Chicken Hamilton, #recipe from guest Victoria Hamilton

Today we're very pleased to welcome as out guest, our friend Victoria Hamilton. She is the celebrated author of three cozy mystery series and her latest book, No Grater Danger hits the bookshelves on June 19th! Enjoy her recipe and then enter a comment for a chance to  win a copy of Leave it to Cleaver! Here's Victoria:

Do you ever make a recipe exactly as it is listed? I try to do that the first time I make anything, but it rarely works out. Anyway, I saw a recipe for a version of Chicken Cassoulet; it sounded good, and I gave it a go, but even then, I altered it. It took white wine, and I never have wine in the house… that isn’t for drinking, anyway. The fruity ‘wine beverage’ that is my drink of choice would not be the right ingredient, for what it’s worth. So this time I made many more changes and now it is most definitely NOT Chicken Cassoulet. 

So, I name it…

Chicken Hamilton

Serves: 4 – 6

(4 for dinner, 6 for lunch)

Ingredients:

1 – 19 ounce can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed.

½ tblsp olive oil

12 ounces skinless boneless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into ½ to 1 inch chunks

10 ounces mild Italian sausage, (casing removed) in small chunks.

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 tbsp water

¼ tsp dried rosemary OR ½ tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped

¼ tsp dried thyme OR ½ tbsp fresh thyme chopped

¼ tsp grated black pepper

2 cups (or more) chicken broth

3 cups chopped spinach

Directions:

Mash ½ cup beans in a bowl, then add the rest of the beans and set aside.

Heat oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven, at medium heat. Add chicken in a single layer, cook, turning once, until browned, 2 – 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a bowl (with the beans, if you like) and set aside.

Brown Italian sausage the same way, and set aside, again in the bowl with the chicken and beans, if you like.

(I know… there’s a lot of ‘setting aside’ in this recipe.)

Add onion and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, until wilted and fragrant, a couple of minutes. Add water, cover, and cook a few minutes until golden, then add rosemary, thyme and pepper. Cook about thirty seconds, until fragrant.

Add broth, beans (including the mashed beans), chicken and sausage, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer, until chicken is thoroughly cooked, five minutes or so.

Add more broth, if needed, to make a soupy stew, and toss in the chopped spinach, stir and cook until it is just wilted, a couple of minutes.

Serve with fresh buttered bread or rolls.  

This recipe is a bit finicky, but really simple and delicious. I’ve made it a couple of times now, and I think I’ll add more herbs next time, and maybe some Old Bay, or other seasoning.

~

To one person who comments here I will be giving away one copy of Leave It to Cleaver, Vintage Kitchen Mysteries #6, to celebrate the upcoming release of my Vintage Kitchen Mysteries #7, No Grater Danger!

Open to all US and Canadian readers. Comment here, with your first name and an email address (yourname (at) yourserver (dot) com) where we can reach you! The draw will be made at 6 PM EDT on Monday, June 4th.

Thank you to Mystery Lovers Kitchen for hosting me!

No Grater Danger

Coming June 19^th!

In the brand-new Vintage Kitchen Mystery from the author of Leave It to Cleaver, someone out to spice up their life means to crush a helpless victim . . .

“Delightfully entertaining, well-written, and an interesting and exciting plot. Literally keeps you guessing right to the end.” —Goodreads on Leave It to Cleaver

Vintage cookware enthusiast Jaymie Leighton is thrilled at the prospect of meeting an elderly descendant of her town’s founding father, not least because she’s known to possess an enviably large collection of antique spice graters. But the curmudgeonly woman also has substantial real estate holdings, and at the moment she’s engaged in a fierce battle with a property developer who wants her to sell off her old buildings in the name of progress. When Jaymie goes to visit the woman and discovers that there’s been an attempt on her life, she polishes up her sleuthing skills to find out who was behind the foul deed.

Her first instinct is to suspect the developer, but as she digs deeper into the case she learns that her older new friend has purportedly been the victim of numerous criminal acts—all of which point to different suspects. Unsure if the stories are true or simply the confused ramblings of a senior citizen, Jaymie sifts through the clues hoping to expose the culprit, but she knows that if she keeps stirring up trouble, she’ll be next on the would-be killer’s list.

Includes a vintage recipe!

Check me out on social media! For more information, visit http://www.victoriahamiltonmysteries.com and sign up for the newsletter! – or – find me on Facebook! Victoria Hamilton, Author

Comment-to-Win 3 Vintage Kitchen Mysteries from Guest Author Victoria Hamilton!

Please welcome back author Victoria Hamilton! She's sharing some great cooking tips with us today and sponsoring a fun (and generous) contest. 

Leave a comment on her post and you will be entered to win the first three books in her national bestselling Vintage Kitchen Mystery series, including this one, newly published: Freezer I'll Shoot.

The contest is now concluded. Scroll to the end of this post to see who won.

And now, take it away, Victoria!

~ Cleo Coyle

Tips from
the Soup Queen

Victoria Hamilton, author of
the national bestselling
Vintage Kitchen Mysteries

I love soup. Is there any food more satisfying to the soul than a good bowl of soup? Is there any prepared dish more versatile? Maybe it’s a sign of my devotion to soup that I say "no" to both questions.

My love affair with soup began out of necessity and thrift. As a poor twenty-something, I couldn't afford to waste anything. If I was fortunate enough to have a chicken to roast, I used the carcass to make broth and leftover vegetables went in to make soup. When I didn't have a chicken to cook, chicken backs were dirt cheap and make a great broth. Over the years I relied upon soup to stretch my food dollar.

Now I still do the same . . . but mostly because it is so soul satisfying to make a steamy, fragrant, delicious pot of soup. I have never thrown away a chicken or turkey carcass in my life without making it into the basis of soup. I buy extra turkeys this time of year so I’ll have more turkey dinners, but also because they will make gallons and gallons of my favorite, turkey vegetable soup.

Over time I have developed a lot of ‘must do’s’, but soup is the most forgiving of foods. There is no recipe for my soup, just some tips. So here we go...

Victoria's Tips for
Making Great Soup

* The secret to good stock is time. After thanksgiving... (I celebrate both Canadian and American Thanksgiving because, well, two turkey dinners. Need I say more? Plus I have a lot to be thankful for.) The carcass goes into the stock pot and stews for a full day. I then cool the broth, strain it, and put it in a large food safe container in the fridge overnight. Turkey and chicken stock will have a layer of fat on the top after cooling. Don’t take it all off, just most of it! Fat equals flavor.

* The other secret to great stock is. . . if you roasted your poultry, make sure to put a couple of cups of boiling water in the roasting pan to get all the little bits and bobs from the bottom. That is caramelization, and flavor lives in the roasted goodness. Dump the resulting broth in with the carcass if you’re freezing it to use later, or the stock pot if you’re doing it right away.

* Don’t ever, ever, ever salt your stock! You’ll have plenty of opportunity to salt your soup at the end, if it needs it. If you've done everything right, you won't need much, as the flavor of the broth will be intense with just herbs and veggies. And besides, you will develop flavor by reducing the stock with simmering . . . if you put salt in to taste and then reduce, I can guarantee your soup will be too salty.


* And on the subject of herbs. I use 'em if I've got 'em, but great broth is great even without herbs, especially if you used herbs when roasting the chicken or turkey. I do often use thyme, rosemary, savory, marjoram--whatever I have--but it's not necessary every time.

* If you want to be fancy, tell people that you wouldn’t think of making soup without mirepoix. Hah! All you’ve said is you need carrots, celery and onions to make really good soup. I don’t think I've ever made chicken or turkey soup without lots of mirepoix. ;-) You can sauté your vegetables before putting them in the soup stock, but it’s not necessary.

* That being said, almost any vegetable can go into your soup. I have used: green beans, yellow beans, cauliflower, broccoli, canned tomatoes, potato, celery, onion, carrot, cabbage, parsnip, and more than I can even remember. It’s great if you've just got a handful of something left, like the soup that is simmering on my stove right now that has the last of the green beans in it. You can add even cannellini or navy beans to your soup!

* Another beauty of soup is: you can use any kind of pasta in it, any at all! Even if you've got a handful of uncooked rotini or ziti left and think that size pasta is too big for a bowl of soup (you’re probably right) just crunch it up! You can even use a variety of pastas. Just crush them slightly and add them to the soup. Soup is very plebeian dish; it is not fancy-schmancy, and will be cheerfully different every time you make it. Just don’t add the pasta too soon, or it will take over the soup pot. Orzo starts out looking innocently like rice, but if overcooked ends up looking like dumplings; trust me, know.

Now it’s your turn to school me. 

What are your no-fail soup tips? I am a willing student in all things soup, and I just know you all will have lots to tell me! Is there one soup you make all the time, or do you change it up? Share, please!

~ Victoria

~::~

About
Freezer I’ll Shoot...

Trying to escape her overbearing mother, vintage kitchenware enthusiast and soon-to-be columnist Jaymie Leighton retreats to her family’s cottage on Heartbreak Island. While there she hopes to write an article about the Ice House restaurant, owned by good friends and neighbors, siblings Ruby and Garnet Redmond. Once an actual icehouse, the restaurant is charmingly decorated with antique tools of the trade, including a collection of ice picks.

One night, while working on her article, Jaymie overhears an argument, and, ever the sleuth, sets out to explore. But when she stumbles upon a dead body, her blood runs cold. It’s Urban Dobrinskie, whose feud with the Redmonds is no secret, and he’s got an ice pick through his heart. Now Jaymie’s got to sharpen her sleuthing skills to chip away at the mystery and prove her neighbors’ innocence – before someone else gets picked off…

~::~

Victoria Hamilton, nationally bestselling author of Freezer I’ll Shoot, Book 3 of the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series, is the pseudonym of Donna Lea Simpson, bestselling author of romance and historical mystery novels.

Victoria starting reading mystery novels at the age of 12 and devoured Agatha Christie mysteries, as well as those of Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. She still adores mysteries, especially the cozy mysteries of Janet Bolin, Krista Davis, and others. 

She loves to cook, and collects teapots and teacups, as well as vintage kitchen utensils and bowls. She also enjoys crafts, especially cross-stitching and crocheting, and spends summer days in the garden, drinking tea or wine. Besides the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series Victoria also writes the Merry Muffin Mystery series and the Teapot Collector Mystery series which debuts with Tempest in a Teapot, out June 3rd, 2014.

To visit Victoria Hamilton Mysteries website, click here.

To friend Victoria on Facebook, click here. 

To like Vintage Kitchen Mysteries on facebook, click here.

To read Victoria's Blog, click here.

Twitter: @MysteryVictoria

*Soup photo courtesy of Stock.xchng, royalty free stock photos.

Victoria's Contest 

Congrats to "Karen in Ohio" who left the winning comment.

Karen - To claim your price,
contact Victoria by next Monday
via her public e-mail box:

Victoria(at)VictoriaHamiltonMysteries.com

Karen has won all
three of Victoria Hamilton's
Vintage Kitchen Mysteries...

Thank you for
joining us today, Victoria!

Good luck, everyone!

~ Cleo

Welcome Guest Author Victoria Hamilton and Comment-to-Win Her New Mystery!

We are in for a real treat today with our guest blogger Victoria Hamilton.

Victoria writes the bestselling Vintage Kitchen Mystery series. The second book in her series, Bowled Over, is releasing this Tuesday, and you can comment on this post for a chance to win a copy.

Scroll down to find out more about Victoria's new title as well as her brand new mystery series set to debut later this year--or maybe I should say "bran" new! You'll see why below. :) 

And now, please join me in welcoming today's guest. Take it away, Victoria!

~ Cleo Coyle

"Juggling Food" 

Victoria Hamilton

Writing and publishing mysteries has been my lifelong ambition. I kid you not; at twelve I announced to my parents that I wanted to be a writer. My dad was thinking Kierkegaard, while I was thinking Agatha Christie. It is wonderful beyond belief to achieve that goal. So wonderful I promised myself I’d never turn down work, no matter how busy I was.

Three years ago I had no mystery series. Sad face. :( 

Two years ago I had one mystery series. Smiley face! :) 

One year ago I had two mystery series. Super smiley face!! :) :)

And now? Well, now I have three series. Scaredy face! :( And...
Super smiley face!!! :) :) :)

Best (and worst) of all, two out of the three require recipes to accompany the text. Uh… yippee? 

What kind of recipes do I need to figure out, check, recheck and write out for my mystery series? In Vintage Kitchen Mysteries my heroine, Jaymie Leighton, takes vintage recipes and modernizes them for today’s cook, utensils, measurements, etc. Book 2, Bowled Over, comes out on March 5th and has a recipe for Potato Salad that I’m now afraid will have too much mayonnaise in it for some. Too late to go back! I like mayonnaise, though, and a lot does soak into the potatoes. 

In my new series, Merry Muffin Mysteries, set to debut with Book 1 - Bran New Murder - September 3rd of this year, I will be including muffins and probably some other random comfort food recipes in each book. I am the Soup Queen, so you can bet I’ll have soup recipes in some books. I made a dinner soup the other night… Chicken Vegetable Cannellini… and it was… mmMM! To die for. 

Of course with those two and a third series set to debut in 2014, I’m pretty busy. In my day-to-day life, then, it’s no mystery that I tend to fall back on those foods that everyone likes and are also easy to prepare with a minimum of recipe reading. One-dish recipes hit that note every time. To that end I thought I would offer up one of my all-time favorites, my version of Arroz Con Pollo, or Spanish Chicken and Rice. I adapted it from one I found in the New Doubleday Cookbook, though mine has evolved to be substantially different over time. 

Arroz Con Pollo 

Serves 6 if you have dainty eaters, 3 – 4 if not.

Ingredients 1: 

6 Chicken thighs

Enough flour to coat, about 1/3 cup.

Oil (Olive is best)


Method 1:

1 – Preheat oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Then, on the stove top:

2 - Dredge the chicken thighs in the flour. I usually just put the flour in a plastic bag and shake the thighs one or two at a time, then set them on a plate until I have them all ready.

3 - Heat oil in a largish skillet on moderate high heat for a minute or so, then, in small batches, brown chicken well, setting aside on paper towels to drain. Don’t worry that red juices will still be running when you take the thighs out, as they will be cooking in the oven. 

Then, the rice mixture: 

Ingredients 2:

1 cup uncooked long grain rice. (Basmati really is best for this; the grains stay separate and soak up the flavor. Honestly, I can’t say enough about Basmati. It has a wonderful nutty flavor and fragrance.)

1 small yellow onion

¼ to ½ red pepper

2 garlic cloves

¼ cup diced smoky ham OR julienned ham of your favorite kind.

1 cup chicken stock

1 ½ cup diced tomato with juices (it is important that the liquid in this dish equals about 2 cups, without counting the tomato chunks so the rice will cook properly)

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

2 tsp Italian seasoning, or your favorite: basil or oregano work well.

1 small dried bay leaf, crumbled.

*Note: When I look back at the original recipe from which this is derived, I see that I have changed it substantially. And left out two ingredients, pimientos and saffron, probably because I don’t have them in the kitchen and wouldn’t go out of my way to buy them. But I think I will try the saffron sometime, because I’ve heard so much about it. 

Method 2: 

1 - Reduce fry pan heat to low/moderate and, in the oil left from doing the chicken, stir fry onion, diced peppers and garlic for 5 minutes; add ham and stir fry 3 to 4 minutes longer until onion is golden.

2 - Add rice, stir fry 1 minute, then add broth, tomatoes (breaking up clumps) the salt and pepper, seasoning and bay leaf. Mix well.

3 – Turn all of this mixture into a 9 X 13 pan, and nestle chicken pieces on top. Cover with foil and bake about 50 minutes, until the chicken is fork tender. Uncover and bake for 10 minutes more.

This dish converts rice haters and is so good it will soon be a part of your regular cooking repertoire. It seems a little work-heavy at first, but once you get going, it gets easier and easier. Serve with a salad and enjoy!

~::~ 

CONTEST!

Victoria is giving away one (1) copy of Bowled Over. Contest open to Canadian and US residents only and ends March 10th 2013. Leave a comment on this post to be included in the giveaway. Book will be shipped directly from the author.

~::~ 

Meet the author:

Victoria Hamilton writes the bestselling Vintage Kitchen Mystery series (Book 2 – Bowled Over, comes out March 5th) and the upcoming Merry Muffin Mysteries, also from Berkley (Book , Bran New Murder, debuts September 3rd, 2013) Victoria loves cooking and collecting vintage kitchen utensils, as well as reading and writing mysteries. 

Check out her webpage for all the latest: http://www.victoriahamiltonmysteries.com and find her on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorVictoriaHamilton