Recently, as I was dipping through a copy of my family cookbook in search of one of my mother's favorite recipes, I took a good, long look at the book itself. In addition to being a nice resource, it is also something of an heirloom: in the early 1980's, flush with the joy of culinary experimentation, my mother and my aunts compiled their favorite recipes into the slim volume. Titling it Beyond Rice Krispie Treats, they dedicated it to my grandmother Ida, who famously "couldn't cook, but loved to eat."

The cookbook is heavily influenced by Seventies-era foodways. The recipes are full of fat, sugar, and sodium, and their seasonings tend to be a little mild for contemporary tastes. On the other hand, they also reflect those days immediately after the release of Julia Child's The Art of French Cooking, when average housewives began to explore the wonders of gourmet cookery. In some ways timid, in other ways bold, Beyond Rice Krispie Treats is a hell of a lot of fun.

Flipping through the book, I decided to do my own version of Julie and Julia, trying out some of the Carter-era cooking that my mom's family compiled. When I ran the idea by my Aunt Evie, she was immediately helpful, sending me almost 30 years worth of notes and updates. With Evie's advice, and my own experimentation, I'm hoping to resurrect some seventies classics.


The first dish that I decided to try was my Aunt's miniature quiches. Nowadays, with pre-made mini-quiches in almost every grocery store, it's hard to remember that the little snacks were once a gourmet treat. My aunt's recipe, which uses refrigerated dinner rolls for crusts, is incredibly simple and required very little updating. What's more, a batch and a half of the mix, poured into a deep-dish pastry shell, makes an easy and delicious full-sized quiche. Simply cook at 375° until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Hors D'Oeuvre Quiches
Makes 60 mini-quiches

2 packages refrigerated butterflake dinner rolls
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, cooked, cooled, and crumbled
2 eggs
1 cup half and half
1/4 cup minced scallions
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp cayenne
8 ounces shredded swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease tiny muffin tins. Press in one or two layers of butterflake rolls to cover the bottom and sides. Put a spoonful of the cooled, crumbled sausage in each lined cup. Beat the remaining ingredients except the cheese. Put 1 tablespoon of the mixture into each cup. Sprinkle with the swiss cheese and bake for 20 minutes.

I also made these in full-sized muffin cups. They required a few more minutes of cooking, but were delicious.