The Presley Family Cookbook: Elvis’ Green Eagle Dish with Eggs (1989)

Posted on

by yinzerella

Elvis died 45 years ago today at age 42. FORTY-TWO. Wrap your head around that.

It’s wild to think that if he didn’t pass back in 1977, today he’d be 87. He could conceivably still be recording and performing*** Look at Tony Bennett, he was duetting with Lady Gaga up until 95!

Randomly placing this here for your viewing enjoyment:

I truly believe that if The Colonel wrote up a contract that allowed him to play opposite Barbra in A Star is Born, his life would have turned out differently.

That’s a big What-If that I’m sure played out in a parallel universe.

Anyway, to honor The King, I thought I’d make a dish from Graceland.

I cracked open my copy of The Presley Family Cookbook by Vester Presley (Elvis’ uncle) and Nancy Rooks (one of the cooks who worked for Elvis at Graceland).

Note: recipes from this cookbook have appeared on the blog a couple of times:

Presley Family Fried Green Tomatoes

Elvis’ Rice Pudding

I liked the name of the dish THE GREEN EAGLE DISH WITH EGGS! I also appreciated that I already had the ingredients in my kitchen.

Including bacon grease.

I don’t know what inspired me to save bacon grease, but I’m glad I did.

Anyway–THE GREEN EAGLE DISH WITH EGGS!!! (I imagine that being said like THE Ohio State University).

What does that even mean? A google search turns up nothing.

It’s like they crossed the Jolly Green Giant with Birds Eye. I’m going to just go with that.

This was the first time I purchased canned spinach. I was skeptical because it smelled….tinned. But cooking off all of the water and adding the bacon grease made all the difference in the world.

The Green Eagle Dish is definitely not the most attractive dish, but it gets snaps for being super-easy and cheap. You can’t get much cheaper than canned spinach.


I’d give it a 4 out of 5 for flavor–the bacon grease made this a tad salty.

I think I will now put on Viva Las Vegas (which is available to stream on HBOMax).

 

***Ann-Margret is 81 and still riding her Harley.

With those fuzzy booties.

I want to grow up and be Ann-Margret!!!!!!

 

 

 

Published by

yinzerella

13 thoughts on “The Presley Family Cookbook: Elvis’ Green Eagle Dish with Eggs (1989)”

  1. Ahhhh….Elvis…..such a Dreamboat! If he were alive today, I am pretty sure he would have been photographed sitting right behind Ann-Margret on her hog…..how cool would that be??.. Fuzzy purple bootties…jumpsuit with cape flying in the wind….that’s all one would really see with the two of them speeding by ( I heard Ann-Margret’s a MANIAC on the road!)…my mother used to make creamed spinach and she used to LOVE Elvis, too ( she used to keep a small magazine photo of the King stuck on her fridge door.). Her recipe was super-simple though: she would fry up a couple of minced cloves of garlic in a little olive oil until golden, sprinkle some flour over that to make a light roux, stir in some milk, a little salt, pepper, nutmeg, then add in a big bunch of spinach. It would wilt a bit then she would blend it all. It was very tasty. The King would have approved.

  3. I love spinach cooked with a little butter and lemon and then topped with a poached egg, so I’m sure I’d love this too. I wonder if Elvis’ dish wouldn’t be quite as salty with frozen spinach.

    My dad refused to eat canned spinach (he had several bad childhood food memories), but often asked for my mom’s version of creamed spinach — frozen spinach cooked with cream of mushroom soup and a little nutmeg and sherry. We also liked the creamed spinach at Lawry’s Prime Rib Restaurant. (Now I want creamed spinach…and Prime rib.)

  4. I have to try this because I have canned spinach for some unknown reason & don’t know what to do with it. In my neck of the woods, we hoard bacon grease. I remember, at the age of 13, being on vacation with my family when the DJ announced Elvis had passed on. I was like, ” Oh great, all they’ll play this entire trip is Elvis crap!”.

  5. Watching Elvis movies every Saturday night at 6pm on NY’s Channel 5, eating Mrs Paul’s fish cakes w/ elbow macaroni & cheese is a cherished mid-century childhood memory 🙂
    Yes to The Green Eagle Dish with Eggs! He gave us all such great memories ..

  6. My mother always served spinach (canned!) with hard-boiled eggs sliced on top.
    I was more a Beatles’ fan than an Elvis fan, but no one can take away his impact on rock ‘n’ roll; he is a legend. It’s sad to think how the end of his life was; I’d rather remember him like he was in that video clip. Is that from Aloha from Hawaii, the 1973 TV special? It looks like it. I remember watching it–it was fantastic.

Talk to me!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.