Top ten things I ate this year by Lucy Burdette

LUCY BURDETTE: They say you should start the year out the way you want it to continue, so I will be writing and eating:). I consider myself super lucky to have eaten many wonderful dishes this year. Most of you are food people—I hope you will drool along as I describe my top ten. These are not necessarily in order, and if you are a math person, you’ll see that there are actually eleven:). Some of them I cooked, others we enjoyed at restaurants. Here’s a link to last year’s list in case you’re interested.

1. Homemade pici pasta with fresh tomato sauce made at a cooking school in Siena, Italy. This entire meal was incredible, but John and I chose the pasta as the tip top taste. 

2. Fish chowder at The Fish Box in Dingle, Ireland. So creamy, so thick, sprinkled with crispy bacon and served with brown bread—all perfect on a rainy Irish day with a dear friend.

3. Janet Snow’s shrimp fritters with mango salsa. This was the hors d’oeuvre I pictured Hayley’s mother Janet Snow passing around when their boat blew up in THE MANGO MURDERS. 

4. Tomato and cheese pie. Fresh tomatoes, loads of grated cheese, all baked into a killer pie. 

5. Homemade Ricotta gnocchi. Yes, there’s a theme here, and it’s called CARBS! I adore gnocchi and these weren’t hard but came out tasting oh so delicious! 

The next three come from Paris: 

6. This HISPI CABBAGE was devoured at Kubri. It was prepared with Aleppo pepper butter, shanklish, cri-cri peanut, pickled apricot, oregano. (I don’t know what some of those things are, but it tasted amazing.)

7. Rice pudding with caramel drizzle at Juveniles. It’s their dessert specialty and if you love rice pudding, you’ll be spoiled for life.

8. Stuffed cabbage at Cafe des Ministeres in Paris, aka Chou farci façon Reine, saucisse de Morteau. This was the biggest fattest dish I’ve ever seen, and if that alone wasn’t enough, they drizzled creme fraiche on top after it was delivered. We wished we’d had a place to take the leftovers!

9. Homemade flan from Gloria, who made this for Friends of the Big Pine Key Library book group when we discussed A POISONOUS PALATE.

10. As part of the Key West Woman’s Club historic days, I helped with a panel on the subject of food in Key West history. This was Martha Hubbard’s lunch after, including Key West pink shrimp, salad with fresh hearts of palm, and tropical trifle.

11. Lest you think I’m a food snob, behold a tuna melt served with potato chips and a pickle on a paper plate. All winter I think about ordering this sandwich!

What are your favorite food memories from the year? What are you looking forward to? Happy new year everyone!

USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.

Coming July 14--isn't it gorgeous?

Book 15 in the Key West series, THE MANGO MURDERS, is in bookstores now!

The trade paperback edition of A POISONOUS PALATE is out now! 

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