I hope this is no April Fool’s joke that Spring is here. Let’s hope so because this April 1981 issue of vintage Cuisine magazine has so many Springtime recipes.
Let’s start with the recipes for Italian Easter Pastries, such as Savory Crescents Teramo Style; Savory Easter Pie; Easter Dove Bread; Pizza Rustica; Cannoli Alla Siciliana; a cake called Cicerchiata; Pastiera Napoletana; Sicilian Home-Style Cassata, and more. The recipes are all very long and involved but look beautiful in the photos.
The dozen or so fish recipes from Michelin-starred Chef Jean Troigros also include the special sauces for which he is famous. The chef is acclaimed as a father of “nouvelle cuisine.” The article includes a fascinating look at his teachings with many quotes and hints to make his dishes. There is even a “cooking lesson” to make “Lobster à la Troigros with Beurre Blanc and Garnishes” that covers three pages with step-by-step directions.
To offset all the long and involved recipes, a “Spring Celebration Menu” offered easy recipes for a quickly prepared meal. One is for this bright and colorful Asian-inspired salad made with pea pods, and either enoki mushrooms or sliced white mushrooms and drizzled with a sesame-soy vinaigrette. I would have loved to have made it with the enoki’s but couldn’t find them. The salad was delicious and so pretty in its simplicity.
- Pea and Mushroom Salad:
- ½ to ¾ pound fresh snow peas
- 3 heads Bibb lettuce
- 1 package (about 3 ounces) enoki mushrooms or ¼ pound small white mushrooms, sliced thin
- Sesame Soy Vinaigrette:
- 2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1-1/4 teaspoons light soy sauce
- Salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup peanut oil
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- Trim and string snow peas. Blanch in a large saucepan of boiling water until no longer raw tasting but but still crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Rinse under cold water to stop cooking; drain on paper towels.
- Core lettuce; separate into leaves. Rinse; pat dry. Trim and discard tough ends from enoki mushrooms (or white mushrooms); rinse and pat dry.
- For the vinaigrette, whisk vinegar, soy sauce, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in peanut and sesame oils. Taste for seasoning. Arrange lettuce leaves on individual salad plates. Top with snow peas and mushrooms, dividing evenly. Whisk dressing again, then drizzle over each serving. Serve immediately at room temperature. Serves 4.
It is quite a coincidence that you publish this just a few days ago because I was looking through an old cookbook this morning and found a note that my mother had written. She advised the reader to check the April 1981 issue of cuisine magazine for its recipe for Neapolitan pastiera. Now I am looking for that recipe. Any chance you would reproduce that here? In any case, thank you for uploading that salad recipe: I’m definitely going to give it a try.
Angela, I just read your email and the magazine happened to be right next to me. I took a photo of the recipe and will go email it to you. It’s a long recipe! How wonderful that you found that note from your mom in an old cookbook. Feels like more than just a coincidence! I love it.
Hi ,
I was looking for Pastiera Napolitano recipe from April 1981 Cuisine Magazine.
Is it possible for you to post recipe here & any other Easter recipes from that issue.
Thanks MaryAnn
Hi Mary Ann- I haven’t been on the computer for a few days and just reading your comment now. The article on Italian Easter Pastries is very long, so it may take me a while to get it to you. I’ll do it as soon as I can. You will love it- they all sound so amazing!
Thank you Debbie
Hi MaryAnn- I will have to send you the full article of the Italian pastries a few separate pages at a time instead of a PDF, as I couldn’t get it to work. Check your email soon. Great-sounding recipes!