Today our Mystery Lovers Kitchen welcomes Gigi Pandian with a new book featuring a cooking
class and ghost stories in Italy—plus a recipe and a giveaway for a set of Gigi’s book-themed
recipe cards with recipes from around the world!
GIGI PANDIAN: One of the best
things about writing a cozy treasure hunt mystery series is that it gives me a perfect
excuse to travel around the world and visit locations that aren’t the usual
tourist spots. (Aberdeenshire, Scotland for Artifact.
The southern tip of India for Pirate
Vishnu. Nantes, France for Quicksand.)
Venturing off the beaten path is great way to find the best local foods, with
regional dishes that are often cooked by chefs who’ve lived in the area for generations.
The latest Jaya
Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery, Michelangelo’s
Ghost, takes place in Italy’s fabled Renaissance garden, the Park of Monsters—a
spooky sculpture garden located in the middle of the Italian countryside. It’s in
between Rome and Florence and not easily reached by train, so most visitors are
Italian, even though everyone with an interest in the mysterious would enjoy
it. I traveled there to get the setting right for a present-day mystery
involving a centuries-old ghost story. The sprawling sculpture garden,
surrounded by a wild forest, was as otherworldly as I imagined.
The nearby villa
where I stayed offered cooking classes. I was in Italy for research and writing,
but how could I refuse an Italian cooking class taught by a local chef?
Especially since the chef selected the seasonal dishes based on what looked
good in his hilltop vegetable garden next to the thoroughly modern kitchen
inside a medieval walled village.
The cooking
class made it into an important scene in the book—although I must admit my own
class wasn’t interrupted by devious bad-guys disguised as a ghost, so I had to
improvise when I wrote the scene! This is fiction, after all. However, many of
the dishes I describe in Michelangelo’s
Ghost were recipes I ate in Italy.
In spite of
several food restrictions, I ate wonderfully in Italy. After being diagnosed
with breast cancer five years ago, I completely changed the way I eat. I now
eat close to a vegan diet, meaning one of the things I gave up was cheese—but
there’s no need for sympathy! Over the last few years I’ve learned how to adapt
recipes to turn them into healthier versions that are even tastier than what I
ate before cancer, and also how to eat well while traveling. I brought the
flavor of Italy home with me. Here’s one of my favorite easy Italian-style
recipes I use regularly, because it’s both healthy and delicious.
RECIPE: DAIRY-FREE PARMESAN
A flavorful
topping that takes 5 minutes to prepare and can be kept for weeks in a jar on
the counter—though in my house it never lasts that long!
Ingredients
¾ cup roasted cashews
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
½ tsp sea salt (more or less to taste)
½ tsp garlic powder (again, more or less
to taste)
Directions
Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until the mixture is the
consistency of grated parmesan cheese. Sprinkle on top of Italian dishes for
added flavor. My favorite use is to sprinkle on top of pasta dishes, and it
works great on both tomato sauces and olive oil pasta tossed with garlic and roasted
vegetables.
Leave a comment below to enter to win a set of six
book-themed recipe cards, with Gigi’s recipes inspired by Scotland, India,
France, the U.S., and Italy.
MICHELANGELO’S GHOST: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt
Mystery
“This book has everything a mystery lover could ask for: ghostly
presences, Italian aristocrats, jewel thieves, failed actors, sitar players,
and magic tricks, not to mention dabs of authentic history and academic
skullduggery.”
– Publishers Weekly
– Publishers Weekly
A lost work of art linking India to the Italian
Renaissance. A killer hiding behind a centuries-old ghost story. And a hidden
treasure in Italy’s macabre sculpture garden known as the Park of Monsters… Can
treasure-hunting historian Jaya Jones unmask a killer ghost?
USA Today bestselling author Gigi Pandian spent her childhood being
dragged around the world by her cultural anthropologist parents, and now lives
in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and a gargoyle who watches over
their vegetable garden. Gigi writes the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries, the
Accidental Alchemist mysteries, and locked-room mystery short stories. Gigi’s fiction
has been awarded the Malice Domestic Grant and Lefty Awards, and short-listed
for Macavity and Agatha Awards.
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Gigi on Facebook
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Excellent guest post! Would love to win the giveaway. EMS591@aol.com
ReplyDeleteInteresting and informative. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for this chance to win. areewekidding@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteI once saw a castle on a hilltop in Spain and said what a great setting for a book. I also have traveled and wish I had taken more notes. My grandparents are from Italy so I always love to read books that have Italy in it. Leona mnleona@aol.com
ReplyDeleteI wish I had taking more notes on my earlier trips as well. I took so many things for granted when I was young!
DeleteWonderful post, great giveaway and a very talented author. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteWould the recipe work as a topping for soup?
ReplyDeletesgiden at verizon(.)net
It doesn't melt in the same way, but is more like flavorful crumbled croutons when it's added to soup. It works great on garlic bread, too.
DeleteSounds like an amazing trip! Ain't research fun? And research and food together? Heaven!
ReplyDeleteSheila, you and I made wise decisions with the settings of our mystery series, didn't we? Now we have no choice but to travel amazing places ;)
DeleteWhat a delightful post. I have enjoyed Gigi's novels which are captivating. Thanks for this giveaway. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteI love your "traveler" handle, and I'm so glad you're enjoying the books!
DeleteIt seems like a wonderful research trip and I think your book sounds like a fun read. Thanks for sharing the parmesan like topping. Truth is my son is vegan and I have been looking for easy "cheesy' recipes since. Parmesan to sprinkle was a favorite thing for him, as well as, nacho cheese sauce. I have not tested recipes enough to get things quite right.
ReplyDeletelittle lamb lst at yahoo dot com
Lil
I hope your son likes it!
DeleteLucky you! Enjoy those exotic locales for your books. I am totally envious. I have the first Jaya Jones book on my Nook but haven't gotten to it yet. Can you have a TBR pile in cyberspace?
ReplyDeletePat patdupuy@yahoo.com
My TBR pile is far too high -- both physical books and in cyberspace!
DeleteI love your solution for dairy free parmesan cheese -- it sounds wonderful -- and even though I do eat dairy, it would be a nice change to try it (I like that it has some texture to it). As you know, I LOVE your Jaya Jones series and would love to win a copy of Michelangelo's Ghost! bobandcelia@sbcglobal.net
ReplyDeleteThanks, Celia! And you're right -- it's one of the recipes even my die-hard cheese-eating relatives love.
DeleteGigi, I love your cover and your book sounds fascinating! I have to say that I envy you that cooking class. What fun!
ReplyDeleteI've been blessed when it comes to book covers! And yes, that was an amazing celebratory trip :)
DeleteLove all your books and this one is a hit, too.
ReplyDeleteYour various recipes with cashews are great. This cheese replacement sounds like another winner.
libbydodd at comcast dot net
Thank you, Libby!
DeleteI cannot wait to try this topping. My Grandchildren and I are always looking for different toppings and I found one! Thank you for a chance to win your book.
ReplyDeletemommomsworld(at)yahoo(dot)com
I hope you all enjoy it!
Delete"Michelangelo's Ghost" sounds like an intriguing read. Looking forward to reading.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have fun with the book, Dianne.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Michelangelo's Ghost" sounds like an intriguing read. Looking forward to reading.
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
"Michelangelo's Ghost" sounds like an intriguing read. Looking forward to reading.
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
Book themed recipes - what fun!
ReplyDeleteElaineE246 at msn dot com
I started with a recipe cards for one of my books that features a chef (The Accidental Alchemist) and it was such fun that I decided to do it for all of my books.
DeleteWhat a wonderful post.
ReplyDeletethanks for the chance to win
I very much enjoyed your post. It was quite interesting and informative. Many thanks for the opportunity to win!! chettysmom@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read your books and test out those recipes!! Yum!
ReplyDelete