When I wrote about Tyne Daly’s favourite cocktail – The Greyhound
my chum Lindy asked on Facebook if I had any recipes for Sharon Gless:
and indeed I do. Tyne and Sharon appeared together in groundbreaking kick-ass cop show Cagney and Lacey:
If you are of a certain age, I can guarantee that you’ll have the theme song going around in your head right now…
I am toying with the idea of buying the box set of all the Cagney & Lacey episodes – it’s £40… Maybe I’ll wait until I’ve worked my way through The Rockford Files and McMillan and Wife first… The series I REALLY want, as I remember loving it as a kid, is Police Woman with the divine Angie Dickinson:
but that is currently £25 just for the first season… I am saving my pennies…
Since I spotted this via a Google search, I am now of course, tempted to see if I can find my very own 9″ Police Woman with lifetime mobility on eBay…
But back to the beans! I absolutely love baked beans, and usually have them on a Sunday with Mr R when we have a big old trad English breakfast involving sausages, eggs, sometimes bacon, sometimes tomatoes and for himself, sometimes mushrooms. So when Lindy chose the Blonde’s Beans from the recipes I have for Sharon, I was very happy.
The other recipes I have for Sharon in the collection are Skillet Cornbread a la Aunt Ella, and Poppy Seed Cake. If you are a fan of Sharon’s and you’d like all three of these recipes, let me know and I’ll send them over. You could have a marathon Cagney & Lacey session with beans and cornbread followed by poppy seed cake. Washed down with many Greyhounds of course…
Sharon’s recipe appeared in The Cop Cookbook, which I LOVE. So many great movie star recipes in this book…
But there is a rather fierce copyright notice at the front about the reproduction of content from the book, so I’m not going to transcribe Sharon’s recipe in full here. Happy to send it to you though if you’d like to see the original. Sharon says that she makes this dish for every family barbecue, and that she doesn’t really measure the ingredients. Her recipe is peppered with phrases like “quite a lot of…” and “tons of” and “lots of” in regards to ingredients. So here’s how I made her beans. It’s definitely the kind of recipe you make to your own taste… I like LOTS of Worcestershire sauce and not so much sugar but you might be the other way inclined…
Sharon Gless’ The Blondes Baked Beans (my version, based on Sharon’s charmingly vague recipe!)
2 x 415 grams cans baked beans
2 large red onions
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
200 grams bacon
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, 180 degrees C, gas mark 4.
Mix beans, onions, sugar and Worcestershire sauce together in an ovenproof pot that has a lid. Cover the beans with bacon. Put the lid on the pot and bake for about 45 minutes “until it is really bubbling” says Sharon. When it is hot all the way through, take off the lid, remove the bacon and throw the bacon away. Et voila! Some fancy beans to have with your fry-up.
Sharon says: “This recipe is not for the cholesterol conscious but it tastes awfully good!” In characteristic style she also says: “Makes tons of servings.” Indeed it does. I popped a couple of portions in my freezer and it freezes like a dream. Beans. Yum..
P.S. If you have landed here looking for an Angie Dickinson recipe – please nip over to Eat Drink Films where you will find her excellent cheesy treat – Angie Dickinson’s Honeymoon Sandwich. I love Angie’s serving suggestion for her sandwich: Serve open-face style with good vintage brut Champagne. That is EXACTLY what I will do when I get around to buying Police Woman and having a marathon viewing session.
Angie was also partial to an avocado…
