Reading Up an Appetite: Stuffed Avocados
Inspired by The Bell Jar
By Erin Sherry, Spring 2018 Intern
Ever since I purchased my first collection of Sylvia Plath poems in
high school, I have been absolutely entranced by the lyrical prose and verses
of New England native Sylvia Plath. My copy of her unabridged journals has been
loved to near tatters, and I’ve even been known to pay casual visits to her
childhood home whenever I find myself in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of
Boston.
Though I admit the heart-wrenching story of Esther Greenwood isn’t one
that immediately comes to mind when I think of my favorite culinary moments in
literature, I’ve been nursing a bit of an avocado craving lately, and luckily,
Plath’s novel was the right place to look! For the next installment of my
literary recipes series, I’m whipping up an avocado salad inspired by The Bell Jar.
Early in the book, Esther indulges in stuffed avocados at a luncheon in
New York. Paired with “overstewed coffee so bitter it made (her) nose curl,”
the meal leads her to reminisce about the avocados her grandfather used to
steal for her as a child.
To make Esther’s Ladies’ Day banquet dish for yourself,
just combine lump crab, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and old bay seasoning together
before scooping the mixture into the hollows of halved avocados. Unlike
Esther’s overstewed coffee, this simple snack is delicate and refreshing! Bon appétit!
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