Blistered Broccoli Pasta with Walnuts, Mint, Lemon, and Parmesan #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

 

Don’t you think fresh, green herbs and vegetables are appealing in the spring? And pasta is appealing all year long. This recipe hits all the right notes with crisp-tender-charred broccoli, fresh mint, and tender pasta. Add the warmth of toasted nuts, the zip and zing of red pepper flakes and lemon, and always wonderful grated cheese, and you have a perfect meal that doesn’t take terribly long to make. The New York Times says 15 minutes. Well, no. It takes longer than that, but not so much longer that it’s annoying. Next time I make it, though, I think I’ll try roasting the broccoli.   

Blistered Broccoli Pasta with Walnuts, Mint, Lemon, and Parmesan

(adapted from Dawn Perry in The New York Times)

 

Ingredients

12 ounces fusilli or other short pasta

1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup walnuts (measured), about 1/2 cup chopped

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1 1/2 pounds broccoli (untrimmed), floret roughly chopped, stalks peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick

1 lemon, zested then quartered

1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

1 cup packed fresh mint leaves

 

Directions

Cook pasta according to package instructions until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add chopped walnuts and red pepper flakes (optional), stirring, until walnuts are browning and fragrant, about 1 minute. Use a slotted spoon to transfer walnuts and pepper flakes to a small bowl. Season walnuts with a little salt and pepper.

Add broccoli to the skillet and toss to coat in the oil. Shake skillet so broccoli settles in an even layer. Cook, undisturbed, 2 minutes. Toss and shake to arrange in an even layer again and cook, undisturbed, another 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Drain pasta and add to skillet with lemon zest, cheese, toasted walnuts, and mint leaves. Toss to combine. Serve with more cheese and lemon wedges to squeeze juice on top (optional but good!).

 

Look for Molly’s new series—the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries—coming in June 2025!

Book 1: Come Shell or High Water

 

When widowed folklorist Maureen Nash visits a legendary North Carolina barrier island shell shop, she discovers its resident ghost pirate and the mystery of a local’s untimely death . . .

Buy links:

IndieBound (locally owned independent bookstores near you)

Barnes & Noble

Amazon 

 

And in the meantime, you can enjoy Molly's other books.

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction and Guideposts. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction.

Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crispy Chickpea Salad from @MaddieDayAuthor

MADDIE DAY here, bringing you a fun summer salad with international flavors. The recipe I adapted appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine on August 6, with credit to Christopher Kimball.

I have lots of fresh cucumbers in my garden, along with a healthy pot of mint. And who doesn't love a crispy curried chickpea? When my vegetarian son and his wife were coming for lunch recently, I thought this salad would be perfect to serve them.

Crispy Chickpea Salad

 

Ingredients

Picture shows fat can of chickpeas, all I had in the larder, and no lemon

1 long cucumber or two slender shorter cukes, diced and peeled.

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 15.5 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed, drained, and patted dry

2 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ cup olive oil

2 teaspoons curry powder (or less if you don't like a little spice)

2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice (not shown)

½ cup roughly chopped fresh mint

 

Directions

In a colander, toss cucumber with 1 teaspoon salt. Let drain over a bowl or the sink, for about 15 minutes, stirring several times.

Toss chickpeas with cornstarch. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chickpeas and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crisp, about five minutes. Add curry powder and continue to cook, stirring, for about a minute.

Remove from heat. Stir in ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate.

Toss drained cucumbers with citrus juice, mint, and 1 tablespoon oil.

Stir in chickpeas and adjust seasonings, if needed.

Enjoy with grilled fish or chicken or with other salads.

Readers: What international flavors do you like?

🥒🍋🥒

My next books will be "Murderous Mittens" in Christmas Mittens Murder and Murder Uncorked, both featuring my new wine bar manager Cece Barton.

Check out all my writing!

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH YOGURT SAUCE #recipe @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  I will admit, I grew up not really knowing what an eggplant was. (Raise your hands if you, too, were raised in the hinterlands!) Then, when I started learning to cook, eggplant scared me. They often came with brown spots on the inner flesh, which made me worry that they were bad and would attack me. (Not so; it can mean age or bruising, or sometimes, it’s just the way they roll.) Some recipes call for salting them, and then I wondered how much salt, for how long, and would I over-salt or over-rinse or over-worry? (Too late for that, I know!)

But they are so yummy that I persevered. And discovered that they are mostly worry-free. My local grocery rarely has the tender baby eggplants, or the yummy Japanese eggplants, so for this recipe, I end up with the larger Italian variety. No matter—the purple skins are glorious, regardless of the variety, and the flesh inside cooks so beautifully. Mr. Right is a mean man with a grill, and it turns out that roasting eggplant is easy, relatively quick, and totally fab. (Here’s last month’s Tangy Summer Vegetable Salad with Bulgar—featuring roasted eggplants, bell peppers, and zucchini.)

This recipe is a slight variation of a Weight Watchers recipe; WW counts it zero points, which veteran trackers will know is a ploy to get us to eat more veggies. (If you brush on olive oil, rather than use a spray, count it one point.) I am here to tell you, that is a successful ploy!

It may seem odd to thin the Greek yogurt. I like the Greek variety for sauces because the flavor is more intense than regular varieties; WW likes it because it’s a little higher in protein. If you’re using a standard variety, skip the thinning, especially if your yogurt has a little liquid on top—pour that off and use it, or stir it in before spooning it up.

Regular paprika will be fine, if that’s what you have. But if you’re shopping, try a smoked paprika. Sweet and spicy varieties are equally fabulous—and worth the hunt.

We served this initially with grilled shrimp seasoned with Old Bay, and a second time with a basic grilled chicken. Yummy both ways!

Congratulations to Daryl Wood Gerber on today's release of GRILLING THE SUBJECT, #5 in the Cookbook Nook Mysteries!

GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH YOGURT SAUCE

3/4 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons water
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika, plus extra for garnish
3 baby eggplant or one full-sized eggplant (about 1-1/4 pound), sliced lengthwise, 1/4" thick
olive oil or olive oil cooking spray
1/4 cup mint leaves, thinly sliced (“chiffonade”)

Pre-heat your grill.

In a small bowl, stir the yogurt, water or yogurt liquid, salt, cumin, garlic, and paprika. Set aside to let the flavors meld while you prepare the eggplant.

 Slice the eggplant. Brush or spray with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Grill until tender and lightly charred, about 8-10 minutes, turning once. Place on serving platter. Spoon yogurt over slices; garnish with mint and paprika.

One serving is two slices and two tablespoons of yogurt sauce. Serves 6.

From the cover of GUILTY AS CINNAMON: 

Murder heats up Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the next Spice Shop mystery from the national bestselling author of Assault and Pepper. 

Pepper Reece knows that fiery flavors are the spice of life. But when a customer dies of a chili overdose, she finds herself in hot pursuit of a murderer…

Now available in audio and large print, as well as paperback and e-book And watch for KILLING THYME, out October 4! 

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. The president of Sisters in Crime, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat Ruff, a cover model and avid bird-watcher.

Swing by my website  and join the mailing list for my seasonal newsletter. And join me on Facebook, where I often share news of new books and giveaways from my cozy writer friends.

Lemony Sugar Snap Pea Salad

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: “Summer time, and the living is easy.” And one reason, of course, is the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Even if we aren’t growing them ourselves – and I confess that since I started writing two books a year, my gardens have not gotten the care and feeding – let alone the weeding – they deserve.

Happily, chives and mint need no tending – if they grow at your house, you know both those tasty herbs have minds of their own and spread on the wings of the wind. It’s fun to snip them into summer teas, pastas, and salads. This salad – a variation of a Weight Watchers recipe – takes full advantage of that herby tang. I’ve made it with both mojito mint, a classic green mint, and a combination of mojito and a nameless darker variety that seems to have appeared in my garden without a name tag!

Enjoy!

Lemony Sugar Snap Pea Salad

Salad:
1/4 pound sugar snap peas, about two cups, trimmed (Chinese or flat peas will do fine, if that’s what you’ve got)
1 English cucumber, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/4 cup crumbled feta
2-3 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
2-3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

Dressing:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and toss in the peas. Cook 1-2 minutes, until peas are bright green and still tender crisp. Drain and rinse in cold water, stirring or tossing to release the heat. Drain and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients. Then slice the peas once, lengthwise, and toss into a large flat bowl with the cucumber, feta, and herbs.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper. Pour over the other ingredients and toss to mix and coat.

Makes 4 one-cup servings that taste like summer!

(That's feta, not butter!)

Mint and chives, so fresh they're practically still growing!

This salad is terrific with shrimp or any kind of fish, and even by itself!

From the cover of KILLING THYME -- out October 4, available for pre-order now:  

At Seattle Spice in the Pike Place Market, owner Pepper Reece is savoring her business success, but soon finds her plans disrupted by a killer… 

Pepper Reece’s to-do list is longer than the shopping list for a five-course dinner, as she conjures up spice blends bursting with seasonal flavor, soothes nervous brides fretting over the gift registry, and crosses her fingers for a rave review from a sharp-tongued food critic. Add to the mix a welcome visit from her mother, Lena, and she’s got the perfect recipe for a busy summer garnished with a dash of fun. 

While browsing in the artists’ stalls, Pepper and Lena drool over stunning pottery made by a Market newcomer. But when Lena recognizes the potter, Bonnie Clay, as an old friend who disappeared years ago, the afternoon turns sour. To Pepper’s surprise, Bonnie seems intimately connected to her family’s past. When Bonnie is murdered only days later, Pepper is determined to uncover the truth. 


But when Pepper roots out long-buried secrets, will she be digging her own grave?

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. The president of Sisters in Crime, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat Ruff, a cover model and avid bird-watcher.

Swing by her website  and join the mailing list for my seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook, where she often shares news of new books and giveaways from cozy writer friends.

Minty Summer Drink Recipe

From Daryl aka Avery

Cheers! This week has been a whirlwind for me. FINAL SENTENCE came out last Tuesday. I've received some lovely reviews from Cozy Mystery Book Reviews and Melina the Readers' blogs.


I then went to Arizona (yes, it was hot! 116 in the shade!!  91 at 5:30 a.m. yipes!!). I went for a Cozy Conference sponsored by Poisoned Pen Bookstore, known as "The Pen." Great event. I was on a panel with the NYT authors Kate Carlisle and Jenn McKinlay (a former MLK'er).

Kate Carlisle, me, and Jenn McKinlay

 I also got to see a sweet friend, author Jane Cleland. She's holding her latest book, Lethal Treasure.

Jane Cleland and me

 We met a few Facebook friends who are AZ residents, including Elizabeth. Darling! And her husband Chris.

Jenn McKinlay with our lovely Facebook pal Elizabeth 

Then yesterday, I flew to New York for Thrillerfest, a conference for thriller writers and fans. [No pix yet!!  Next week.]

I go to this conference not only because I hope to have a thriller published someday but because my sweet son lives in New York. What a great excuse, right? I also get to see my editor. And this Friday, there will be a cocktail party where a couple of fans will attend, one of whom is the delightful Dru Ann love, a die-hard reader and fabulous reviewer on Cozy Chicks.

And then it's back home to write, write, write.

Oh, and I sent off the books to the winners for last week's giveaway. Congrats to NoraA and Linda R. 

Now...before heading for New York, I decided to enjoy the fruits of my garden in a new way. I planted an herb garden this year - just one pot, but it's packed. I wanted to see if the spot in the garden would help the garden thrive. Yes!!!

My mint especially.

I love mojitos. And I love mint in iced tea. But I wanted to see what else I could do with mint. I found this lovely mint drink recipe, non-alcoholic, and decided to try it. The recipe called for honey syrup, but I'd heard so many good things about agave that I decided to try using agave. Yes!

[According to All about Agave website, agave has a low glycemic index.  The glycemic index is a way of measuring the relative impact of foods on blood sugar levels.]

Here's a picture of a chart on the website. I hope they don't mind that I'm sharing, but I was intrigued. Agave has a lower glycemic index than an apple.

The drink is light and lovely and perfect for a summer barbecue.

Enjoy.

Non-alcoholic Mint Cocktail

Makes 1 drink

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup mint leaves

2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup * RECIPE BELOW

2-3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice

Chilled club soda or seltzer

DIRECTIONS:

Strip the mint of the stem. Mush the mint at a bottom of a 12-ounce glass with a muddler or spoon or the back of an ice cream scoop. Tip: Do you best not to crush the mint into tiny pieces. Just coax the essence out. Add the cooled syrup and lime or lemon juice. Stir. Add ice and fill to the brim with club soda or seltzer or even Pellegrino water.

Serve chilled.

HONEY or AGAVE SYRUP (for a lot of uses)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup honey or agave syrup

1 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

Pour honey and water into a small pot. Bring to boil and stir until honey/agave is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

(If desired, you can add more syrup. If you really like it sweet, add one packet of a non-caloric sweetener.)

SAVOR THE MYSTERY!!!

* * * * * * *

The first book in A Cookbook Nook Mystery series is out!! It's set in the fictional coastal town of Crystal Cove, California and features Jenna Hart, a former advertising exec who returns home to help her aunt open a culinary bookshop and cafe.

FINAL SENTENCE

You can order the book HERE.

The 4th in A Cheese Shop Mystery series is out! 

TO BRIE OR NOT TO BRIE
You can order the book HERE. 

You can learn more about Daryl by clicking this LINK. "Like" my page on Facebook and "follow" me on Twitter. And if you haven't done so, sign up for the mailing list so you can learn about upcoming events, releases, and contests!

You can also follow and "like" Avery Aames the same way:  Facebook and Twitter.

or chat with my alter ego