THE BOOK:

I’ve read the last two Gamache books, the first two, and one in the middle, so with this book, I attempt to read the rest of her books in publishing chronological order, this being number three. What I love about these books is so similar to why I love Donna Leon’s Commisario Brunetti books. Both men are intelligent, well-read, reserved, confident, they love their wives and their family, and they have an unwavering sense of justice that does not always fit into the bureaucratic morass that is their respective law enforcement agency policies. In addition, I always learn something— and there’s food!

In this installment, Gamache is called once again to the rural village of Three Pines to investigate a murder. A small group of villagers held a seance in a deserted, haunted house where the murder took place. Most of the characters are recurring, making each new installment an opportunity to get to know more about these characters who feel like friends. I love when Gamache imparts wisdom to his junior staff, like giving Lemieux a crash course in catching killers. “There are four statements that lead to wisdom. I don’t know. I’m sorry. I need help. I was wrong.”

THE BEAUTY:

During the murder investigation, Inspector Beauvoir and Gamache are looking at a high school yearbook, trying to make a connection between the picture of a lovely young cheerleader and the mousy woman seated on the other side of the Bistro. If the cheerleader is indeed the same woman, she may be the murderer. Beauvoir looked at Gamache and said, “You think maybe she magically transformed herself from a beautiful cheerleader into that?” Gamache replied, “I have seen flowers come in stony places, And kind things done by men with ugly faces.”

An Epilogue
John Masefield

I have seen flowers come in stony places
And kind things done by men with ugly faces,
And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races,
So I trust, too.

THE FOOD:

Slow cooker Quebec-style baked beans

Everyone handles grief differently. When Beauvoir went to question Hazel Smyth in her kitchen after the death of her best friend and roommate, every pot was out, either in use, or in the sink. On the stove there was a brown jar filled with a classic Québécois dish, baked beans. Since my husband loves baked beans, this had to be the dish for this book. The slow cooker made it easy.

Quebec Maple Baked Beans
Servings 5 cups

1 pound dry beans (navy, great Northern) 2-1/3 cups
water for soaking and precooking
1 medium onion
¼ lb salt pork or bacon
¼ C pure maple syrup
⅓ C brown sugar
2 T unsulfured molasses
2 T tomato paste
2 tsp dry mustard
3 C water for cooking
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

Rinse and sort the beans; remove any pebbles or debris. Place the beans in a large bowl. Fill with water in order to submerge the beans by at least two inches of water.
Soak overnight (8-12 hours).

The next day, transfer the drained and rinsed beans to a large pot. Re-fill with water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Remove from heat and rinse again.

Transfer the rinsed precooked beans in your slow cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir together and place the whole onion in the center.

Cover and cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours or until the beans are tender. If the mixture appears dry, you can add some water.

Serve immediately or refrigerate and served reheated the next day. The baked beans can also be frozen.

THE BOOK:

I have not read any of Reichl’s books, of which there are quite a few, but I have heard several reviews on the podcasts I follow, and have thought that I might enjoy her writing. When this book came out, it had everything I love in a book. (It seems that I am quite a fan of memoir, if I look back at the number of books I have read in that category.) Reichl grew up in New York, one of my favorite places, so there promised to be a lot about the the city I ❤️. She was something of a hippie, with a laid back attitude, untameable hair, and a disregard for fashion. She loved food! She was a food critic for the New York Times so she dined at some memorable places on both sides of the approval spectrum. And the pièce de résistance, she was the last editor of Gourmet Magazine, a periodical I devoured monthly in the 80’s and 90’s. I made my first standing rack of lamb using a Gourmet recipe, and years later decided to forego a Bermuda vacation in order to buy bone flatware for a scary Halloween dinner that was featured in an October issue. And there are recipes! I really enjoyed the book and the writing and the insider look into the world of magazine publishing in its heyday. I still miss Gourmet.

THE BEAUTY: My favorite chapter was called Severine. Gourmet had decided to do an entire issue on Paris, and sent the editors to scout out interesting things for its readers to see, do and eat. Ruth passed a dress shop, and on an uncharacteristic impulse, she went in. The sales person was very helpful, showing Ruth a little black dress that made her feel beautiful. It was a 1959 vintage St. Laurent with a price tag equivalent to $6500.00! The tag at the neckline read “Severine.” When Ruth passed on the dress, the salesperson cautioned her that she would regret walking away. Ruth thought about that darned dress all day, and couldn’t decide if she really wanted to walk away or take the plunge and buy it. She thought back to when she had visited Paris as a 17 year-old. She had desperately wanted to eat at Caviar Kaspia, and saved up her money to do just that. When she got to the maitre d’ station to be seated, Yves St. Laurent walked past, she lost her nerve and left. All these years later, she decided to treat herself and think about the dress during a fabulous meal. She ordered the lobster bisque, and relished it as she usually did with fine food, eating slowly and deliberately and savoring every morsel. An older gentleman seated at the table next to her, excused himself to comment on how much he had enjoyed watching her eat. He said that Ruth reminded him of his late wife, and reminisced about his wife’s quirky and mysterious ways. He offered Ruth some of his caviar and a glass of Krug ’66 champagne, which he said was the perfect wine for caviar. They ended up spending a companionable evening together, and when they parted company, he thanked Ruth for allowing him to recapture a bit of his vibrant youth by talking about his past. Ruth asked what his wife’s name is. You guessed it: Severine. You’ll have to read the book to find out if Ruth bought the dress.

THE FOOD:

The Reichl’s were not rich, but they managed to dine at Luchow’s, which was in their neighborhood, once a week. Ruth and her father were adventurous eaters, eventually sampling everything on the Luchow’s menu, but Ruth’s mother always ordered the same thing every week.

Husband-tested, he declared them outstanding. Here’s one sans flambé and maple syrup.

German Apple Pancakes
Serves: 3

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced thin
1 lemon
½ stick (4 T) unsalted butter
¼ C brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
small grating of nutmeg
3 eggs
¾ C flour,
pinch of salt
1 T sugar
1 C milk
sugar for sprinkling
Rum or cognac (optional)

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. Shower them with about 2 T of lemon juice.
Melt half the butter (2 T) in a medium skillet and stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the apple slices and cook over medium-high heat for about 8 minutes, until they’ve become quite darkly caramelized and smell impossibly delicious. Remove them from the heat.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs, add the milk, gently whisking, then add flour, salt, and sugar, whisking until blended. The batter should be thin.

Melt a couple of tsp of butter in an 8 inch frying pan to coat bottom. When hot, pour in a third of a cup of batter, turning the pan to make the batter spread to form large, thin, flat pancake.

Cook until just set, about 2 minutes. Evenly distribute a third of the apples over the crepe, pour another third of a cup of batter over the apples, then turn the pancake (this is easier if you have two pancake turners) and allow the bottom to brown. Turn out onto a large plate, sprinkle generously with sugar, and roll the pancake up like a jelly roll. Sprinkle with a bit more sugar, and, if you like, a splash of lemon juice.

Repeat this until you have three plump rolled pancakes. If you want to flame the pancakes, lightly warm a few tablespoons of rum or cognac for each pancake in pan, add the pancakes, spoon the liquor over the top, and set the pancakes on fire.

THE BOOK:

Another highly anticipated debut that I read about at the Kirkus website’s “buzzed about books,” Miracle Creek is an immigrant story, a mystery, and a courtroom drama. The Yoos had come to the United States from Korea so their teenage daughter, Mary,  could have a better life. Pak, the father had worked in Korea at a hyperbaric oxygen therapy facility, and with the financial backing of friends, was able to set up his own HBOT business, “Miracle Submarine,” in rural Miracle Creek, Virginia. The family  lived modestly, saving as much as they could to pay back their investors. Plagued by demonstrators who daily showed up with signs reading, “I’m a Child Not a Lab Rat,” and “Quack Medicine = Child Abuse,” Pak worried that they would ultimately sabotage his facility in an attempt to put him out of business. When the chamber suddenly exploded, many were convinced that it had been at the hands of the protesters, but Pak’s wife and daughter, had their own secrets and suspicions. The courtroom drama is deftly drawn by the author, herself a former trial lawyer. I went off on several red herring tangents until I finally figured out what had actually happened, at the very end. A book I could not put down, and another long night of reading.

THE BEAUTY: Finding beauty was a challenge in this book where terrible things happened to change lives forever. What I was left with was the beauty of the human spirit, that can forge its way back from the depths of despair, and make peace in a world so different from the one in which they had been living in. Many of the characters in this book did just that, not alone but with the love and support of people who had shared their experience. Survival is a beautiful thing.

THE FOOD: Pak’s favorite meal, although they rarely had it because of the expense.

Korean Barbecue Ribs (Galbi) 

2 lbs. beef short ribs, cut flanken style or boneless short ribs sliced ½ inch thick*
*A rule in my house is, when we make a new recipe, we always prepare it exactly as written. When I initially had trouble finding flanken cut short ribs, I decided to use boneless short ribs, as I had just made them recently in a successful recipe. My usual butchery (2 actually) didn’t even have boneless. After many calls, I ended up at Whole Foods, where, to my surprise, they had flanken cut short ribs. The butcher had already packaged my boneless ribs, and I didn’t like the look of the flanken, so I went with the boneless, flaunting our house rule. Since I have nothing to compare it to, I have no idea if it was mistake.

If you look closely you can see the bone on the right of each strip.

Marinade

6 oz. pineapple juice
3 T chopped garlic
½ C chopped onion and scallion (food processor)
1 C soy sauce
3 T honey
1½ T sesame oil
¼ C Mirin
¾ C rice wine
½ C dashi
1 small Asian pear, finely grated

Mix together all marinade ingredients. Place beef and marinade in a zip lock bag and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Remove the meat from the marinade and set aside to grill. Grill for about 20 minutes until desired doneness is reached.

Pour the marinade in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Add 3 more tablespoons honey, Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Strain solids from the sauce. Make lettuce wraps  with grilled meat, boiled rice, lettuce and sweet slaw.

Sweet Slaw

1 carrot
1 cucumber
1 apple
1 red pepper
1 scallion, thinly sliced
¼ tsp lemon zest
1 T lemon juice
1 T vinegar
2 T honey

Julienne carrot, cucumber, apple, and red pepper, and add to a salad bowl. Stir in scallions and lemon zest. For the dressing, mix together lemon juice, vinegar, and honey in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour dressing over slaw, mix, and let sit for about 20 minutes.

I served this as a lettuce wrap, starting with a leaf of Romaine, on top of which I put a couple of teaspoons of a combination of white and brown boiled rice, meat, marinade, and sweet slaw. It had a very distinct flavor, sweet, and unlike anything I had tasted before, but good. The whole meal was labor intensive, and even though we got three more meals out of it all, I won’t be making it again. However, I am on the prowl for a good Korean barbecue restaurant!

THE BOOK:

This is my third, and favorite, Brookner. Although an extremely quiet read, where the action takes place in a hotel during the off-season, I enjoyed the surprises (to me, anyway) in the plot.  I also enjoyed the writing, at times witty, at times wry. While I can’t imagine the color of “over-cooked veal,” (how Edith describes the furnishings her friend encouraged her to purchase for her bedroom) I thoroughly enjoyed the description. Another example of the writing was, after witnessing an unpleasant encounter between two of the female hotels guests, Edith thinks, “The company of their own sex… was what drove many women into marriage.” I don’t share the sentiment, but I was amused by the thought.

While the women in this novel are mostly wealthy, except for Edith, who is not poor, but doesn’t have a husband to support her, they are all living in metaphorical cages. Edith has settled for a limited life because she doesn’t believe herself worthy of anything more. Monica, exiled to Hotel Du Lac to heal, so that she can bear an heir to a husband she loathes, is caged by loneliness and anger at her circumstances. Jennifer’s cage is her mother, Mrs. Pusey, who probably fares the best among the women, narcissist that she is. I can only assume that the tone of the novel is at least one accurate depiction of society in male-dominated England of the mid-1980’s.

THE BEAUTY:

One of the characters, Mr. Neville, bragged about owning a complete set of famille rose dishes. Research revealed that famille (family) are groups of colors used in the palettes of  painted Chinese porcelain starting in the late 18th century. Rose is pink, although there was also black, green, yellow. As a lover and collector of dinnerware, I appreciate the beauty of this porcelain. It’s pricy, though, so I won’t be owning a set anytime soon. Maybe one plate? Like this one! Maybe a different color.

THE FOOD:

There is a wedding in the novel and of the foods mentioned, asparagus rolls were the only appealing things that I hadn’t made before. Since no description was given, and since the novel is set in England, this recipe came up, among others, when I googled “British recipe for asparagus rolls.”

Asparagus and Puff Pastry Cigars

5oz ready-made puff pastry
flour, for dusting
1oz cream cheese
10 asparagus spears
1 free-range egg, beaten
2 T freshly grated parmesan (or a similar vegetarian hard cheese)

Preheat the oven to 400º F.

Roll the puff pastry out on a floured surface into a 6 in x10 in rectangle and spread all over with the cream cheese. Using a sharp knife, cut the pastry into 10 long, thin strips. Wrap one pastry strip in a spiral around each asparagus spear and place onto a baking tray. Lightly brush each with beaten egg then scatter over the parmesan.

Bake the cigars in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry has risen and is golden-brown.

I loved the way these looked and crunched. The outside needed more salt, or more parmesan. The cream cheese was just bland. I will make these again because I love wrapped asparagus, but I’m going to try Boursin instead of cream cheese, or make an herbed cream cheese and use that. This is a keeper appetizer.

THE BOOK: 

In 1967, 26 year-old Odelle Bastien was unhappily working in a shoe store in London, dreaming of becoming a writer. An immigrant from Trinidad, she had spent the last five years applying for all manner of jobs, only to be turned away when she showed up for the interview. Then, one June day, a letter changed Odelle’s life. Marjorie Quick of the Skelton Institute not only offered her a job as a typist, but acknowledged the accompishments listed in her curriculum vitae. Finally, Odelle felt that she was coming closer to what she had been taught were Important Things: culture, history, art. Odelle was reserved, living simply with her college roommate, Cynth. In the workplace, she was quiet, suspicious even, of her employer’s motives, so she kept the details of her life to herself. As the title suggests, a muse can be the difference between creating art or not creating it. A muse can be inspiring or encouraging, helping the artist find their voice and the confidence to keep making art. There were several muses in the novel, highlighting how important it is to have someone believe in you, and believe in your work, but Odelle’s muse was the most interesting part of the story.

THE BEAUTY:

One of the characters, a female artist, admired the work of Gabriele Munter, a German expressionist, who lived from 1877 to 1962. After her parents died, she and her sister spent 2 years visiting extended famiy in Texas, Arkansas and Missouri, before returning to Germany to study art. Because she was wealthy, she lived a free life unrestricted by the conventions that constrained other women of her era. She initially had a professional relationship with Kandinsky that later blossomed into a personal relationshp that lasted a decade. This work, entitled “Breakfast of the Birds” is in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

THE FOOD:

The action alternates between 1967 London and 1936  Spain. The Schloss family met brother and sister Isaac and Teresa Robles in the Spanish countryside, when Harold brought his wife and daughter there at first to get away from the bustle of the city to help his wife, and later to escape the political madness enveloping Europe at the time. Harold owned a gallery in Paris, and Isaac was a painter, so an alliance between the two was quickly formed. Teresa cooked and took care of the house. One afternoon, Isaac joined Herr Schloss, Harold’s wife, Sarah, and Olive, the Schloss’s 19 year-old daughter, for tea to celebrate Isaac’s success in Paris. Teresa served polvorones, a kind of shortbread cookie.

I’m not a confident baker, primarily because I don’t have much success with recipes that call for creaming butter and sugar. This recipe claimed to be really easy, so I took a deep breath and googled “how to soften butter in a cold house.” Since the recommended method was to bring it to room temperature by putting it on the counter for about an hour, I put the heat up to warm the house. After an hour, the butter wasn’t soft, so I beat the butter with the paddle on my stand mixer. Better, but still not creamy, so I beat it some more, and some more. Finally added the sugar, made the dough, and continued to follow directions. The cookies were supposed to be golden brown on the bottom and just pale golden on top after 18 minutes in the oven. They weren’t. I kept checking them and putting them back in the oven for an additional 18 minutes before cranking the heat up to 350 for 6 more minutes. They still weren’t pale golden on top, but out they came. I nudged one with the spatula to see the color of the bottom, and the cookie fell apart. So I just let the cookies sit on the pan until they cooled a bit. Bottom line- they were fabulous! I went from I’m-never-making-these-again to OMG-these-cookies-are-soooo-good. in just one delectable bite.

Don’t give up. These things are worth the effort.

Polvorones
Yield: makes about 4 dozen

1½ C walnuts, divided
pinch of fine salt
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
½ C granulated sugar
½ C confectioners’ sugar, plus more for serving
Ground cinnamon, for garnish (optional)

Put ½ cup of the walnuts and the salt in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Roughly chop the remaining 1 cup walnuts.

Position two oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 325º F.

Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the flour, then the ground and chopped walnuts. Divide the dough in half, forming each half into a ball. Wrap separately in plastic and chill until cold, about 30 minutes.

Put the confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl.

Working with half of the chilled dough at a time and keeping the rest in the fridge, roll the dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between your palms into balls. Arrange the balls on a large baking sheet, spacing them ½ inch apart.

Bake the cookies until golden brown on the bottom and just pale golden on top, about 18 minutes. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Toss the warm cookies in the powdered sugar. Transfer the sugar-coated cookies to a rack to cool completely. The cookies can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Once cooled, store them in an airtight container. You need to make sure they are cooled before storing them, otherwise they will get soggy. Sift additional powdered sugar and cinnamon over the cookies if desired before serving.

A great success!

THE BOOK:

In Leon’s latest Brunetti installment, Guido takes on an investigation for his father-in-law, Count Falier, once again walking a fine line between family interests and pursuit of crime someone is murdered. As in all Commisario Brunetti books, the reader watches as Guido attempts to serve justice in an astoundingly corrupt environment. We may not always agree with his tactics, but have to concede that his motivation is pure, ethical and just, if not always legal, or “by the books.”  In this volume, Brunetti is rereading “The Trojan Women” by Euripedes. Thinking about the spoils of war that created the plight of the Trojan women, he sees a contemporary parallel in the thousands of women from eastern Europe flooding into the west: living spoils of war, forced into prostitution. Reflecting on the motivations for war in modern times, Guido contrasts the ancients. The Trojans and Achaeans were seeking glory, fame, and honor for their name in perpetuity, unlike today’s wars, motivated by greed in the form of land and spoils. Whatever the motivation, there is one clear group in both ancient and modern times that suffers, powerless to control their own destiny.

I marvel at how Leon has crafted the relationship between Guido and his wife, Paola. They are equals, best friends, and really know and understand one another. The children, Chiara and Raffi, older now and more involved with their friends, do not play as large a role as they have in past books, except at mealtimes. Everyone comes home for mama’s cooking. Although, with Chiara declaring vegetarianism, now Paola has had to provide meat-free options for her daughter alongside Guido’s penchant for vitello. Reading a Leon book is like spending an evening with old friends, taking comfort in the constancy of their character that provides a respite of the familiar in an often hostile world.

THE BEAUTY:

Henry James, Paola’s beloved author, wrote his novella, The Aspern Papers while visiting friends in Venice. The action in the novel was modeled on the Palazzo Soranzo Capello and Gardens on Rio Marin.

The photo is from a website called Pictures from Italy (Est. 2001) by David Lown

THE FOOD:

When Guido misses a meal, you know there’s a compelling reason. His motivation for getting through his days at the Questura is sometimes as simple as looking forward to whatever Paola is preparing for lunch or the evening meal, and the pleasure of her and the children’s company during it. On the day that Brunettie discovered who killed Berta, best friend of Count Falier’s best friend, Gonzalo, Paola was serving peperonata with polenta. In a timely coincidence, my husband and I had just watched an episode on the Food Channel, where Lidia Bastianich prepared peperonata with her granddaughter, serving it on crostini. This is her recipe, except for the polenta.

Peperonata (Stewed Savory Peppers) with Creamy Polenta

¼ C extra-virgin olive oil
4 anchovy fillets, chopped
2 medium onions, sliced to 1/2 inch thick
6 small (or 4 large) bell peppers (red, yellow, and orange), cut into 1-inch strips
1 tsp kosher salt
½ C pitted oil-cured black olives
¼ C drained capers in brine
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
One 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand

Heat the olive oil in a large straight-sided skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the anchovies. Cook and stir until they dissolve into the oil, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the onions, and cook until they begin to wilt, about 4 minutes. Add the peppers, and season with the salt. Add the olives, capers, and red pepper flakes, and get everything sizzling; then add the tomatoes, slosh out the can with 1 cup water, and add that to the pan. Cover, and cook until the peppers begin to droop, about 10 minutes.

Uncover, and cook until the peppers and onions are tender and sauce is thick and flavorful, about 10 to 15 minutes more.

Creamy Polenta

1 C cornmeal                                         ½ C Parm or ricotta, or both (opt.)
1 to 2 T butter
4 C water
1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
Salt and pepper

Bring 4 cups water to boil in a medium sauce pan. When the water boils, whisk in the 1 cup corn meal in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Continue whisking until the polenta begins to thicken (around 1 to 2 minutes). Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt.

Reduce the heat so that the polenta bubbles slowly. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes until the cornmeal loses its raw flavor (taste every so often to check).

When the polenta is complete, turn off the heat and add 1 to 2 tablespoons butter, and more kosher salt and pepper to taste. You can cover it to keep it warm before serving. If the polenta becomes too thick, you can stir in a bit of milk or water to loosen it up.

For even more flavor, you can stir in some cheese with the butter in Step 3.

A delicious dish, but for a meat-eating audience, include a protein

THE BOOK: 

I fell in love with this book early on in my reading. It was rich in history, (a time period I know little about) cultural references, cultural differences, and exquisite writing. Midhat Kamal was the son of a wealthy textile merchant in Nablus, a town in Ottoman Palestine. He was educated at a boarding school in Constantinople and went off to France to study medicine in 1914. It truly was culture shock for him, in spite of his having taken French in school, he knew nothing of French culture, save for the somewhat jaded perceptions shared by Faruq, a fellow passenger on the ship to Marseilles. In Montpellier, he boarded in the home of Doctor Molineau, a member of the medical school faculty, and his daughter, Jeannette. Predictably, Midhat fell in love with Jeannette. The two concealed the nature of their relationship until a shocking turn of events opened Midhat’s eyes to the inherent French prejudice towards Arabs in general, and Midhat specifically. As the story unfolds, it’s sad that so frequently in fiction and real life, people’s destinies are changed irrevocably by what is not said. The book sort of fell apart for me in the third part, with some plot points that didn’t make sense to me, but it didn’t spoil my overall enjoyment of the book. It was an ambitious undertaking for a debut novelist and the beginning of a wonderful literary career.

THE BEAUTY: When Midhat returned to Nablus after college, he spent a lot of time with his cousin, Jamil. At the beginning of April, they took a three hour bus ride to Jerusalem for Nebi Musa, a seven-day long festival celebrated annually by Palestinian Muslims beginning on the Friday before Good Friday in the old Greek Orthodox calendar. While watching a dervish dance, Midhat experienced something close to joy, but deeper and more serene. At that moment, a line dance began, and the dervish gave way to a line of village men, grasping elbows and hopping up and down in the dabke.

https://youtu.be/HApM4WeiXI4

THE FOOD: In preparation for her grandson ‘s return from Paris, Um Taher enlisted the help of her neighbor and friend to prepare stuffed zucchini for the ladies’ reception to celebrate his return.

Stuffed Zucchini (Kousa Mahshi)
Yield:  8-10 servings, allow the equivalent of 1 zucchini per serving)

8-10 zucchini (the zucchini should each be 8-12” long and ~1 ½” in diameter)
1 ½ C medium-grain rice
2 T olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2~3 cloves garlic, minced
2 C peeled and diced tomatoes, with their juices (you can use fresh or canned)
3 oz tomato paste
1 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp salt, divided
¾ tsp ground black pepper, divided
2 beef bouillon cube
2 bay leaves
¼ C chopped fresh parsley
1 lb ground beef or lamb (meat that is between 80-90% lean works well)
3 T butter, melted
Fresh lemons, cut into wedges (for garnish)

Clean the zucchini and trim off the ends.  Cut each zucchini into 2 or 3 equal pieces; the number of pieces you cut the zucchini into will be determined by the zucchini’s size – each piece should be 4-5” long.  Use a sharp-tipped vegetable peeler to hollow out each piece, being careful to leave one end of the zucchini intact.  The zucchini shells should be ~.5 cm thick when you’re done hollowing them out.

In a 5-quart pot with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium heat; add the onion and sauté for 6-8 minutes, or until softened; add the garlic and sauté another minute. Remove ¾ of the onion/garlic mixture and reserve in a separate bowl. For the tomato broth, to the pot, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper, bouillon, bay leaves, fresh parsley, and enough water to fill the pot so that it is somewhere between 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. Heat the tomato broth over low heat until it comes to a simmer.

For the zucchini filling, mix together the reserved onion and garlic, raw ground meat, uncooked rice, melted butter, 1½ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, and allspice. Stuff each zucchini shell with the meat and rice mixture; pack the mixture down so that when turned upside-down the mixture doesn’t fall out of the zucchini; leave a gap of ~¾” at the top of each zucchini because the rice will expand when cooking.

Add the stuffed zucchini to the simmering tomato broth and cook with the lid on for 60-75 minutes. If the zucchini doesn’t all fit in the pot because there’s too much liquid, you can just ladle some out. Check the zucchini after an hour so as not to overcook by piercing the skin with the tip of a sharp knife. Serve the zucchini garnished with fresh lemon, alongside the tomato broth, or you can eat the tomato broth like soup.

The dish was great, and in my delirium of deliciousness, I forgot to take a picture. It was well worth the effort of hollowing out the zucchini.

THE BOOK:

I heard a trusted reviewer say that this book was laugh-out-loud funny, and though I had unsuccessfully tried a Russo book before with a similar claim, I decided to give this a try. In fairness, rare is the occasion that I, (and I believe most readers out there) truly emit audible sounds of  mirth in response to reading a book. This was no exception. But while I may not have made noise, I made note to myself many times of the cleverness of a thought, or a turn of phrase, with the overall effect being: this is a very amusing, witty, dare I say ironic, if irony also incorporates good-natured sarcasm, book. In his life, the main character, William Henry Devereaux, Jr., plays the straight man. His friends know that he is never serious, and can be a real jerk in service of his humor at their expense. And yet, they are loyal to him, all the while telling him what an ass he is. He’s blessed with a beautiful wife who understands and loves him, even though she recognizes the many ways that he is not present in their shared life. The action takes place in rural Pennsylvania where “Hank” is an English professor, serving as interim head of the department during a serious fiscal threat to the livelihood of his colleagues and himself. Did he cut a deal with administration? Did he make a list ranking his fellow academics according to their usefulness in the department? These are the questions that everyone buzzed about. In the end, Devereaux is true to himself, and despite rampant departmental gossip and speculation, his friends and colleagues finally recognize what they should have known all along about him. A very satisfying read!

THE BEAUTY:

My favorite character, after Henry, of course, is Mr. Purdy, Henry’s mother’s landlord, who is smitten with the 73 year-old- her mastery of the English language, and her overall state of preservedness (for her age). He tells Henry that “She’s a real aristocat.” He goes to great lengths to impress her, quizzing Henry at every opportunity about “what his ma likes,” and buying a red pick up truck with a stereo sound system and “antibrakes” to impress her. Mr. Purdy speaks like the BFG in Roald Dahl’s genius children’s book, The BFG (The Big Friendly Giant). Malapropisms Are Them. While bragging to Henry about his experience with the young man who sold him the truck he’s proud of the fact that he did not pay the sticker price. “I chewed him way down from there.” He goes on to add that the salesman “Put brand new tires on it too. Radials, not them recraps.” I could go on, but you get the idea!

THE FOOD:

There was not a lot of food in the book: a pastrami sandwich, ordered, but not delivered; a prime rib, rare; raw clams with lemon. I initially discarded a sandwich that Henry’s mother made for him, hoping for better pickings as the book progressed, but ended up going back to it. Henry visited his mother who lives in the same town, one afternoon. He initially declined her offer of a pimiento cheese sandwich because his mother is not known for her culinary extravagance, having responded to her husband’s leaving her for a younger woman by throwing herself into an austerity program in all areas of ther life, including food. When he realized that this was his only opportunity to eat until much later in the day, he accepted the offer, bracing himself for two slices of bread joined by the slimmest spread of cheese posssible. When I googled Pennsylvania  food, pimiento cheese came up! I have not been left for a younger woman, so I used a generous amount of cheese for each sandwich.

Pimiento Cheese
Yield: about 1 pound

8 oz sharp Cheddar cheese, grated In a food processor (NOT pre-grated)
2 oz cream cheese, softened
7-8 oz jarred roasted red peppers, finely diced (food processor)
3 T high quality mayonnaise
½ tsp minced Aleppo pepper (or red pepper flake)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 slices thick, hearty bread

In a large bowl, stir together cheeses, red peppers, mayonnaise, and Aleppo pepper. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Spread one slice wth cheese spread, cover with the second piece, slice and serve. You can add lettuce and tomato if desired. Alternatively, you may grill both sides of the sandwich, slice and serve. Either way, yum.

It doesn’t look like much, but that was the point.  It’s supposed to look like the sandwiches Henry’s mother made, with the cheese making a limited appearance on the bread.

THE BOOK: 

I came to The River having loved Celine, also by Heller. Then there was the Kirkus starred review, Book Cougars and Book Riot recommendations, and 4.08 star rating on Goodreads. I was pretty confident that I would enjoy this adventure story, and I did. What I did not enjoy was the extensive descriptions of the day-to-day routine of trekking in the wilderness, so I admit to having skipped long passages in an effort to get back to the plot. What did I expect! It was clearly stated in the summary what this was about… so I recognize that this was not a flaw of the book, simply a point where my interests and the book’s narrative did not intersect. The story itself was a page-turner. Two friends with a love of the outdoors and the challenges of hiking in the wilderness, Wynn and Jack, were on their dream canoe trip in northern Canada, when multiple circumstances added up to disaster. When disaster struck, their almost polar opposite views about the situation, began to drive a wedge between them. Some of the calamity might have been avoided, had they opted for simple things, like bringing a GPS device along. Other challenges could not have been anticipated, and their skills at orienteering and survival served them well. It was hard for me to believe that anyone could have survived what they endured, but I trust that Heller knows what he’s talking about. Pretty much devoured this thing in one sitting.

THE BEAUTY:

One cold night, Jack was standing watch at the campsite, on his back, looking up at the sky when he saw: “…a pale cloud that drifted and elongated and accordioned into a high curtain of softest light, and as he watched, it spread silently across the northern sky. It pulsed with inner radiance as if alive and then poured itself like a cascade to the horizon and shimmered with green… It was like a portent– more: a preview–and it was as if every cantlet and breath of the night was filled with song– and silent. It was terrifying and unutterably beautiful.”

Aurora borealis.

The photo was taken in Iceland, credit arnakristjans_photograph

THE FOOD:

The first part of the trip was going well, and when they found blueberries in great abundance, they supplemented their diet with massive quantities of them. While they lacked the resources to make delicious blueberry muffins with theirs, I do not, and have the blueberries I picked last summer in the freezer, so at the very least, I can share this little bit of adventure with them.

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12 regular or 24 mini muffins

Baker Nick Malgieri came up with this formula for Boston’s beloved blueberry muffins, sold at a bakery in the now defunct department store Jordan Marsh.  Many recipes have circulated over the years, but none that capture the true taste. This does. 

2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter
1¼ C sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ C buttermilk
2 C fresh or frozen blueberries
flour to coat the frozen berries
extra sugar for muffin tops

Slide a rack in the middle of the oven. Set the oven at 375°. Line a regular muffin pan or two minis with paper liners.  

In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt.  

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time until the batter is smooth. Blend in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the batter alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, mixing only until incorporated.  Do not overmix or the muffins will be tough.  

Remove the bowl from the stand. Fold in the blueberries.  

Spoon the batter into the liners.  A regular sized ice cream scoop makes a perfect size  regular muffin. Sprinkle a bit of sugar on top of each muffin.

Bake regular muffins for 40 minutes, turning the pan halfway through baking, until well risen and golden. Bake minis for 15 minutes checking after 10, or until golden. Keep muffins loosely covered at room temperature on the day they are baked.      

THE BOOK:

The Book Cougars recommended this one, so it went to the top of my library holds list. I suggest that editors refrain from making comparisons to books like The Great Gatsby in the jacket information because it sets an unreasonable expectation in the mind of the reader before even reading a single page. I understand the similarities, but it’s too high a bar. That said, this was another book where I got to use my map of Los Angeles a lot in plotting Rick’s travels about the city. Rick was a starving PhD candidate at USC, which he referred to as the “University of Spoiled Children.” He had reached an impasse in his dissertation and avoided meeting with his advisor because she intimated that if she didn’t get some more promising writing from Rick, she was going to have to pull the plug on his grant, rendering him even more poor than he already was. When his friend had to give up her job because she was moving, she offered to put in a word for him with her employer, a wealthy widow from one of the colossally rich founding families of Los Angeles. Rick recognized that this was a job he simply couldn’t pass up, even though it sounded terribly boring.

THE BEAUTY:

Image from http://www.whitewaterinn.com

Rick used to escape from the city with his then girlfriend, Chloe, to Cambria, California. They took leisurely walks on Moonstone Beach and watched the seals. Moonstone Beach figures into the plot later in the book, and is where Rick’s life begins to unravel.

THE FOOD:

One of the many ways that reminded Rick how far out of his league he was with Mrs. W– and her social group is the restaurants that he went to with them. One of them was the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel where Mrs.– W had a lunch was meeting with the head fundraiser for a children’s hospital. The fact that he was late and unaccompanied by the director did nothing to endear him to Mrs. W– and she let him know exactly how she felt about that. At this uncomfortable gathering, all present had the Polo Lounge McCarthy Salad. This chopped salad was created for polo player Neil McCarthy and has been served there continuously since the 1940’s.

Polo Lounge McCarthy Salad
Serves 4

½ C extra-virgin olive oil
3 T balsamic vinegar
1 T Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

12 oz iceberg lettuce, finely chopped
12 oz hearts of romaine, finely chopped
2 oz watercress, finely chopped
½ lb red beets, roasted and finely diced
½ lb aged Cheddar cheese, finely diced
½ lb applewood-smoked bacon, cooked and finely chopped
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and finely chopped
½ lb grilled chicken breast, finely diced
1 large vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
1 avocados, peeled and sliced

Combine first 5 ingredients in a measuring cup; whisk to combine.

Combine iceberg, romaine and watercress. Divide among 4 large salad bowls. Arrange beets, cheese, bacon, eggs, chicken and tomatoes artfully on each serving. Drizzle with dressing. Top with avocado and serve with extra dressing on the side.

My version does not have hard boiled egg in it, and I seriously cut down on the bacon, using it as a garnish instead of one of the building blocks of the salad. It didn’t suffer with those changes at all. You can’t see the lettuce mixture under the other goodies, but the mix was very tasty. The balsamic vinaigrette complemented all the flavors, making for a delicious midday meal.