Grilled Cheese with Camembert Recipe

SAY CHEESE!

I'm thrilled to say that CLOBBERED BY CAMEMBERT is doing great in sales...

Thanks to all of you!

I have received the most delightful letters from fans this week. I'm grinning ear to ear.

By the way, for fans...

I'm running a contest on my website right now, through March 1st, (that's tomorrow) for all who are signed up to receive my newsletter.  [It doesn't come out often, but when it does there are tips on cheese, recipes, and upcoming events...and sometimes a short story.]  Two on the list will win a beautiful cheese paddle from Sur la Table. Don't miss out.  

So...with a new book coming out, I've been so busy that I can barely breathe, with deadlines and travel for book signings, and, well, life in general. When I'm this busy, I crave comfort food, and one of the best comfort foods is a grilled cheese.

In the Cheese Shop mysteries, Charlotte's good friend, Delilah (who owns and operates the Country Kitchen) has been on the hunt for the best grilled cheese ever. Needless to say, I have to help her out, don't I? I mean, I have to experiment. I add pears, jams, onions, all sorts of things. I give it my all a couple of times a month. [Being gluten-free, I use gluten-free bread, but truly it's all about the cheese.]

Until now, I had never made a grilled cheese with Camembert, but it's a cow's milk cheese that has the great ability to melt like a dream, so why not, I thought, bloomy rind and all.

I added some spices, swathed the bread with cream cheese (to give it that extra creamy texture), and served it with mustard. Oh, yum!

I am now...comfortable and ready to write...and probably in need of a couple extra minutes on the treadmill. As Charlotte's energy-packed grandmother would say, "C'est la vie!"

GRILLED CHEESE WITH CAMEMBERT

Ingredients:

(1 serving)

2 slices bread

1-2 tablespoons butter

2-3 oz. Camembert cheese, sliced

2 tablespoons cream cheese

½ teaspoon mixed herbs (thyme, basil, rosemary)

1 tablespoon spicy mustard (served on the side)

Directions:

Butter two slices of bread on one side only. Spread cream cheese on the other side of bread.

Heat up flat grilling pan. Place one slice of bread, butter side down, on hot grilling surface.  Layer with Camembert cheese. Top with herbs. Top with the other piece of bread (butter side up).

Grill the sandwich on low to medium for 4-5 minutes. Flip the sandwich and grill for another 4-5 minutes, until a nice golden brown and cheese oozing.

Remove from heat and serve immediately.

[This can be made on gluten-free bread. It is still amazing.]

Enjoy!!

P.S.

Recently I wrote a blog for Fresh Fiction that I titled "The Joy of Cheese Cooking." I had fabulous comments from all who read it. If you get the chance, pop over and take a peek.


P.S.S.

I'm thrilled to say that my alter ego, Daryl Wood Gerber (who happens to be the "real" Avery Aames) has been nominated for an Agatha Award, best short story from the anthology: FISH TALES.

"Palace by the Lake."

If you'd like to read the story, click this LINK.

* * *

You can learn more about me, Avery, by clicking this link.

Chat with me on Facebook and Twitter.

And if you haven't done so, sign up for my mailing list

 so you can learn about upcoming events, releases, and contests!

* * * * * * * *

 

BOOKSELLERS LINK

Creamy Egg Custard and Murder 203 with Cleo Coyle

Warm egg custard brings back equally warm memories for me...of Mom and home, crowded family kitchens, and those wonderful smells of good things baking in the oven: eggs, milk, vanilla, and nutmeg.


My recipe for you this week is an easy but evocative one, a simple dessert that I hope will bring back that feeling of comfort for you, too. We can all use it these days, I think.

But first a quick announcement.

I will be appearing at...

MURDER 203 on
Saturday April 14

My husband, Marc, will be attending with me. For the first time, we'll be on panels, signing books, and meeting you. So if you're attending be sure to say hello and let us know that you're a fan of Mystery Lovers' Kitchen!

What is Murder 203? It's a Mystery Festival held
by the Easton Public Library in Easton, Connecticut. 

Early Bird discount for those who register by
March 1 (postmark). You can also register
later and walk-ins are welcome, too.

Learn more at the Murder 203
web site by clicking here.

And now for this
week's recipe...

Cleo Coyle, who craves 

comfort foods in winter,
is author of 

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

Cleo Coyle’s 

Creamy Egg Custard

Baked egg custard is a lovely and satisfying comfort food that I've been eating ever since my mother made it for me as a child. I've baked it countless times since and am happy to share two tips I've learned along the way for producing a lovely custard with a smooth top and silky, creamy texture.

(1) Use room temperature eggs. Simply warm them quickly in a bowl of warm water from the tap. This will help loosen the albumin (protein) in the egg and make it easier for you to properly blend the custard.

(2) Bake it low and slow and do not put foil on top of the custard cups or the roasting pan (as some recipes suggest). Below I'll show you what happens if you try to speed up the baking with a higher temperature or foil on top.

So here you go. Comfort in a cup from me to you, with a bit of nutmeg sprinkled on top…

To download this recipe in a free PDF document that you can print, save, or share, click here!

Servings: 4 (in 4-ounce size ramekins or custard cups)


Ingredients


1-1/4 cups whole milk
3 large eggs, room temperature 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar, sifted

Directions: Whisk together all ingredients until well blended and pour into 4 four-ounce size ramekins or custard cups. Place cups in a roasting pan or baking dish and create a shallow water bath by filling just enough to reach halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake uncovered in a preheated 325° F. oven for 1 hour and 5 minutes. The time may be a little longer or shorter, depending on your oven.

When is it done? You are looking for the top to set. The custard may still jiggle slightly, but the top should no longer be liquid. It should feel firm (spongy but set) when lightly touched. And when a toothpick or skewer is inserted down into the custard at the edge of the cup, it should come out clean. Otherwise, keep baking and checking.

Remove from oven: Take the cups out of the water bath, and allow them to cool for one hour on a rack. 


Serve and store: Eat the freshly baked custard at once or chill by placing plastic wrap over the top of each cup and storing in the refrigerator. (The plastic prevents a thick skin from forming on the custard.) 

Photos and notes...

Whisk all ingredients together, divide evenly among

your 4 ramekins or custard cups. You'll notice that the nutmeg
floats to the top of the unbaked liquid. No worries.
It will look great in the finished custard,
as if you've sprinkled it on top.

Place ramekins in a shallow roasting or baking pan.
Fill with water, about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Baking tips...

To the left is what happens if you follow this recipe and bake the custard (uncovered) in a water bath at 325 degrees F. for 1 hour and 5 minutes.

To the right is what happens if you try to rush the process of baking by raising the oven temperature or covering the pan with foil. 

Do you see those unsightly pockmarks on the top of the custard? That comes from the custard boiling instead of cooking slowly. In the batch at the right, I sealed aluminum foil over the roasting pan. Yes, this sped up the cooking time, but it also made the custard boil, creating this less silky result.

Allow the custard to cool for an hour after removing from the oven.

If you chill or store in the fridge, don't forget to seal plastic wrap

over the top of the ramekins or custard cups to prevent

a skin from forming. 

Now all you have to do is

pour a fresh cup of coffee and...

Eat with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle, author of

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

To get more of my recipes, enter to win
free coffee, or learn about my books, including
my bestselling Haunted Bookshop series, visit my online coffeehouse: CoffeehouseMystery.com

The Coffeehouse Mysteries are national bestselling

culinary mysteries set in a landmark Greenwich Village 

coffeehouse, and each of the ten titles includes the 

added bonus of recipes. 

 

The Ghost and
Mrs. McClure

Book #1 of 
The Haunted Bookshop
Mysteries, which Cleo writes
under the name Alice Kimberly
To learn more, click here.

German Puffed Pancakes

Does the weather impact your food choices?  For two days we reached the 70s last week, but over the weekend, we were back in blowing snow.  While I should have been thinking salad, I really wanted something warm and comforting.

I grew up with German pancakes, which I'll blog about sometime.  But my mom never made these German or Dutch puffy pancakes.  It wasn't until I was an adult and happened upon a recipe for them that I tried them.

The recipe makes one pancake that puffs up in the oven.  Bring it to the table immediately since it's lovely to look at but deflates quite quickly.  Cut into 4 pieces and serve while hot.

It makes a nice breakfast, a second course or dessert with a light dinner, an after school snack on cold days, or a quick midnight snack for those nights when no one can sleep.

Recipes for this kind of pancake vary wildly, which suggests to me that there's really no wrong way of making them.  A lot of the older recipes call for beating the egg whites separately and folding them into the rest of the batter.  But that's getting out of the range of quick and easy recipes, which is what I think this one should be.

THE JOY OF COOKING calls for four to five eggs.  Other recipes call for one egg and a yolk.  Some recipes call for 1/2 cup of butter, but I think that's overkill.  Interestingly, the amount of flour and liquids don't vary much.  Let's face it, eggs, milk, and flour equal pancakes.

I used three eggs here, but you'll notice that the recipe says two to three eggs.  Mine were huge, and next time I'll only use two of those gigantic eggs.  This recipe also calls for blueberries, but you can use other berries, or none at all.  There's not much sugar in these, so you might want to eat them with fruit, jam, maple syrup, or (shh!) a scoop of ice cream.

What doesn't vary is that the pan must be hot when you add the batter.  While you might be tempted to cut back on the butter, don't cut back much!

And don't forget to use an oven mitt!

German Puffed Pancake

2 tablespoons butter
2-3 eggs (3 small or 2 large)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
dash nutmeg or cinnamon
dash salt
splash vanilla
1 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 lemon
1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 10-inch oven-safe omelet pan


Preheat the oven to 425. Place the butter in the oven-safe pan and insert in oven. (Don't let the butter burn.)

Whisk the eggs until blended and a bit frothy.  Whisk in the milk, flour, nutmeg or cinnamon, salt, and vanilla.  Stir in blueberries.

Roll the melted butter around in the pan and return to oven for a couple of minutes.  When pan is hot, pour in batter and slide pan into oven.  Bake about 20 minutes or until puffed up with golden edges.

Meanwhile, get the powdered sugar and lemon ready because you'll want to work fast when it comes out of the oven.

When baked, squeeze lemon over pancake and sift powdered sugar on the top.  Cut into four pieces and serve.

What would elves make for breakfast?

Multi-talented Kris Neri lives in the red rock country of Sedona, Arizona, where she and her husband own and operate a bookstore, The Well Red Coyote.  Among other things, Kris also writes.  Her latest book, Magical Alienation has just been nominated for a Lefty Award!

Featuring fake psychic Samantha Brennan and Celtic goddess/FBI agent Annabelle Haggerty. A spaceship crash in Roswell…a rumored alien…the mysterious Area 51…a harmonic convergence in Sedona. No connection, right? With its rock stars and shape shifters, gods and haunting militia leaders -- Magical Alienation will turn what you think you know upside down.



And now, a warm welcome to Kris Neri!

While neither my Tracy Eaton mysteries nor my Samantha Brennan & Annabelle Haggerty magical mysteries are cooking novels, in the course of an entire book, it’s natural that my characters would eat.

I bring considerable thought to their dining choices, and I make up recipes for those dishes, which I print as recipe cards and give out at signings, as well as posting them on a recipe page on my website.

The dish not only needs to suit the tastes the characters, it also needs to fit the story-circumstances. After all, if they’re being chased by bad guys, they can hardly take the time to prepare a five-course gourmet meal, which they consume in a relaxed manner. Since I create these dishes in my author’s test kitchen — which happens to be my real home kitchen — it also has to be something I can create, even if it means stretching in the kitchen.

I started this practice with my first book, REVENGE OF THE GYPSY QUEEN. In that book, Tracy and her husband Drew traveled to New York to attend the wedding of his younger sister Marisa, only to end up dealing with Marisa’s kidnapping. Since Marisa and her fiancé owned a trendy restaurant, it was essential that the dessert they served at their family dinner be first-rate. That was a tough one for me. I’m a pretty decent cook, creative even. But I’ve usually regarded desserts as something to buy, not something to make.

It did help that I had a great love of tiramisu at the time (and still do!), and that I’ve always thought Bailey’s Irish Cream was a pretty spectacular drink. I put those together and created a winner — Irish Cream Tiramisu. Those recipe cards are always such a hit. I’ve given out thousands of them and people never fail to rave about it. I did make the dish a number of times, tweaking the ingredients until I thought it was absolutely perfect, and loads of readers have shared their experiences with it. But it’s hard to imagine how you could combine the ingredients of a classic tiramisu with Bailey’s Irish Cream in any proportion, and not have it turn out great.

Molly Westin, “Meritorious Mysteries” reviewer and “inSinC” editor, is a fan of my Bailey’s Tiramisu. Here’s what she says of it: “When I saw the recipe card for Bailey's Irish Cream Tiramisu from Kris's REVENGE OF THE GYPSY QUEEN, I knew my family and friends would love it. And what a hit it has been. I never wonder what to take to special gatherings. In fact, one couple expects it every Thanksgiving! Thanks for sharing such a special dish.”

If you’re also a Bailey’s and/or tiramisu fan, you can find the recipe here:

http://www.krisneri.com/recipes.html

Along the way, I’ve created other book-related recipes, including Tracy’s Favorite Chicken Crepes from REVENGE FOR OLD TIME’S SAKE and Fit for a Goddess French Toast for HIGH CRIMES ON THE MAGICAL PLANE. They’re all particularly good, and they all suit the novels they’re described in.

But the recipe for my latest magical mystery, MAGICAL ALIENATION, came with a particular challenge. All my earlier recipes were made by people. This recipe had to be for a breakfast dish created by elves. And it had to be a dish they’d make for a goddess. I mean, that’s like us cooking for the President, or the Queen of England, or even…Giada. It had to be that special.

What would elfin magic create (and I don’t mean that cracker company that co-opted my term…or I theirs.)? To inspire me, I decided it should involve one of my favorite ingredients. No, not Bailey’s. Sure, that is one of my all-time favorites, but I’ve already created some spectacular desserts with it—not just my tiramisu, but Baneful Bread and Butter Pudding with Last Gasp Sauce, which you’ll also find on the recipe page of my website. Besides, this had to be a breakfast dish, and I try to avoid the hard stuff at dawn.

That left one of my other favorites — cinnamon. It’s hard for me to imagine any kind of pastry that isn’t made better with lots of cinnamon. I decided this dish should be some kind of muffin. But was a plain ol’ cinnamon muffin good enough? Wouldn’t it need an outstanding premise and lots of really phenomenal ingredients to bring the muffin up to elfin level?

Here’s what I came up with:

Elfin French Toast Muffins

as served in

Magical Alienation by Kris Neri

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for topping

½ cup butter, softened

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla, plus ¼ tsp. for maple glaze

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

½ cup cinnamon chips

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon maple extract

1/4 cup milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream 1 cup sugar into butter. Add eggs, vanilla, sour cream and blend. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda, and gently work into wet ingredients. Fold in cinnamon chips. Pour 1/3 cup into a paper muffin liners in a muffin pan. Mix together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Blend together maple extract, milk, powdered sugar and ¼ teaspoon vanilla. Drizzle icing over top of cooled muffins or spread with knife, if you prefer a thicker coating. Makes 12 large or 18 medium muffins.

By the way, cinnamon chips can be hard to find. Actually, they’re called cinnamon chips, but they’re really cinnamon and chocolate, though the cinnamon taste dominates. They’re made by Hershey’s, and though the chip selection in the baking aisle typically contains loads of varieties now, cinnamon chips can be scarce. I only found them in one of the markets we have where I live. But I also live in a small town, so if I can find them, I’m sure you can. They’re also available online, if you’d prefer that route. If you love cinnamon as much as I do, you’ll want to keep some on hand anyway. They also make a great snack.

And the muffin? Absolutely to die-for. The elves and I promise you this will be one of the very best muffins you’ll ever taste. It also stays moist for days. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did all the times I made during my perfecting process. It’s a dirty job, but thankfully, I got to do it. 

Split pea soup and cornbread by Lucy Burdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm sure no one's going to feel too sorry for me, but sometimes the research for the food critic mysteries is hard work. And Hayley Snow tells me that those rich meals and decadent desserts can wreak havoc on your digestion and your shape. Here for example is the yellowtail snapper and shrimp dish from Pisces in Key West--you can't tell from the photo, but they are both swimming in butter.

And here's another rich shrimp dish from El Siboney, a well-know Cuban restaurant. And then blueberry bread pudding from the tapas restaurant, Santiago's Bodega, which is absolutely to die for.

So after a run of these kind of nights, I'm dying for something plain and hearty. One of my go-to meals (and something that Hayley Snow would make too) is split pea soup with cornbread and a big salad. Plain but utterly satisfying and delicious!

LUCY'S SPLIT PEA SOUP

1 bag dried split peas, washed and sorted
3-4 carrots, chopped by hand or in food processor
1 large onion, chopped as above
3 stalks celery, minced
cilantro, washed and chopped
1 32 oz box organic chicken broth

Saute the vegetables in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, until soft. Add the peas and the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the peas are soft and starting to lose their shape, adding water or more broth as needed. Stir in chopped cilantro just before serving, and add a spritz of sesame oil to each bowl.



BUTTERMILK CRACKLING CORN BREAD (adapted from the Joy of Cooking)

(The J of C calls for fatty salt pork, I substitute butter.)

3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 TBSP baking powder
1 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425. Put the butter in a square baking pan and place in the oven until the butter melts. Tilt the bottom so melted butter covers all.

Whisk dry ingredients together. Beat the eggs, add the buttermilk and whisk, then add wet ingredients to dry. Mix and pour in pan containing the hot butter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean. Err on the side of undercooking, so the edges of the bread look crispy and buttery but the center isn't dry.

Oh boy, making my own mouth water looking at these!

Lucy Burdette is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries, including AN APPETITE FOR MURDER. You can follow her on facebook or twitter. She eats and writes in Connecticut and Key West.

Mayflower Soup

by Sheila Connolly

Unless this weather starts playing tricks, spring will soon be upon us and we'll start thinking of lighter food.  I figured I'd better get this hearty soup/stew recipe posted before that happens.

Actually, I'm very proud that this dish was made solely of locally grown foods.  Nearby Plymouth has a lovely farmers' market (I think I've mentioned it here before), and in winter they hold it indoors at Plimoth Plantation, once a month.  Not surprisingly the fare emphasizes root vegetables, breads, and condiments, with the exception of pea greens, which are delightful.



Fresh pea greens



I've become buddies with one vendor who lives near me (we've commiserated about how to prune an Esopus Spitzenburg apple tree, which tends to produce long leggy branches—neither of us has had the nerve to prune ours aggressively yet).  This time she had some Mayflower beans, and I grabbed up the last pound.

Mayflower beans (dry)

Mayflower beans are said to have arrived on the Mayflower in 1620, and were sustained in the Carolinas.  They're a pole bean, with a white interior and a mottled red skin.  My farmer friend complained mightily about having to clean them for sale—she probably won't offer them again because it's tedious work.  They also require long soaking, unlike the beans we buy in plastic bags these days.  I gave mine 24 hours to soak, and they probably could have gone longer.

Mayflower beans after soaking

The basic recipe is simple:

1 lb. Mayflower beans, well soaked    at least overnight

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

1-2 carrots, chopped (I used one huge one)

1 parsnip, chopped

Thyme, bay leaf, or whatever herbs you like

1 lb. potatoes, cut into 1" cubes

4 cups stock (if you want a vegetarian dish, use water or vegetable stock, otherwise beef or chicken stock)

Salt and pepper

Oil for sautéing

Heat in the oil in a large, deep kettle and gently cook the onion and garlic until limp but not brown.  Add the beans, carrots and parsnip, thyme and stock.

Simmer over low heat (do not boil!) until the beans are cooked (keep tasting them). This may take up to two hours. Do not add salt during the cooking, because it will toughen the beans.

When the beans are fairly soft, add the potato chunks and continue to simmer until the potatoes are cooked, maybe another half an hour.  When you reach the magic moment, the stock will thicken and become a rich reddish-brown.  Check for seasoning, then serve. A nice whole-grain bread would go nicely with it.

I confess I also threw in some kale—yes, local!—at the last minute, because it creates a nice color contrast.

And voila!  A thick and hearty soup that the original settlers would recognize.

Deadline Taco Salad

Life in our household is crazy busy.  Mr. Wendy has a 40 minute commute to his full time job; he has band practice at least once per week; and he plays shows about once per month.  In addition to writing (and cooking!), I teach full time ... this semester, I have over 650 students!  And then, of course, there's laundry, the litter box, and the occasional social outing.

So weeknight dinners are often hurried affairs, and they are often woefully short on fresh vegies.  When I'm on deadline, it's even worse.  One of our favorite "holy cow, we need something quick and with a vitamin or two" meals is taco salad.  We've been eating a lot of taco salad these days.  

A couple of cooking notes:  

First, we usually make our own "corn chips" by putting corn tortillas in a 425 oven for anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes (turning with tongs and watching them really closely to prevent burning).  We do this to keep the sodium content of this meal from going right through the stratosphere (the taco seasoning is bad enough ...).  You can use packaged tostada shells or corn chips if you prefer.

We usually use reduced fat mild cheddar cheese, but Monterey jack, colby, a Mexican blend ... the sky's the limit.

This is our easy, delicious, and reasonably healthy version of taco salad ...

Deadline Taco Salad

1 bag vegetarian burger crumbles
1 packet (1/4 c.) taco seasoning
3/4 c. water
1 1/2 c. frozen corn
salad mix (I prefer spinach and baby red lettuce)
grated cheese
sliced olives
cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
corn chips or tostada shells
taco sauce
reduced fat sour cream

Combine the burger crumbles, water, taco seasoning, and frozen corn in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the water evaporates and the mixture is hot.

Spoon seasoned crumbles on top of a bed of greens and garnish with cheese, tomatoes, and olives.  Drizzle with taco sauce and add dollops of sour cream.   Sprinkle corn chips on top (or serve with tostada shells.

~~~~~~

Wendy is the author of the Mysteries a la Mode. Visit her on the web or on Facebook. She also writes the Pet Boutique Mysteries under the name Annie Knox; you can follow Annie on Facebook, too!