Guest Blogger Edith Maxwell's Haitian Meatballs

Since Edith Maxwell (also known as Tace Baker) has a new book out this month, I am happy to turn over my blog slot to her. If the new book is anywhere near as good as the last ones, you're going to want to read Bluffing is Murder! Plus you get a delicious and unusual recipe.

I, wearing my Tace Baker author hat, am delighted to be a guest on one of my favorite web sites again!

In Bluffing is Murder, Lauren’s boyfriend Zac is temporarily taking care of his twelve-year old Haitian niece. He invites Lauren over for dinner one night and makes the following recipe, which he learned from his grandmother in Haiti. But after Zac and Marie-Fleur head to Port-au-Prince for the summer and Lauren discovers the body of a local man whom she’d argued with earlier that day, her peaceful summer becomes a lot more complicated.

Boulett ak Espageti (Zac’s Haitian Meatballs and Spaghetti)

Ingredients:

Meatballs

1/2 onion, minced

1/2 green bell pepper, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/4 cup fresh thyme, chopped

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1 T salt

1 T ground black pepper

1/2 cup flour

Sauce

2 T olive oil

1 large can tomato sauce

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 habanero pepper, minced very small after discarding seeds and white membrane (use fork and sharp knife to avoid touching with your fingertips). Adjust more or less depending on your tolerance for capsaicin (the heat in peppers).

1/2 bouillon cube or 1/2 tsp concentrated bouillon

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Careful with the habanero!

1 lb spaghetti

Directions:

Meatballs: Saute onions and green pepper in 2 T oil until onions are clear. Add garlic and fresh herbs and saute another minute. Don’t let the garlic brown. Remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, combine ground beef, salt, pepper, and vegetable mixture and squish together. Form meatballs and roll in flour. 

Heat 2 T oil over medium heat until hot, then saute meatballs, turning gently until brown all over and cooked. Remove from heat.

Sauce: In a medium sized sauce pan, saute onions in 2 T oil until soft. Add tomato sauce, habanero pepper, bouillon, and cilantro, and salt to taste. Heat until warm. Add meatballs and more fresh herbs if you’d like, and to cook together for 5-6 minutes or until warm.

Boil spaghetti until al dente, drain, toss with oil, and serve meatballs and sauce over it. Serve with optional bottle of habanero sauce on the side.

Serves four or more.

About Edith:

Edith Maxwell writes the Lauren Rousseau mysteries under the pseudonym Tace Baker, in which Quaker linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau solves small-town murders (Barking Rain Press). The second book in the series, Bluffing is Murder,  was released in November, 2014. Edith holds a doctorate in linguistics and is a long-time member of Amesbury Friends Meeting.

‘Til Dirt Do Us Part is the latest in Maxwell's Local Foods Mysteries series (Kensington Publishing, 2014). Her new Country Store Mysteries, written as Maddie Day (also from Kensington), will debut with Flipped for Murder in fall, 2015.

Maxwell’s Carriagetown Mysteries series features Quaker midwife Rose Carroll solving mysteries in 1888 with John Greenleaf Whittier’s help, as portrayed in “A Questionable Death.” The series is in search of a publisher.

Maxwell’s most recent short story of murderous revenge, “Breaking the Silence,” appeared in Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold (Level Best Books), also featuring characters from the Carriagetown Mysteries.

A former tech writer and doula, Maxwell lives in an antique house north of Boston with her beau and three cats. She blogs every weekday with the other Wicked Cozy Authors (wickedcozyauthors.com), and you can find her at www.edithmaxwell.com, @edithmaxwell, on Pinterest, and at www.facebook.com/EdithMaxwellAuthor.

About Bluffing is Murder:

Summer promises to be anything but easy for Quaker linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau in Bluffing is Murder. Still reeling from an attack by her student’s murderer, Lauren decides to brush up on her karate and finds herself drawn to handsome sensei Dan Talbot. During a run near the sea bluffs, she discovers the corpse of her insurance agent, Charles Heard, who is also a Trustee for one of the oldest land trusts in the country. Earlier that day, Lauren had a public argument with Heard over her policy—and is now a suspect in the case.

Determined to clear her name, Lauren sets out to discover the real story behind the mismanaged land trust, the dead man’s volatile sister—and a possible link to her own father’s mysterious death more than a decade ago. But a near miss with a car, snippets of strange conversations in French and Farsi, slashed tires, and finding yet another attack victim on the beach make it clear that Lauren is also a target—and the killer is closing in. Can Lauren discover the killer before she becomes the next victim?

Haitian Seafood

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A very warm welcome today to Edith Maxwell. Remember her name, because you'll soon be adding her to your cozy reading list!

Speaking of Murder, a mystery featuring Quaker Linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau, was published under Edith Maxwell’s pen name of Tace Baker in September, 2012, by Barking Rain Press. You can find Tace at www.tacebaker.com, http://www.facebook.com/TaceBaker, and @tacebaker.

Edith Maxwell also writes the Local Foods Mystery series, featuring organic farmer Cam Flaherty a Locavore Club, and murder in the fields. A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die will be published by Kensington Publishing in May, 2013. She has also had short stories in two Level Best anthologies and elsewhere, and has one forthcoming in the Fish Nets anthology. Edith blogs at www.edithmaxwell.com, posts at www.facebook.com/EdithMaxwellAuthor, and is at @edithmaxwell.

 And now, Edith!

For a change of pace this weekend from turkey sandwiches and creative reuse of mashed potatoes, here's a scene from my recently released traditional mystery, Speaking of Murder. Lauren Rousseau twisted her ankle badly while out running and her Haitian-American boyfriend Zac invited her to dinner.

“Okay, lady. Á table,” Zac announced with a bow and a flourish. “Soup’s on.”

He helped me move to a chair at the table. A tie-dyed West African tablecloth I had given him covered the round table, centered with a cluster of so many red carnations they threatened to spill out of the pewter pot that held them. Zac positioned my injured foot on a pillow-topped chair. He served me a plate of aromatic seafood and vegetables in sauce on a bed of rice, kissing me on the forehead after delivering it to my place. He set a wooden bowl on the table. It held salad greens glistening with olive oil topped with morsels of cherry tomatoes, pears, and pecans.

“Here’s to us,” Zac proposed, lifting his glass. “And to no more accidents.”

I lifted my glass in return, nodded, and sipped. We ate in silence for a few minutes. The food was hot, delicious, and spicy. Perfect for a night like this.

But what happens next changes the mood drastically!

For the next time you want a delicious seafood meal from warmer climes, here's Zac's Haitian recipe.

  

Pwason Nan Sòs

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh firm fish (sea bass, snapper, swordfish, or other)

2 limes

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 ½ tsp salt

1 habanero pepper – carefully remove membrane and seeds and then slice thinly (and don't rub your eyes...)

1 Tbsp minced scallions

½ tsp Dijon mustard

1 ½ T apple cider vinegar

¼ c white onion shavings

¼ sliced shallot

2 sprigs thyme

¼ c olive oil

6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 T tomato paste dissolved in 1 c water

2 c kale, washed and sliced thinly

1 sweet red pepper, cut into 1/2”-squares

1.    Rinse fish and pat dry. Using a sharp knife score fish twice diagonally on each side, ¼ inch deep.

2.    Put in a shallow dish, coat with juice of one lime, pepper, salt, habanero, scallion, mustard, vinegar, onion, shallots, and thyme. Turn a couple of times to coat evenly then cover with plastic wrap and marinate in a cool place for at least an hour.

3.    Heat oil in a large non-stick pan on medium-high setting. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add kale and red pepper and saute for another 4 minutes.

4.    Add the diluted tomato paste and boil until no liquid remains, 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.

5.    Wipe the fish marinade off the fish and add the marinade (but not the fish). Strip the thyme leaves from their sticks, discarding the sticks.

6.    Continue to cook for several minutes.

7.    Mix in ½ c water and reduce heat to medium.

8.    Add fish and cook covered until fish is cooked through, about 7 minutes per inch of thickness.

9.    Squeeze all the juice from another lime over the fish and remove it carefully from the pan to a plate.

10. Continue to cook until most of the liquid has cooked off, then add the fish back in and heat until warmed through.

11. Serve hot over rice and wait for the rave reviews. Fried plantains or bananas on the side adds a nice Caribbean touch.

Comfort Orzo

by Guest Edith Maxell/Tace Baker

Thanks for inviting me into the kitchen!

I'm thrilled that my debut mystery, Speaking of Murder, will be published by Barking Rain Press in September of this year.  The book is being published under my alter-ego's name, Tace Baker.

In it, the murder of a talented student at a small New England college thrusts linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau into the search for the killer. Lauren is a determined Quaker with an ear for accents. Her investigation exposes small town intrigues, academic blackmail and a clandestine drug cartel that now has its sights set on her.

Convinced that that the key to the crime lies hidden in her dead student's thesis, Lauren races to solve the mystery while an escalating trail of misfortune circles ever closer. Her department chair behaves suspiciously. A century-old local boat shop is torched. Lauren's best friend goes missing and the unsettled relationship with her boyfriend threatens to implode just when she needs him the most.

Lauren doesn't cook, but her sister Jackie does, as well as her boyfriend, Zac Agnant. The following is the end of a scene.

I closed and locked the door behind me. My legs tingled with fatigue and the aftermath of fear. Wulu ran to his dish, back to me, back to the dish, and looked up with expectation on his face.

"Just a minute, Wu. Just give me a minute." I leaned against the door. I sank to the floor, knees up in front of me, groaning when my bruised and swollen knee bent too far for comfort. Wulu ran back, gave a little bark, and then licked my hand. My world was exploding. My head was, too, and I sank it into my hands.

The phone rang. I wanted to reach for it. My ebbing adrenaline fought with being too exhausted to move. I needed to call Natalia, report the incident on the house boat, have her see if Thomas was all right. Coming up with the energy to do that seemed beyond me, though. I closed my eyes for just a second. Just a minute to let the throbbing in my knee ease up.

After Lauren wakes up injured and cold in the dark, she listens to the voicemail and finds Jackie offering to bring dinner over. When Lauren asks what's on the menu, Jackie responds, "Comfort food. Orzo with sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and spicy chicken sausage."

I thought I'd share that recipe with you here. Does this sound like comfort food to you? And what about a mystery that includes linguistics, Haitian cooking, video editing, a heroin-smuggling ring, and small-town life?

Speaking of Murder Comfort Orzo

1/2 box orzo
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
1/2 c pitted Kalamata olives
1/2 c soaked and drained sun-dried (or dehydrated) tomatoes
1/2 c fresh cherry tomatoes, halved
Handful fresh basil, sliced
4 spicy chicken sausages, sliced 1/4-inch thick

1.      Boil pot of water.

2.      Add orzo and a pinch of salt.

3.      Stir until boiling, then turn heat down but keep boiling, until al dente.

4.      Add 1 T olive oil and garlic to large skillet over medium-low heat and saute until tender.

5.      Add sliced sausages to skillet and brown on both sides.

    6.      Drain orzo, toss with olive oil, and add to other ingredients in skillet.

    7.      Add olives, both kinds of tomatoes, and basil.

8.      Salt and pepper to taste.

9.      Warm together and serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese., red wine, a green salad, and a dose of mystery.

Speaking of Murder, a mystery featuring Quaker Linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau, will be published under Edith Maxwell’s pen name of Tace Baker in September, 2012, by Barking Rain Press. You can find Tace at www.tacebaker.com, http://www.facebook.com/TaceBaker, and @tacebaker.

Edith Maxwell also writes the Local Foods Mystery series, featuring organic farmer Cam Flaherty and the Locavore Club. A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die will be published by Kensington in the spring of 2013. She has also had short stories in two Level Best anthologies and elsewhere. Edith blogs at www.edithmaxwell.com, posts at www.facebook.com/EdithMaxwellAuthor, and is at @edithmaxwell.