Happy New Year!

I'm having my annual New Year's house party with my old college roommates. It's the one time of year when everyone can get together, and we have time to sit around in our pajamas, eat, and catch up.

It has become a tradition to have fondue, both cheese and meat, for our New Year's Eve dinner. It's such a nice choice for a long meal and very little work for me.

But there's that little hour or two when people are arriving but it's not quite time for dinner that's always tricky for me.

Many years ago, at a catered party, I had the best little meatballs. At first the caterer acted coy and simply thanked me for my praise. But I pestered and pestered him until he shared the secret to the disappearing meatballs that no one could resist. So easy. So simple. Currant jelly.

So I whipped up these mini-meatballs for my friends. Honestly, I think they'd be every bit as good with a savory sauce. Be warned, this sauce is very sweet. If the sauce is too sweet for your taste, add 1/2 a cup of dry champagne!

Party Mini-Meatballs

(makes 32 mini-meatballs)

1/2 pound ground beef
2 slices bread
1/3 cup cup milk (approximately)
2 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
scant 1/4 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon oregano

olive oil

1/2 cup red currant jelly
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Grease baking tray with olive oil.

Soak bread in milk and squeeze out. Mix beef, bread, eggs, cheese, onion, garlic and oregano in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Roll into 1-inch meatballs.

Roast meatballs for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring jelly, ketchup and Worcestershire to a boil and reduce heat. Add meatballs and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve!

Happy New Year!

Highs and Lows for 2012

by Sheila Connolly

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…

So said Charles Dickens, in A Tale of Two Cities.  Substitute "food" for "times" and you have the key to this post. I thought it might be fun to take a quick look at the food highs and lows of this past year for the writer-chefs of Mystery Lovers' Kitchen—and you!

Pop quiz (no grades!):

 

A. What's the best thing you ate this past year? (Don't think too hard, just say what pops into your head first.) What one food or dish was completely unforgettable?

B. Or, if there are too many memorable examples to pick from, what food did you try for the first time in 2012?

 

C. What's the worst thing you ate this past year, the one thing you will never, ever try again and will warn all your friends and relatives to stay away from?

We at MLK would love to hear about your culinary experiences, both good and bad.

I'll start off.  Here are my examples:

A.  Yes, too many to count, so I'll skip ahead to

 

B.  Samphire.  Say what?  I'd never seen or heard of it until it showed up in a dish of steamed mussels I had in a pub in Dublin.  Samphire (also known as sea fennel) is an herb or vegetable that grows on muddy, sandy flats (marsh samphire) near the sea or on rocky seaside cliffs (rock samphire, which grows in such places as the White Cliffs of Dover, where Shakespeare mentioned it). It tastes a bit like asparagus but with a salty flavor, and it adds crunch to dishes.  (And I love the name.)

C. Durian.  This was something I'd heard of but never met face to face.  I came upon it at a trendy Thai restaurant called Pok Pok in Brooklyn.  It is a large thorny fruit that stinks, so why do people eat it?  Well, as one of my tablemates at the restaurant said, "it smells like **** but it tastes like heaven."  At Pok Pok it was served in a dessert, in the form of a custard on sweet sticky rice.  The **** odor was noticeable, at least at first taste; the "heaven" part might be a bit exaggerated, although it was pleasant enough, or at least, not awful.  Anyway, I'm not going back for more, but I'm happy to check durian on my bucket list.

 

Please share your Bests and Worsts from 2012.  Leave us a comment!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

 

 

 

Steamed to Death Coming June 2013

Caldo Verde

By Peg Cochran

This year we decided to mix things up on Christmas Eve.  We normally have a sit down dinner with some Italian dish—a nod to my half Italian heritage.  But with a nearly three year old granddaughter, we wanted to eat earlier so she could get to bed and start dreaming about Santa!

I decided to make two different pots of soup and a sandwich that’s a specialty of a handful of New Jersey delis—we call them Sloppy Joes, but they’re not ground beef on buns.  They’re three layers of rye bread, cole slaw, deli meat of your choice, swiss cheese and Russian dressing.

For one of the soups I decided on Caldo Verde—a wonderful Portuguese Kale soup my late husband and I enjoyed on our trip to Portugal.  I made a few variations.  Normally I use turkey sausage instead of chorizo to cut down the fat (and because chorizo isn’t on every street corner in Grand Rapids) and since my current husband doesn’t care for kale, I usually substitute baby spinach leaves.  And this time, since I had two boxes of unopened elbow macaroni in the pantry (???) I decided to use those instead of buying ditalini which are very similar in size.

I made a very detailed shopping list for all the Christmas meals but managed to forget the hot turkey sausage for the soup.  So…off to the local grocery store to get the one thing that I was missing.  Somehow I came out with several bags and a $70 bill.  Not quite sure how that happened…and they didn’t have turkey sausage so I bought the real deal and made sure to render it first.

Caldo Verde means “green pot” because of the green from the kale.  You will notice that my soup is not green…  I had to resort to using the deck as additional refrigerator space and my spinach froze and besides, I forgot all about it.

The soup was delicious anyway and sad to say is all gone!  I never get tired of good soup!

1 TBL olive oil

1 lb chorizo sausage (or hot Italian sausage—turkey or regular)

1 quart chicken broth

1 large onion, diced

4 large potatoes, cubed

1 bunch kale, stemmed, washed and chopped (or use baby spinach)

1 ½ cups ditalini macaroni (elbows will work too)

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans

½ TBL paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Remove casing from sausage and cut into small, bite-sized pieces.

A warm, delicious bowl of soup!

Heat oil in soup pot and sauté sausage and onion about 3 to 5 minutes.  Drain on paper towels (not necessary if you use turkey sausage).

Add other ingredients except kale and pasta.  Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes.

Add kale, pasta and simmer about 8 minutes until both are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste and serve piping hot.  The finished product will be more of what Rachel Ray calls a "stoup" --combination soup and stew.  If you like it thinner, add more broth or a cup of water.

Rendering fat from sausage

Draining sausage. Not necessary with turkey sausage.

The Reg Man waiting for something to drop....

Cut your potatoes into small cubes

Elbows substituting for ditalini in my cool mise en place bowl!

Soup simmering on the stove. 

Battenberg Cake

by Sheila Connolly

Funny how cooking over the holidays usually pushes us to extremes.  Either we put together a multi-course meal for twelve distant relatives, or we throw up our hands and say, "eat leftovers" or "let's order Thai."  Even if it's only your nearest and dearest, many of us (myself included) feel that we should make a special effort for the big holidays—drag out grandmother's china and real cloth napkins, roast a (fill in the blank), bake cookies and bread.  I persuaded my husband to bake a ham for Christmas this year (that was his family's tradition; mine preferred turkey or roast beef), so I volunteered to make dessert.

 

Rather than sticking to one of the family favorites, I decided to try making one that I discovered in the supermarket in Ireland, although I find that the recipe is English:  Battenberg Cake.  It's a boxy little thing, and I thought it looked like a holiday present, all neatly wrapped.  And the recipes I found  did not result a huge final product, which we would have to consume over the next few days—there are only three of us at home at the moment, and we don't need to eat a mountain of cake.

Here's the supermarket model

 

Battenberg cake dates back to the reign of Queen Victoria, although she kind of imported it from Germany.  It consists of layers of sponge cake, white and pink, cut and assembled (with a bit of jam for glue) to resemble a checkerboard, and then wrapped in marzipan.  I'm a sucker for marzipan, and besides, you just buy that readymade and roll it out to wrap your cake.

 

I confess up front:  I have never made this before, and I ran into a few snags.  One:  the only recipes I could find were English, which meant the measurements were given in ounces (weight, not liquid), and I had a few issues converting to American measurements.  I should have known that a recipe with equal parts butter and flour was doomed from the start.  For my second attempt I recalculated and arrived at something that resembled cake.  Good thing I allowed plenty of time to make this, and had lots of butter on hand!

 

Two:  the recipe called for a six-inch-square cake pan with straight sides.  Raise your hands, all of you who have a six-inch cake pan.  Uh-huh, I thought so.  I didn't, although I have eight-inch and nine-inch ones.  But increasing a recipe to work with a larger pan is complicated, so I crafted my own six-inch insert for a larger pan, using…roof flashing.  Cover it with plenty of foil and brush with butter and it works fine. (Oh, did I mention you have to split the six-inch pan into two parts, so you can dye half of the batter pink?)

"too much time on her hands, eh?"
you're saying about now

 

By now you are thinking, was she insane?  Ah, 'tis the season for insanity.  I crafted a make-shift cake pan, I figured out the right measurements for the ingredients, and I was off to the races.

 

Once I had actually managed to bake the cake, I was faced with making the pieces of cake match up so I could achieve the right checkerboard pattern.  My biggest fear was that I would shave so much off to make it perfect that the final cake would end up about two inches across (in that event I planned to call it petit fours.  So I sacrificed precision, just a bit.  As a whole, it worked—and it tasted good. 

So if you're ever in the mood to make a simple complicated cake, here's the recipe (translated from the English):

BATTENBERG CAKE

 

2/3 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs (room temperature). beaten

2 Tblsp whole milk (room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla extract (or a mix of vanilla and almond)

 

1¼ cups flour

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

 

Pink or red food coloring

½ cup seedless jam (apricot or raspberry)

 

Marzipan

 

 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line your baking pan or pans with foil and brush with melted butter.

 

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. In the large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, vanilla and milk.  Add the flour mixture and beat until smooth.

 

Divide the batter into two equal batches, and add red food coloring to one batch.

 

Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in the pans (with the foil, the cakes will be easy to remove).

 

Melt the jam in a small pan with a little water, to make it thin and spreadable.

 

Trim the cakes to equal size, then cut in two lengthwise.  Take one pink piece and one white piece and "glue" them together with the jam.  Repeat with the second pair. Paint the top of the joined pieces with jam, and "glue" on the second pair.

 

Roll out your marzipan (one recipe called for a single 7-oz. package, which is what you see most often in stores, but I wasn't sure how far it would go so I used two).  Paint the outside of your joined cake pieces with the rest of the jam, then wrap it in marzipan.  Stick the edges together on the bottom with a bit of jam. (If you like, you can press interesting patterns onto the marzipan with whatever tool you want.)

 

Trim off the raggedy ends. Wrap in Saran wrap and chill for at least half an hour (overnight is fine).

 

To serve, slice carefully with a sharp knife.

 

 

Coming February 2013, the first in my new County Cork Mystery series.

Best Ever Bloody Mary by Lucy Burdette

LUCY BURDETTE: In spite of my part-time status as a Key West resident, I'm not a big drinker these days--I need every one of my brain cells flickering! But sometimes when I'm out (or company's coming), I get the urge for one of my favorite cocktails, a bloody Mary. Some folks think this is only suitable for brunch, but I think it's the perfect pre-dinner cocktail--its tasty trimmings like celery and olives keep me from gobbling appetizers loaded with calories, or roaring through the bread basket.

But here's the key--I always ask the bartender or waiter, how's your bloody Mary? 

Now here's where your sleuthing skills come in handy.  If they say their version comes from a mix or they otherwise lack enthusiasm, I move on to something that can't be ruined, like a glass of wine or beer.  Bartenders sometimes get creative with the garnishes; the oddest I ever had was a shrimp skewered on a swizzle stick!

One of my favorite recipes comes from Michael's on Margaret Street. My husband and I visited the restaurant earlier this week to research their recipe. (See the lengths to which I will go in the service of this blog?) Tim, the bartender, reported on Chef Michael's ingredients--Sacramento tomato juice, vodka, celery, A-1 sauce, dash of Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, celery, and lemon. Before the drink is mixed, the rim of the glass is dipped in Old Bay Seasoning; at the end they top the cocktail off with olives. (Oh, and he recommended cucumber vodka to give the drink a gazpacho flavor, but I stuck to the house brand.)

My sweet husband John has developed an excellent recipe over the years too. In honor of the holidays and launching ourselves into 2013, we give it to you!

Best Bloody Mary Ever

 
Tomato juice
1 oz. vodka
1 tsp. horseradish, or more to taste
dash of Worcestershire sauce
dash of Tabasco sauce, or more to taste
Lemon wedge, or lime or both
celery stick
Olives or pickled green beans or both
Celery salt for the rim

Start by sprinkling the celery salt on a small plate and dipping the rim of the glass into the salt. 

 Fill the glass with ice, add the vodka. Add the tomato juice, followed by horseradish, Worcestershire, Tabasco, and a good squeeze of lemon.  Stir well and garnish with celery, olives, and possibly, pickled green beans. (I happen to be crazy about the Mean Bean pickles from Rick's Pick's.)

And Happy New Year!

 

Lucy Burdette is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries including the May 2013 release, TOPPED CHEF (which can be pre-ordered now.) In this third book in the series, food critic Hayley Snow visits Michael's restaurant and enjoys both a bloody Mary and a chocolate lava cake. While you're waiting to read more, please like Lucy on Facebook and follow her on Twitter!  

Blackberry Kuchen Gluten-free Recipe from Avery Aames

AVERY/ DARYL: 

After the holidays, it's probably difficult to think about sweets. You might be sweet-ed out. You might have already set your new year's resolution and decided to diet.

But I happen to adore sweets. I like them when I'm writing early in the morning, which I'm doing even over the holidays -- soon I'll be in full promotional swing for TO BRIE OR NOT TO BRIE, which comes out in 5 weeks!  [Are you signed up for my newsletter? I'm having a contest.  Check it out.]

A good breakfast cake is hard to beat.

This year, Krista posted a European-style blackberry cake that I had to try...HAD TO...but because I need to eat gluten-free, I put it off. Then, I saw blackberries still in the market when I was doing holiday shopping, so I picked some up and decided to experiment. Oh, yum.

This kuchen, a version of Krista's, is great gluten-free. Krista, thank you for your inspiration.


KRISTA'S BLACKBERRY KUCHEN (GLUTEN-FREE) 

Ingredients:

8-inch pie pan or cake pan

canola oil

2 cups blackberries, washed and picked over

(save 3 pretty blackberries as garnish)

2/3 cup sugar

cinnamon

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk (I used nonfat)

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup GF flour

1/2 teaspoon Xanthan gum

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

whipped cream (optional)

Directions:

Lightly grease an 8-inch pie pan or cake pan with canola oil. Mix the blackberries with the sugar and a light sprinkle of cinnamon. Let stand.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, add the milk and then the melted butter. Beat well. Mix the baking powder with the salt, GF flour and Xanthan gum, and add to the egg mixture. Scrape the bowl, add the vanilla, and beat one last time.

Arrange the blackberries on the bottom of the pan in a single layer. Pour the batter over top of the blackberries.

Bake 30 minutes. Cool on a rack and refrigerate until set. Loosen edges gently until you can flip it over onto a cake plate.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. If you don't want to pipe the cream on the cake, dollop a spoonful in the middle, garnish with 3 blackberries, and pass the whipped cream for those who want it.

Note: I didn’t "flip" this over as Krista suggested. I served in the normal way and it was delicious.  

 * * * * * * *

The 4th in A Cheese Shop Mystery series: 

TO BRIE OR NOT TO BRIE
coming February 2013.

You can pre-order the book HERE. 

Click this link to watch the TRAILER

Click this link to read an EXCERPT.

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Also, you probably know by now about my alter ego,
DARYL WOOD GERBER...and her new series
A COOKBOOK NOOK MYSTERY series
debuts July 2013

"Like" Daryl's page on Facebook and "follow" Daryl on Twitter.

"She" doesn't say all the same things "Avery" does. Promise.

Say cheese!

***********