Marinara Sauce à la Ina Garten

My daughter had made some delicious meatballs, half of which she froze.  Hubby was craving spaghetti and meatballs so she gave them to me.  I had the meatballs, I had a box of spaghetti, but no tomato sauce.  Personally, I am not a fan of jarred sauces (with the exception of Rao's) but I did have a can of whole San Marzano tomatoes so I decided to make the sauce myself.  I settled on Ina Garten's recipe as the simplest and bonus, I already had all the ingredients on hand.  You can certainly make this with "ordinary" canned tomatoes but all the gourmet chefs recommend San Marzano because the tomatoes are grown in volcanic soil in a specific region of Italy and are sweeter and less acidic.  If your tomatoes are too sour, you can always add a pinch of sugar.

 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 (28-ounce) can of San Marzano tomatoes 

1/4 cup dry red wine  

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped (optional for garnish 

 

Heat olive oil and sauté onion until translucent.  Add garlic and sauté for one minute.

 

Crush tomatoes with your hands and add to pot.  (Careful! They splatter.) Add salt and pepper, oregano and red pepper (if using) and stir to combine.

 

 

Add wine and bring sauce to a gentle simmer. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, occasionally breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon.

 

Serve with pasta of your choice with or without meatballs.

 

 

 

 

 

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Lemon Chicken with Asparagus from Vicki Delany

Asparagus season is coming to an end, but there’s still time to get in more recipes!

 Lemon Chicken with Asparagus

Ingredients:

•  1 bunch asparagus spear (about 1 lb/500 g)
•  1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
•  1/4 teaspoon salt
•  1/4 teaspoon pepper
•  1 tablespoon vegetable oil
•  1 onion chopped
•  2 cloves of garlic minced
•  1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
•  1 cup sodium-reduced chicken stock
•  2 tablespoons lemon juice
•  1 tablespoon cornstarch
•  1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Method:

Cut asparagus on diagonal into 1-inch (2.5 cm) lengths; set aside.

Cut chicken into 1-1/2 inch (4 cm) cubes; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In large skillet, heat half of the oil over medium-high heat; brown chicken, about 6 minutes. Transfer to plate.

Add remaining oil to pan; fry onion, garlic and thyme, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 3 minutes.

Return chicken and any accumulated juices to pan. Add asparagus and chicken stock; cover and simmer until asparagus is tender-crisp, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together lemon juice, cornstarch and lemon rind; add to pan and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute.

Follow Vicki at www.vickidelany.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor. You can sign up to receive Vicki’s quarterly newsletter at Vicki Delany – Canadian Author of Mystery Novels and Suspense Novels » Contact. She’s on Bluesky at @vickidelany.bsky.social and Instagram as vicki.delany

Shot Through the Book, the 12^th Lighthouse Library mystery by Eva Gates, now available from Crooked Lane Books.  Shot Through the Book by Eva Gates: 9798892420440 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

 

  

Tuna Melts to Celebrate Summer @LucyBurdette

 LUCY BURDETTE: Now that it’s officially summertime, I feel I can indulge in one of my favorite lunchtime treats, the good old-fashioned tuna melt. There are a couple of places near my hometown in Connecticut that do these superbly. The secret might lie in good rye bread, just enough tuna salad, but not too much, and a good dose of melty cheese. I saw a recipe recently that called for adding salt and vinegar potato chips to the mix. This sounded like something I had to try. And here is my stab at the iconic dish…

Ingredients for two sandwiches

Four slices of good quality rye bread.

Eight slices of white American cheese or cheddar.

One can tuna in water. (could be oil if that’s your preference)

Two stalks celery, chopped

Half a cup sweet pickles, chopped.

One heaping tablespoon mayonnaise

Teaspoon Dijon mustard

Handful of salt and vinegar potato chips.

Squeeze the oil or water out of the tuna and flake that up in a bowl. Chop the celery and pickles and add these as well. Add the mayonnaise and the mustard and mix it all together.

Melt a tablespoon or so of butter in a frying pan. Place a slice of bread in the melted butter, and on top of that layer two slices of cheese, a scoop of the tuna salad, enough potato chips to cover, and a second two slices of cheese. Cover this with bread, and fry on medium heat until the bottom is brown, and the cheese is melted. Flip the sandwich and continue to cook until the second side is brown and oozing bubbly cheese.

Remove the sandwich to a plate. Cut in half and enjoy! 

Note from me: I’m not sure the potato chips in the sandwich were necessary as they were missing the appealing crunch. Next time I would serve them on the side. If you wish to add chopped raw onion to the dish, have at it!

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. 

Book 15 in the Key West series, THE MANGO MURDERS, will be in bookstores on August 12, but you can preorder now!

The trade paperback edition of A POISONOUS PALATE will be out on July 8.

And the trade paperback edition of A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS is out now!

Pistachio Rose Cake #Recipe by @Libby Klein

Libby Klein I am fascinated with exotic flavors in baking. So when I saw the recipe for a pistachio rose cake with cardamom I had to try it. There are several ingredients you might need to order on the internet, like the rose water and edible rose petals. And I always get shelled pistachios because life is too short to try to break those little monsters open to make a cake. If you can find pistachio flour you could just use that because you end up pulsing the nuts into a fine grind anyway.

Let me know in the comments if you would eat a rose flavored cake.

I had very high hopes for this recipe, and flavor wise they did not disappoint. Texture wise... I ended up with a rather dense cake. Which might be due only to the fact that it had to be kept refrigerated because the frosting was essentially rose flavored whipped cream. I could not taste the cardamom at all, so next time I'd add more.

If I had to do things again, I would make a rose water Swiss buttercream that would not have to be refrigerated - so that is what I'm going to give you here even though I actually made the frosting that came with the original recipe. But if you want an easier frosting, make an American buttercream and add rose water in place of the vanilla.

If I were low on time, I would use a boxed pistachio cake mix and just add cardamom and rose water to it. 

Also note, this recipe made a very small cake. Three 7" layers. I had 7" cake pans so I was able to keep true to the recipe's intentions. If you were to substitute a normal 9" cake pan you would only get one layer - so double the recipe if that's what you're using.

The shining star here was the raspberry rose jam. If you can't do the raspberry seeds, buy yourself the Smuckers seedless jam and melt it over low heat in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Then add the rose water and put it back in the jar to cool. The recipe said you'd only use half the jam, but I used every bit of it.

The original recipe was in metric. I have a scale, so that isn't a problem for me. If you don't have a scale you'll want to google the conversions.

Pistachio Rose Cake

Ingredients

Raspberry Rose Jam

250g frozen raspberries 
200g sugar
1 1/2 tbsp rose water
1 tbsp lemon juice

Cake

165g salted butter, softened at room temperature
300g sugar
3 medium eggs
200g flour or one to one gluten free flour
3/4 tsp cardamom powder (I would up this to a teaspoon personally)
85g ground unsalted pistachios (Use whole nuts and grind them in the food processor)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp rose water
1 drop green food coloring
180ml buttermilk
1/4 tsp almond extract

Rose Swiss Buttercream

6 large egg whites (approximately 180g)
2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened but still cool and cut into Tbsp size pieces
2 teaspoons rose water
1/8 teaspoon salt

Decoration 

Edible rose petals
Crushed pistachios

Instructions

Make the raspberry rose jam first. You can even make this days ahead.  

 

Add the raspberries to a medium saucepan. Place on a medium heat until the raspberries begin releasing their juices. Once completely squashed, add the remaining ingredients and allow to gently boil for 5 mins. You can test if it’s done by placing a teaspoon of the mixture to a plate then refrigerating for 1min. If it wrinkles when you push it with your finger, it will set perfectly. Pour the jam into a heat safe vessel and let it cool. Store in the refrigerator.

Now for the Cake

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and line 3 x 7-inch baking tins. (or one 9-inch cake pan)

Begin by creaming together the butter and sugar. One by one, add the eggs, mixing well to combine. Mix together the dry ingredients – flour, cardamom, pistachios and baking soda in a bowl. Mix together the wet ingredients – buttermilk, green food dye, rose water, and almond extract. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the butter mix before mixing well to combine. Add half of the wet ingredients to the butter mix before mixing well to combine. Repeat until all ingredients are combined.

Split the batter equally into the prepared baking tins and bake for 25 mins or until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from baking tins and cool on a wire rack.

Frosting

Separate the eggs, placing the egg whites in the bowl of your stand mixer. 

Whisk sugar into the egg whites, then set the bowl over a saucepan filled with just two inches of simmering water over medium heat. Do not let the bottom of the egg whites bowl touch the water. Whisk the whites and sugar constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture has thinned out, about 4 minutes. The mixture will be thick and tacky at first, then thin out and be frothy white on top. To test that it’s ready, you can use your finger or an instant read thermometer. Lightly and quickly dip your finger (it’s very hot, be careful) and rub the mixture between your thumb and finger. You shouldn’t feel any sugar granules. If using a thermometer, the temperature should read 160°F (71°C).

Transfer the bowl to your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. On medium-high speed, beat the mixture until stiff glossy peaks form and the meringue is no longer warm to the touch, at least 10-15 minutes. If the bowl and meringue still feel warm, wait until both cool to room temperature (around 70°F (21°C)) before adding the butter in the next step.

Switch the stand mixer to the paddle attachment. On medium-high speed, add the butter 1 Tablespoon at a time. Wait for the butter to fully mix in before adding the next Tablespoon. After all the butter has been added, turn the mixer down to medium speed and fully beat in the rose water and salt, about 30 seconds.

Assembly

Smear a spoonful of frosting onto a cake board before topping with the first layer of cake. Top with a couple of tablespoons of jam. Spread evenly. Add a couple of spoons of frosting on top of that before spreading evenly.

Repeat with the second layer of cake, jam, and frosting.

Top with the final layer of cake and decorate the sides and top with frosting. Top with edible rose petals and chopped pistachios.

Layla Virtue, a blue-haired, 30-something recovering alcoholic and former cop is trying to reinvent herself as a musician—between AA meetings, dodging eccentric neighbors at her trailer park, and reconnecting with her mysterious dad—in this ​unforgettable new mystery brimming with hilarity and heart.

Layla is taking her new life one day at a time from the Lake Pinecrest Trailer Park she now calls home. Being alone is how she likes it. Simple. Uncomplicated. Though try telling that to the group of local ladies who are in relentless pursuit of Layla as their new BFF, determined to make her join them for coffee and donuts.

After her first career ended in a literal explosion, Layla’s trying to eke out a living as a rock musician. It’s not easy competing against garage bands who work for tacos and create their music on a computer, while all she has is an electric guitar and leather-ish pants. But Layla isn’t in a position to turn down any gig. Which is why she’s at an 8-year-old’s birthday party, watching as Chuckles the Clown takes a bow under the balloon animals. No one expects it will be his last . . .

Who would want to kill a clown—and why? Layla and her unshakable posse are suddenly embroiled in the seedy underbelly of the upper-class world of second wives and trust fund kids, determined to uncover what magnetic hold a pudgy, balding clown had over women who seem to have everything they could ever want. Then again, Layla knows full well that people are rarely quite what they seem—herself included . . .

Libby Klein writes ridiculously funny murder mysteries from her Northern Virginia office with a very naughty calico Persian named Miss Eliza Doolittle, and a sweet black Lab named Vader. She can name that tune for 70s and 80s rock in the first few notes, and she's translated her love of classic rock into her Layla Virtue Mysteries. Libby was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that prevents her from eating gluten without exploding. Because bread is one of her love languages, she includes the recipes for gluten free goodies in her Cape May based Poppy McAllister series. Most of her hobbies revolve around travel, and eating, and eating while traveling. She insists she can find her way to any coffee shop anywhere in the world, even while blindfolded. Follow all of her nonsense on her website www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Fun with Lavender Syrup! #recipes from @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  When I meet a friend for a coffee, I rarely order a drink with added flavors, whipped toppings, or other fancy touches. I like the classics. A double-shot, 2% latte, please, hot.

But when I started playing around with lavender, I discovered that lavender syrup is easy to make and adds both a great taste and a terrific scent to hot and cold drinks. It just tastes special—and that’s something we all need, now and then. 

I’m sharing the syrup recipe and a couple of drink suggestions here—more in Lavender Lies Bleeding, coming July 15 in paperback, ebook, and audio, and available for pre-order now. (More details below.)

Since lavender is commonly grown, and not so commonly used in cooking, heed this reminder Pepper gives: Make sure your lavender buds are food-safe. If you buy them from a reputable commercial source, no worries. No special variety is needed, but if you grow your own or cut a few stalks from a neighbor’s plant, make sure no pesticides or herbicides were used nearby. Lavender is best harvested with the flowers are about 25%-50% open, in the morning before the oils begin to release in the heat of the day. 

Happy sipping!

PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe for easy printing. 

Scroll down to the 💕 for the link. 

Lavender Syrup 

Add a taste of summer to your hot or cold drinks any time of year!

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon dried lavender 

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat and steep 30 minutes, then strain into a glass jar or bottle to cool.

Store in the refrigerator. Keeps 3-4 weeks.

Lavender Latte:  Add 1 to 3 teaspoons lavender syrup to a double shot of espresso, to suit your sweet tooth, and add steamed milk. 

Lavender London Fog: The classic London Fog uses vanilla syrup. Switch it up with lavender for a taste of summer, any time of year. 

Make a strong cup of Earl Grey tea, from a bag or loose-leaf tea. Stir in 1-1/2 teaspoons lavender syrup and top with stiff steamed milk. 

For an iced version of any of these drinks, pour coffee or tea and syrup over a handful of ice cubes and add steamed milk or cream. Stir and enjoy! 

Lavender Italian Soda: Place a cup of ice in a 12 ounce glass. Pour in 1-2 ounces of lavender syrup, to your taste. Add 8 ounces club soda or sparkling water and a dash of cream. Stir; adjust to taste if needed.

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF! 

At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .  

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills. 

Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket. 

Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. 

As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.