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 (19 page)

1
Place long grain and wild rice, broth, garlic, butter, and lemon juice in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to the lowest setting, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes.

2
When dimples appear on the surface of the rice, add parsley, stir, and remove from heat. Allow to rest while you finish up the rest of the dinner. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 8–10 servings

The recipe for pavlova comes from Merran Neville, a dear family friend, and the first time she served this to me I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It is my favorite dessert of all time, and so easy to make. All my children ask for pavlova instead of birthday cake and I oblige, sticking a single candle in the middle of the whipped cream. The only caveat is that the berries must be ripe. I try to combine as many types of ripe berries as are available, but another good combination is sliced ripe peaches and blueberries.

1
Preheat oven to 285°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2 To make the pavlovas:
In electric mixer's large bowl, use the whisk attachment to beat the egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until stiff but not dry. Beat in ½ cup sugar, until the mixture is thick and holds shiny peaks.

3
Mix the cornstarch with the remaining ½ cup sugar. Fold this gently into the egg whites with a rubber spatula.

4
Add the cider vinegar and vanilla extract, and fold them gently into the egg whites until just mixed.

5
Pile the mixture in an 8-inch mound on the baking sheet. Bake for about one hour, until the outside crust is firm but the inside is still soft. The peaks will start to turn golden.

6
Let cool for ten minutes on a wire rack, and then invert gently onto a second rack and let cool thoroughly. Remove the parchment as soon as it will let you (use a spatula and patience). The pavlova will shrink and crack a little, but will look fine when decorated. Just before serving, invert the pavlova onto a serving dish.

7 To make the topping:
Whip the cream until thick, and then fold in the sugar and the vanilla or liqueur. Spread the whipped cream on the pavlova, pile the berries on top, and serve.

Asia Kepka

SELECTED WOEKS

The Lost Gospel
(2011)

The Condition
(2008)

Baker Towers (2004)

Mrs. Kimble
(2003)

Inspiration
Each of my novels has come about differently.
Baker Towers
was inspired by a place, my hometown in western Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Kimble
began with a scene I actually witnessed. Years ago, when I was living in Tampa, Florida, I went to the corner store one day and saw a young mother with a small child, falling down drunk at ten in the morning. That memory haunted me for years, and when I sat down to write what would become my first novel, it was the scene I wrote.

Readers Should Know
My latest novel is
The Lost Gospel
and, after several years of focusing exclusively on novels, I have recently rediscovered my love of the short story. My story “Beast and Bird” is available on the Amazon Kindle.

I am now at work on a short story collection, tentatively titled
The Beauty Part
. In these stories I will return to Bakerton, Pennsylvania, the fictionalized western Pennsylvania mining town that is the setting for, some might say, the main character of my second novel,
Baker Towers
.

Readers Frequently Ask
“
Do you write from your own experience?
”

Nope. I make it all up.

“How do you know when a book is done?”

It's like falling in love — you just know.

Setting the Bar
If I had to choose only one influence on my writing, it would be the Irish novelist and short story writer William Trevor. I am awed by his exquisitely simple and beautiful sentences, his deep insight into human nature, his compassion and heart. I'm not vain enough to imagine that my writing resembles Trevor's, but reading him reminds me where the bar is.

Makes 12–16 servings

In my novel
Mrs. Kimble
, Dinah, the last of Ken Kimble's three wives, is trained as a chef. When she first appears as an adult, she is working as
garde manger
at Emile's, a posh bistro in Washington, D.C. As
garde manger
, Dinah is responsible for dishes that are served cold: raw oysters, salads, and smoked salmon, among others. Once a week she prepares gravlax, salmon cured in the traditional Swedish manner. Gravlax is traditionally made with dill, an herb Dinah and I don't especially like. Here is our version.

This is a variation on the classic gravlax recipe that appears in Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker's
The Joy of Cooking
(Scribner, 1997). I have made it this way for years.

Note:
This recipe takes three days to prepare.

1
In a large bowl, mix sugar, salt and pepper. Place salmon fillets on a flat surface, such as a cutting board, skin side down. Rub dry mixture onto salmon, covering flesh side completely. Place cilantro on the flesh side of one of the fillets, and sprinkle with vodka. Lay the other fillet, flesh side down, on top of the herb-covered fillet.

2
Wrap fish tightly in plastic wrap. Lay salmon package in a baking dish and top with a plate weighted down with two or three heavy cookbooks (you can also use cans or other heavy objects). Place in refrigerator.

3
Each morning and evening, open the package, baste the fish with any liquids it has exuded, close the package, and turn it over. The fish is ready when its flesh is opaque, usually after 3 days.

4
Unwrap salmon, wipe off dry mixture and cilantro from fish with a paper towel, and detach skin. Slice each side on the diagonal, starting from the tail end. The gravlax should be sliced thinly at an angle.

5
Serve over salad greens with a dusting of black pepper and vinaigrette (see recipe).

Makes about 2 cups

Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk gently to combine.

Lorne Campbell

SELECTED WOEKS

The Girl with No Shadow
(2007)

Coastliners
(2002)

Five Quarters of the Orange
(2001)

Blackberry Wine
(2000)

Chocolat
(1999)

Inspiration
The inspiration for my books is often drawn from the places and people of my childhood, from members of my family, and from people I have met on my travels. A number of them are set in France, where I still have a number of relatives and where I spent my holidays as a child. Because of this, French food and culture have all played a significant role, especially in some of my earlier novels. I have also drawn extensively on my experience as a teacher in Yorkshire, and on my lifelong interest in aspects of belief, folklore, and fairytale.

Readers Should Know
I may still be best known for my 1999 novel
Chocolat
, which was made into a film in 2001 starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. Since then I have published seven more novels, a collection of short stories, and two cookbooks.

Readers Frequently Ask
Many book clubs still ask me about the movie adaptation of
Chocolat
, even though I wasn't responsible for the screenplay. I did enjoy the process of filming, though; I was on set for much of the time, and found it to be a tremendous experience to work and meet with all the artists. Of course, I might have made a few changes to the script if I'd been in charge, but the result looked gorgeous, and the casting was impeccable!

Books That Have Influenced My Writing

Ray Bradbury's
Something Wicked This Way Comes
, for its fabulously dynamic prose and its flawless evocation of childhood.

Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, a brooding, complex masterpiece of neo-Gothic fantasy.

Vladimir Nabokov's
Lolita
, the most perfect novel of rapture and anguish, by one of literature's greatest stylists.

Makes 6 servings

There's no better way to get into the atmosphere of the location than through its traditional recipes. This casserole, Lentilles-Saucisses à 1'Ancienne is an old, old recipe from the Toulouse region in which my grandfather was born. My readers have visited the region many times before in my books, including Chocolat. It's an old favorite: easy to make, completely stress-free, and very versatile. It's great with country bread and strong red wine if you want a hot meal in a hurry.

Note:
Toulouse sausages are made with pure pork and a generous amount of garlic. They vary from shop to shop according to personal recipes, so keep trying until you find your perfect one. If you prefer, use any of your other favorite sausages. The sausages will cook in the casserole, but if you prefer you can brown them in a skillet before baking.

Lentilles du Puy
, small green lentils with a tender skin, are prized produce items. Originally grown in the volcanic soils of Puy in France, you can find them in gourmet or specialty stores.

The cooking of the lentils varies depending on the type of lentils you use. French lentils require longer cooking time than the lentils commonly found in grocery stores. This recipe calls for soaking lentils overnight.

1
Place lentils in a large bowl and cover with at least 2 inches of water. Soak overnight. Drain and set aside.

2
Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole; add the onions, celery, and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, and bay leaf. Mix and cook for 5 minutes.

3
Remove from the heat, add the lentils and red wine, stir well, and pour in enough water to cover (about two cups). Place the sausages on top, cover and bake until lentils are tender, approximately 30–50 minutes (see note).

4
Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

Makes 10–12 servings

One of the reasons I wrote my cookbook was because so many of my readers kept writing to ask me for chocolate recipes. Here's one of my favorites, used in the book and the film version of
Chocolat
and invented by my brother Lawrence.