New from the archives: four fresh posts (Recipes: broccoli eggrolls, shrimp etouffee, cold aubergine salad, Scotch shortbread)

 

For the past few months, I've been keeping my promise to revisit a few posts each month from the first two years of The Perfect Pantry, in the days before I photographed the food I cooked.

I'm really having fun making some of my favorite dishes again, with some of my favorite pantry ingredients, and while I'm back in the archives, I'm also updating the recipes and links.

This month's updates feature black vinegar, hot sauce, peanut oil and unsalted butter.

Shrimp etouffee, a perfect dish for entertaining, tastes just as good with crawfish (harder to come by in New England). Without hot sauce, though, it's just an ordinary stew.

 

Ken Hom's cold aubergine salad gets its rich flavor from black vinegar, one of my favorite Chinese condiments.

The recipe for Gwendolen's Scotch shortbread, my husband Ted's favorite, came word-for-word (including the name) from his mother, who often would embed a maraschino cherry half in each cookie. Lots of butter makes this shortbread melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

And broccoli eggrolls (top photo), a recipe we've been making for more than 20 years, can be vegetarian or not, and also can be made ahead and frozen. A quick reheat in a moderately hot oven will crisp them up when you're ready to serve, though, honestly, they're quite irresistible fresh from the wok.

Enjoy!

Comments

All four of these dishes look scrumptious! In fact, I think I'm going to be dreaming about those eggrolls tonight. What a great idea to revisit some of your old recipes.

Just found your blog recently and I'm loving it! A food blog based on pantry ingredients is so creative! So much fun to read.

My Scottish grandmother had an amazing recipe for shortbread that we would serve at local Scottish festivals. it was definitely super moist and very buttery. Delicious.

My mother - who may secretly read your blog for all I know - switched to unsalted butter a long time ago and that is great for cooking and baking - I agree. But for old fashioned rolls with butter and corn on the cob I prefer salted butter as opposed to "salting the buttered corn" or looking like a lunatic "salting" my buttered roll. I just can't get used to unsalted butter in those applications. She never ever eats butter and just keeps some in the house for our visits and occasional cooking.

Great photos! All of these look so tasty.

I think the maiden should try out for master chef! In the meantime I will show honour by trying to replicate very tasty looking shrimp dish hahahaha

Mamma Mia, I'm loving all four dishes! They look so Delicious. I have to say those eggrolls make me absolutely hungry! great pics:)

channeling gordon ramsay;.... the shrimp recipe was !@!)&^% fantastically delicious. THANKS for sharing

nummy!