It looks like my website was nominated for one of AAD's Bookies awards! Thanks, y'all--that site takes work to update and keep fresh and fun, so it's really nice to know readers are actually using and enjoying it. If you feel like voting, here's the link! Lots of great authors nominated in all sorts of categories, mostly paranormal.
And in other news, I'm working on my September newsletter, and y'all, this is a good one! I'm so stoked about how well Too Hot to Touch is doing, I want to thank all my lovely, adorable readers by offering lots of cool freebies and chances to win stuff.
This next newsletter will include the blurb and cover for Some Like it Hot, plus a link to an all-new, loooong excerpt from the book, which comes out 11/29. I'm also offering a chance for one newsletter subscriber to win an advance reading copy of the book! Plus a sneak peak at one of the hero, Danny's, pastry chef specialties (yay, recipe!) and a way to get your hands on a free set of my Romance Trading Cards!
Whew. So if you haven't signed up for my mailing list yet, now would be a good time...
I'm sharing another recipe from Too Hot to Touch at Chicklets in the Kitchen today, and giving away a signed copy of the book! Come on by and talk food cravings with us for a chance to win.
One of my all-time favorite authors, the fabulous New York Times bestselling Susan Mallery, invited me onto her cooking blog for a guest post! How could I refuse? Especially since I love giving sneak peeks at the recipes my characters work so hard on...
I shared something from Too Hot to Touch, and it's one of the recipes that wins a crucial challenge in the Rising Star Chef competition.
Check it out! Easy, delicious, no-cook dish for these hot summer days...
Leftovers are my favorite! Especially when they're this delicious. I used up some of my farmer's market booty last night--roasted the poussins and sliced the baby zucchini super thin, along with some avocado, and marinated it in olive oil and lemon juice. A little salt, some pistachios, and voila! Delightful summer salad, recipe courtesy of the grande dame of simple French cooking, Patricia Wells.
What did you have for dinner? Do you like to recycle dinner into lunch, or are you one of those people who hates leftovers?
Today's trip to the Austin Farmer's Market yielded quite a haul! I got two bunches of beets, these baby zucchini that are so adorable, I have to call them courgettes, farm fresh eggs, the sweetest gold cherry tomatoes, mixed greens, and a couple of heirloom poussins--French for hens. Maybe I'm feeling so French today because the hens were sold to me by a morose Frenchman...I don't know!
Either way, whatever you call them, I'm planning to roast the hens and probably do this delicious, no-cook zucchini "carpaccio" dish with the squash. This Patricia Wells recipe makes a perfect hot weather appetizer or light lunch! Prettier and tastier than you would believe.
I'm baking today, putting together care packages to send to a couple of my favorite girls in the world while they're at summer camp. I loved sleep-away camp when I was a kid...and I vividly remember the joy of getting a care package full of goodies!
So I'm making these raspberry oatmeal bars (they travel well and are always a huge hit,) as well as regular old chocolate chip cookies. The classic version from the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chip package. I've never found a better version of those cookies anywhere. Have you?
Follow the links to see the recipes we used! I'd highly recommend all of them, especially the lamb and the zuchinni and avocado carpaccio. Really special. And by making the vegetables the focus of the meal, with just a little taste of meat, we had a hugely satisfying Easter dinner that didn't make me feel like I needed a nap afterward.
What did you eat this weekend? Feel free to share your favorite recipes!
I'm about to head out to the grocery store for provisions. It's still chilly enough here that I want to make soup or stew, maybe something with beans. Especially after the success of that yummy chickpea & spinach stew last week! Anyone have a great bean recipe to share?
It is COLD here in Austin today. Does it make me a hypocrite if I kind of like it? I know, I know, I complained a lot about the bitter, looooong winters in Ohio, and I was stoked to live someplace warmer. But here, there's no snow to shovel, I made a hearty stew last night (chickpeas, spinach, and tomatoes, with a garlicky aioli dolloped on top,) and have a fire in the fireplace. It was kind of awesome. Maybe I'm just not a fan of 5-month winters with lots of icy, slushy, snowy mess.
Otherwise known, by the more upfront, less teetotalling side of my family, as Whiskey Cake! This is one of my all-time holiday favorites, and it's one of those that proves how delicious simple recipes can be. It's the fruitcake for people who hate fruitcake! I make miniature loaves as neighborhood gifts and wrap them in cute, holiday-printed cloth and clear plastic wrap, then tie a ribbon around it, and attach a miniature airline-sized bottle of Jack Daniels. Sometimes I think about trying something new, but I get people begging me for their whiskey cakes year after year, so I never do!
Try it. I guarantee you'll love it!
Whiskey Cake
1 lb. chopped pecans
½ lb. golden raisins
1 ½ C. flour, separated (see below)
1 tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. salt
½ C. butter
1 1/8 C. sugar
3 eggs separated
2 tsps. Freshly grated nutmeg
2/3 C. good, sweet bourbon plus ½ C. (I usually use Jack Daniels or Wild Turkey)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Sift the flour and measure 1 ½ C.
Mix ½ C. of the flour with the nuts and raisins. Sift the remaining flour again with the baking powder and salt.
Cream butter and sugar and add 3 egg yolks. Mix the nutmeg and whiskey together and add little by little , alternating with dry ingredients. Add nuts and raisins; finally beat egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter.
Pour into 2 regular-sized loaf pans or four mini-loaf pans and let stand for a few minutes to settle. Bake at 325 for about 1 ¼ hours.
Remove the cakes from the oven and let stand in the pans for 1 hour before pouring an extra half cup of bourbon over the whole thing and taking them out of the pans to finish cooling.
Wrap in clean cloth and continue "watering" with bourbon. You can't put too much! The cake just gets better and better...
If you want my grandmother's recipe for Fresh Apple Cake, check out my guest post today at Romancing the Book! This is a great cake for the holidays because it's one of those that actually gets better and better a few days after baking, so it's perfect to keep around the house for when those unexpected guests drop by.
And today, finally, my friend Maria Geraci's newest book is out! I can't wait to get my copy of The Boyfriend of the Month Club (and is that not the cutest title ever?) because Maria's a wonderful, funny, warm writer whose characters always stick with me long after I finish the book. Love the cover for this one, don't you? It looks like the perfect escape from all this cold winter weather! Head out to a bookstore or order it online right away. You don't want to miss this one!
Yesterday I tried to make a new recipe for a casual get together with friends, and it was a total fail. What I wanted to make was this Tipsy Maple Corn, a sort of grown-up version of Cracker Jacks with bourbon and maple in the syrup, plus crispy pancetta augmenting the salt of the peanuts. Sounds great, right? And I'm sure it is, if you can manage not to let the warm syrup shrivel your popcorn, and then burn the whole thing when you're trying to crisp it back up in the oven.
I, however, was not so skillful. My corn was sad. And a little nasty. But I had friends coming over to watch Clue! and Young Frankenstein (our traditional Halloween movies) and I had to serve them SOMEthing. Luckily I'd also planned to make Ina Garten's foolproof hit, a homemade French onion dip that always gets raves. (If you want to try that one yourself, I highly recommend it, but cut the oil and butter in half--you don't need as much as she calls for.) So once I cut up some cucumbers and washed the carrots and snap peas, we had savory snacks taken care of.
And for the sweet stuff, I decided to adapt the Tipsy Maple Corn into a sundae. Starting with the recipe's reduced bourbon, maple syrup, and butter concoction, I added extra sugar and cream to thicken it up. Then poured it over vanilla ice cream with the crispy pancetta and the dry-roasted peanuts as toppings. Success! Totally fun and delicious, I'd make this sundae again anytime. I'm almost glad I failed at the other recipe.
Anyone else have stories about salvaging a recipe screw up?
My mother is coming to visit this weekend, and I'm so excited! I plan to put her right to work helping me test recipes for Just One Taste, the third Recipe for Love novel. I got a lot of my kitchen mojo from her; both of my parents are fantastic cooks! Holiday meals bring people together at the table, but in my family, the food brings us all together in the kitchen while we cook it! That's my favorite part of any family holiday.
I've got to run pick her up from the airport in just a little bit, then we're going straight to the beautiful West Side Market in downtown Cleveland for supplies. Working on a sexy update of chicken soup, something unexpected with chocolate, and maybe a new cocktail...Wish us luck!
My mother's people are from Mississippi. A fine old family (which, if you're Southern, you know has nothing to do with financial status and everything to do with how loooooong your family has been in the same town) that didn't believe in drinking alcohol--but did believe in baking with it. Every December our house would fill to overflowing with Mississippi Nut Cake (aka Whiskey Cake,) bourbon and brandy-soaked fruitcakes, high test eggnog (usually with bourbon), and my childhood favorite, Bourbon Balls. (No Saturday Night Live NPR sketch jokes, please!)
This no-bake treat could not be simpler to make, and it packs huge flavor in a tiny bite. They're extra festive if you happen to have some edible gold powder to add to the mix. Otherwise, just sift some powdered sugar over them and call it a day. All that is really just gilding the lily, anyway, because the real star here is, of course, the booze! Give these a try if, like my family, you enjoy the smoky honey and molasses bite of bourbon. Don't worry, they're not too strong! Just strong enough. ; )
Share them with your fun friends and neighbors, and feel free to share the recipe, too! They make good gifts, are great for a make-ahead dessert platter, and are the perfect final note to a big, holiday meal.
Full disclosure: I have no idea where this recipe originally came from; it's the one my family has been using and tweaking for decades. If you recognize it as your original work, let me know and I'll happily give you proper credit!
Bourbon Balls
2 tablespoons cocoa powder 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar (more if you plan to sift a light layer over the finished balls) 2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs 1/2 cup pecans, toasted, cooled, then chopped 1/3 cup bourbon (my mama always uses Jack Daniels, but I really like the sweeter flavor of Basil Hayden's or Woodford Reserve) 3 tablespoons honey 1/4 teaspoon edible gold powder (optional)
Sift together cocoa, 1 tablespoon of the powdered sugar and gold powder, if using, and stir well. Set aside in a small bowl.
Stir together wafer crumbs and pecans. In another bowl, whisk bourbon, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, and honey. Pour into crumb mixture. Stir until well combined.
Form into balls and roll in cocoa mixture. If you didn't use the edible gold powder, you may like to sift a light dusting of powdered sugar over the balls. Or not! Whatever looks good to you. Enjoy!
Nothing fills me with the holiday spirit quite so much as baking. Bourbon balls, whiskey cake, bourbon-soaked fruitcake (are we sensing a theme, here?) as well as lemon cranberry tea bread, gingerbread cookies, and more. In years past, I've baked most of the gifts we've given out to friends, neighbors, and officemates, not to save money but just for the love of it! Of course, this year, baking gifts feels smart for many reasons--it's something you can do to show people you care about them without spending tons of moolah, and in a lot of ways, I think a gift of cookies or cake you made yourself is more meaningful than something purchased in a store.
My mother's whiskey cake, formally known as Mississippi Nut Cake by my teetotalling Baptist ancestors to gloss over the heavy presence of bourbon, is a universal favorite. I make it every year, and just getting out the nutmeg and the golden raisins, the Jack Daniels and the pecans, makes it feel like Christmas to me.
Another great gift, and one maybe better suited to a family with members under the age of 21, is this Walnut Crown Coffeecake. This recipe comes from Martha Wertz, a great cook and my mother's best friend, and it is divine.
Walnut Crown Coffeecake
In a bowl combine 1/3 cup ground walnuts with 3 TBS sifted light brown sugar.Butter a 2 1/2 cup Kugelhupf pan or tube pan (I use a regular bundt cake pan) and coat it with the walnut mixture.Into a bowl sift together 2 cups sifted flour, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another bowl beat 1 egg and add 1 cup buttermilk, 2/3 cup meltedbutter, cooled and 1 teaspoon vanilla.Beat in the flour mixture until the batter is smooth.Turn into the prepared pan and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F) for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, turn it out on a wire rack, and let it cool completely.Wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap and foil and let it stand at room temp. for up to 7 days.
Note:This cake was one of several recipes that were meant to get better and better as they age.I have never kept it up to 7 days, but it has been good at all stages.It is also so rich that it is meant to fall a little as it cooks.I think I bake it in a larger pan than the recipe anticipates, so check it after 30-40 minutes of baking.It is sometimes so tender that it falls apart, but the crumbs taste great.
So what holiday baking traditions do you hold to every year, or do you try something new? I always want to make at least one thing I've never made before; this year, I think it's going to be these pistachio cranberry icebox cookies.
If you've got a great holiday recipe, please feel free to share!
I love recipes that seem entirely impossible to screw up. The lamb hash I made last night is one of those--I originally found it in Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook, but I've made it several times, several different ways, and it always turns out yummy.
Here's the original post I wrote about it, which appeared several months ago on the TKA blog:
Lamb Hash (Adapted from THE NEW YORK TIMES COOKBOOK by Craig Claiborne)
Ingredients:
1 tbsp butter
1 large onion, minced
2 tbsp chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
2 slices bacon, cooked till crisp, then cooled and chopped
1 1/2 lbs ground lamb
1 cup canned beef broth
1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream, approximately
2 tbsp finely grated sharp cheese, like Parmesan or Gruyere
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Heat a large, heavy skillet (one that has a lid and is safe for both stovetop and oven) over medium high heat until the pan is almost smoking, then add the ground lamb. Stir the lamb with a wooden spoon to break it up, add salt and pepper to taste, then cook until all pink is gone. You'll get better color and caramelization if you don't stir the lamb too much, and if your skillet is large enough to give the meat plenty of room to sear rather than steam.
Remove the lamb from the pan and drain on paper towels. Allow to cool.
Wipe out the skillet and return to stovetop. Add the butter and melt over medium heat until the foam has subsided. Then add the minced onion, garlic, and chopped bacon. Stir it around to coat everything in the melted butter, then add the lamb, beef broth, and tomato sauce. Salt and pepper the whole thing, cover the skillet, and bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning.
*The recipe can be completed up to 1 day ahead of time up to this point, then the hash can be brought to room temperature and then refrigerated. To reheat, bring the hash back up to room temperature and preheat the broiler before continuing.*
Lightly butter 6-8 ramekins (depending on their size) and portion the cooked hash into them. Cover each portion with a tablespoon of cream and sprinkle with the grated cheese. Brown under a preheated broiler.
Served with a simple green salad and a good vinaigrette, this hash makes a lovely lunch or light supper. And the individual portions make it attractive enough to serve to guests. We drank an Oregon Pinot Noir with it, which was delicious.
**** Last night, I had leftover pan-fried lamb chops, so I diced that up instead of dealing with the ground lamb. Also, I had no stock or meat gravy or anything like that to deglaze the pan after sauteeing the onions and bacon, so I used red wine. The results were slightly purple, very fragrant, and utterly scrumptious! I have a friend who has made this several times for her family; it's a huge hit with her kids, no matter what she does with it. I think she's added mushrooms, stuff like that. (We're having the leftovers this morning for breakfast, heated up with a poached egg on top! Yummmm...)
So let your imagination run wild! If you try this, and vary it in some fun way, I'd love to hear about it.
I've got the copyedited manuscript of ON THE STEAMY SIDE on my desk, which means not only is it time to dive back in and polish it up to a high gloss--it's time to test the recipes I'll be including in the back of the book.
Hopefully, the process will be a little easier this time, because I have a cunning plan. Since Lilah Jane Tunkle, my heroine, hails from the exact same part of Virginia I come from (what a coincidence!) I'm going to be updating and modernizing several oooold family recipes from my mother's side. Her people are from Mississippi, but I figure the southern flavors will translate to Virginia just fine. Even better? I conned Mama into doing some of the testing for me! One of our family's favorite holiday desserts shows up in OtSS, and she's been wanting to tweak that recipe for years. That's going to save me some time (and calories) but I have to admit to being sad not to have the excuse to gorge myself on different variations on Delmonico Pudding, a crazy delicious concoction of almond macaroons soaked in vanilla custard and covered with meringue. Traditionally sprinkled with chopped pecans and red and green candied fruit (it's a Christmas dessert!) Mama and I are thinking of subbing in pine nuts and/or crystallized ginger. I await the results with interest...
I'll be dedicating myself to the other recipes from the story: a Mexican street corn salad, and cheddar date rolls. Off to the grocery store now! Wish me luck finding dates.
We got home last night from our schlep around the country, and this morning woke up to the devastatingly sad news that my favorite, beloved Gourmet magazine is closing its doors after nearly 70 years.
There had been rumors, yes, but I tried not to listen. It was too sad to contemplate! With a history that began in 1940, and one of the food world's brightest lights, Ruth Reichl, at the helm, how could Gourmet ever die?
I don't know what I'm going to do without that thrill of opening the mail every month and seeing a jewel-toned cover depicting fabulous, tempting food. And the articles! I learned more about what's going on in our country today from Gourmet magazine than I do from most newspapers. I can't even bear to think about the recipes. I'm now hoping against hope that the wonderful Gourmet.com website will stay operational and vital...but without the magazine's resources, how vital can it be?
I'm guest posting today over at TKA, and we're making Lamb Hash. This recipe, a frequent request at my house, is absolutely delicious and will take you through the fall. Come on over and check it out!
**The post also contains a chance to win a copy of my Recipe For Love Cookbook, which features a few of my own recipes alongside recipes from some of today's top chefs! Comment for a chance to win!!**
Here are a couple of quick ideas for desserts starring summer fruits!
Strawberries with Creme Anglaise
Here in Ohio, the local strawberry season only lasts about three weeks (it feels like five minutes!) but the berries are so good, it's no hardship to use them in every possible dish for that entire month. We've made strawberry jam, strawberry liqueur, strawberry-rhubarb compote, strawberry shortcake, and a fabulous vanilla cake with mascarpone and sherried berries. But sometimes the simplest preparations are the best, allowing the sweetness of the berries to take center stage. Stinger came up with this one. It's sliced fresh strawberries topped with a vanilla custard, painstakingly stirred over low heat by Stinger himself. There are a lot of recipes for creme anglaise, but Grace Parisi's over at Foodandwine.com is fairly straightforward and easy to follow. My biggest advice is to be patient. It will cook eventually! Don't be tempted to turn up the heat, because the egg yolks will scramble, which is gross. (If that happens, though, you can strain the sauce, and almost no one will be able to tell the difference. Shhh!)
Broiled Figs with Roquefort
A lot of people hate the end of summer--school starting up soon, winter coming, etc. I'm not one of them; I happen to love the fall. And if the promise of cooler temperatures and crisp blue skies weren't enough, there's figs! Late August, early September, those little babies start showing up in farmer's markets and even some grocery stores. We happened on an early crop of figs a few weeks ago; it was like finding a twenty dollar bill in your just-washed jeans! That night, I washed them, giving thanks for the fact that they were all ripe (never buy unripened figs and expect them to ripen up in your fruit basket. It won't happen. They ripen on the vine or not at all.) Then I sliced them down the middle, sprinkled them with light brown sugar and put them on a cookie sheet under the broiler until the sugar was golden and crackly. Figs, with their mellow sweetness, pair beautifully with something savory like cheese. I went for Roquefort, my favorite of the blues, but a nice fresh goat cheese would also work well.
I grew up in Virginia, went to school in Philadelphia, spent five years in Manhattan, then moved to a teeny town in Ohio. Now I live in fabulous, funky, fun Austin, Texas, which is very inspiring...
Once an editor of romance novels, now I'm writing my own. My Recipe for Love series combines contemporary romance with my love of food, restaurants, and smokin' hot chefs!
And in other news, I'm working on my September newsletter, and y'all, this is a good one! I'm so stoked about how well Too Hot to Touch is doing, I want to thank all my lovely, adorable readers by offering lots of cool freebies and chances to win stuff.
