June 2011

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Best Blueberry Pie

28 June, 2011 in Pie | 18 comments

Yesterday, I picked some blueberries up at the grocery, and came home to hunt through the books I have here in Boston for a pie recipe. I was expecting to find some variation on the classic “sugar + lemon + cornstarch” formula – maybe to get crazy and do a lattice crust. Instead, I found The Best Blueberry Pie – I didn’t say it first; it’s titled that way in the Dallas Junior League Cookbook.

This is one of those recipes that reminds me why I continue my cookbook archaeology efforts: it’s completely different from any blueberry pie I’ve encountered before, and though it doesn’t photograph well, it is utterly delicious. In lieu of true food porn, I give you a visual testimonial. Before:


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Byzantine Stuffed Eggplant

20 June, 2011 in Appetizers, Meat, Side Dishes | 19 comments

Confession time: I’ve been a bum about posting this week. Warning time: it might happen again this summer as I get closer and closer to the July 26 (eek!) bar exam. And then it might happen more afterwards, as I crash on a beach in Rockport, and then trek around Southeast Asia for three weeks. I’m pretty stoked about all of the post-exam bits, though, and will try to share as much as possible up here.

Before I dive into future travels, though, I’m harking back to a former jaunt I’ve already spoken about, and putting up a lovely Greek recipe for your enjoyment. I give you…Stuffed Eggplant!


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Charcutepalooza: Smoked Andouille Sausage

15 June, 2011 in Fish, Meat | 17 comments

Last month I started down a Louisiana-centric path for my first Charcutepalooza sausage challenge, with a Creole Chicken Sausage. This only whet my appetite, however, for a recipe I’d been eying for a while in Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie: Smoked Andouille Sausage. So, for this month’s stuffing challenge, I pulled out all the stops, dove back into pork with a vengeance, and lived the andouille dream. I even got some shrimp ‘n grits into the picture.


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Broiled Tomatoes with Tarragon

12 June, 2011 in Brunch, Eggs, Side Dishes | 9 comments

It’s a lazy Sunday here at Cookbook Archaeology, so I’m sharing a fast, tasty brunch and introducing a new book. The new book is The Embassy Cookbook, from 1966 – a collection of menus provided by about fifty countries’ Washington, D.C. embassies. I’ve been on a produce binge, so I seized on New Zealand’s simple, lovely broiled tomato recipe and paired it with some scrambled eggs and toast.


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The Big Sleep Cocktail (Champagne and Cognac)

9 June, 2011 in Drinks | 14 comments

My collection of vintage cookbooks is actually an offshoot of a more general book habit. I’ve been converted recently to the joys of e-book readers, but I still really love the smell and feel of old trade paperbacks. Which is why I found myself browsing through my parents’ books, and picking up a 1970s copy of The Big Sleep. Food, I found, follows me even into my non-cookbook vintage adventures: in Chapter 2, as Philip Marlowe gets drawn into the affairs of the Sternwoods, the aged patriarch of that family tells the P.I., “I used to like my brandy with champagne. The champagne as cold as Valley Forge and about a third of a glass of brandy beneath it.” I was reading my book on the train this weekend (a perfect place for hardboiled crime stories) and was unable to stop thinking about it until I tried it today. It was delicious; I’m still unable to stop thinking on it.


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Beet It: Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Kale Crisps

5 June, 2011 in Meat, Salad, Side Dishes | 18 comments

This is one of those “off-concept” times. I kind of walked into Whole Foods and went bananas over spring greens. Not as bananas as I went over bananas the other day…but pretty crazy. I kept trying to think of things to satisfy everyone in at dinner: vegetarian stepsister, the littler picky-eater ones, meat-loving dad, and those trying to diet (myself included). Somehow I grabbed a whole bunch of beets and decided to go from there. The result: beet salad with goat cheese and kale crisps, and turkey burgers stuffed with goat cheese and topped with sauteed beet greens. The beet salad was definitely the prettiest part.


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Honeyed Banana-Blueberry Bread

2 June, 2011 in Bread | 21 comments

So, it turns out the bar exam is kind of hard. My posts will probably be pretty sporadic these next couple of months: apologies in advance. I’m happy, however, to have fit a banana-berry bread in yesterday.


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