Cookbook Sundays Comes to Wednesday, Revolutionary Style!

One of my favorite restaurants anywhere is City Tavern in Philadelphia.  It is where our Founding Fathers met and ate, and they still serve all the traditional foods of the era.  It's a really fun place to eat because it feels like you're stepping back in time, and the food is wonderful.  Recently, my husband bought The City Tavern Cookbook (2009), and tonight he surprised me with a meal almost entirely from that book.  I had to blog about it, as it proves who the real cook in the family is.

First, we had Traditional Beef Stew (pg. 190).  The meat was marinated in red wine overnight, and the wine was used for the sauce.  I think that really was the key to the stew's success.  Unfortunately, he left out the carrots, because he forgot to get them at the store. The recipe also called for bacon, which he forgot as well.  The stew was good without them, but the added color and flavor of the carrots and bacon would have made it even better.  The stew was served with smashed potatoes and dinner rolls. 

Then, for dessert we had Blueberry Cobbler (pg. 253).  This dessert was not difficult to make, and tasted amazing.  The crumble topping is the best part!  It was served warm with ice cream on top.  A perfect end to our Revolutionary meal.  Maybe the leftovers will be breakfast tomorrow!

I don't normally rate cookbook recipes, but I've been asked to do so for this one.  I rate it a 4.87 out of 5 stars.  Had there been carrots in the stew, it might have ranked a 4.92 with carrots and a 5.0 with carrots and bacon.  My husband's an accountant/baker, so you know I had to use odd numbers!