Basil Rathbone’s Vichyssoise (or Vichy sois) is an ultra velvety soup that beautifully marries the rich, buttery comfort of savory leeks and potatoes with a luxurious splash of chilled sour cream. But the real magic happens when that crisp, sparkling Vichy water hits your tongue, creating a delightfully unexpected, fizzy brightness that effortlessly elevates the entire dish! {recipe from 1938}

It may not look like much, but it's almost like delicate pop rocks going off in your mouth. I know this is not French Vichy water, but the Vichy Catalan from Spain was the only one I could find at the grocery store, and it works it's magic just as much as I think the French version would.

A little bit on the Vichy water: this is unlike any other mineral water I've ever had. Vichy water outshines Perrier, S.Pellegrino, and Saratoga for its velvety, gentle fizz. I guess volcanic minerals create a beautifully rich flavor that feels luxuriously effervescent and incredibly smooth.

This is one recipe that frustrates many because there are no measurements! I just put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and tried to solve the case of this recipe as best as I could. Here are my notes:

• 2 medium potatoes peeled (large dice) and boiled with
• 3/4 of a large onion (chopped)
• the white of one small leek (chopped)
• all boiled in salted water, just to cover the contents of the pan.

When potatoes were cooked, I drained about 3/4 of the water away and mashed the potatoes, onion and leek with a little water left in pan. Added a bit more salt. No pepper. We want the soup to stay as white as possible.

This mixture was then pureed with an immersion blender and put in a bowl in the refrigerator overnight (or for several hours).

• The next day I added about 3/4 cup of sour cream and a big handful of chopped chives.
• Stirred it all well so it was thoroughly mixed.
• Back in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours.
• Then added about 1 cup to about 1 1/2 cups of cold Vichy Water.
• Back into the fridge it goes for at least 2 hours.
• 15 minutes before eating, chill soup bowls in the freezer.
• Serve in ice-cold large shallow bowls and garnish with more chives.

Luckily we have chives growing in the garden! Anyways, this soup was very unique and kind of fun to make in that science experiment sort of way.

To beat the heat, this is a great way to skip the heavy cooking and sip on an elegant chilled soup. Elementary, my dear Watson!

P.S. I also made William Shatner's Carrot Vichyssoise a few weeks ago, which was wonderful, but this one from Basil is at a whole other level!

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Valerie Harper and Dennis Weaver worked together extensively on screen and in philanthropy. In addition to co-founding their charity Love Is Feeding Everyone (L.I.F.E.), they starred as husband and wife in two back-to-back television movies during the early 1980s:

1. The Day the Loving Stopped (1981): A heavy family drama where they played a married couple undergoing a painful divorce, starring alongside Dominique Dunne and Ally Sheedy.
2. Don't Go to Sleep (1982): A psychological horror film where they played parents dealing with a haunted house and the vengeful spirit of their deceased daughter.

Recipes are from HABILITAT'S CELEBRITY COOKBOOK VOLUME II

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This little cookbook is a real gem, packed with great Texan-style snacks and recipes from iconic names like Roger Staubach and Farrah Fawcett. It's a lot of fun to flip through, especially when you hit crowd-pleasers like Carol Burnett’s "Raspberry Riches."

Here's an example of some of the celebs with recipes in this book:

1. Don Meredith
2. Lady Bird Johnson
3. Larry L. King
4. Dallas Cowboys
5. Paula Zahn
6. Roger Staubach
7. Kenny Rogers
8. Larry Hagman
9. Mary Martin (his mother)
10. Ronnie Reagan
11. Farrah Fawcett
12. Morgan Fairchild
13. Carol Burnett (Raspberry Riches!)
14. Miss Texas
15. and tons more!

Frozen Waldorf Salad sounds really good just about now!

These recipes can be found in the Texas Celebrity Cookbook

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Dolores Del Rio ☆ Gnocchi a la Romana

Elissa Landi ☆ A Recipe for Summer ☆ PICKLED EGGS!

Ginger Rogers ☆ Fudge Brownies

Gloria Swanson ☆ Caviar Canape

Jeanette McDonald ☆ Apple Caramel

Lynyrd Skynyrd's Shrimp Purlo is a classic Southern comfort dish. Rooted heavily in the Gullah-Geechee and Lowcountry culinary traditions of coastal South Carolina and Georgia, a purlo (also spelled perlo, perloo, or pilau) is a rich, savory one-pot rice dish highly comparable to Louisiana's jambalaya.

Shrimp purlo tastes like pure comfort from the Lowcountry. Because it all cooks in one pot, every single grain of rice absorbs those rich, savory flavors. It turns out so well-blended and bold, it's just really delicious.

I've had Shrimp Purlo at A Lowcountry Backyard Restaurant on Hilton Head Island, and it was delicious. I wonder how this recipe stacks up! I need to get me some Dat'l Do It Pepper Sauce now so I can make this.

This recipe can be found in The Rock and Roll Cookbook

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Harvey Fierstein’s Szechuan Cold Noodles in Sesame Sauce is another one of those great vintage celebrity recipe shared by the iconic Broadway actor. It features chilled pasta tossed in a rich, nutty, and savory sauce with a kick of garlic and spice.

That combination of sesame paste and peanut butter must make the sauce incredibly smooth, rich, and satisfying. You get a savory, nutty flavor in every single bite. Sounds easy to prepare in advance.

Before his booming, gravelly voice became his trademark on Broadway and in movies like Mrs. Doubtfire, Harvey Fierstein actually started out as a professional soprano singer in a boys' choir.

Recipe from: The Broadway Celebrity Cookbook

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Instead of Tuna Salad which I don't care for, I thought I'd try Hope Hampton's Shrimp Salad recipe from 1925. It's simple to whip up in minutes, although I did swap out her canned shrimp for shrimp that I precooked myself.

• Chop 1 1/2 cups cooked shrimp add to a medium sized bowl with chopped celery, 3 diced hard boiled eggs and about 8 chopped walnut (meats) halves.
• For the mayonnaise dressing, I used 1/2 mayo and 1/2 French Dressing. Donald O'Connor's French Dressing is now my go-to French dressing and I always keep it stocked in the fridge.
• Chilled in the fridge for an extra hour and when it was lunch time I served a small mound of it on a bed of shredded lettuce. I also later dressed the lettuce with the same mayo dressing used on the salad.
• Garnished with 1 shrimp sliced down the middle (2 halves) and a slice of egg. Salt & pepper to taste.

It was a nice change of pace for lunch. As you can imagine this is just like a simple recipe for tuna salad or chicken salad with chopped eggs, so it's a nice filling but light lunch. The flavors work well together. It's rich, creamy with a fresh satisfying crunch!

I'll be making this again. And to think people were eating this salad 100 years ago! Kinda cool. This recipe comes from the Favorite Recipes Famous Women cookbook of 1925.

Hope Hampton (born Mae Elizabeth Hampton; February 19, 1897 – January 23, 1982) was an American silent film actress, opera singer, and prominent New York City socialite. She rose to fame in the 1920s as a quintessential flapper and siren on the silver screen.

I recently came across Miriam Hopkins’ 1934 recipe for these Pink Deviled Eggs in an old newspaper, and I could resist making them today for breakfast. You see, this is just a trial run for future party snacks, Haha. They made the cut and here's how it went down:

• I boiled the eggs for my usual 12 minutes and in hindsight, I should have cooked them a few minutes more for this recipe as they were a little fragile to handle.
• After peeling and cutting eggs in half, placing yolks in a separate bowl, the whites were ready for their beauty treatment... a warm bath in homemade beet juice.
• Beet juice marinade: Instead of using expensive beet juice, I grabbed a beet (medium size) from the fridge and grated it into a small pan, added about 1 1/2 cups of water and about a teaspoon of vinegar. Boiled that up while I was boiling the eggs.
• When eggs were peeled and divided, I strained the beets out of the liquid and discarded them. Eggs whites were place carefully in the "pickled beet juice" and they quickly absorbed the color. The liquid was still pretty hot at that point.
• I left them in there for about 20 minutes while I was mixing the yolk mixture.
• I then removed the eggs from the beet juice and let them dry and drain on a rack. Flipped them after a while on the rack and set them on paper towels. The yolk mixture was in the fridge at that point.
• While the pink egg whites were airing out, I prepared a mayonnaise mixture to drizzle over the top of filled eggs. I remember watching Jacques Pépin on tv once and he made deviled eggs from his mother's recipe that had a mayo type sauce for the top. He added the extra yolk mix into the mayo dressing for the top of the eggs, so it gave me an idea.

Here's how I made the mayo dressing for these deviled eggs:

• 1 tablespoon Mayo
• 1/4 tsp French Mustard
• 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon heavy cream
• salt & pepper
• extra yolk mixture (added after filling eggs)
• whisk and put to the side

So now it was time to fill the eggs. I garnished each one with a tiny slice of sweet pickle and then drizzled the stuffed eggs with the mayo dressing. Superb!

The flavor was very nice and punchy! You get a nice balance of the vinegar with the richness of the mayo, cream and yolks. The mayo dressing added a creaminess, moisture and more of a rich flavor. I've never made this type of dressing before for deviled eggs, but it works fabulously!

And don't forget to check out the Harry Houdini Deviled Eggs I made a while back. Those are made with melted butter, among a few other ingredients and are meant to be eaten on a bed of chopped lettuce. They'd probably work nicely with this type of dressing too.

Harry's eggs were simpler in flavor and Miriam's eggs are packed with punchy flavor. Both good, but different.

And remember, you can skip the whole pink part and and just make white deviled eggs with this recipe.

P.S. I transcribed Miriam's original recipe so it would be easier to follow in a recipe format. Both recipe versions are included here.

I'd love to try Cheryl Ladd’s classic spinach dip—it’s a total throwback. I'm sure it's super rich, creamy, plus it's no-bake, so it's super easy.

The real secret to that deep, savory flavor everyone loves is just a simple packet of Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix.

Ruta Lee's "Jello" for Adults is actually a completely different, iconic mid-century dish known as Caviar Madrilène or a Caviar Aspic Shot.

This savory, elegant appetizer was a major staple at elite Rat Pack dinner parties. It perfectly showcases how hostesses in the 1960s transformed standard gelatins into luxurious, high-end hors d'oeuvres.

The dish functions like a solid, layered Martini. The underlying gelatin consists of a clarified, vodka-spiked beef or tomato broth that is then layered with rich dairy and premium fish roe to create a striking contrast of textures and flavors.

Recipes are from The Sinatra Celebrity Cookbook.

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In addition to this breakfast bonanza from Bono, if you are looking for what the real-life rock star prefers to eat, his food preferences lean toward classic Irish comfort food and traditional delis.

Bono has publicly stated that his absolute favorite sandwich is a traditional Irish Chip Butty. It consists of thick-cut French fries coated in salt and malt vinegar, packed tightly between slices of heavily buttered plain white bread.

When touring in the United States, he is known to frequent legendary spots like Canter's Deli in Los Angeles for a classic corned beef sandwich paired with a half-and-half side of fries and onion rings.

This breakfast recipe can be found in The Sinatra Celebrity Cookbook: Barbara, Frank & Friends

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B.B. King (born Riley B. King; September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015) was an iconic American singer-songwriter and record producer widely revered as the undisputed "King of the Blues."

Over a career spanning nearly seven decades, he revolutionized electric guitar playing with his sophisticated soloing style, characterized by fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato, and precise staccato picking.

He remains recognized by AllMusic as the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century.

In 1949, King ran into a burning dance hall to rescue his $30 acoustic guitar. The fire started when two men knocked over a kerosene heater during a fight over a woman named Lucille. King escaped with the guitar and named it—and every guitar he owned after—"Lucille" to remind himself never to fight over a woman or run into a burning building again.

King went from picking cotton as a sharecropper in Mississippi to performing at the White House for multiple U.S. presidents. During a 2012 blues event in the East Room, he even convinced President Barack Obama to join him at the microphone to sing a verse of "Sweet Home Chicago."

recipe from: A Musical Feast: Recipes from over 100 of the World's Most Famous Musical Artists

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Inspired by this classic recipe from the incomparable Phyllis Diller, I recently made her Lemon Refrigerator Cookies with a little twist of my own. I added pistachios for an extra punch of flavor and a satisfying crunch that pairs beautifully with the bright lemon notes. The result was a delightful batch of cookies that felt both nostalgic and just a little bit glamorous.

They were light, buttery, zesty and crunchy and so good!

• I thought pistachios would be a nice combination with the lemon, and since the recipe doesn't specify what kind of nut, we're at liberty to choose our own!
• Pistachios are a popular snack in our household and we always get the lightly salted with shells, but for this recipe I didn't want to fuss with shelling all those pistachios, so I bought Lightly Salted Pistachios, No Shells.
• Now for making this recipe. It wasn't hard, but the order the ingredients are listed in is confusing.
• No big deal, just have to keep checking to make sure everything is included.
• I didn't add salt, since the pistachios are lightly salted.
• Remember to zest your lemon before juicing.
• Extra butter was used instead of the shortening, so it's a total of 1 cup of butter.
• This is a very soft batter and a little sticky.
• Chill batter for about 1 hour and then roll into two logs wrapped in wax paper. They do need to chill for quite a while so overnight is perfect.
• When ready to bake, slice to batter. I kept the batter in the freezer in between batches of cookies.
• Since these cookies are so buttery, I placed them on paper towels on a rack when they came out of the oven. This absorbs some of the butter and makes them crispier.
• My cookies must have been bigger than Phyllis' because I got about 4 dozen out of this batch.

The taste is like I said earlier, light, buttery, lemons and a bit crunchy. So good with coffee or tea. These are a very nice delicate cookie and I'll be making them again. My husband that they were the "perfect nut" for these cookies, haha.

I love these slice and bake refrigerator cookies. Here are 2 other fabulous recipes we recently tried:  Oatmeal Icebox Cookies and  Colleen Moore's Recipe for Cookies ( I made Colleen's as both a drop cookie and as a slice and bake refrigerator cookie)

Here are a couple of other Phyllis Diller Recipes I've made:

1. Phyllis Diller's “Gosh... It’s Gazpacho!
2. Phyllis Diller's Fried Cucumbers

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Gary Cooper's BUTTERMILK GRIDDLE CAKES a recipe borrowed from his mother and they've been on my radar for a long time. They weren't what I expected. I thought they'd be more like your everyday, run of the mill pancake batter, like Bisquick.

I'm so happy we finally decided to make them this morning and here are my notes:

• Easy to prepare
• The batter is really, really thick and almost like a biscuit batter.
• Get your griddle or pan really hot and butter it well
• "drop by spoonfuls" on your hot buttered griddle.
• The recipe is pretty accurate.
• Don't be tempted to add extra milk or cream, because I tried that near the end and it just made them undercooked in the middle.

As for the taste, yum! They're pretty moist and so flavorful. Better that any other griddle cake or pancake I've ever had, except for the Charlie Chaplin Sour Cream Hot Cakes I made last month.

They're both so good but different. These are more rustic and Charlie's are more delicate. I would highly recommend you making these if Griddle Cakes are your thing. Just follow the instructions and you'll be fine.

The recipe was famously published in the 1931 vintage cookbook, Favorite Recipes of the Movie Stars. 

A bit about Jane Bryan’s story—she was this total 1930s Hollywood darling who was completely taken under the wing of the legendary Bette Davis.

Just as she was being groomed for absolute superstardom, she walked away from it all at twenty-two to marry a tycoon and ended up convincing her old co-star Ronald Reagan to run for president!

She was a licensed pilot who flew her own plane across the country to participate in archaeological digs.

Warner Bros. was so desperate to stop her from retiring that Jack Warner offered her a massive contract extension with top-billing status and absolute script approval just to get her to stay.

Despite Jack Warner dangling ultimate stardom right in front of her, she stuck to her guns, officially retired from the screen in 1940 at just 22 years old, and never looked back.

Her mentor Bette Davis didn't resent her for leaving; in fact, they remained so close that Davis actually got married to her second husband, Arthur Farnsworth, right at Jane and Justin Dart's ranch in Arizona

William Elliott (December 4, 1879 – February 5, 1932) was a highly popular American stage and film actor as well as a prominent theatrical producer during the first two decades of the 20th century. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and passed away in New York City.

Elliott was once so sought after that he smoothly transitioned from Broadway stardom to Hollywood silent films, starring alongside major icons like Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

He grew into one of the most popular leading men of his era, smoothly making the transition into silent films with notable appearances in movies such as Comrade John (1915), The Model (1915), and Stephen Steps Out (1923).

George Michael recipe for Yog's Risotto from the Rock 'n' Roll Cuisine recipe book.

George Michael's childhood nickname "Yog" came from a schoolboy mispronunciation of his Greek name, Yorgos (Georgios). When his future Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley first visited his house, he heard his family call him "Yorgo" and joked that they called him "yogurt," which was then shortened to "Yog".

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Yesterday turned out to be the perfect day to make Carole Lombard's Salisbury Meat Balls. I was already making mashed potatoes for the 1.) Caramel Potato Cake and potatoes for the 2.) vichyssoise so while I made the recipe for Carole's meatballs, I already had the mashed potatoes cooking too.

This recipe was very easy to make. I started by getting all the ingredients ready to go.

• Chopped onions, chopped garlic and chopped red bell pepper
• I had 1 lb. of ground beef and I rolled them into 15 medium sized meatballs. So easy!
• 1/2 cup of olive oil in the pan, heated up and then you just dump in the veggies (carefully) and the place the meatballs in individually so they're not touching.
• Braised (browned) the meat and then added seasonings: salt, pepper, pinch of cayenne.
• Then added Tomato Soup, and 1/2 cup of Chili Sauce.
• That's it!
• Now simmer for 2 hours. I left it uncovered until the last 1/2 hour and then partially covered it.
• a dash of worcestershire sauce might be good in this too.

The finished result was so flavorful. The meatballs were more tender than I thought they'd be. The sauce is great, although it's a little oily form all the olive oil, but if you use a slotted spoon, the meatballs and cooked veggies with some gravy can be easily served. I highly recommend serving these meatballs over mashed potatoes, but rice would be nice too.

The meatballs and the sauce are terrific! This is a pretty easy to make recipe.

This recipe can be found in Midgie Knight's Recipe Book of the Movie Stars,1933

And don't forget to checkout JOAN BENNETT'S Tomato Soup Cake. It's quite delicious.

A little background on Salisbury:

^(Salisbury steak is named after Dr. James Henry Salisbury, a 19th-century American physician and early diet advocate. During the American Civil War, he promoted a high-meat diet of minced lean beef patties to treat digestive disorders and camp diarrhea among Union troops. The meal was widely known as "hamburger steak" until anti-German sentiment during World War I led the United States to favor the patriotic-sounding "Salisbury steak." Dr. Salisbury’s recipe contains only) **^(one ingredient: lean beef)**^(. In his own words from 1888, the process requires scraping the meat to isolate the pure muscle fibers, avoiding binders like egg or breadcrumbs entirely.)

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