Betty Lives!

The Mike Douglas Cookbook

Mike Douglas and Dan Morris

1969

This book is similar in format to the Dinah Shore cookbook, although much larger and more varied.  I never, ever watched the Mike Douglas show but apparently he cooked with celebrities in each episode and this book contains all of those recipes plus additional ones contributed by his wife and his mother (Mother Dowd of the Yellow Rice).  There is an interesting Q&A with Douglas at the start of the book that is quaint in its political un-correctness.  He talks about falling in love with his wife when she was only 17 and getting married before her senior year in high school.  Then the doozy: “She did graduate when I went off for my Navy stint in 1943.  She should have gone to college really but I never gave her the chance.  I wanted her with me and she wanted to be with me.”  Blech.  I know I’m being extremely judgemental and I shouldn’t; by all accounts they had an extraordinarily long and happy marriage.

Mother Dowd’s Yellow Rice and Chicken is essentially an Americanized paella, albeit a good one.  One 2.5lb chicken gets cut up, seasoned with salt and pepper, and browned in oil on all sides.  At this point the directions say to add the vegetables to the pan (1/2 cup chopped onion, 1 cup chopped green pepper, 2 cloves crushed garlic) but I decided to remove the chicken first, pour out most of the fat and then brown the veg.  I also par-boiled brown rice which I have come to like much more than white.  I added the rice to the veg along with some salt, a bay leaf, 1 1/4 cups crushed tomatoes, 3/4 cup quartered mushrooms and 1/4 tsp saffron which I had dissolved in 3 cups chicken broth.  The recipe calls for canned mushrooms and water, not broth.  The chicken gets nestled in on top then you cover the pan and let it cook for 30 minutes until the water is absorbed.  I miscalculated the amount of liquid I needed for par-boiled brown rice and ended up having to uncover and cook it off, but it turned out fine.  At the last minute you add a cup of cooked peas (I used frozen Cascadian Farm brand).  Was it the most flavorful and fabulous paella of all times? No, but it was an excellent, inexpensive, one-dish family meal for a weeknight.