party. It's a big deal for me, a celebration of the end of the Vincentennial Cookblog and a gathering of most of the people who were at the party to launch it. I am worried about whether I'll get everything done in time, whether...
Joan Crawford’s Wilted Spinach Salad
Hmm. This was tasty. I had it with a Vincent Price burger that I retrieved from the back of the freezer. It had Roquefort cheese inside. Mmmm... Here's Joan's simple but effective recipe: "Wilted Spinach Salad: I pour hot bacon grease and...
Recipe of the Month – Gracie Fields’ Potted Shrimps
As Britain is so very, very British at the moment at this time of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee I thought we should have a very British dish as the recipe of the month. How more British can you get than Gracie and Potted Shrimps? I found this scanned cook...
Vincent Price’s Calf’s Liver and Avocado
Yes, it was as weird as it sounds and looks. I'd been wanting to try it since I saw the recipe because I love avocado and I love liver. I knew it would be weird though, fried avocado? Hot avocado? And yes, it was strange But kinda good...
Vincent Price’s Herb Bread
Behold His Majesty The Loaf. I love making bread. You have to be having a spinster's day in really, for all the sticking it in a warm place to rise and then kneading it and letting it rise again, but really it's a lovely thing to do. Vincent's recipe actually makes...
Guild of Food Writers Awards
I rocked up at The Guild of Food Writers annual awards ceremony on Wednesday and it was just wonderful. I was thrilled that one of my heroes Yotam Ottolenghi was only a few feet away from me accepting his award for "Jerusalem on a Plate" and that Claudia Roden won...
Vincent Price’s Pollo Alla Cacciatora (Chicken Hunter’s Style With Noodles)
OK, so there were no noodles. I am English and the idea of having a chicken leg with noodles just seems odd, so I had it with Savoy cabbage instead. Yum yum. As Vincent observed, "The real secret of this recipe's excellence is the red wine added for the last bit of...
William Powell’s Vatrouskis
Hmmm - I overcooked some of these... I made them for Ben and Polly's wedding which was one of the loveliest weddings I've ever been too. Ooooooooo there was a lot of love there! I had some of the mixture and pastry left over so I made a few for me...
Jackie Cooper’s Gingerbread Men (and one Woman)
Ha ha - these were fun to make. I think I over cooked them but they were amusing little fellows while they lasted.
Silver Screen Sandwiches
What a lovely surprise. Queens of Vintage magazine are running my piece about Silver Screen Sandwiches again. You can read it here: Silver Screen Sandwiches If any readers of the article drop by - hello and welcome! I blog about all my adventures in cooking the...
Competition Time – Jackie Cooper’s Gingerbread Men
Just sent out the monthly newsletter, a bit late this month as it's been busy, busy, busy. I'm running a competition for the best Gingerbread Man - should be fun. Recipe is here if you are not a newsletter subscriber, I'm excited about the prospect of getting some...
John Boles’ Picnic Marble Cakes
Aw these were cute! I made them before work as I knew making dinner would be a scramble. I had the ladies of the book group to dinner and it was lovely. We drank lots of wine and talked about the book a little bit, but seemed to talk mostly about my...
Cary Grant’s Mushroom Canapes
My fungi phobia is abating and I was quite surprised about how much I liked these. Even though the little critters looked WEIRD, they tasted good. I made them with something quite funky I found in Morrison's. A jar of "mixed mushrooms" in oil. ...
Richard Brook’s Brooks-Barthelmess Special
I don't know what the link was between Clive Brook and Richard Barthelmess but I guess at some point they rustled this up together. Maybe they were flat-mates in some seedy boarding house before they hit the big time? If anyone has the insider knowledge,...
Mae West’s Salada de Tuna
I was craving Mae's salad for lunch when I was at the supermarket today so I tried to remember what was in it on the hoof. So this is basically Mae's recipe with the addition of a few things I had knocking around the fridge - lettuce, rocket, some beetroot and a...
Claire Windsor’s Snow Drops – a reader’s version
A lovely surprise via Facebook this week. Rebecca in Wisconsin posted two pictures of her version of the recipe of the month - don't they look cute? Rebecca added some cocoa powder to the icing sugar which I thought was a genius touch. The Silver Screen...
Silver Screen Sunday – Vincent Price “Bounty of Paradise” Polynesian Party
Pineapples! I've been wanting to throw a whole Vincent Price dinner party for a long time and Easter Sunday seemed like a good time to do it. It was SPECTACULAR. First up were Rumakis (above), water chestnuts cloaked in chicken liver with a bacon...
Dorothy Wilson’s Chutney
Whose idea was it to start making a chutney at 9pm in the evening? I blame the bottle of sherry I bought today for my Vincent Price Teriyaki sauce. I used 1 tablespoon of it for that, and seem to have drunk just about the rest of the bottle this evening preparing...
Recipe of the Month – Claire Windsor’s Snow Drops
Just sent out my monthly newsletter with this month's recipe - they are SO CUTE. If you fancy a little baking over Easter or any time in April these are very much recommended... I have 4 days off work for the Easter holiday. Yippee. I do love work, but it is nice...
Barbara Stanwyck’s Kipfels
These were very cute, but next time I make them I will try to roll the dough much thinner. I think a trip to the cookshop is required, I think I need one of those mats for rolling stuff out on, you should see my kitchen worktop. Cooee. Both of my blind...
Bette Davis’ Scallops
Most contemporary chefs would be alarmed at the amount of time Bette cooked her scallops for (30 minutes parboiled then 10-15 minutes under the grill) and I was a bit concerned they would be chewy, but they turned out fine. Here are before and after shots of the...
Errol Flynn’s French Deviled Tomatoes
I decided that if my date for tonight cancelled again I would give up on him - even though he's the first single man I've met that I fancy for what seems like forever. And he has done, so I've put myself back on the internet dating scene. Having enormous fun already...
Joan Crawford’s Charcoal Broiled Steak
A mustard mystery of Miss Marple magnitude in Melton Mobray this weekend! Oh my goodness the intrigue! Trix, Jane and myself made a pilgrimage to the Great British Mustard Bash: a six hour round trip to see if my Colonel Mustard's Mustard's Chocolate Beer...
Rudolph Valentino’s Chicken From Parma
The ex who cannot be named came round for dinner and a movie last night and it was a funny experience for me to have him fall asleep during the movie holding my hand. Hand holding is something I never remember him doing when we were together. It felt...
John Wayne’s Cheese Casserole
I have versions of The Duke's favourite cheese casserole recipe in FIVE different celebrity cookbooks so can only assume it was something he really, really liked to eat. But only this week I found out that the recipe was also featured on that most lovable of all...
Claire Windsor’s Snowdrops
Oh these are so cute. And easy to make. A winner. It has been so much fun and so lovely to have Caroline in my clutches for a couple of days. How I wished she lived just around the corner rather than a million miles away in Texas. I do miss her...
Dick Powell’s Truck Drivers Welsh Rarebit
Happy St David's Day. In tribute to my spiritual homeland of Wales I decided to cook something with a Welsh flavour. What better than Truck Drivers Welsh Rarebit? Caws Pobi - now there's lovely! I have no idea why Dick's recipe specifies that this is the kind of...
Marion Davies’ Cheese Patties
I have lovely new neighbours and they had a party on Saturday night. My philosophy is, rather than staying home and getting annoyed at the comings and goings, GO to the party, get really drunk, fall over and ladder your tights. Talk nonsense to everyone. ...
Clara Bow’s Chicken Chartreuse
I had to buy a pudding basin to make Clara's mountain of rice with chicken inside. Luckily for me the fancy cookshop in Muswell Hill is open on a Sunday and despite being on a budget I blew £7 on a nice red Mason & Cole one. Now I am already dreaming...
Joan Crawford’s Steak with Roquefort Sauce
"Bedroom problems? There is absolutely nothing in my bedroom that bothers me!" Me neither Doris, me neither! Although I WOULD like to have a white telephone beside the bed. Ignoring the fact that I don't actually have a land line... I am indulging myself...
Silver Screen Saturday – Vincent Price Mexican Breakfast
After weeks of my planning and plotting and inventing clues, Heather & Nathan’s treasure hunt was BRILLIANT. When they arrived at the Palace of Solitude I greeted them at the door in a Sombrero with frozen margaritas in hand and so the fun began. I’ve written more...
Silver Screen Sunday – A Hitchcockian Luncheon
I've been reading Pat Hitchcock's biography of her mother and it is GREAT! There are some of Alma's recipes at the back and I based a meal around these. But first we had some Joan Crawford canapes, her legendary salami sandwiches and some peanut butter and...
Silver Screen Canapes – Guild of Food Writers’ Recipe Treasury
I was thrilled to be invited to contribute a recipe to the Guild of Food Writers' Treasury, and it's gone live today on their website - GFW Recipe of the Month - I snuck in two as they are for little film star nibbles. Gloria Swanson's Caviar Canapes - seen below -...
Recipe of the Month – Joan Crawford’s Steak with Roquefort Sauce
The recipe of the month is up. I was thinking about what I would like to eat on Valentine's Night. I will treat myself to a nice juicy steak prepared Joanie style with a good bottle of wine. I might watch Pillow Talk. I love the scene...
Bette Davis’ Marmalade
Ah, the website has returned from its holiday at the seaside. I was getting worried there. 5 years of blogging, over 500 posts about hundreds of film star recipe experiments - I thought it had all gone for ever. I shall be lavishing care and...
Vincent Price’s New Year Vol-au-Vent
Happy New Year to all my readers. 2012 is going to be a humdinger I can just feel it! Last night I saw off the old year in style with Corinna and Kate. We had Vincent's New Year Vol-au-Vent which was a splendid looking mega pastry full of turkey, bacon, peanuts,...
Merry Christmas from Silver Screen Suppers
I'll be on the telebox on Christmas Day with the Shellac Sisters! I think it will just be a fleeting moment but the programme will be gorgeous anyhow. We did love Darcey...
Roland Young’s Rissoles
I should have gone to bed early tonight, instead I have made Roland Young's Rissoles from my leftover turkey as is TRADITION. I laughed out loud when I searched my computer for Roland's recipe and one of the things that popped up was a document called "Gaby-isms". I...
Joan Crawford’s Salami Canapes
Christmas came early this year to The Palace of Solitude as yesterday I cooked Christmas dinner for three. Wow, what a lot of work! But it was worth it and I was very pleased with my Vincent Price "Roast Turkey Wayside Inn" which I'll write about later on the...
Guild of Food Writers – Silver Screen Suppers Presentation
I was so thrilled to be invited to give a presentation to the Guild of Food Writers about my Silver Screen Suppers project. I was very nervous to be speaking to such an esteemed crowd but they made me very welcome and I had lots of lovely compliments afterwards. We...
Diana Dors Competition
The Diana Dors double bill is out on DVD! The booklet contains an article by yours truly about Diana's fashion style and there are lots of pix of her frocks to drool over. I've got a copy to give away to one lucky winner. Diana is GREAT in both of these films and I...
Vincent Price’s Crostata Di Mele (Apple Tart)
My heart nearly burst with pride this morning when I got an email from my mum praising my pastry! I'd taken up some mini apple pies I made to a Vincent Price recipe last time I visited and she said, "We had your tartlets yesterday, they were really nice, were...
Jimmy Cagney’s Apple (Cheese) Pie
I made a lovely pie to Jimmy's recipe last night - but I forgot to put the cheese in! What an airhead. I think my brain is so full of plot twists, character traits and tricky dialogue at the moment as I grapple with NaNoWriMo - it's affecting my cooking! I've...
Recipe of the Month – Jimmy Cagney’s Apple Cheese Pie
I'll have to ask Rosalind what guns Jimmy is packing, she'll know for sure. The new recipe of the month is up and I'm going to try it on Friday. The lovely Corinna is cooking me dinner as I'm embroiled in NaNoWriMo. Corinna is the first of my volunteer Vincent...
Vincent Price’s Cucumber Crocodiles
There has been much Cucumber Crocodile action this week over at the Vincentennial Cookblog and I’m very excited to tell y'all that I've got an article about Vincent Price on lovefilm.com today – Happy Halloween On the contributors page I am next to Jean Christophe...
Bette Davis’ Marmalade
Still time to enter my competition. Prize? A jar of Bette Davis Marmalade made by yours truly. All you have to do is answer this multiple choice question. You can email me or put your choice in a comment. Closing date Monday 31st October at midnight. Overseas...
Betty Driver’s Salmon Kedgeree
Aw, sad news this week about the passing away of lovely Betty, much beloved maker of Hot Pot at the Rovers Return. I didn't have a hot pot recipe from her but I did have a lovely kedgeree one so I made it tonight in her honour. I would have a had a...
Gloria Swanson’s Bar-Le-Duc
I am thrilled to announce that our Gloria Swanson Bar-Le-Duc won SECOND PRIZE in its class at the Women's Institute Real Jam Festival this weekend. And as my mum put it, "those WI Judges are VERY picky!" Indeed they are, and as you know, we were very picky too -...
