Table of Contents: From Breakfast With Anita Diamant to Dessert With James Patterson - a Generous Helping of Recipes, Writings and Insights From Today's Bestselling Authors (18 page)

James Stewart

SELECTED WOEKS

The Red Queen
(2010)

The White Queen
(2009)

The Other Queen
(2008)

The Boleyn Inheritance
(2006)

The Other Boleyn Girl
(2001)

My Writing Process
My writing always starts with the discovery of a character or, sometimes, an event that seems to me so extraordinary that it releases a train of thought. I then research for more than a year on the topic before I even think of writing, then I have the intense pleasure of letting the research suffuse my thinking until I get to the point where I can visualize everything and even hear the voices of the characters in my head. Then I am ready to write.

Readers Should Know
I am so excited that
The White Queen
is the start of a six-book series that will span the period of the Wars of the Roses. They were called the Cousins' War at the time, so that's the title of the series. The joy of the series is that each book stands quite alone and can be read in isolation, and each book is from the point of view of one of the key players — all of them women — at the heart of the warring world of England.

Readers Frequently Ask
Many people ask me about my writing routine and my technique and I tell them that I have very little routine except to always reread or write something every day. This way I keep in touch with the novel and with the creative flow. But it can be any time of day, and it can be anywhere! I carry my laptop with me everywhere I go and I can write wherever I am; I don't need quiet or a lovely view (though that is a pleasure). Only when I am starting the writing process do I need to be surrounded with reference material; later on it is better if the novel does not read as if it was written in an old library!

Writers I Love
The first books I loved were the children's classics by Beatrix Potter; I loved the attention to detail and the passion for the countryside. She was a writer who lived in the north of England in the country, as I do now, and the landscapes in her book are like the one outside my window. I am influenced, as every English novelist must be, by Jane Austen. I think she created an austere, spare, cool narrative voice which has the merit of being very analytical and very, very funny. Her understanding of female rivalry and snobbery is supreme. Another great novelist (and there are so many) would be E.M. Forster. He has such compassion and underwrites drama with such a deft light touch, but the pathos that he can wring from a little scene! He's another lover of the countryside, and I like that too.

Makes 3 dozen (2-inch) shapes, or 30 balls

First let me say that being able to cook is not, in my view, an intrinsic part of female nature and being unable to cook is not a symptom of gender crisis. It is unreasonable to expect all women to cook, unreasonable to expect them to cook well, and absolutely out of the question that they should have to clear and wash up too. That having been said, and observing that I would rather read a book than cook a meal (sometimes even though I am hungry), I offer you this gingerbread recipe.

Gingerbread was one of the great treats of the medieval feast. First it was spiced with ginger, an incredibly expensive and rare taste that was imported from the Mediterranean countries and from the cuisine of Islam. Perhaps the Crusaders got the taste for it and brought it home to their castles, along with the other spices and herbs that helped sweeten and spice the bland cooking of the northern countries. The spices helped to hide the taste of meat which was “on the turn,” or going bad, in the days before refrigeration, as well as add flavor to drinks, scent to rooms, and contribute to perfume. As such, ginger-bread was a real treat.

Its appearance was enhanced at times of special celebration by being cut into special shapes: stars and moons, perhaps even crafted into little models like the gingerbread house of the fairytale. The medieval and Tudor diners loved when food was presented extravagantly. Gingerbread was often gilded, sometimes with real gold leaf, sometimes with sprinkles of sugar.

My mother used to eat gingerbread spread with butter as a tea time treat, and it was recommended to me as a cure for nausea in pregnancy. I have to say that it didn't work at all, but it was an interesting experiment. In less extreme circumstances, you might try it while reading my series of books set in medieval times, The Cousins' War, with hot sweetened wine.

Note:
The flavor of medieval gingerbread resembles that of traditional gingerbread, but its consistency is quite different. It's more like dense, rich, chewy candy, but with a little kick.

Because honey is a main ingredient, the type you use will affect the flavor of the gingerbread. Use a high-quality flavored honey, such as orange blossom, or organic honey, if possible.

Gingerbread was traditionally molded into shapes, but it's also delicious served in balls coated with ground cloves and sugar. During the Middle Ages, gingerbread was sometimes decorated with whole cloves and box leaves (the leaves of boxwood hedges). You can use candied leaves, boxwood, or another nontoxic shrub with tiny leaves, as decoration.

1 To make the bread crumbs:
Set oven to lowest heat setting. Lay bread slices on oven rack and leave door slightly ajar. Allow bread to dry completely but not toast, 45 minutes to 1 hour (thin-sliced bread will go faster.) Place dried bread slices in bowl of food processor fitted with a metal blade, and process into very fine crumbs. (You may have to process batches several times to get the crumbs fine enough. Make sure no clumps remain.)

2
In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, place the honey, spices, and red food coloring, “if thou wolt have it Red.” Bring to a boil over high heat while stirring occasionally, then immediately reduce heat to low and simmer for 2–3 minutes, or until mixture reaches 240°F.

3
Add 2½ cups bread crumbs and stir quickly, adding more bread crumbs as needed, until mixture becomes stiff and difficult to stir. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

4
You can either roll out the dough and cut into shapes, or roll into balls (see note).
To make shapes:
Using a rolling pin, roll dough between two sheets of wax paper or parchment, into a ¼-inch thick rectangle. Remove one sheet of paper, flip dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet (you can use cooking spray), and remove rest of paper. Set aside for an hour or two to let the flavors mingle. Then, use a sharp knife to cut gingerbread into small squares (or diamonds, hearts, leaf shapes, etc.). Sprinkle the tops with the sugar and cloves and, if desired, decorate each piece with small nontoxic leaves attached with a clove.
To make balls:
Combine sugar and ground cloves in a small plate. Roll dough into bite-size balls, and coat with the sugar-clove mixture. Set aside for an hour or two to let the flavors mingle.

Jerry Bauer

SELECTED WOEKS

Ape House
(2010)

Water for Elephants
(2006)

Flying Changes
(2004)

Riding Lessons
(2004)

Inspiration
I draw inspiration from everywhere: all the books I've read over the course of my lifetime, snippets of conversation I overhear in restaurants or on the street, things I see on the news or read about in magazines, and, of course, things I've experienced personally. My fiction is a crazy quilt of everything I've encountered in life magnified through the lens of an overactive imagination.

Readers Should Know
I wrote half of
Water for Elephants
in a walk-in closet. I had stalled out about halfway through writing the book and realized I was employing all my favorite writing-avoidance techniques. I painted the walls of our family room five times and was spending altogether too much time on eBay. I didn't have a wireless Inter-net connection at the time, so I asked my husband to move my desk into our unwired closet and went in there each morning with my laptop, the dog, and a cup of tea. I opened my file on the theory that if I stared at it long enough without any other distractions, something would happen. Fortunately, I was right, and I staggered forth with a finished book four-and-a-half months later.

Readers Frequently Ask
People often ask how I manage to write with three children. The answer is that I make the most of school hours, have a very helpful husband, and a high tolerance for mess.

Influences on My Writing — Too Many to Count!
Every book I've ever loved. Every short story I've ever loved. Margaret Atwood, Ernest Hemingway, James Herriot, Anna Sewell, E. L. Doctorow, Alice Munro, Elizabeth Strout, Jane Austen, all of the Brontës (except the no-good brother), Yann Martel, and Jonathan Franzen; I could go on for days.

The novelist in my novel
Ape House
, Amanda Thigpen, taught herself how to cook after accidentally giving herself and her husband food poisoning through improvisations with canned soup. Amanda is passionate about cooking, and her novel,
Recipe For Disaster
, prominently features the preparation and consumption of food. Because of her unfortunate last name, Amanda is forced by her (fictional) editor to publish under the pseudonym Amanda LaRue.

Makes 4–5 servings

While my own method of administering food poisoning involved summer squash (I'm still not sure how I achieved that), I taught myself to cook the same way Amanda did, by joining the Church of Julia (Child). I pored over her books and followed every direction, even if it involved peeling broccoli. This foundation gave me the courage to adapt and experiment, and I now carry a notepad with me at all times so I can deconstruct and record new and unusual combinations of flavors I encounter at restaurants. The following recipe for salmon is inspired by recipes for vegetarian strudel, Jacques Pepin's sautéed salmon, and, of course, Julia Child's Hollandaise.

This is a perennial family favorite, and definitely not diet food. Leftovers can be brought back to life using 40–60 percent power in the microwave, but we rarely have any.

Note:
To switch things up, use puff pastry instead of filo (if you do, skip the sesame seeds and instead decorate with carved and scored pastry leaves, using an egg white as glue and glaze).

The fat-free, high-heat method of sautéing the salmon is adapted from one of Jacque Pepin's recipes. Make sure the skin has been scaled and use salmon skin (cracklings) as a garnish, if you have any left. Ours almost never make it to the table.

To prepare ahead of time, you can sauté the capers and fish, and steam the spinach earlier in the day.

Serve with a mixture of white long grain and wild rice (see recipe) and steamed asparagus, or fiddleheads, if you're lucky enough to find them (both of which present another opportunity to enjoy the hollandaise). Or serve with a simple and lightly dressed mesclun mix salad.

1
Steam the spinach lightly, using as little water as possible. I do it in a Pyrex dish sealed with plastic wrap in the microwave, adding about a teaspoon of water, for approximately 3–5 minutes. If cooking on the stove, sauté spinach in a small amount of butter on medium for 4–5 minutes or until wilted. Line a colander with paper towels and turn the spinach into it. Spread it out and pat the top with other paper towels, drying the spinach as much as possible. While you're making the rest of the dish, periodically flip and daub the spinach, replacing the paper towels as necessary.

2
Set an unoiled nonstick pan on high heat for about one minute, until very hot. Sprinkle sea salt on the skin of the salmon and set it skin side down in the pan (it will hiss dramatically and the edges will contract). Cover, reduce the heat to medium-high, and cook until the center is rare (about 5 minutes). Flip the salmon out onto a plate, skin side up. Remove the skin using a spatula and scrape off any flesh that is stuck to it. Salt the underside of the crisp skin (known as “salmon potato chips” in my house), chop or slice, and set aside for use as a garnish.

3 Assembling the Masterpiece:
Preheat the oven to 415°F. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with melted butter and place a sheet of filo on it. Brush the sheet with melted butter, place another sheet on top, and repeat until you've used all the filo. Use 8–12 sheets of filo, depending on your preference.

4
Lay the steamed spinach lengthwise along the dough, and top with the salmon. Depending on the size and length of the fish, you may need to slice pieces from the thin end and lay them across the rest of the piece. Try to make a rectangle of even thickness that can be folded within the dough.

5
Fold the filo so that it encases the fish and spinach (you will probably need a spatula). Fold both ends up, and then flip the whole thing over so that the presenting side is seamless (the spinach will be on top after you've flipped it). Brush with the remaining butter, and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden and crisp.

6
Sauté the drained capers over moderately high heat until crisp, 3–5 minutes. Set aside half of the capers to mix into the hollandaise, and garnish the salmon with the other half. Garnish with skin cracklings if desired.

7 Presentation:
Bring the Thing to the table, slice, and serve. Top with a dollop of hollandaise (see recipe).

Makes ¾ cup

Note:
This is the stage I call playing chicken with the egg. You want to heat the egg yolks without scrambling them, so whisk constantly over low heat. Do NOT use a nonstick sauce pan. Use copper if you have it, but do not use nonstick. If you scramble the eggs by accident, you can unscramble them through elbow grease by whisking with tiny bits of lemon juice away from the heat. But you won't scramble them in the first place, right?

1
Whisk egg yolks in a sauce pan until creamy. Whisk in lemon juice. Set the pan on the lowest heat, impale the first 2 tablespoons of butter on the end of your whisk, and swirl it constantly around the bottom. (You want to heat the egg yolks enough to cook them but not enough to scramble them. The cold butter gives you a bit of control. Be ready to grab the pan and remove it from the heat and whisk, whisk, whisk if it threatens to scramble, but do not leave it for even an instant during this stage.)

2
When the mixture is thick enough to see to the bottom of the pan each time you whisk, turn off the heat, whisk in the other 2 tablespoons of cold butter to cool the mixture, and then add the melted (but not hot!) butter in dribbles.

Makes 5 servings

I can't remember where I learned to do rice this way — I think I was served it at someone's house and asked the hostess — but I can tell you that I've never cooked it any way since (unless, of course, I'm using a completely different type of rice for curry, etc.).

Note:
The leftovers microwave up beautifully.