Ingredients:
10 oz canned "cocktail" clams, drained, reserving 2 tablespoons clam juice
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons minced shallot
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
salt
white pepper
finely chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions:
In a food processor or blender (I used my Vita mix) blend together the garlic, shallot, mayo, sour cream, parsley, cream cheese, spices, clam juice, zest, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and pulse until smooth. Pour into a medium bowl. Stir in the clams. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Easy variation: for more clam flavor add about 3 oz of clams to the mixture when you food process it then stir in the 10 oz of clams.

My thoughts:

What '60s night would be complete without some sort of chip & dip? While clam dip wasn't exactly invented during the 1960s but that was the decade when it was in its pre-Julia Child "company food" heyday. Dip really became popular in the 1950s after the invention of California Dip which was then made even easier with the introduction of Lipton's instant onion soup mix and as the years went on, other flavors of dips became party staples. A recipe for clam dip appeared in almost every 1960s cookbook I came across.

Best served with Pringles (introduced in the US in 1968), crisp vegetables and crackers, this dip is creamy and (this version at least) has a great tangy savory flavor. I was a little skeptical about using canned clams but they were juicy and flavorful and added texture interest.

Ingredients:
for the custard
4 eggs at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
zest of 3 lemons

for the crust:
10-12 lemon-ginger cookies
4 tablespoons butter, melted

to serve:
confectioners' sugar


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Place the cookies in a food processor (or if you are lucky, your Vita-Mix) and pulse until it forms coarse crumbs. It should yield about 2 cups.



Remove to a small bowl and stir in the melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom of a well-greased 8x8 inch pan. Bake for 5 minutes.


Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the cookie crust.



Return the pan to the oven and bake 35 minutes or until set and no longer shiny in the middle. Cool completely then sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

My thoughts:

Bar cookies have been popular since the 1930s but it wasn't until the 1963 publication of the Betty Crocker Cooky Book that lemon bars became popular. While this isn't the recipe that was published in that book, it is similar in spirit. There are a little more tart than the super sweet originals (which only called for 2 tablespoons of lemon juice!) and instead of crushed Nilla wafers or shortbread crust, I used crushed homemade lemon-ginger cookies which added an extra layer of flavor. Matt loved them and they were a perfect addition to our yearly decade-devoted night.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons golden syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of two lemons


demerara sugar (raw cane sugar) for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with a silipat or parchment paper. Sprinkle a place with demerara sugar and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, lemon juice, zest and golden syrup and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, baking powder and salt. Slowly add it to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix to thoroughly combine. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in the demerara sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie slightly with the heel of your hand or a spatula. Bake 8-12 minutes or until set and the bottoms are golden.

My thoughts:

This cookies are sort of plain looking but their lemon-ginger flavor is intense. The texture is great too, it is a little crisp-chewy on the outside and soft on the inside. Not to mention the great crunch the sugar gives the cookie. Simple, classic, crowd-pleasing.

Ingredients
1 large spaghetti squash
15 oz canned black beans, drained
3 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 medium onion, diced
3 teaspoons jerk seasoning
1 scotch bonnet pepper, seeded and chopped
juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Place the squash in a baking dish and roast for about 50 minutes or until tender. Cool slightly. Slice in half. Remove the seeds and then scoop flesh from squash and set aside. Heat a large skillet and saute the bacon until almost crisp (drain any extra fat) then add onion, pepper, garlic, and saute until just fragenent. Add beans, squash, jerk seasoning, and salt, cook about five minutes, stirring frequently. Squirt with lime juice. Serve hot.


Yield: 4-6 servings

My thoughts:

Most recipes I see for spaghetti squash call for you to treat it like you would actual spaghetti with an Italian tomato-based sauce. The recipes claim that "you can't tell it isn't pasta!" but really, anyone with a mouth can tell that spaghetti squash, no matter how tasty, isn't real pasta. I'd much rather highlight the squash's unique texture than cover it up with sauces. This recipe is just spicy enough to be interesting and with the beans could be a light one dish meal.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon onion flakes
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
2 teaspoons dried chervil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground jalapeno
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire black pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Yield: about 1/4-1/3 cup seasoning



Directions:
Stir all ingredients together. Store in an air tight container.

My thoughts:

Okay, this is perhaps not the most exciting recipe I've ever posted but it is a handy one. Homemade jerk seasoning can be made in bulk and saved for personal use or given as gifts and is much tastier than what you can buy at the store premixed.