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 (39 page)

2
Working with one sheet of dough at a time (keep the other sheet in the fridge until you are ready to work with it), place a sheet of dough onto a work surface (an inverted cookie sheet makes for an easy to clean work surface). Because the dough is still very cold, you will not need to flour the work surface. Unfold the sheet of dough and brush it evenly with melted butter.

3
Sprinkle turbinado sugar so that it lightly but evenly coats the dough's surface.

4
The dough is rectangular in shape. Roll the two longer sides in (jelly roll style) so that they meet in the middle. Press the two sides together gently so the resulting roll keeps its shape.

5
Use a sharp knife and cut the log cross-wise into ½-inch thick pieces. Don't worry if the pieces get a bit misshapen while you are doing this.

6
Lay the pieces flat on a prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Reshape the pieces, if needed. Pinch and press the sides of the two rolls together so they don't unroll during baking. Brush the tops and sides of the pieces with more melted butter. Then, sprinkle a bit more turbinado sugar on top.

7
Bake in oven for 10–13 minutes until their bottoms have turned golden brown and are a bit caramelized. This recipe is rather forgiving, so open up that oven and peek. Don't let these babies burn. Using a small spatula and the tip of a knife to assist, turn the pieces over, one at a time. (Take the pan out of the oven to do this, if necessary. But try to do it as quickly as possible.)

8
Bake for another 4–5 minutes until the other sides are golden and caramelized. Depending on your oven and how evenly it heats, you may need to remove the palmiers as they become ready.

9
Place the palmiers on a cookie rack to cool completely. (Try not to eat them while they are still warm, as they'll be a bit chewy as opposed to crisp on the outside, as they should be when they are completely cool.)

10
Repeat steps with the second sheet of dough.

Makes 6 servings

I set my second novel,
Bitter in the Mouth
, in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, the little town where my parents and I first lived when we came to the United States in 1975 as refugees from the Vietnam War. I borrowed the southern locale from my own life, but otherwise the similarities between the novel's main character, Linda Hammerick, and me end there, more or less. Linda has a neurological condition that causes her to taste many of the words that she hears and speaks. She is a mystery to herself and, as it turns out, to us as well.

Casseroles were the bane of Linda's childhood, but when she returns to Boiling Springs for the funeral of a beloved family member, she makes sure that summer squash casserole is offered at the luncheon held in his honor. The dish, like so many of the foods and flavors in Linda's life, is significant for reasons that she alone can understand. (Though in this instance, her best friend Kelly also knows what “squash” has to offer.)

Needless to say, the classic southern cook would not use Parmesan cheese for the topping and would opt instead for Ritz or Saltine cracker crumbs. Linda Hammerick is not a classic southern character, so this casserole is very much in her spirit and in her honor.

Note:
I recommend using a substantial bread, such as a ciabatta, to make the crumbs. If you are using very fresh or very soft bread, such as supermarket sandwich bread, you may need to toast slightly before processing.

As the author of a novel titled
The Book of Salt
, I have some definite opinions about salt. I recommend that you use
flor do sal
from Portugal. Like all
fleur de sel
(the French name for this type of sea salt), it is flaky and delicate and has a lower salinity level than kosher or regular table salt. Flor do sal also has a gentle, almost sweet, after taste. I find this very pleasing and addictive. I know that the prevailing advice is never to cook with fleur de sel but rather to sprinkle it on right before serving as a finishing touch. I think this has to do more with cost than flavor. Flor do sal is expensive and will undoubtedly bankrupt me. I urge you to try cooking with a really beautiful delicate salt such as a flor do sal at least once, and see whether you will return to the sensible and the economical.

The most important thing, though, is to cook with the salt that you know best. There are significant variations in the salinity level of salts and whether the salt melts immediately or melts slowly into the food. Therefore, a teaspoon of kosher salt is not the same as a teaspoon of flor do sal. So, perhaps, the last thing to say on this topic is the first piece of advice that all cooks should learn and heed: you must taste your food as you are cooking it!

This is a rich, buttery dish. Use the lesser amount of butter if you prefer a lighter version.

1
Preheat oven to 375°F.

2
Make the fresh bread crumbs (see note): Use a food processor to grind bread (including crust) into crumbs. You should have about 1 cup. Set aside.

3
In a large frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft and pale yellow.

4
Add the squash, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat the squash pieces in the butter. Cover, turn down heat to achieve a brisk simmer, and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring once.

5
Remove cover and give a good stir and cook for another 5 minutes uncovered.

6
Add ¾ cup of the bread crumbs and mix well.

7
Spoon mixture into a 2-quart oven-safe pan or casserole (more wide than deep because you will want a lot of top surface to get crispy.)

8
In a bowl, mix the remaining ¼ cup of bread crumbs with the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the crumb and cheese mixture on top of the squash.

9
Cover with foil and bake for about 30–35 minutes. (This dish, despite the addition of the Parmesan cheese, is an old-school southern vegetable dish at heart, which means that the squash should be very soft and almost about to lose its shape when the dish is done cooking. Aim for a melt-in-your-mouth texture for the squash and a crunch for the topping.)

10
Uncover the dish and bake until the cheese and crumb topping is golden, 5–7 minutes.

11
Let the dish rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Robert Muller

SELECTED WOEKS

The Clarifying Principle
(2012)

The Weight of Heaven
(2009)

If Today Be Sweet
(2007)

The Space Between Us
(2006)

First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories from an Indian Childhood
(2003)

Bombay Time
(2001)

Inspiration
Inspiration can come from multiple sources — from a story I may have heard, a chance encounter with someone, an image that has come into my head unprompted, the color of the sky on a particular evening, an idea that I wish to explore further, a question that I want to answer for myself. All I need is a small germ of fact or image or idea and then I can build on that.

Readers Should Know
Although my books deal with a myriad of issues, they have a few things in common. Almost all of them are concerned with the idea of power — who has it, who doesn't, how it is used by those who do against those who don't. This leads to an examination of class, race, and gender differences. My books also deal with the issue of community — how it is built, what destroys it, why it is important. And in some way or another, I'm interested in talking about love, in all its different forms and complications and how far human beings will go to have it and keep it.

Readers Frequently Ask
The most common question, hands down, is the very specific question about what happens to Bhima at the end of
The Space Between Us
. I'm constantly amazed and amused by the number of readers who send me desperate-sounding e-mails saying their book club almost came to blows over different interpretations of the ending or begging me to settle the bet that they have taken with another book club member by telling them my interpretation of the ending.

Influences on My Writing

The Waves
by Virginia Woolf. For its poetic, lyrical, excruciatingly beautiful writing.

Midnight's Children
by Salman Rushdie. For its ambition and audacity and for showing me, when I was a young adult, that it was possible to write a novel that was set in my hometown and had Indian characters and street names I was familiar with. Up to that point, I'd only read novels by American and British writers.

Beloved
by Toni Morrison. For its righteous anger, its politics, and its humanity.

Makes 4–6 servings

This is a recipe for a snack or street food, known as bhelpuri. This is the quintessential street food in Bombay and often acts as a metaphor for the city. This is because bhelpuri is a mix of many different things: flat
puris
, puffed rice, and deep-fried, thin flour strips known as
sev
. Bombay, too, is a mix of different religions, castes, classes, and cultures, truly a melting pot of a city. Bhelpuri and Bombay, in my mind, are inextricably linked.

Because bhelpuri, with its wonderful mixtures of ingredients, is such an apt metaphor for Bombay, and also because it's such a popular street food in India, many of my novels have references to it. Perhaps the most well-known reference is in
The Space Between Us
, when a pregnant Dinaz has a sudden craving for it and goes to Chowpatty Beach with her husband and mother, Sera. A chance meeting with Bhima and her granddaughter leads to the tragic events that follow.

Although there are many places in Bombay where one can eat bhelpuri, perhaps the most popular are the open-air food booths that line busy, colorful, noisy Chowpatty Beach, the city's largest outdoor food gallery.

Note:
Puffed rice, sev, flat puris, red chili powder, and the chutneys can be purchased at an Indian grocer. Make sure to use the red chili powder found at an Indian grocer, as it has a different flavor from typical commercial chili powder.

In place of puffed rice, sev, and flat puris, you can purchase a bag of dry bhelpuri mix. (Be sure to avoid the bhelpuri kits, with dehydrated ingredients.) Simply use 4 cups of the bhelpuri mix in place of the puffed rice, sev, and flat puris.

Assemble the bhelpuri right before you plan to eat it so the puffed rice does not become soggy.