Hot Dog!

Food from books- what could be more fun?

Check out these pictures and menus from some of our favorites:

http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/04/16/fictitous-dishes-dinah-fried-book/

One of my first writing gigs was a column on BOOK CLUBS for Skirt! 
(a regional magazine, and yes, that exclamation point is in the title.)
Book Clubbers loved to write about the food that complimented their book discussions. 

Like these:

 (You can find a few good ones, HERE.)

And while I'm at it, how about raising a glass to your favorite book and cook with this one?

Now I'm hungry. 
I'm off to eat my semi-annual slaw dog, in honor of July 4th weekend. 

Happy holiday, everybody!

Coconut cake!

There, I got your attention. It's Easter weekend, and I'm remembering those lamb-shaped coconut cakes decorating long ago Easter Sunday dinner tables. Remember those? I love coconut. But I don't think I'll attempt the lamb shape.

Here's a recipe, or as she surely knew it, a receipt, from Emily Dickinson. Her favorite cake for birthday celebrating. Mine, too.

http://thehistorykitchen.com/2011/12/09/emily-dickinsons-coconut-cake/#

 Speaking of cakes. Have you read Lisa Graff's brand new middle grade novel? A novel filled with magic, multiple characters, mysteries and quests-And cake recipes. Such fun!

My review from the Christian Science Monitor. ⬅

A link to read more about TANGLE OF KNOTS, and order your own copy.


I'm also a fan of Red Velvet cake. It made its way into my novel, GLORY BE.
My friend Nancy McIntyre made this one from scratch for our gathering in June.

While I was writing, novelist Helen Hemphill shared a story about how her editor laughingly said every time he turned a page of her first book's manuscript, somebody was cooking or eating. With that in mind, a lot of fried chicken and pimento cheese got the ax from Glory's story early on. But many food references and events stayed in.

I made a Pinterest board about the Food in Glory Be. Check it out here. 
I'm not so great at Pinterest but sometimes something just strikes my fancy and up it goes.

In a story I'm noodling now, there's a character who cooks. Maybe I'll include a recipe or two. Hmmm. Good idea or not?

It certainly worked in Lisa Graff's new book. Then again, she's a baker. Me, not so much.
Maybe I'll stick to writing.

Happy Easter, everyone! 


Past Posts, possibly related:
Helen Hemphill interviews me
BOOK FOOD, pimento cheese
Home Food

Cold Curry Soup

A recipe diversion from reading and writing- Perfect for a summer weekend.

Yummy soup I had the nerve to serve to two of my best foodie friends, Ivy and Barbara. I'd enjoyed it at another terrific cook's Annapolis Book Group luncheon for Glory Be this summer. 

So I knew I couldn't miss.

AND then I discover it's featured on my NJ writer friend Lee Hilton's food blog, right here:
http://spoonandink.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-group-soup.html

 (That's Lee, all done up in her chef outfit, from her blog photo.)

This is what my soup looked like. 

The flamingo is an extra added attraction, courtesy of a Birthday Girl.

FYI. My friend Ivy and I have known each other since before we were born.
Our grandparents were friends. Her mama and my daddy grew up down the street from each other.
Have we always enjoyed sharing and talking about delicious food?

My friend Barbara in my Chatham kitchen one winter eve.
We've spent many an evening cooking and talking here.

Aren't friends the best? And isn't sharing a meal something to be savored and remembered?

Here's the recipe.
(At her Book Group lunch, my friend Nancy served it as a first course, in demitasse cups. Perfect!)

For more tips, click on over to the Kitchen Goddess's website.

One-of-Each Soup

(adapted from Gourmet magazine, December 2001. Nancy got it from her aunt, who wasn't so precise with the measurements and it tasted just fine!)

1 large boiling potato (½  lb), peeled and coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped (½ c)

1 large apple, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 firm-ripe banana, coarsely chopped

1 pt chicken broth

1 c cream

1 rounded tsp curry powder, additional curry may be added, as to taste

1 tsp salt, pepper to taste

Chopped fresh chives for garnish

Simmer vegetables and fruits in broth in a 3-quart heavy saucepan, covered, until very tender. Stir in cream, curry powder, and salt/ pepper and heat just until hot (do not boil). Refrigerate.

Purée soup in a blender until smooth. Serve sprinkled with chives. Makes 4 to 6 main course servings.

Fig Recipe

For those of you who saw the picture yesterday and requested the recipe, it was simply figs, goat cheese mixed with a little honey, and thinly sliced French bread.

But here's another good one!
I've also drizzled this with honey, in place of the olive oil at the end.


EASY FIG AND PROSCIUTTO APPETIZER

Ingredients
8 Black Mission figs
1/2 cup blue cheese, cut into cubes
8 prosciutto (thinly sliced, cut in half lengthwise)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Preheat grill. You will need medium to high heat for grilling. The key is to crisp the prosciutto quickly and leave the blue cheese just melted with the inner part of the fig cool in temperature.

Cut the figs in half and place a piece of blue cheese on each fig half. Wrap the prosciutto around each fig half, covering the cheese. The ends of the prosciutto should overlap.

Grill each piece until the prosciutto begins to color and crisp, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from grill, lightly drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Peaches!

In honor of the delicious summer peaches at all our NJ Farmers' Markets-- not to mention the end of the blueberries-- here's the article from the Christian Science Monitor I wrote a couple of summers ago. Includes an easy "mock" cobbler recipe that's so easy to make I could do it on a tiny kitchen table with a questionable oven.

(However, mine didn't rival Aunt Lynn's cobbler topping,  made with real cream, butter, sugar. I need that recipe from our family dinner last week!)

(Photo from Morguefile, thanks to Jeremy Wrenn)

Food from The Help

What could be more fun? Check out this article in the August issue of Food and Wine magazine about all the food in the movie, The Help.

As of yesterday, my local bookstore didn't have the August issue yet. But soon!

Tomato aspic, collard greens, black-eyed peas. No thank you on the pie recipe, however.

Here's a little taste (excuse the pun) from the article:

In The Help, the character Minny reveres Crisco, calling it "the most important invention in the kitchen since jarred mayonnaise." She uses Crisco to fry chicken to perfection, admiring the way the vegetable shortening "bubbles up like a song" as it cooks.

I am feeling a sudden craving for fried chicken.

But you know, I wonder about that line from the book, about jarred mayonnaise. True Southern cooks still pride themselves on making homemade mayo. Just seems like an odd thing...


Related posts: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about The Help

Cookin' With the Oldies

Today, for some strange reason, I had an overwhelming desire to pop my iPod into the speakers and listen to Oldies while making my mother's chicken spaghetti casserole. (Aside: in the South, we do NOT call our sauces "gravies"- those are saved for what tops rice, served with fried chicken or country fried steak or pork chops.)

My childhood pasta dishes combined chicken or ground beef, canned pimentos, lots of cheese. Oh, and spaghetti broken into little pieces before cooking. (OK, Lisa, I can see you out there cringing. You the Pasta Purist who warned us not to put pepper on our dishes that night at Rocco's... You were right. I promise I don't pepper the spaghetti or break it up any longer.)

The casserole recipes in my mother's church's cookbook (c. 1969)  mostly call for canned soup--mushroom, celery, etc.-- depending on the cook. But I don't keep that dreaded ingredient in my cupboard these days so I decided to upgrade. Or downgrade, depending on your POV.

Here it is-

Mama's Good-for-You Chicken Spaghetti Casserole.

Cook two chicken breasts, bone-in, in stock until done. Cut in bite-size pieces.

Cook a handful of thin whole wheat spaghetti until al dente, preferably in the leftover stock.

Saute one onion and a couple of small sweet peppers.

Mix the whole thing up, adding stock to keep it moist. Add a can of Rotel tomatoes if you're lucky enough to live where they can easily be found. Throw in some cheddar cheese, if you'd like.

Season to taste.

Put in casserole dish, top with more cheese. Bake till the inside is hot.

That's it!

(These days a lot of my recipes remind me of the first cookbook I ever owned. My grandmother gave me a copy of The I-Hate-To-Cook Cookbook. The grandmother who had no clue how to cook.)

Of course, there's a writing connection to my forthcoming children's novel. Chicken spaghetti makes an appearance at the dinner table, along with this, spoken by the young narrator:

"She'll like your chicken spaghetti. 

Don't all Yankees like spaghetti?"

Summer Suppers

One thing I love about living in New Jersey all summer long is our local Farmers Markets. Each little burg has one. I can hit Madison on Thursday, Chatham on Saturday and the biggest of all, Summit on Sunday mornings. Jersey corn and tomatoes, fresh fish from "down the shore" and even chocolate pastries that remind me of Paris, sort of. The good food never stops!

A recent, delightful dinner at the home of my old Baltimore friends inspired me to cook a grilled vegetable, feta and orzo salad a la Barefoot Contessa. That same friend also made a yummy corn salad that night. Her corn was Maryland, possibly Eastern Shore, and was as good as our Silver Queen here in New Jersey.

For even more on our local markets, check out Kitchen Goddess Lee Hilton's Spoon and Ink food blog. She, too, has a terrific corn salad recipe to share.

Serving salads for supper in the summer (wow, check that alliteration) is what my other Kitchen Goddess friend Ivy calls her "cool plates." Except she says Coooool Plates and makes them sound very special. When really it was just too hot to cook! (Which it totally is this summer.)

Then again, anything my friend Ivy or my friend Lee cooks is very special.

So pull out a good book and find a shady spot. Then buy some local produce, make your family a cooool plate, and enjoy the summer!