This post we head back to the kitchen we share with ANNE SHIRLEY and Laura. Previously we did shortbread, but we’re revisiting The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook by Kate MacDonald.
Two Editions
There are two editions of the cookbook; one from 1987 when I started my Anne collection and the other was from 2017. The original is paperback and is illustrated with cartoonish line drawings of the characters. The new edition is hardback with full page, full color photos of the recipes in the book. They don’t look like my versions of these recipes.
When my cousin brought over some cucumbers from his garden, I immediately said COWCUMBER BOATS!
You Say Cowcumber, I Say Cucumber
I’ve made all of the recipes in the cookbook and this was my third favorite. (First shortbread, Second Ruby Tea Biscuits which aren’t a good match for kolache country, Third Cowcumber Boats) You take cucumbers cut them in half longways and then scoop out the center of each cucumber to make a long narrow bowl. This is just a shallow center you dig out to hopefully keep the tuna salad from falling off.
The tuna salad is part of the recipe. It’s a very specific tuna salad with vegetables and macaroni. It’s very good, but it really does need the cucumber to balance the flavors.
Take a Penny, Leave a Penny
As anyone who deals with cookbooks from past decades can tell you, food manufacturers have decided that rather than raise prices they’d cut back how much they sell you so you’re really paying more for less product even though the cost doesn’t change or goes up slightly. That’s why it’s important any time you pass on or create a recipe you’re clear with how much product you get in “a can” or “a box.” Every can or box should have the weight or volume on it so you can compare.
I was very glad a new edition came out because I love this cookbook and its recipes very much, BUT it doesn’t look like they checked for these changes when they reprinted the recipes.
My mom was making the tuna salad while I dealt with the “boats” and she said, “Wait a minute! This says there should be 7 ounces of tuna. There are only 5!” Rather than open two cans and have leftover tuna, we refigured the other ingredients to match the proportions with 5 ounces and that’s the recipe below. If you are tasting as you go, the tuna salad will taste a little lemony, but the cucumber balances it when served on it.
Cowcumber Boats Recipe
¼ cup macaroni
1 medium carrot, peeled & grated
1 medium stalk celery
¼ cup mayonnaise
Pinch and ¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ Tablespoon lemon juice
2 cucumbers
5 oz. tuna, drained
¾ Tablespoon fresh parsley (optional)
Steps:
1. Cook macaroni – Drain – Transfer it to a medium mixing bowl.
2. Add tuna to macaroni and carrot and celery.
3. Add mayonnaise, lemon juice. ¼ t salt and black pepper.
Combine & set side.
4. Peel cucumbers and trim ends. Cut each cucumber in half, lengthwise.
With a large spoon, scoop out and discard the seeds andany watery flesh.
5. Fill each cucumber boat with the tuna mixture. Top with parsley if wanted.
Note from my mom: The original recipe is in The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook by Kate Macdonald & L.M. Montgomery p 75. It calls for a 7 ounce can of tuna but the ones you get today are 5 oz. so I have adjusted this recipe for a 5 oz can of tuna. Today I used fresh lemon juice and Hellmann’s Mayo®. I have used Miracle Whip® in the past. We had gotten a recipe for egg salad at a former soda fountain in town and it specified Hellmann’s Mayo®. It made a difference comparing the egg salad made with the 2 types of mayo so we tried Hellman’s this time and it was good.
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
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