Marguerites Cookbook

A cooking blog all about making vintage recipes from a cookbook we inherited from our grandmother

Swiss Steak

Swiss Steak

This recipe is the first of extra special recipes in Marguerite’s Cookbook where the recipe will call for a certain piece of cooking equipment and we will be privileged enough to use Marguerite’s personal cookware that was handed down to us! The cast iron skillet used in this recipe was a fixture in Marguerite’s kitchen for decades, and now can be one in ours as well.

Swiss Steak

As you will see in Marguerite’s instructions, this was another diet recipe. She even lists the calories per serving, although I have no idea if any of it is true! Here is what Marguerite had to say:

Swiss Steak Recipe

Looking through this recipe, there were a few things new to us again. While we were used to trimming fat off of meat before cooking it, neither of us had then cooked the fat down and used it as a greasing agent and to brown the meat a bit before cooking! Also, Marguerite’s shortened form of directions for herself added to the confusion at the start. This swiss steak looked delicious from the beginning and we were looking forward to it even more because it was a departure from our normal cuisine of pastas and baked chicken.

Swiss Steak

See, doesn’t that look great? Aaron was sure to heed Marguerite’s warning and went back to the stove many times during the two hours the steak cooked to make sure too much liquid didn’t evaporate. That didn’t even seem to remotely resemble an issue. We do think even though we only cooked it for two hours, it turned out a little dry. As Aaron has heard and learned from his family, every stove and oven cooks the same recipe differently! We used rather thin steaks though. Our tiny, old apartment stove doesn’t help, either.

Swiss Steak

If you couldn’t already tell, we both really enjoyed this swiss steak recipe. Even with the extra step of cooking down the fat from the meat, this is a simple recipe that I really think Aaron and I will want to use again and again!

Swiss Steak
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
2 hours
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
2 hours
Swiss Steak
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
2 hours
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
2 hours
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Remove fat. Cook fat in heavy skillet. Discard chunks.
  2. Season steak in a little salt and pepper. Brown lightly in fat. Pour off fat.
  3. Add remaining ingredients.
  4. Cover and cook over low heat 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until fork tender. Add water during cooking if too much liquid evaporates.
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Homemade Meatballs

Homemade Meatballs

As you may recall, my Italian heritage requires me to love all things pasta related, that includes spaghetti and meatballs. These homemade meatballs were very easy and I liked how plain they were (a real “shock” to those of you that know me personally.) But honestly, the nice plain flavor is not too overpowering, making these a great candidate for being added to any pasta dish, sauce, and the like.

Homemade Meatballs

Here is what Marguerite had to say:

Homemade Meatballs Recipe

You may have noticed, Marguerite’s original recipe called for a quarter pound of veal. We decided we did not want to go through the hassle of finding or paying for veal. As you may recall, we had issues with this earlier. Also, while some may think veal has a discernibly better flavor, both Aaron and I felt it was not necessary to include in this recipe. Veal-Schmeal! We just edited the amounts of each remaining meat to keep a decent ratio of beef to pork, as well as making sure to keep the total amount of ground meat to one pound. Make sense? If not just read the recipe below.

Homemade Meatballs

Marguerite’s recipe says that this amount of ingredients will make 16 meatballs. Our cooking of this recipe did not yield that many, however, we made some of ours way too large! Most of the ones in these photographs are an average size, but we (Aaron) did make a few monster meatballs that ended up larger than desired.

Homemade Meatballs

As mentioned above, they were a little plain. Not something I would serve on their own as an appetizer, but something to add to some pasta and sauce. Perhaps with her meatless spaghetti sauce, which we previously made? We will have to try them together sometime and get back to you.

The meatballs also reminded me of my mother’s meatloaf, and some insight into this recipe from Aaron’s mom proved that to be a valid thought. She told us that her dad, and Marguerite’s husband, Jim, liked meatloaf. The ingredients in this recipe were incredibly similar to the meatloaf that Marguerite would make for Jim, particularly the three different kinds of meat.

Homemade Meatballs

Aaron liked making these meatballs because they reminded him of making homemade meatballs with his mom. She had a different meatball recipe of her own, and if you want to hear about that recipe in the future, you should subscribe to our monthly newsletter! In contrast to these homemade meatballs, it’s very much an “eat on their own as an appetizer” recipe. Aaron thought these meatballs were yummy, but he is getting increasingly tired of all the finely chopped onion in these recipes, particularly because the Marguerite he remembered couldn’t stomach onions anymore and didn’t but them in anything she was planning on eating! I also make him do all the onion chopping…

 

Homemade Meatballs
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
16 Meatballs 30 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Servings Prep Time
16 Meatballs 30 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Homemade Meatballs
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
16 Meatballs 30 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Servings Prep Time
16 Meatballs 30 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: Meatballs
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Form into balls.
  2. TIP: If meatballs tend to stick to hands as they are formed, add more breadcrumbs.
  3. Place in a shallow baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.
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Broccoli Cheese Soup

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

We’re in what looks like our last week of winter weather here in Chicago, and nothing quite shakes off those winter blues like a hot bowl of Broccoli Cheese soup. There’s just something comforting about the look of a nice big bowl of soup, isn’t there?

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Aaron enjoys when Marguerite’s recipes have the instructions jammed on the right half of the page alongside the list of ingredients. It is so unlike the typical recipe format and that unique style seems distinctly “Marguerite” to him. Here is what she had to say this time:

BroccoliCheeseSoupRecipe

Another characteristic of some of Marguerite’s recipes is that they are usually only as detailed as she needed to remember how they went. We often have to read the entire recipe at least once through to make sure we don’t come upon any surprises. In this recipe, we noticed it made the most sense to sauté the onion in the big pot to begin with. This soup was so creamy, cheesy, and very easy to make. I’m not a huge fan of creamy soups, but I really liked this one.

broccoli cheese soup

Aaron felt it was a little too thin in consistency and would have liked more of a cheesy flavor. I think next time we try this, we’ll add more than just cheddar to really make it cheesy.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

We hope you enjoy the creamy and cheesy goodness of this very simple soup!

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4-6 30 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4-6 30 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Broccoli Cheese Soup
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4-6 30 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4-6 30 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Cut up and cook broccoli until tender. Drain.
  2. Chop onion and saute in butter until transparent. (You will want to do this in the pot your soup will end up in.)
  3. Stir in flour and cook about five minutes.
  4. Add milk slowly, stirring continuously.
  5. Stir in and blend grated cheese.
  6. Slowly blend in chicken broth.
  7. Add broccoli and salt and pepper.
  8. Simmer about 15 minutes.
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Homemade Spaghetti Sauce (Meatless)

Homemade Sauce

If you’re looking for an easy homemade sauce recipe, this is about as easy as it gets. The ingredients are few and the steps are simple.

My Italian roots came out in full while making this. You know that Family Guy episode where Peter thinks he can speak Italian and just shouts “Boopa-dee bappa-dee” at people? That was me the entire time we were in the kitchen making this. Aaron was not amused.

Here is what Marguerite had to say:

Meatless Spaghetti Sauce Original

We’re pretty sure the above recipe meant she was using canned tomatoes most of the time, but we wanted to do this “right” so we went for fresh ingredients. Neither of us knew what to do with the tomatoes, and Marguerite, being an accomplished cook, did not need to leave herself notes on the subject for when she was using fresh tomatoes.

Fresh Pasta Sauce Ingredients

Look at those fresh ingredients!

Google and our mothers proved to be immensely helpful in figuring out how to start on this homemade sauce.

After figuring out how many tomatoes we needed and how to peel them (more on that later), we were able to get on with the sauce.

Pasta SauceFor our version, we only used one onion instead of the three originally called for. We’re assuming back in the day onions were quite a bit smaller because a lack of pesticides and such.

Next time we make this, we’ll probably cut back on the green pepper as well, because it overpowered the other flavors. We’ve noted in our version below to only use half a green pepper instead of a whole. We’ll also try to cube the tomatoes a bit smaller because the sauce was a little too chunky.

Homemade Pasta Sauce

Our whole apartment smelled delicious while we made this (as did our entire floor. You’re welcome, neighbors!) We started a batch of spaghetti just as the sauce was finishing so we could enjoy it right away. When everything was cooked, we poured on the sauce, topped it all with basil and parmesan, and enjoyed a delicious meal.

Meatless Sauce Recipe

 

We had plenty left over, which we promptly jarred up and froze for later use.


Homemade Sauce in jar

If you try this recipe, let us know how you adjusted the ingredients to suit the pasta sauce to your taste!

Homemade Sauce

 

 

Homemade Sauce
Homemade Sauce (Meatless)
Print Recipe
A traditional, homemade sauce. Uses all fresh ingredients and no meat.
Servings Prep Time
4-6 (depending on how much sauce you like on your pasta) 25 minutes
Cook Time
1.5 hours
Servings Prep Time
4-6 (depending on how much sauce you like on your pasta) 25 minutes
Cook Time
1.5 hours
Homemade Sauce
Homemade Sauce (Meatless)
Print Recipe
A traditional, homemade sauce. Uses all fresh ingredients and no meat.
Servings Prep Time
4-6 (depending on how much sauce you like on your pasta) 25 minutes
Cook Time
1.5 hours
Servings Prep Time
4-6 (depending on how much sauce you like on your pasta) 25 minutes
Cook Time
1.5 hours
Ingredients
Servings: (depending on how much sauce you like on your pasta)
Instructions
Fresh Tomato Prep
  1. If you're using canned tomatoes, skip these steps. If using fresh tomatoes, you'll need to peel them. We used the boil method.
  2. Bring a pot of water to boil. Next to the stove, have a bowl of cold water (as cold as you can get it. Maybe even add ice cubes.)
  3. Cut off the stems and things from the top of the tomatoes. Cut an x in the bottom of each tomato.
  4. Drop a few tomatoes at a time into the boiling water. Spoon out after 25 seconds (don't leave them in any longer) and drop into cold water.
  5. Once they're in the cold water for a few seconds, the x on the bottom should already begin the peeling process. Remove them from the cold water and peel the rest of the skin right off.
  6. Cube the tomatoes. How small you cube them will depend on how chunky you want your sauce.
Main Instructions
  1. Once your tomatoes are prepped, put them in a pot with the paste and sugar. Salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Simmer while you prep the other ingredients.
  3. Chop onion, pepper, and garlic. Steam and slightly brown in a pan with butter.
  4. Add to the tomato mixture. Turn your stove top to a low/medium heat. Cook for an hour and a half.
  5. If you're planning on using this right away, start the water for your pasta with about 20 minutes left on the sauce. Preserve any leftovers in a jar and refrigerate or freeze.
Recipe Notes

Be sure to use a larger pot so the sauce is more evenly spread over the heat and doesn't burn on the bottom. Also be sure to use a low enough heat.

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