Barbara Hale’s Grenadier Rouladen– Chicago Tribune September 1969
I wondered what Barbara Hale’s name was doing on the recipe card, as well as what the note “trib” meant. Barbara Hale is an actress on one of my personal favorite television shows, Perry Mason. She was the beautiful sort of sleuth/secretary, Della Street. My mom helped me understand her shorthand- Nona got this recipe originally from the Chicago Tribune in September of 1969. I looked up Barbara Hale and turns out she’s from DeKalb, Illinois. So, it makes sense that a local girl who made it would be represented in the Chicago Tribune. The meal was marked V.G. (very good) when it was made November 22nd, 1969.
Today I chose to make “Grenadier Rouladen” for a few reasons. One of my Uncle’s favorite meals my grandmother used to make was beef rouladen. He had asked me to find the recipe. Though that one wasn’t in the stack, I came across this beauty. It turns out the recipe he wanted to find was never written down. The rouladen recipe my grandma made had been taught to her by her mother (Great Grandma Lorraine Breen), who had learned it from her mother (Great Great Grandma Olga Berger) and it was made so many times that she was able to do it without a written recipe. The good news, Uncle Paul, is that she taught my mom the ways of beef rouladen. She’s willing to write it down for you too.
The second reason this recipe looked like the one for this evening is because the height of crab season here in Sonoma County is winding down. Though crab season officially goes from November 3rd, 2018 until June 30th, 2019, most of the work is done in the late fall. We’re pretty lucky around here to be able to expect crab at the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s table.
With that said, I’m using Dungeness Crab while my grandma most likely used King Crab. I got a full cooked Dungeness Crab and locally caught Petrole Sole from my favorite butcher at the Petaluma Market. Also, subbing a homemade condensed cream of mushroom soup for the Campbells asked for in the recipe. We used lemons from our tree again too! And served with baked asparagus, just tossed in olive oil salt and pepper and baked for about twenty minutes with the rolls.
And all of the crab carcass plus the cast offs from the veggies went into a pot immediately for stock. Going to jar and boil for about 45 minutes after it cooks for an hour and is strained. I hate how much stock I buy, this has been the move for a while- even with chicken thigh bones once cooked- and then the completely used (veggie) product goes into the compost bin in the back of the garden. It’ll be so much better than chicken stock in the next etouffee.
Also, the Brooker family agrees that this is V.G. (Very good 🙂
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Barbara Hale’s Grenadier Rouladen– Chicago Tribune September 1969
INGREDIANTS
6 Fillet of Sole / 1½ to 2 lbs.
6 Crab legs shelled
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Sauce:
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
¼ cup half n half
¼ cup white wine
½ cup shredded cheddar or swiss cheese
Dash of paprika
Directions
Wrap fillets around crab leg. Arrange rolls in buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Combine mushroom soup, half n half, and wine. Bring to simmer then pour over fish. Top with cheese and paprika. Bake uncovered 350° for 30 minutes.
Homemade Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
· 1 tablespoon butter
· 8 ounces white button mushrooms sliced
· 3/4 cup chicken broth
· 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
· 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
· 1/2 cup milk
· 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
· Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
1. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter until foaming. Add mushrooms and cook until they have released most of their liquid, about 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Stir in chicken broth, onion powder, and garlic powder and bring to a simmer. In a small bowl, whisk together milk and flour.
3. Stir in milk mixture and cook until soup has thickened, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
