Old-Fashioned Fillets of Flounder with Spaghetti and Mushroom Sauce

Flounder and Spaghetti in dish

I was recently flipping through a hundred-year-old issue of American Cookery magazine, and noticed a photo of Fillets of Flounder with Spaghetti and Mushroom Sauce. There aren’t many photos of dishes in old cookbooks and magazines, so I always assume that the dishes photographed were ones the publisher considered especially nice. The photo was black and white (and much less enticing that modern food photos), but it looked good. So, the next time I went to the supermarket, I bought some flounder, and made the dish.

This recipe is a winner. Spaghetti is dressed with a creamed mushroom sauce. Fillets of flounder with tangy broiled Parmesan cheese are then placed on top. This dish was a delight that tasted surprisingly modern.

Here’s the original recipe: Fillets of Flounder of Spaghetti

Recipe for Fillets of Flounder with Spaghetti — Source: American Bakery (October, 1926)

When I made this recipe, I purchased a one-pound package of frozen flounder fillets which contained three fillets. I thawed the fish before using in the recipe.

I used milk instead of heavy cream when moistening the Parmesan cheese. For the “rich milk” called for in the mushroom sauce recipe, I used half and half. Milk would also work, though the sauce would be a little less rich.

I used parsley instead of water cress as a garnish.

There are three components to this dish: spaghetti, mushroom sauce, and flounder with a Parmesan cheese topping. The most difficult part of this recipe is getting all of the parts cooked at the same time (and if some are finished before others, keeping those components hot). I made the mushroom sauce, and then turned the heat off. I reheated it for a minute or so when I was ready to assemble the dish.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Fillets of Flounder with Spaghetti and Mushroom Sauce

Servings: 3 - 5
Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped (1 6.5-ounce can of mushrooms, chopped, can be substituted for the fresh mushrooms.)

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup half and half (Milk can be substituted for the half and half.)

8 ounces spaghetti

1 pound flounder fillets (3 – 5 fillets)

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon milk

parsley (optional garnish)

Step 1. Make the mushroom sauce by melting the butter in a skillet using medium heat. Place the chopped mushrooms in the skillet and sauté until tender (3 – 5 minutes). Stir in the flour, then gradually add the half and half while stirring constantly. Continue stirring and cooking until the mixture comes to a boil. Turn off the heat.

Step 2. Make the spaghetti following package instructions. (While the water comes to a boil and while the spaghetti cooks, move on to the next steps and cook the flounder fillets.)

Step 3. In the meantime, put the Parmesan cheese and milk in a small bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside.

Step 4. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Put the flounder fillets in the skillet and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Flip the fillets and cook the other side until internal temperature reaches 145° F. (Do not overcook.)

Step 5. Line a baking sheet that can be put under the broiler with aluminum foil. Gently use a large spatula to transfer the cooked flounder to the baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the Parmesan and milk mixture on the flounder and put under the broiler until lightly browned.

Step 6. Reheat the mushroom sauce, while stirring constantly.

Step 7. Assemble dish by putting the cooked spaghetti on a platter or flat dish. (I used a 7 1/2″ X 12″ baking dish.) Spoon the mushroom sauce on top of the spaghetti. Using a large spatula, gently put the flounder fillets that are topped with Parmesan cheese on top of the spaghetti and mushrooms. If desired, garnish with parsley sprigs.

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Old-Fashioned Macaroni with Spinach

Marcaroni with Spinach

Macaroni with Cheese is the ultimate comfort food, but it can get a little boring. So, when I saw a hundred-year-old recipe that called for adding spinach I decided to give it a try.

The Macaroni with Spinach was tasty – though not creamy like most modern Mac and Cheese recipes. It was not creamy because the old recipe did not call for adding any milk. Because of the lack of liquids, I needed to use care when baking this dish to ensure that the macaroni did not dry out and get hard. I covered the baking dish for most of the time it was in the oven and then removed the cover for the last few minutes to crisp the bread crumb topping.

I had some leftovers when I made this recipe which I carefully put in another dish. I added some milk before reheating which helped keep the macaroni moist.

Here is the original recipe:

Macaroni with Spinach — Source: American Cookery (February, 1925)

Spinach cooks down a great deal, but two pounds of fresh spinach seemed like a lot of spinach when the recipe only called for 1/2 pound of macaroni (about 2 cups of dry macaroni). One pound of spinach would be plenty. When I made this recipe I substituted a 12-ounce bag of frozen spinach for the fresh spinach. I am not sure why the recipe author called for pressing the spinach through a colander after it was cooked. I tried to do this. (Actually, I pressed it through a Foley mill.) I ended up with a small amount of puree and lots of spinach that wouldn’t go through. I ended up finely chopping the spinach that didn’t go through the mesh and stirring it into the puree. This worked fine, but I realized that if I was going to use all the parts of the spinach that I didn’t need to press it through a colander or Foley mill so I revised the recipe to just indicate that the spinach should be finely chopped.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Macaroni with Spinach

Servings: 6 - 8
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
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1 pound fresh spinach (or 1 12-ounce bag frozen chopped spinach)

2 cups macaroni

2 cups grated cheese (I used cheddar.)

approximately 1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs (I grated 1 slice of bread.)

1 tablespoon butter

hard-boiled egg for garnish (optional)

tomato slices for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 375◦ F. Wash spinach then put in a large skillet and sauté using medium heat with just the water that clings to the leaves until it wilts. Remove from heat and finely chop. (Alternatively use frozen chopped spinach that has been thawed.)

In the meantime, cook the macaroni following package instructions.

Also, in a small skillet melt the butter. Add the breadcrumbs and stir. Cook until the bread crumbs are just beginning to brown while stirring occasionally (about two minutes).

To assemble the dish put one half of the cooked macaroni in a baking dish. (An 8 X 8 dish or a 1 1/12 quart dish works well). Then put a layer containing one half of the chopped spinach on top of the macaroni. Next add a layer containing one-half of the grated cheese. Repeat the layers with the remainder of the macaroni, spinach, and cheese. Top with the buttered breadcrumbs.

Cover and put in the oven. Bake until hot (about 30-40 minutes.) Remove the lid for the last 10 minutes so that the breadcrumbs will be crispy.

Remove from oven and (if desired) garnish with hard-boiled egg slices and tomato slices.

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Old-Fashioned Spinach with Noodles

Spinach with Noodles

I recently came across a lovely recipe for Spinach with Noodles in a hundred-year-old cookbook. The spinach and noodles were smothered with cheese and milk, and then baked until hot and bubbly. It makes a nice side dish – though it is hardy enough that it could be the entree.

Spinach with Noodles

Here’s the original recipe:

This recipes calls for a lot of milk. The key to it not being too juicy, is to not cook the noodles too thoroughly. They should just be cooked in boiling water until they are al dente. They then will absorb the milk and soften some more while in the oven baking.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Spinach with Noodles

Servings: 3 - 4
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
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1 1/2 cups chopped cooked spinach

water

1 1/4 cups noodles

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cheese, grated (I used cheddar cheese.)

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350° F. Put water in a large saucepan, place on the stove and bring to a boil using high heat. Add noodles and reduce heat; simmer until the noodles are al dente. Remove from heat and drain.

In a separate pan heat the spinach; then remove from heat and drain any excess liquid.

Put half of the noodles in a baking dish. (I used a 3-cup baking dish; a quart dish would also work well.) Top with half of the spinach. Sprinkle with half of the salt and pepper, then add half the cheese. Add the other half of the noodles, followed by the remaining spinach. Sprinkle with the remaining half of the salt and pepper. Top with the remaining half of the cheese. Pour the milk over the layered mixture, then bake in the oven until hot and bubbly (about 45 minutes).

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Old-Fashioned Marcaroni with White Sauce

Macaroni with White Sauce

My first reaction when I saw a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Macaroni and White Sauce, was Mac and Cheese – yes. Mac and White Sauce. . . hmm, that’s different. But, I decided to give Macaroni and White Sauce a try. I was pleasantly surprised by the delicate taste of Macaroni and White Sauce. It’s similar to Mac and Cheese and has a creamy milkiness but without a cheesy taste.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Macaroni with White Sauce — Source: The Boston Cooking School Cook Book (1923)

A hundred years ago macaroni came in long pieces that were broken into pieces. I just used the modern small pieces of macaroni when I made the recipe. I think that the tablespoon of salt was supposed to be added to the water that the macaroni was boiled in – however, that seems like a lot to me, so I put 1 teaspoon salt in the water.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Macaroni with White Sauce

Servings: 2 - 3
Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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1/2 cup macaroni

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups milk

Put water and 1 teaspoon salt into a large saucepan, and bring to a boil using high heat. Add macaroni, and reduce heat so that the water gently simmers. Cook the macaroni until al dente, then drain and rinse with cold water.

In the meantime, in another pan, using medium heat, melt butter, then stir in the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the white sauce begins to thicken. Stir in the macaroni and gently simmer for 5 – 10 minutes while stirring occasionally, or until excess liquid has been absorbed by macaroni. Remove from heat and put in serving dish.

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Hundred-year-old Recipe for Macaroni with Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese is a wonderful comfort food – and it seems more popular than even. Kids love it, and it’s also often on the menu at very fancy restaurants. So when I saw a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Macaroni with Cheese, I decided to give it a try. The process for making the Macaroni with Cheese was a little different from the modern way of making the dish. The old recipe called for putting layers of bread crumbs (small pieces of torn bread), macaroni, and cheese into a casserole dish. Thin cream (half and half) is then poured over the layers. The dish is then baked until the bread crumbs are lightly browned.

The Macaroni with Cheese turned out nicely, and was very tasty. The bread crumb layers blended nicely with the macaroni and cheese, and I couldn’t identify separate layers in the finished dish. It just seemed like a typical Macaroni and Cheese.

Here is the original recipe:

Recipe for Macaroni and Cheese — Source: Good Housekeeping’s Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries (1922)

Apparently macaroni was different a hundred years ago from what it is now. The recipe calls for breaking the macaroni into inch pieces. Today, it is already cut into pieces that are about an inch long.

When I read this recipe I wasn’t clear whether the three teaspoons of salt went into the water that the macaroni was boiled in, or if it was sprinkled on the layers of macaroni in the casserole dish. In any case, it seemed like a lot of salt, so I instead cooked the macaroni in water that contained 1 teaspoon salt, and just sprinkled a little salt on the layers in the dish.

450° F. seemed like a very high temperature to bake this dish, but it worked. The Macaroni with Cheese cooked very quickly at this temperature.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Macaroni with Cheese

Servings: 5 - 7
Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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3 cups macaroni

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup grated cheese (I used cheddar.)

2 slices bread torn into very small pieces (about 1 cup of bread pieces)

1/4 cup butter

1 cup half and half

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450° F. Put water and 1 teaspoon salt into a large saucepan, and bring to a boil using high heat. Add macaroni, and reduce heat so that the water gently simmers. Cook the macaroni until al dente, then drain and rinse with cold water.

Cover the bottom of a buttered 2-quart casserole dish with 1/4 of the bread crumbs. Add a layer with 1/3 of the macaroni. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the grated cheese; then sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dot with bits of the butter. Repeat the layers, ending with a layer of bread crumbs.

Pour the cream over the top of the layers. Put in oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the bread crumbs are lightly browned and the mixture is hot and bubbly.

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