You voted and the polls are closed! You guys were…nicer to me than expected. As a refresher, here are the options you had to choose from:
Garden Salad Loaf (which I’ll probably make anyway because honestly, it’s vile)
Grilled Edible Cheeseboard
Peasant’s Paté
Buttermilk Raisin Pie
Noodle Ring with Crabmeat Romanoff
I was really pulling for the Edible Cheeseboard because I love carbs and cheese, but you picked the Noodle Ring with Crabmeat Romanoff from “Betty Crocker’s New Dinner for Two” cookbook circa 1964. Which means I had to immediately search “noodle ring” to see if I had any available substitutes in my house for it.
If I was a proper food blogger, I’d regale you with tales of the origin of the word Romanoff or some other BS, but we all know you’d hit that “Jump to Recipe” button, so I’ll make this short and sweet. There used to be a Betty Crocker Noodles Romanoff boxed mix that was used to make this recipe. I didn't have that, so I had to take a few “creative liberties." Here is the full ingredient list:
Betty Crocker Noodles Romanoff boxed mix
¼ cup milk
¼ cup chopped parsley
1 can (2 oz.) mushrooms
2 Tablespoons butter
2/3 cup milk
1 can (6 oz.) crabmeat
To make the Noodles Romanoff part of this, you boil your noodles and mix ¼ cup of the sauce mix that came in the box with the ¼ cup of milk. I used heavy cream and Trader Joe’s cheesy seasoning blend since the box mix hasn’t been available since the Nixon era. Stir the sauce mixture into the noodles and add your parsley. “Lightly pack” the noodles into the noodle ring (AKA my Bundt pan) and bake for 15 minutes at 350.
While the noodle ring is baking, make your Crabmeat Romanoff. Or bake the noodles, leave them on the counter while you get your hair highlighted, and regret it later. #domesticgoddess
Sauté the mushrooms in the butter. Add the 2/3 cup of milk (or heavy cream) and bring to a boil. Add the rest of the dry sauce mix, or as much cheesy powder as speaks to your heart, and stir until smooth. Finally, add the crabmeat and heat through. Unmold your noodle ring onto your grandma’s platter for maximum vintage flair, and spoon the crabmeat mixture into the center. Cut like a cake and serve your unsuspecting husband a nice-sized sliver.
Final Verdict: Passable at a funeral potluck if no one recognizes the dish belongs to you.
Noodles should NOT be molded into a shape, and baking them (and possibly leaving them out on the counter for a couple of hours) made them gluey. On a positive note, my husband was impressed with the crabmeat mixture and asked me to save that part so he could put Cajun seasoning in it and eat it with a spoon straight out of the container later. My daughter was unavailable for comment since she was having a sleepover and I didn’t want to traumatize anyone else’s children. The dogs were all too happy to pretreat the dishes before we washed them.