Hooray!!!! This week’s installment of the Mid-Century Menu may be the easiest MCMenu ever. I am not kidding. My fabulous friend, Deb, didn’t just submit a fun recipe this week. Oh no. She MADE it for me and then the food was actually delivered to my house!  How great is that?  The only thing I had to do was shove it in Tom’s mouth!

*Note – Sorry about the slight melting Deb, I left it in the water to unmold a bit to long.

Looks good, huh?  Like a…tomato aspic…salad thing! Just like Deb promised! 

Here is the recipe:

Linda’s Tomato Aspic

4 cups tomato juice (whole can V-8)

1 package unflavored gelatin

lemon jello (1 large or 2 small packages)

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Tabasco (several shakes according to your taste)

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

¼ tsp. salt or Alpine Touch (all-purpose seasoning)

dash of pepper

In a saucepan, pour in tomato juice and package of unflavored gelatin. Dissolve gelatin, then heat. Add lemon jello to hot mixture and stir. Add lemon juice, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Pour into mold and chill until mixture begins to thicken.

Add some of the following ingredients (chopped) to suit your taste:

Avocado

Green Stuffed Olives

Cauliflower

Green Onion

Celery

Green Pepper

Cucumber

Shrimp (canned)

Chill to set. Unmold before serving.

Wow!  Does this look like the ingredients for a Bloody Mary to anyone else? No? No one? Not even…oh, okay.  Well, I think it does.  And incorporating the ingredients from a famous cocktail into a recipe is always a big plus for me.

Deb writes:

Ruth,

This Mid-Century recipe is family-favorite holiday recipe. My mother (Linda) says that it came from a cookbook that was assembled by the National Federation of Garden Clubs in the late 50’s. We love it because she always adds all of the above which results in an interesting combination of textures and tastes.

Enjoy!

Deb

Oh, you had better believe we will enjoy.  I am enjoying it already.

Also, how cool is it that their family holiday tradition includes tomato aspic? 

Look at Tom. He is enjoying just looking at it.

And then tasting it.

Thinking.

Still thinking.

Wait…that’s an opinion?

“It tastes good.  I like it.”

I took a bite.  It was good, and it did taste faintly like a Bloody Mary. Success Deb!  Wait…your goal was to make an aspic Bloody Mary, right?

The Verdict:  Good. The best tomato aspic we have made so far. The crunchies in the salad were yummy.  The only change I would make would be to sub an unflavored gelatin for the lemon gelatin, since it was a little sweet for me.  And Tom would leave out the shrimp because, well, he isn’t a big shrimp fan.  But since those are personal taste preferences, that means this recipe was a big success.

Thanks, Deb!