{"id":6922,"date":"2010-04-09T04:00:53","date_gmt":"2010-04-09T08:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=6922"},"modified":"2010-04-09T20:40:21","modified_gmt":"2010-04-10T00:40:21","slug":"paying-tribute-to-the-green-goddess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=6922","title":{"rendered":"Paying Tribute to the Green Goddess"},"content":{"rendered":"
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George Arliss in full rajah regalia (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)<\/p><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve been posting recipes for heavy dishes lately so I\u2019m in the mood for a little salad! This dressing comes courtesy of\u00a0a fellow blogger and film lover, Donna Hill.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Donna recently discussed the history of eating at the movies (with great photos and video clips!) on her blog, Strictly Vintage Hollywood<\/em><\/a>. She concluded with a recipe for Green Goddess salad dressing, created at San Francisco\u2019s Palace Hotel<\/a> in 1923.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The herbally tinted salad dressing honored a hotel guest, the actor George Arliss. Arliss was then starring in a popular play titled The Green Goddess<\/em>. He would go on to appear in both silent and sound film versions of the story.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Green Goddess <\/em>is a hoary chestnut full of imperialist ideas. Arliss played the Rajah of Rukh, a fictitious and stereotypical oriental potentate.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Shrewd\u00a0but selfish and vindictive, the rajah threatens to execute a party of Englishmen who accidentally land in his kingdom\u2014and tries to force the wife of one of the men to become his paramour.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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When he is foiled by British aircraft flying to the rescue, the rajah proclaims sadly but proudly, \u201cBarbarous Asia bows to civilized Europe.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The play and film\u2019s depiction of \u201cBarbarous Asia\u201d is appalling even by that day\u2019s standards, but it is interesting as a period piece. A historian of colonialism could certainly make hay out of the stereotypes.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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And Arliss came across as both elegant and funny in his wickedness\u2014much more appealing and effective, in fact, than he was in the picture for which he won the Academy Award for best actor, Disraeli<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Neither film version of The Green Goddess<\/em> is available\u00a0on home video at present. Happily, the Alice Joyce Website<\/a><\/em> offers stunning stills of the 1923 silent production. (Joyce played the object of the Rajah\u2019s lust in both 1923 and 1930).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Turner Classic Movies occasionally shows the 1930 sound version and offers a couple of clips for viewing<\/a> on its web site.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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While you\u2019re watching them, do try the dressing. If you\u2019ve never had Green Goddess Dressing, imagine a cross between Caesar and ranch dressings. (I love both.) It\u2019s smooth, flavorful, and tangy, and the herbs give it lovely green flecks. Thank you, Donna!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Green Goddess Dressing<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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1 clove garlic
\n4 anchovy fillets
\n1 scallion, chopped
\n1 generous tablespoon chopped parsley
\n1 generous tablespoon chopped chives
\n1 generous tablespoon tarragon or basil
\nthe juice of 1 lemon
\n2 cups of mayonnaise (homemade is best, but commercial\u2014even low fat\u2014is fine; just avoid fat free)
\nsalt and pepper to taste<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Place the garlic and anchovy fillets in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until minced. Add the herbs and lemon juice, and process again; then add the mayonnaise, salt, and pepper, and process again until smooth.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Taste for seasoning and adjust seasonings accordingly.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Serve over a split romaine heart. (Actually, I just shredded some romaine, which worked beautifully.) Garnish with a sprig of fresh basil or tarragon if you wish.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Makes about 2 cups of dressing.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00a0 I\u2019ve been posting recipes for heavy dishes lately so I\u2019m in the mood for a little salad! This dressing comes courtesy of\u00a0a fellow blogger and film lover, Donna Hill. \u00a0 Donna recently discussed the history of eating at the movies (with great photos and video clips!) on her blog, Strictly Vintage Hollywood. She concluded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[38,623],"tags":[1138,1137,1135,1136],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6922"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12707,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6922\/revisions\/12707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}