Out-of-the-Ordinary Salad Features Sweetbreads, Oyster Mushrooms

Dear SOS: We had an outstanding salad made with sweetbreads and oyster mushrooms at Le Chardonnay in Los Angeles. Do you suppose they would share the recipe?

--PAULINE

Dear Pauline: It’s a wonderfully elegant party salad to serve as an appetizer course, or main-course salad for a sit- down luncheon or a romantic candlelight supper.

LE CHARDONNAY WARM SWEETBREAD AND OYSTER MUSHROOM SALAD

2 lobes sweetbreads

Salt

32 snow peas

1 1/2 pounds oyster mushrooms, sliced

Peanut oil

Vinaigrette

Butter

Pepper

Soak sweetbreads 3 hours in cold water to remove any residue. Peel, then carefully remove all membranes. Place lobes in cold water to cover with 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to boil and drain immediately. Rinse under cold water and drain well.

Remove veins from snow peas and cook 2 minutes in boiling salted water. Rinse under cold water and drain again. Peel oyster mushrooms, if desired. Saute mushrooms 3 minutes with 3 tablespoons peanut oil in hot pan. Drain well.

Season snow peas with Vinaigrette. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in non-stick pan. Add snow peas and saute 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat another skillet until very hot. Add 3 tablespoons peanut oil. Slice each sweetbread lobe into 4 slices, then add to pan. Brown 1 to 3 minutes, being careful not to overcook sweetbreads. Place oyster mushrooms in center of each plate and surround mushrooms with 8 snow peas. Place 2 slices of sweetbreads on top of mushrooms. Serve at once. Makes 8 servings.

Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon wine vinegar

1/4 cup peanut oil

Dash sugar

Salt, pepper

Combine vinegar, peanut oil, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Blend well.

Dear SOS: I don’t know if you can help, but please try. I’m looking for a recipe for avocado pie.

--ARI

Dear Ari: Good timing now that avocados are in good supply and, better yet, reasonably priced, in markets. The recipe--an easy one, too--is from the Other Place, a restaurant in Pasadena.

AVOCADO CREAM PIE

1 avocado, peeled and chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whipping cream

Graham Cracker Crust

Beat avocado and lemon juice in bowl of electric mixer until creamy. Add condensed milk and blend well. Set aside.

With mixer, beat whipping cream until stiff enough to stand in peaks. Fold whipped cream into avocado mixture and mix only until blended. Pour into Graham Cracker Crust and chill until set, about 2 hours.

Note: Pie may be made as individual tartlets, served garnished with whipped cream.

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1 /2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

Combine crumbs, sugar and melted butter and mix well. Press firmly into greased 8- or 9-inch pie pan and bake at 350 degrees 8 minutes.

Dear SOS: Some time ago there was a recipe in your paper entitled Tuna Casserole. I misplaced the instructions and would appreciate a reprint.

--MRS. J.W.

Dear Mrs. J.W.: Here’s a stove-top tuna casserole with the ingredients mentioned. This old timer goes back to the days when casseroles made with canned goods were in their heyday. Still it would make a terrific pantry meal for boaters and campers.

STOVE-TOP TUNA CASSEROLE

2 cups noodles

2 quarts boiling water

1 can mushroom soup

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk

1 (1-pound) can peas

1 (7-ounce) can tuna, drained

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Break noodles and cook in boiling water until tender. Drain and set aside. Combine soup and dry milk in large saucepan and cook and stir until smooth. Stir in peas, tuna, cheese and noodles. Cook over low heat until cheese is melted and mixture is hot. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Dear Readers: Imagine our mortification when we discovered that in our esteemed recipe for Broadway Coconut Cream Pie in the Culinary SOS column last week, we had typed 2 quarts instead of 1 quart milk actually called for in the recipe for the pie filling.

We could envision the moaning and groaning, baying at the moon, beating of breasts, the curses, the trillions of pieces of newsprint flying defiantly in the air and the tons of coconut filling being dumped in the sinks of millions of homes across America. We congratulate those who had enough sense to detect something wrong. If not, forgive us. For the record, here is the recipe again with the right numbers this time.

BROADWAY COCONUT CREAM PIE

3/4 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 quart milk, scalded

2 eggs

1/2 tablespoon vanilla

2 tablespoons margarine

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

1 cup coarsely shredded fresh coconut

1 baked 10-inch pie shell

4 cups whipped topping or whipped cream

Combine cornstarch, sugar and salt and mix well. Gradually stir scalded milk into cornstarch mixture. Bring to boil, stirring constantly, and boil 2 minutes until thickened and shiny. Add small amount of hot mixture to eggs and beat until blended. Return to pan and whip 2 minutes over medium heat until slightly thickened being careful not to curdle mixture.

Remove from heat and add vanilla and margarine, mixing until smooth. Pour through sieve. Place plastic wrap directly over cream. Set aside to cool.

Add coconut extract and 1/2 cup coconut to cooled pie cream. Pour into pie shell. Chill. Spread whipped topping over pie, mounding in center. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup coconut. Makes 1 (10-inch) pie.

Dear Reader: Remember our substitute meat loaf recipe in response to the woman who requested a recipe for salmon loaf which had once appeared in an old Knudsen booklet? Well, dozens and dozens of readers came through with recipes, some with the actual salmon loaf recipe and others with recipes they thought would do. Here is the real McCoy from a former Knudsen employee who had dug it up in her files. And it’s great.

SALMON PARTY LOAF

2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

1/2 cup milk

1 egg, separated

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons minced green pepper

1/4 cup chili sauce

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 1/2 cups cottage cheese

1 (7 3/4-ounce) can salmon, drained

1/2 cup whipping cream

4 strips green pepper

4 strips pimiento

Soften gelatin in cold water and dissolve in heated milk. Combine slowly with lightly beaten yolk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add salt, mustard, lemon juice, green pepper and chili sauce. Cool.

Stir in onion and cottage cheese. Flake salmon and remove any bones or membrane. Add to cottage cheese mixture. Chill until slightly thickened. Fold in stiffly beaten egg white. Whip cream and fold into mixture. Pour into 1-quart loaf pan. Chill until firm. Unmold and garnish with green pepper and pimiento strips. Makes 4 to 6 servings.