Authors: Susan Conant,Jessica Conant-Park
Tags: #General, #Women Sleuths, #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective
In a large bowl, combine the rice puree, the Maseca, salt, milk, and chicken broth. Use your hands to mix these ingredients until they are well combined and the salt has dissolved. At this point, the mixture should be watery, but you may add some cold water if the dough is too clumpy. Add the entire bottle of olive oil and mix with a wooden spoon. Scrape the dough into a large pot and place over high heat. Cook the dough 5 to 10 minutes while stirring constantly. The dough will stick easily if you leave it unattended! The dough is done when it becomes spongy and difficult to stir.
Banana Leaves
100 (2 pkgs.) frozen banana leaves
Boil a large pot of water and add banana leaves in batches. Cook for roughly 30 minutes until pliable. Drain and rinse with cold water. Cut the leaves into roughly 5" × 6" pieces.
Tamale Assembly
Per tamale:
1 sheet of 12" × 12" aluminum foil
1 sheet of softened banana leaf
¾ cup dough
1 piece of raw chicken
2 strips of red pepper
1 Spanish green olive, pitted
2 capers
2/3 cup red sauce
Lay the aluminum foil sheet on a flat surface and then lay the banana leaf on the foil. Place the dough, centered, 1/3 of the way up from the short edge of the banana leaf. Top with the chicken piece, red pepper, olive, capers, and then the sauce. Roll the short edge of the banana leaf over the top and then fold in the sides. Now roll all the way down, keeping the banana leaf package nice and tight. Repeat with the aluminum foil wrapper. You may repeat with a second sheet of foil if necessary to make sure that the tamale is sealed and waterproof.
Repeat the process until you have all of your tamale bundles wrapped. Pack as many tamales as you can fit into a deep Dutch oven, Le Creuset, or other heavy pot so the tamales fit together snugly. If you have extra banana leaves, you may use those to line the pot. Fill the pot ¼ high with water, cover tightly, and place over high heat. Cook for 2 hours, but check periodically to make sure that the water has not evaporated. Add more water if needed.
When done, tamales may be eaten immediately. Remove the foil wrapper, or fold back neatly, and enjoy the tamales right from the banana leaf. These also freeze very well for 3 to 4 months, so you may simply place the foil packets as they are in the freezer. To reheat, place in a pot as you did to cook them, and boil for 30 minutes.
Basic Vinaigrette
Jessica Park, Manchester, New Hampshire
This spicy dressing really has a bite to it and works with almost any salad. There is no vinegar in this since the lemon provides enough acidity, but there is certainly no lack of flavor. I like this best tossed with beautiful fresh red leaf or Bibb lettuce, feta cheese, and Greek olives. Josh and Chloe don’t mind garlic-laced kisses, but if you do, you may not want to serve this before a romantic evening.
1½cups good quality olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
Whisk all ingredients together with a fork and let sit for at least an hour before serving. This will keep perfectly in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.
Spaghetti and Lobster
Jody Adams, Executive Chef, Rialto, Cambridge, Massachusetts
This is the most delicious pasta recipe! After discarding the shells from the lobster tails, claws, and arms, you save the lobster bodies and use them to add incredible flavor to the wonderful green and red tomato sauce. This aromatic dish is perfect any time of the year, whether you are dining on your deck in the summer or huddled up by the fire during a winter snowstorm.
Makes 4 main course servings
Kosher salt
4 1-lb. lobsters
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped into ¼" dice Freshly ground black pepper
4 tbsp. chopped garlic
1 tbsp. minced ginger
½ tsp. fennel seeds
¼ tsp. hot red pepper flakes
1 pinch saffron
2 lbs. green, unripe tomatoes, cut in half and charred under the broiler, skin removed and meat chopped into ½" dice
1 cup canned strained tomatoes
2 lbs. ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half and charred under the broiler, skin removed and meat chopped into ½" dice
16 oz. spaghetti
4 tbsp. freshly chopped basil
Fill a large pot with 1" of salted water. Invert a colander in the pot. Bring the water to a boil. Put the lobsters in the pot and cover tightly. Steam for 5 minutes, then open the pot carefully (steam is
hot
) and, using a pair of tongs, change the lobsters’ position. Quickly replace the lid and steam for 5 more minutes. Remove the cooked lobsters from the pot and allow to cool. Separate the tails, claws, and arms from the body of each lobster. Chop the bodies into 4 pieces and set aside. Remove the lobster meat from the tails, claws, and arms, and discard the shells. Cut the tail meat in half lengthwise and remove the digestive tract, the dark veinlike structure. Cut the tail into 1½-inch chunks. Cover and refrigerate the meat.
Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and lobster bodies, season with salt and pepper, and cook 6 minutes, or until the onions are tender. Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic, ginger, fennel seeds, hot pepper flakes, and saffron, and cook until aromatic, about 1 minute. Add the green tomatoes, strained tomatoes, and 1 cup water, and cook 15 minutes. Add the charred red tomatoes and cook 10 minutes more. Remove from the heat. The sauce should be fairly thick.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook 7 to 10 minutes, or until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the remaining oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the lobster meat and cook 3 minutes. Remove the lobster body pieces from the onion mixture and discard. Add the tomato sauce to the lobster pan and keep warm.
Scoop the cooked pasta out of the boiling water and transfer the pasta to the pan with the sauce. Add the basil and toss well. Serve immediately.
Clams and Mussels in an Orange Bouillon
Bill Park, Manchester, New Hampshire
The sweet and salty broth from this dish is perfect for soaking up with bread. Ideally you should make the bouillon part of this dish the day ahead so the broth will have time to reach its full flavor potential, but you can certainly make it on the day you will serve it. If so, prepare the orange bouillon first and then cook the shellfish just before serving. You can find frozen fish stock in most fish markets or in the seafood section of your local supermarket, but you may use clam juice or chicken stock if needed.
Serves 4 people
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp. oil
1 cup white wine
2 cups fish stock or chicken broth, or 1 cup clam juice
½ gallon orange juice
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. cornstarch mixed with 1/3 cup water More white wine or fish/chicken stock for cooking shellfish, roughly 3 cups
24 clams (countneck or mahogany), well cleaned
48 mussels, well cleaned
In a large pot, sauté the garlic and onion in the oil for 5 minutes, until the onions have softened. Add the wine, and over medium-high heat, simmer steadily for about 20 minutes until you have reduced the liquid by half. Then add the fish stock (or chicken broth or clam juice), orange juice, and crushed red pepper, and reduce by a third. Stir in the cornstarch and water mixture to thicken the bouillon, and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat. If you are making this bouillon the day ahead or a few hours before serving, cool and then refrigerate. Otherwise, just let the broth rest while you prepare the shellfish.
In a separate large pot, pour in enough wine or stock so that you have about ½" of liquid in the bottom of the pot. Heat over medium-high heat and add the clams. Cover and cook until the clams open. Add the cold bouillon and the mussels, and cook until the shells open. To serve, place equal amounts of clams and mussels in each serving bowl and top generously with broth.
Raspberry Crème Brûlée
Bill Park, Manchester, New Hampshire
All bias aside, my husband makes the best crème brûlée I’ve ever tasted. The little ramekins of creamy custard are topped with a crispy crust of sugar and fresh berries. Don’t worry if you don’t have a special torch for browning the sugar, because you can certainly do that under the broiler. This is an easy dessert to make, but, as Bill says, “It has to be babied!” He also says that when browning the sugar top, under no circumstances should you thoughtlessly stick the ramekins into the oven and leave them unattended, since the difference between
perfectly done
and
burned
is a matter of seconds. So stick by your ramekins unless you want to tick off a chef!
Makes 6–8 servings
1 quart heavy cream
½ pint fresh raspberries
12 egg yolks
1 cup powdered sugar Sugar for browning Optional: extra raspberries for garnish
Preheat oven to 300°.
Bring the cream and raspberries to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally so the cream does not burn, and remove from heat. Strain through a mesh colander or sieve to remove seeds, mashing the raspberry pulp down with a spoon.
In a mixing bowl, beat the yolks and powdered sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture becomes pale yellow and thick. Using a wooden spoon, temper the eggs with the hot cream and raspberries by slowly adding in a small amount to the yolks and mixing thoroughly. (It is important to mix with a spoon here, since you do not want to add air to the custard.) When fully incorporated, add the rest of the cream and raspberries and stir well.
Fill individual ceramic ramekins with custard and place them in a large baking dish with enough water to reach ½ to ¼ the depth of the ramekins, about 1" of custard. If you do not have individual dishes, you may use one larger ceramic baking dish, and again, fill the dish with only 1" of custard. Cover the entire dish with foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the centers of the custards are almost firm but still have a slight jiggle to them. Remove from the oven, uncover from the foil, and let rest in the water bath for 30 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the water bath and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Just before you are ready to serve, turn on the broiler. Sprinkle each ramekin with sugar so that you have a thin, even covering and place them on a baking sheet. Set the custards under the broiler and keep a close eye on them. Cook until the sugar bubbles and browns (3 to 5 minutes, depending on your oven) and then quickly remove them. You may need to rotate the baking sheet during this process to achieve uniform browning. Serve with a few fresh raspberries on top, if you like, or eat as they are!
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