Hundred-year-old magazines sometimes have holiday recipes. For St. Patrick’s Day, the March, 1925 issue of American Cookery had a recipe for Shamrock Salad with French Dressing with Mustard. I decided to give it a try.
Shamrock Salad is made by stuffing green pepper halves with a cream cheese and olive mixture. The stuffed peppers are refrigerated for several hours, then sliced. The French Dressing with Mustard is very different from modern bottled French dressings, but it was a nice oil and vinegar dressing.
The Shamrock Salad with French Dressing with Mustard was good, but had a very old-fashioned look and taste.
Here’s the original recipe:
The old recipe indicates that the serving size is four slices. I cannot imagine eating a serving that large of this salad; 1 slice – at most 2 – makes a nice serving size. Since I thought that the serving size was very large, I halved the recipe when I updated it.
For the French Dressing with Mustard, I used olive oil for the oil.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Shamrock Salad with French Dressing with Mustard
1 large green pepper
1/2 tablespoon butter, softened
1 8-ounce container cream cheese (room temperature)
1/4 tablespoon cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 stuffed green olives, finely chopped
lettuce (optional)
Remove stem from the green pepper, then cut in half. (There will be a top half and a bottom half.) Remove pith and seeds. Set aside.
Put butter in a bowl and cream, then add the cream cheese, cream, and salt. Stir until smooth. Add the chopped olives and stir until the olives are evenly distributed in the mixture.
Use the cream cheese mixture to fill the green pepper halves. Press the mixture in firmly. Refrigerate the stuffed peppers until the cream cheese is firm (at least 4 hours)
Remove from refrigerator and with a sharp knife cut the stuffed peppers into thin slices (about 1/4 inch thick). If desired, put the slices on lettuce leaves. Serve with French Dressing with Mustard (see below).
French Dressing with Mustard
1 teaspoon brown mustard
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper
1 teaspoons onion, grated (optional)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 tablespoon vinegar
Put the brown mustard in a bowl, then stir in the salt and pepper. If desired, add the grated onion and stir. Gradually add the olive oil while stirring rapidly, then add the vinegar and stir to combine.
I think it is a very interesting recipe and you would really need to pick the peppers that would make the best shamrock. I might just use bottled dressing or no dressing.
Yes, some peppers are definitely shaped better for making shamrocks than others. Bottled dressing would work fine.
I shared the recipe with my daughters. It will be fun to make.
I think we are back to the fact that vegetables where a lot smaller back then.. I have
peppers come from my garden that are much smaller then the ones at the store.
I bet a sprinkle of bacon bits would be great in this.
Yes, I bet you’re right that the peppers were a lot smaller a hundred years ago. Many of the ones at the store are huge. Bacon bits would be good on this.
Thank you for celebrating St Patrick’s Day with food. I will look at the pictures tomorrow instead of preparing anything special for myself.
Good plan!
Good plan to look at pictures instead of making a specific food. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Nice job Sheryl! It is a novelty that’s for sure!
Some of the foods that people came up with a hundred years ago are fascinating. Some ideas were very unique. Though in another hundred years, people will probably say the same thing about some of today’s recipes.
That they will!
I think it is pretty and would look somewhat festive. We never celebrated St. Patrick’s Day growing up, although if you did not have on some green that day, you got pinched at school!
Around here, corned beef is popular on St. Patrick’s Day. And (though I’ve never had it), a lot of the bars serve green beer.
Same here.
I think that the bell peppers make a nice little bowl to hold veggie dip.😀
I really like your idea. A bell pepper would make a wonderful little bowl. And, the cream cheese with olives would be a lovely veggie dip. I should have quit after I stuffed the pepper, and before I sliced it. 🙂
Looks great and what a tasty way to celebrate the day!
Thanks! I had fun making the Shamrock Salad.
wow raw onion pulp in the dressing? That would be … tangy. What an amazingly hilarious salad :=)
The cream cheese filling reminds me of some veggie dips.