Welcome Agatha Nominee Barbara Ross with a guest post

To learn more about
Barbara Ross and her
work, click here.

Please welcome our guest to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, the talented Barbara Ross.

The first book in Barbara's series, Clammed Up, has been nominated for the 2014 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel, and she's here today to tell us about her new entry, Boiled Over, coming out this May. Take it away, Barbara! 

~ Cleo

* * * 

I’m happily looking forward to May 6 and the release of Boiled Over, the second book in my Maine Clambake Mystery series. 

The book takes place at the height of the summer season, when running the Snowden Family Clambake leaves little time for solving mysteries. But when a charred foot tumbles out of the clambake fire and one of Julia Snwoden’s employees is accused, she has to join the chase for the real killer.

That chase leads Julia to a camp where Mi’kmaq tribe members from Canada stay when they come to Maine to harvest the wild blueberry crop. She stays for dinner and eats these delicious camp-style beans.

“They taste something like New England baked beans,” Julia said.

“And who do you think invented those?” Her host smiled at her. “All the tribes in Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick cooked beans mixed with maple syrup and bear fat in clay pots buried with hot coals.”

“The beans in this are bigger than I’m used to.”

“Soldier beans. Now grown all over, but native to this region.”

* * * * 

Baked Camp Beans

This recipe is adapted to be made at home (as opposed to at camp).

Ingredients:

1 pound soldier beans

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

3 thick slices slab bacon, chopped

3 thick slices salt pork, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 large celery stalk, diced, leaves chopped

1 carrot, diced

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup molasses

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 quarts water

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Soak beans for one hour. Heat oil in large saucepan. Render bacon and salt pork in oil for about three minutes. Add onion, celery, and carrot and sauté for another three-four minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for one hour. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Put beans in a bean pot or covered casserole and cook in the oven for four hours. 

(Slow Cooker Alternative: after simmering, place in a slow cooker on high for four hours.) Check occasionally. Adjust seasonings. If you think it’s necessary, remove cover for last hour of cooking to thicken.

Barbara Ross

Barbara Ross is the author of Clammed Up, which was nominated for a 2014 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel as well as the RT Book Reviews, Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Amateur Sleuth. The second book in the series, Boiled Over, will be released in May 2014. Barbara’s short story, "Bread Baby" in Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold was also nominated for an Agatha Award. She writes at her home overlooking the harbor in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. You can visit Barbara’s website at www.maineclambakemysteries.com

Thank you for joining us today
in the Kitchen, Barbara!

Book Giveaway

The first book in Barbara's
Clambake Mystery Series, the 2014
Agatha Nominated CLAMMED UP.

This giveaway is now closed.
The winner has been announced.
To see the announcement,
 click here.

Thank you all for your
wonderful comments!