There is almost nothing more fun than poking through an old cookbook. And this old cookbook, published in 1966, is a doozy.
I'm pretty sure I bought it at a library book sale, and have tried maybe half a dozen recipes from it over the years. The recipes are excellent -- easy to make, different, and, as you might guess from the title, economical.
And the text is grand fun to read. This is from the foreword, by Louise Bogan: "Poets are often out of funds. Many times they try to keep body and soul together by eating candy bars, apples, doughnuts, and an occasional hamburger, usually standing up. This is a mistake. Meals should be eaten sitting down."
The dish I made tonight, called simply "Conde," starts with sauteed pieces of bacon and sliced green onions. Add to it a can of kidney beans and a couple of other ingredients, and you've got an inexpensive dish that you can serve with a salad, some fruit, a roll perhaps, and call it dinner.
1/4 lb. bacon, diced
4 green onions, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 1/2-lb. can kidney beans
1/2 c. evaporated milk
1 c. water
1/4 t. gumbo file powder (I didn't have this, and after looking it up online, decided I didn't need to substitute anything for it)
Brown the bacon and onions in large skillet. Add rest of the ingredients except for the file powder and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Stir in the file powder and serve.
Do you have a favorite "nickel dinner," as author Ann Rogers puts it?
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