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Post-Quarantine Cooking with Kallie


Thank you for joining me for the next installment of Post-Quarantine Cooking with Kallie. In case you missed my previous four-part video series, I selected recipes from the Villanova University Digital Library and provided viewers cooking demonstrations and step-by-step instructions for crafting the delicious dishes. While I am no longer in quarantine, I had a great time brining a few historical recipes to life. In that spirit, I plan to continue the blog series this summer with a few new delicacies.

This month, I’ve selected a lasagna dish from Anonimo Toscano, Libro della Cocina (late 14th or early 15th c.) The original text can be viewed here. The Italian cookbook, penned by an anonymous Tuscan author, features 184 recipes with a variety of ingredients and helpful preparations. Below is the translation:

(147) Take good, white flour; dilute it with warm water, and make it thick; then roll it out thin and let it dry: it must be cooked in capon or other fat meat broth: then put it on a platter with grated rich cheese, layer by layer, as you like.

The recipe was one of many featured during the College of Professional Studies virtual mini-course: “The HistoryCulture and Language of Italian Food.” In partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Mary Migliozzi, Ph.D., Assistant Teaching Professor at Villanova University, shared Italian culinary traditions by “tracing Italian food from Roman and Etruscan origins through the myriad transnational influences of the middle ages and Renaissance and into the regional and globally-influenced food traditions of the 21st century.” See below for cooking tutorial. View the noodle recipe here

Some of my Falvey colleagues attended the virtual course and we reviewed a few primary sources:

For more Italian recipes, check out these resources from Falvey Memorial Library:

The next featured recipe: Philadelphia vanilla ice cream.


Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 


 


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Quarantine Cooking with Kallie: Halloween “Prize” Filling

Happy Halloween, Wildcats! The holidays—especially Halloween—are always fun at Falvey; Library staff continually planning new ways to celebrate. Last year, Distinctive Collections staff hosted a Halloween Open House with eerie treasures on display in the Rare Book Room including a seventeenth century exorcism manual. Their featured treat was a Prohibition-era mocktail called the St. Augustine (follow link for recipe.) Costumes weren’t mandatory, however, Falvey staff still commemorated the spooktacular day!

Library staff (left to right): Chris Hallberg, Sarah Wingo, Kallie Stahl, Laura Bang, Rebecca Oviedo, Beaudry Rae Allen, Shawn Proctor.

Reminiscing on Halloweens past and brainstorming ideas for this blog, I decided to alter a recipe I stumbled upon a few weeks ago. The original recipe was a white layer cake featured in the Prize Cook Book, part of the John Regan Five Cent Pamphlets (no. 4) Dime Novel Collection. Listing multiple fillings for the layer cake including caramel, maple sugar, apple, and chocolate, I chose to simplify the recipe and add the maple sugar filling to cinnamon rolls. Mixing a few drops of orange food coloring to the packaged frosting, I crafted a simple and tasty autumnal treat!

Below are a few images of the Prize Cook Book if you’d like to explore the cake fillings. The entire cook book is available for reading in the Villanova University Digital Library.

The recipe I used for this blog is featured in the second image above. Here are the original instructions for the maple sugar filling:

  • Two cups maple sugar (cooked until it strings)
  • Add beaten whites of two eggs and beat until cold

I altered the recipe using cinnamon rolls instead of layer cake:

  • One (or two) cans of packaged cinnamon rolls
  • Orange food coloring
  • One cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp. water

Cooking instructions (maple sugar filling):

  • Mix one cup of brown sugar and two tbsp. water in saucepan on stove
  • Stirring constantly on low heat, bring sugar and water to a boil
  • Wisk one egg white and gradually add the heated sugar to the egg white (stirring constantly)
  • Let mixture cool

Cooking instructions (cinnamon rolls):

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  • Grease round cakepan and place rolls in pan
  • Drizzle a spoonful of maple sugar filling on each roll
  • Bake 15-19 minutes until golden brown
  • Spread icing (add food coloring if desired)
  • Option to add additional maple sugar filling in lieu of icing (or use both!)

Check out the finished product below. View the full cooking tutorial here.

Cinnamon rolls with maple syrup filling and orange icing.

Cinnamon rolls with maple syrup filling and orange icing.

Image of Villanova caramel candies.

Attempted to make Villanova caramel candies with leftover maple sugar filling.

Interested in Dime Novels? Explore Dime Novels and Popular Literature in the Digital Library. Save the date for Papers for the People: Dime Novel Symposium on on Wednesday, Nov, 4, and Thursday, Nov. 5, from 7:30-9:30 p.m. EST. The virtual event, hosted by Northern Illinois University and Villanova University, will feature panel discussions with notable and upcoming dime novel scholars. These conversations will focus on how dime novels can be used in the classroom and will offer regional educators, academics, and students at the graduate and undergraduate level the opportunity to learn about and discuss dime novels directly with experts in the field. Participation is free. Register here.

While this Halloween will be different at Falvey Memorial Library and Villanova University, there will still be plenty of socially distanced activities for this “Halloweekend” on campus! Hopefully the featured recipes will inspire some quarantine cooking for Halloween and the cooler months ahead. Thank you all for your dedication to the Caritas Commitment. Be well, ‘Cats!


Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 


 


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Quarantine Cooking With Kallie: Grape-Nuts Fruit Pudding (1923)

Welcome back, Wildcats! ICYMI: For the past few weeks, I’ve been cooking recipes featured in the Villanova University Digital Library while teleworking from home during the pandemic. With the fall semester back in session, I wanted to feature a simple recipe that could be easily made in residence halls and apartments; which bring me to the exciting reveal of this week’s recipe…Grape-Nuts Fruit Pudding!

Yes, Grape-Nuts.

And don’t be fooled by the title, the recipe is made with Jell-O, not pudding.

I was familiar with the wheat and barley cereal prior to the discovery of this recipe. My grandmother would put Grape-Nuts in her yogurt, and I sometimes ate Grape-Nuts with milk and multiple spoonfuls of sugar (which defeated the purpose of Grape-Nuts as a healthy alternative to sugary cereal). For those of you unfamiliar with the whole-grain cereal, it was “developed by C.W. Post in 1897 and has remained a fixture in American culture.”

Advertisements for Grape-Nuts were frequently featured during “The Andy Griffith Show” in the 1960s. During the 1970s the company paired with “wild-food-expert-turned-spokesperson, Euell Gibbons as part of the return to nature movement sweeping parts of the country.” Gibbons’ most famous quote, “Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible,” was featured in a 1974 Grape-Nuts commercial.

Below is an advertisement for Grape-Nuts on the back cover of The People’s Home Journal, v. XXXVIII, no. 7, July, 1923. The entire magazine is available for reading in the Villanova University Digital Library.

ad for Grape-Nuts on the back cover of The People's Home Journal, v. XXXVIII, no. 7, July, 1923

Image courtesy of the Villanova University Digital Library.

The recipe I used for this blog is featured in the image above. Here are the original instructions:

  • One package of lemon Jell-O dissolved in one pint of boiling water.
  • One cup (half-pint) Grape-Nuts. One half-pound of raisins or dates.
  • As many walnuts as desired.
  • Mix thoroughly and pour into a dish or mould to cool and harden.
  • Serve with whipped cream.

I altered the recipe slightly:

  • Bring 1 cup of water to a boil.
  • Add boiling water and Jell-O mix in a dish (stirring until mixture is dissolved.) Then add 1 cup cold water.
  • Mix in 1 cup of Grape-Nuts and 1 cup of raisins or dates.
  • Refrigerate for four hours.
  • Garnish with chopped walnuts and whipped cream.

Check out the finished product below.

Photo of Grape-Nuts pudding.

While this semester will be unlike any other, the staff at Falvey Memorial Library is diligently working to provide access to resources to help you succeed. For more recipes visit the Digital Library. Questions about the Digital Library, University Archives or Special Collections? Contact the Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement staff.


Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 


 


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Quarantine Cooking with Kallie: Mendel Macaroni Salad with Lemon Thyme Dressing

Happy birthday, Gregor Mendel, O.S.A.! Instead of making a cake for the Augustinian Friar’s birthday, I decided to make a recipe shared by Access Services Director Luisa Cywinski. The recipe is not from the 19th century, but does feature an ingredient special to Mendel—peas. Mendel’s pea plant experiments with hybridization led to the discovery of hereditary laws ushering in the modern age of genetics. The featured recipe is not part of the Digital Library, however Mendel’s papers on “Experiments in Plant Hybridization” are available for reading. The Mendel Collection features “first editions of Mendel’s papers and earlier works about heredity and the importance of Mendel’s works around 1900 by such scientists as William Bateson, Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns and others.” 

Below is a preview of Mendel’s lecture on his experiments with hybridization of pea plants which he delivered before the Natural Sciences Society of Brünn on Feb. 8 and March 8, 1865.

Image of Mendel's papers on "Experiments in Plant Hybridisation" which he delivered before the Natural Sciences Society of Brünn on February 8th and March 8th, 1865.

Photo courtesy of Villanova University Digital Library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luisa Cywinski, Access Services Director, first posted the recipe for Mendel Macaroni Salad with Lemon Thyme Dressing, which she based on a recipe featured on The Cozy Apron.

Mendel Macaroni Salad 

  • 12 oz macaroni pasta, cooked and cooled
  • 1 cup frozen petite peas, thawed
  • 4 oz diced and crisped pancetta (can be substituted with bacon, deli ham, etc.)
  • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, for garnish

“Add the cooked and cooled macaroni to a large bowl, and add in the thawed petite peas and the diced, crisped pancetta; if serving immediately, toss with the Lemon-Thyme Dressing, and garnish with the thyme leaves; if making ahead, prepare all components and keep them separate, then toss the dressing with the pasta/peas/pancetta when ready to serve, to keep the pasta salad moist and fresh; keep cold.”

Lemon-Thyme Dressing

  • ¾ cup mayonnaise
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1 ½ tablespoons lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon whole grain Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
  • ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, for garnish

“Add all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor. Process the mixture until thick and completely creamy; store in the fridge until you’re ready to serve the salad, at which point you can toss the dressing with the pasta. Garnish with sprigs of fresh thyme.”

Check out my cooking tutorial and the finished product below.

Photo of Macaroni Salad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fore more pea-themed recipes explore Cywinski’s blog post. Additional recipes are also available for viewing in the Digital Library. Questions about the Digital Library, University Archives or Special Collections? Contact the Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement staff. Check back next month for another quarantine cooking tutorial!


Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 


 


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Last Modified: July 20, 2020

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