LUCY BURDETTE: I’m super-excited to introduce you to today’s
guest blogger, Ang Pompano. We’ve been in the same writing group for decades
(no, really!), and so it’s a great pleasure to see his first published novel
out in the world. His book is a mystery set in Savannah featuring a retired PI and his somewhat-demented father--one of the most unusual pair of detectives you'll ever meet! One lucky commenter will win a copy of WHEN IT’S TIME FOR LEAVING!
Turkey Burgers Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Cranberry Sauce
by Ang Pompano
Lucy, I’m really happy to be here, but I’m also cracking up.
That’s because I’m not really known for my cooking. That may be in part because
my wife, Annette, is an excellent cook. You know the saying, too many cooks in
the kitchen? Well that.
In part I perpetuate that myth in my writing. Quincy
Lazzaro, (“Diet of Death” Malice Domestic Anthology 2019: MYSTERY MOST EDIBLE)
is a guy who can’t cook but writes a cooking column called “Cooking with Betty.”
He’s been known to make tiramisu using Twinkies, Cool Whip, and lots of liquor.
Don’t laugh until you’ve tried it. And then in my debut novel WHEN IT’S TIME
FOR LEAVING, detective Al DeSantis, can cook, but when he makes his special lemon
chicken to impress his girlfriend he forgets to turn on the oven.
The truth is somewhere in the middle. I know how to handle
myself pretty well around the barbecue grill. To prove it, here is my recipe
for turkey burgers stuffed with goat cheese (or brie) and cranberry sauce. It’s
like Thanksgiving Dinner on a bun.
Ingredients
3 cups of ground turkey
1 ½ cups of Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing prepared according to directions
1 egg
Goat cheese (I used the one coated in cranberry and cinnamon. You can use gorgonzola, gouda, or brie instead of goat cheese)
Whole berry cranberry sauce
Put ground turkey, prepared stuffing, and egg in a bowl. Mix well.
Form a patty, add a chunk of goat cheese (or one of the other cheeses) and some cranberry sauce. Then cover with another patty and seal edges.
It was pouring rain so I cooked these on a stovetop grill but they come great on the barbecue grill too.
Garnish, pour a glass of wine, and voilà !
About WHEN IT’S TIME FOR LEAVING: When his girlfriend dumps
him and a drug dealer rams him on a bridge, Al DeSantis quits the New Haven
Police Department. As he makes plans to head for LA, he learns his father, Big
Al, is alive, has dementia, and is entering a nursing home. More surprising, he
has deeded the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency in Savannah to him.
Al wants nothing to do with the man who abandoned him at eight years old, or his agency. But when his California condo goes bankrupt and he loses everything, he drives down to Georgia, intending to sell fast and head west. But then he discovers a dead body on the agency dock.
Al wants nothing to do with the man who abandoned him at eight years old, or his agency. But when his California condo goes bankrupt and he loses everything, he drives down to Georgia, intending to sell fast and head west. But then he discovers a dead body on the agency dock.
About Ang: WHEN IT’S TIME FOR LEAVING, is Ang Pompano’s
debut novel. He has stories published in the 2019 Malice Domestic Anthology,
and BEST NEW ENGLAND CRIME STORIES 2019. His academic pieces include one on
teaching detective fiction. A recipient of the Helen McCloy/MWA Scholarship for
a novel in progress, he is on the Crime Bake Planning Committee and is a board
member of Sisters in Crime New England. He lives in Connecticut with his wife,
Annette, and their two rescue dogs.
