Fagiolini al Burro #recipe by @Leslie Karst

The first time I tasted fagiolini al burro, aka green beans drowning in butter (as they seemed to me at the time) was many years ago in Italy, and from that first bite I was smitten.

If you happen to have planted green beans this summer, chances are you are overrun with them right about now (as am I), and this is a simple and delicious way to prepare the lovely vegetables. The Italians don’t always include garlic, but I say you can never have too much garlic, right?

Fagiolini al Burro

(serves 4)

Ingredients

1 lb. green beans (or more, if you want large servings)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2-4 cloves garlic (depending on how garlicky you like your beans)

1 tablespoon butter

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

De-string the beans and remove the stems, if necessary. If they’re small haricots verts, no need to cut them, but if they’re large green beans, you may want to cut them into bite-size pieces. Your choice.

Peel and mince the garlic.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat till shimmering, then add the beans and stir to coat with the oil.

Cook the beans till they’re almost done, tossing/stirring them to prevent them from burning, then add the garlic and toss again.

Once the garlic has browned, which should take only a minute or two (don’t let it burn!), add the butter and toss again.

As soon as the butter has melted and coated all the beans, season the dish to taste with salt and pepper.

Buon appetito!

🍋 🌿 🍷

 

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. Putting this early education to good use, she now writes the Lefty Award-nominated Sally Solari Mysteries, a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California. 

 

An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

Leslie’s website
Leslie also blogs with Chicks on the Case
Leslie on Facebook
Leslie on Twitter
Leslie on Instagram

Praise for Leslie's most recent Sally Solari mystery, the Lefty Award-nominated MURDER FROM SCRATCH:

“Karst seasons her writing with an accurate insider’s view of restaurant operation, as well as a tenderness in the way she treats family, death and Sally’s reactions to Evelyn’s blindness.”

Ellery Queen Magazine (featured pick)

All four Sally Solari Mysteries are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.

 

Dying for a Taste, A Measure of Murder, and Murder from Scratch are also available as AUDIOBOOKS from Audible!

Spaghetti alla Carbonara from our guest, Leslie Karst. #recipe #mystery #giveaway

It's our pleasure to welcome our friend, the dynamic Leslie Karst, as our special guest here today.

Leslie has a wonderful recipe for Spaghetti alla Carbonara which we can't wait to try and a fabulous giveaway.  Make sure you read to the end and leave a comment to get in on the giveaway action. 

Now here's Leslie on the background to this delicious dish.

One of my sleuth Sally Solari’s favorite dishes to whip up for company is spaghetti alla carbonara. Not only is it about as simple as it gets to make—thus allowing Sally the luxury of enjoying pre-dinner cocktails along with her guests—but the combination of bacon, olive oil, butter, cheese, and eggs makes this pasta sinfully rich and delicious.

The origin of this dish’s name is hotly disputed, but most folks agree that it likely has something to do with the Italian word carbone (charcoal). Some claim the dish was invented by coalminers; others argue it was originally cooked over a charcoal flame; and still others assert that the name derives from a kind of charcoal-cooked ham that was once used for the pasta.

Whatever its history, this rich, creamy dish from Rome makes for a delicious and quick-to-prepare meal. Serve it with a green salad or fagiolini al burro (baby green beans sautéed in butter), and a loaf of warm, crusty bread. (Don’t be alarmed by the use of raw egg; the hot pasta heats it enough to cook, and the result is a silky, custardy sauce.)

Here’s a sneak-preview of the recipe from my brand new Sally Solari mystery, A Measure of Murder:

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

(serves 4-6)

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ pound pancetta or bacon, cut crossways into ½” strips

4 eggs

½ cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

1 tablespoon chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley [I used green onions for the meal photographed]

salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Directions

Bring a large (at least 4 quart) pot of water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and 1 tablespoon salt, and cook over high heat until al dente (still slightly firm in the center, 8-10 minutes), stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the butter and oil in a heavy skillet. Add the bacon and fry over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown. (This can be done in advance, but reheat before service if the oil and butter have hardened.)

In a serving bowl large enough to hold the pasta, beat the eggs with the grated cheese.

Drain the cooked pasta and immediately dump it—without rinsing—into the serving bowl. Toss until the pasta is coated with the egg and cheese mixture. (I used whole wheat spaghetti, hence the darker color.)

Add the pancetta or bacon (along with all the butter and oil), and toss again.

Serve garnished with the parsley and freshly ground pepper. (See the  photo at top of post.)

Now here's a bit about the very tasty Sally Solari culinary mysteries series:

A MEASURE OF MURDER, book two in the Sally Solari culinary mystery series, was just released on February 7, 2017 (Crooked Lane Books). It's still warm to the touch!

Sally Solari is busy juggling work at her family’s Italian restaurant, Solari’s, and helping plan the autumn menu for the restaurant she’s just inherited, Gauguin. Complicating this already hectic schedule, she joins her ex-boyfriend Eric’s chorus, which is performing a newly discovered version of her favorite composition: the Mozart Requiem. But then, at the first rehearsal, a tenor falls to his death on the church courtyard—and his soprano girlfriend is sure it wasn’t an accident.

Now Sally's back on another murder case mixed in with a dash of revenge, a pinch of peril, and a suspicious stack of sheet music. And while tensions in the chorus heat up, so does the kitchen at Gauguin, set aflame right as Sally starts getting too close to the truth. Can Sally catch the killer before she’s burnt to a crisp, or will the case grow as cold as yesterday’s leftovers?

“Engaging characters, terrific writing, and a savory blend of musical and culinary erudition...polymath Karst sauces her plot without masking its flavor. And she’s a dab hand with the red herrings.” Publishers Weekly starred review

We're intrigued!  Now just who is Leslie Karst? 

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. She now writes the Sally Solari Mysteries (Dying for a Taste, A Measure of Murder), a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California. An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i. Visit her online at http://www.lesliekarstauthor.com/ and at https://www.facebook.com/lesliekarstauthor/

As well as a hardcover copy of A MEASURE FOR MURDER, Leslie is offering this great Sally Solari swag! 

Leave a comment and don't forget your email addy and you could be the lucky winner.  The winner will be announced on the sidebar later this week!

Around the Kitchen Table: Favorite Summer Garden or Farm Stand Recipes + 7-book #Giveaway!

TINA KASHIAN: I love summer! We plant a garden every summer and I look forward to our fresh vegetables and herbs. We always plant zucchini, peppers, mint, parsley, and basil, but my favorite are the Jersey tomatoes. They are famous for their tangy, sweet-tart flavor. We also visit our local farm stands often for fresh blueberries and watermelon. My teenagers can’t get enough of these fruits.

My favorite garden recipe uses the parsley, mint and Jersey tomatoes to make tabbouleh. This healthy salad includes bulgur which is high in fiber and low in calories. I shared this recipe on MLK here:

What is your favorite garden
or farm stand recipe?

                                       🍅 🍅 🍅

MADDIE DAY: Summer is my favorite time of the year for eating locally! I grow my own greens, tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, blueberries, and herbs, and get the sweet corn and other fabulous veggies and fruits from one of my two local farms.

One easy cool salad to make the day after we have corn on the cob for dinner is corn salad. I always buy double the ears of corn we'll eat for one dinner.

This one also featured my own gold cherry tomatoes, cukes, and fresh basil. I toss the ingredients with olive oil and lime juice and dig in.

But for dessert? An easy berry tart with a cream cheese base is the way to go, and the recipe was here at the end of July! 

🍓🍓🍓

LUCY BURDETTE: We, too, have a garden, though lately John has been doing all the grunt labor while I write like mad. He gets quite annoyed if I buy something at the farmer's market that is in his garden! One of my favorite recipes for this time of year takes advantage of tomatoes, cukes, and peppers; that is panzanella, aka Tuscan bread salad. It makes my mouth water just to read the ingredients!

🍅🍅🍅

LIBBY KLEIN: If you know anything at all about me, you know I have a black thumb. There is nothing growing in my garden but weeds. One of the few things I can keep alive is herbs. Don't get me wrong, I've killed them by forgetting to water them on 90 degree days. But usually they do okay because I know they need full sun. I love to cut my herbs and eat them which sounds barbaric. One of my favorite recipes is summer pasta. Gluten free spaghetti tossed with chopped lemon balm and lemon thyme. A little garlic, some lemon zest, chopped chicken and steamed asparagus tips. Toss the whole pan in olive oil and top it off with shavings of parmesan cheese and toasted walnuts. My whole family loves it and there are never any leftovers.

🍋🌿🍋

LESLIE KARST: Right now, my garden is bursting with zucchini and green beans. (Given all the fog we had in May and June, however, the tomatoes are still, alas, quite green.) I posted a recipe a few weeks back for grilled zucchini, and here's one of my very favorite recipes for green beans: the simple-yet-delicious fagiolini al burro (green beans with butter--what's not to love!), to which I like to add a healthy amount of garlic, as well.

 Serve the beans along with pasta for a luscious summer meal! 

 🌿 🍋 🌱

VICKI DELANY: Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. Can't get enough of them. Over the years, I've posted many tomato recipes to MLK. This is one of my absolute favourites. And it looks as great as it tastes. You can serve it as an appetizer, a light lunch, or as a side dish at a barbeque.

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen: Tomato Tart

from Vicki Delany (mysteryloverskitchen.com)

🌿 🍋 🌱

PEG COCHRAN/MARGARET LOUDON: My husband and I downsized to a condo so we no longer have a garden. Besides, I have a black thumb. When we lived in our house, one year we managed to grow some luscious tomatoes and the next year they were a bust! Fortunately, there is a lot of local produce to choose from--corn on the cob, blueberries, strawberries, zucchini and Michigan cherries. When I was working, the breakroom table was always covered with the excess from people's gardens so I didn't even have to go to the farmer's market. One of my favorite things to make is this old-fashioned strawberry cobbler. It really allows the fruit to shine.

  🌿 🍋 🌱

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: After a series of disasters -- flood, drought, deep early frost, deep late frost, and invasions of grass and voles -- our garden is best described in baseball terms: A rebuilding year. I've been spending an hour or so several mornings a week cleaning the flower beds that surround the house, replacing plants, and laying down cardboard and wood chips. (One of those disasters included a 60+ foot spruce hitting our back deck, so we have plenty of wood chips.) And the vegetable garden? That might be next year's project!

But you know me, I always have herbs, some in pots and some in the garden: parsley, basil, oregano, tarragon, chives, and thyme, at the very least. So here are a couple of our favorite herb-forward summer dishes, Roasted Mushroom, Tomato, and Herb Salad for days when you're brave enough to turn on the oven and Green Beans with Tarragon Vinaigrette for days when you don't dare!

🍅🍅🍅

MAYA CORRIGAN: Eating freshly picked tomatoes is my favorite part of summer. Even the tomatoes sold at our local farm market can't compare to the ones from our plot in a community garden. They are on our dinner table every night during the growing season, garnished with the basil that also comes from our garden.

Does slicing tomatoes and serving them with basil count as a recipe? Maybe not, but I shared a delicious summer side dish recipe: Southwest Ratatouille that uses eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes from the garden and corn from the farmers' market.

☕ 🍅🍇

CLEO COYLE: My dad grew up during The Great Depression when his father impressed upon him the importance of having a food source for his family during tough economic times. With that end in mind, he was a serious backyard gardener, who provided our family with baskets of gorgeous produce and homemade wine from his grape vines...

My father Tony
in his Army Air Corps uniform
with his mother Grazia (Gace)

I miss those days and my dear parents, grandparents, and Aunt Mary, all of whom have since gone to heaven, where they now wait for me to join them in the most beautiful garden of all. Thanks, Tina, for reminding me of those delicious memories. And I’m happy to share how our family made our FRESH GARDEN TOMATO SAUCE in a step-by-post post that also shares a little more about the background of my Italian family. ~ Cleo

Click here to see Cleo's recipe post:
How to Make Fresh Garden Tomato Sauce
and Survive Depression.

🍆🍅🌼🌽

Happy August!

GIVEAWAY!

To be entered in this week's drawing

for the 7 terrific mysteries below,

join us in the comments.

Do you have a favorite
garden or farm stand recipe?

Join the

conversation!

Include your email address,

so we can contact the winner! 

> STABBED IN THE BAKLAVA by Tina Kashian

> A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS by Lucy Burdette

> MURDER IS A PIECE OF CAKE by Valerie Burns

> BREWED AWAKENING by Cleo Coyle

> MULCH ADO ABOUT MURDER by Edith Maxwell

> FINAL FONDUE by Maya Corrigan

> ASSAULT AND PEPPER by Leslie Budewitz

Comments Open through

Wednesday, August 9

Don't forget to include

your email address.

📚

AROUND THE KITCHEN TABLE - Have Your Thoughts Turned to Spring? + 5-Book #Giveaway!

MOLLY MACRAE:

Dill as high as a mystery writer's eye

It’s okay to start thinking about spring, isn’t it? After all, Daylight Saving Time starts next Sunday. But yes, even if some of us can still expect weeks and weeks of cold and snow, it really is okay to start thinking about gardening. Decades ago, when we were first married, seed catalogs arrived in our mail in January and February. We’d pore over them, while the blizzards howled around us, dreaming of all the tasty and pretty things we’d grow. We’ve had big gardens, small gardens, fruit and nut trees, berries, flowers, root crops, you name it. These days we have marauding squirrels and too much shade. But there’s always dill! Those pesky critters don’t like it and we do. Do you grow flowers or vegetables or fruit? When does your mind turn to thoughts of green and growing things?  

🌿☔🥗

MADDIE DAY: Ah, dreams of spring and seeds and sprouts! The days are noticeably lengthening. Birds are back, singing and looking for food and mates. Nothing is actually growing yet, but the signs are there.

In my past as New England farmer, by now I would be getting ready to start seeds in March, and already had leek seedlings up and growing. The ground is still cold and bare, with the last snow having melted, but we're getting another dump of white stuff Friday. Still, I know my garlic is underground and already wanting to push up. The early crocus and forsythia will follow. In May I can plant lettuce and greens, including spinach, in my high raised box and watch the asparagus push up through the ground.

This recipe for a Spinach-Pepper Egg Bake would be one way to use up fresh spinach, which tends to be ready all at the same time! I'm giving away Murder Most Fowl, book four in my Local Foods Mysteries (written as Edith Maxwell), which takes place in the spring.

🌿☔🥗

LUCY BURDETTE: We have a very small deck garden in Key West, and a real garden in Connecticut. This year the deck produce has been disappointing so I am looking forward to asparagus in the spring and lots of tomatoes and peppers and okra when summer comes. We've not yet tried growing garlic, as Edith does, and forgot about how good the fresh onions can be. So those are on this year's wish list!

🌿☔🥗

PEG COCHRAN/MARGARET LOUDON:  We don't even dare whisper the word spring here in Michigan for fear it will arouse winter's wrath and provoke it to last longer! We still have snow on the ground and I'm sure more is on the way.  We can't even begin thinking about planting flowers until close to Memorial Day.  I'm probably the odd man out but I've never been a gardener.  One year we did have success with tomato plants and I foolishly planted mint and lemon balm, which nearly took over the entire yard, but now we live in a condo where we could plant a few flowers to augment the garden but not much else.  And I'm perfectly fine with that. I'll add some pots of flowers to the deck and be totally satisfied.

🌿☔🥗

TINA KASHIAN: I’m a spring and summer lover, and I count the days until warmer weather. We wait until Mother’s Day to plant our garden to be sure there is no chance of frost to ruin our plants. It’s a tradition for my two girls to help with the planting that weekend. Jersey tomatoes are especially delicious, and we grow beefsteak tomatoes, grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and Roma tomatoes. I love them along with my younger daughter. But my husband and older daughter won’t touch a tomato. We joke that there is more for us. We also plant cucumbers, zucchini, green and red peppers, lettuce, basil and parsley. We have learned to plant the parsley in a separate garden because it is so aggressive it takes over. Even with our own garden we still visit farm stands throughout the summer for other fruits and vegetables. New Jersey is the Garden State.

 

🌿☔🥗

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: Spring? What is this thing, spring? Here in Northwest Montana, we could see a hard frost well into May, though as everywhere, patterns have become much less predictable. We have a pair of apple trees, rhubarb, and a great strawberry patch, along with garlic and perennial herbs---chives, thyme, oregano, and a pair of unruly mints, and I plant snap peas, green beans, and zucchini and crookneck squash in a raised bed. No greens---a patient of Mr. Right's grows the best greens in the world so we trade her for them! Basil, parsley, and tarragon go in pots on the back porch, along with tomatoes, although a neighbor gets tarragon to behave like a perennial, so I might try that this year. It's great with chicken in the classic Julia Child style and in these Green Beans with Tarragon Vinaigrette.

My big garden task, begun late last summer, is reclaiming several beautiful flower beds around the house that I created over the years. They've suffered from more neglect than I ought to admit, so I built up some good muscle by digging and pulling grasses, pruning, and layering in my body weight in compost. That job will continue this spring and summer, but I am determined -- and already planning to reward myself with a white peony in a vacant spot. Gardeners, like writers, are optimists, always looking ahead.

  🌿 ☔ 🥗 

LESLIE KARST: Robin and I will be returning to Santa Cruz from Hilo in a couple weeks time, so it's going to feel much more like winter than spring to me, coming back from the tropics to chilly Northern California. (Yes, I do hear all the mocking that is now being sent my way from all of you in the Midwest and East.) But I'll keep warm by weeding my vegetable garden, getting ready to plant in late April when I return home from Malice Domestic: likely my usual suspects of heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, French beans, and an array of herbs.

 

the weeding begins

Can't wait for those caprese salads and that grilled zucchini basted with olive oil and balsamic vinegar! Here's one of my favorite green bean recipes: Fagiolini al Burro.

🌻 🌿 🍋

MAYA CORRIGAN: We usually plant cool-weather crops in mid-March, but last week we took a chance and planted lettuce and spinach seeds. We'll plant those and other greens every two weeks until early May. Because it can get really hot here in June, the lettuce will bolt, but we'll plant again in late summer for a fall crop. Usually, we're still harvesting lettuce around Thanksgiving. Our plot in an organic community garden is more of a salad garden than a vegetable garden. We don't grow zucchini because our neighboring gardeners kindly share their excess with anyone who'll taken them. We're in it for the tomatoes. Though we visit our local farmers' market in the summer, we've never found any tomatoes there that come close to the ones from our garden.

🌻  🍅 🌿

MIA P. MANANSALA: I'm not a gardener or plant person, though I really want to be! Throughout the years, I've tried to take care of indoor plants and windowsill herbs to little avail. You'd think I'd give up, but just this past weekend I picked up a succulent and set of three cacti from IKEA and I swear, this will be the time that my plants last for longer than a year! I 3D printed the adorable Bulbasaur (a Pokemon) planter at my day job, and it makes the perfect home for my succulent. Looking at the greenery on my desk cheers me up, so fingers crossed these plants make it!

 🌵 ☔ 🥗 

☕ CLEO COYLE: Marc and I don’t have green thumbs, which is why we greatly admire people who do. To wit: If you’ve read our latest Coffeehouse Mystery, HONEY ROASTED, then you’ve met Bea, retired owner of a national florist franchise, who built an elaborate greenhouse on the roof of her Manhattan high-rise, an amazing glass palace where she farms award-winning mono-floral honeys via her precious beehives. For us, creating Bea’s fantastic greenhouse was wish fulfillment fun.

Far from Manhattan wealth, we live more like our amateur sleuth (coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi) with a small plot of yard in the back of our two-story rowhouse. Modest to be sure, but big enough for cozy cookouts, bird watching, and sipping coffee or wine on spring and summer nights. While we’re perpetually busy on deadlines and have no planned garden this year, Marc and I are supremely grateful to God’s green thumb and the wild violets that (through absolutely no skill of our own) blanket our yard every spring in vibrant purple blossoms. A few years ago, I made a “bottomless cup” video-loop in their honor, which I’m happy to share today as we all look forward to coming buds and new beginnings…

"Bottomless Cup" in our yard of
spring violets by Cleo Coyle ☕

🌻🌷🌼

GIVEAWAY!

To be entered in this week's drawing

for the 5 terrific mysteries below,

join us in the comments.

Do you grow flowers or vegetables or fruit? 

When does your mind turn to 

thoughts of green and growing things?

Join the

conversation!

Include your email address,

so we can contact the winner!

> ARGYLES AND ARSENIC by Molly MacRae

> PERIL ON THE PAGE by Margaret Loudon

(aka Peg Cochran)

> BREWED AWAKENING by Cleo Coyle

> DEATH ON THE MENU (paperback)

by Lucy Burdette

> MURDER MOST FOWL by Edith Maxwell

(aka Maddie Day)

Comments Open through

Wednesday, March 9

Don't forget to include

your email address.

📚