South of the Border: Kate Christensen’s Mexico City Chicken Tacos

Posted on March 14, 2011 by admin

Kate Christensen’s fabulous chicken taco recipe, which she contributed to Table of Contents, conjures the exotic flavors of Mexico City, where the protagonists of Trouble go to drown their woes in tequila and tacos.  The “meat” of the tacos is shredded chicken simmered in a puree of tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro, and jalapeno chiles.  Diners are invited to fill warmed corn tortillas with the spiced meat, then layer on the garnishes:  sliced avocado, red and green salsas, chopped red onion, sour cream, chopped cilantro, pickled jalapenos, wedges of lime, and thinly sliced radishes.  The result?  An exciting, flavorful meal with a little bite – one that brings the contrasts and colors of Mexico City to the table.

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Unforgettable: Lisa Genova’s White Chocolate Challah Pudding

Posted on March 2, 2011 by admin

Lisa Genova‘s recipe for Table of Contents is paired with Still Alice, her novel exploring memory loss.  She contributed her favorite recipe for White Chocolate Challah Pudding, a delicious concoction of bread in white chocolate-egg custard. “It’s an easy recipe to make and an easy one to memorize, especially if you make it often,” writes Genova. “But every time I make this pudding, I get hung up on the number of eggs. Seven? Eight? Nine? How many are yolk only? Hold on, let me check. And I have to look it up.”

Happily, the recipe’s relationship to memory isn’t the only reason Genova selected it. She and a friend have “obsessed” over this dessert from Todd English’s restaurant, Figs, for years. When we tested it, we understood why. The bread pudding is rich and creamy and, topped with a lustrous raspberry sauce, it’s a dessert that guests will…remember.  Enjoy!

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A Taste of the 1950s from Author Lisa See

Posted on January 28, 2011 by admin

In Table of Contents, Lisa See offers a taste of the 1950s with a Chinese-American dish, Three Generation Curried Tomato Beef Lo Mein, to serve when discussing her novel, Shanghai Girls.

In that era, explains See, Chinese restaurateurs, such as her grandfather, who owned a restaurant in Los Angeles’s Chinatown, created dishes to please American customers, and American tomatoes and beef were commonly paired with Chinese noodles. Similar dishes were found on every menu in Chinese-American restaurants  – such as the fictional restaurants in Shanghai Girls.

But Curried Tomato Beef Lo Main is a dish of the past:  “no one asks for it, orders it, or remembers it,” says See. “Tomato beef is a uniquely Chinese-American dish — symbolic in many ways of America’s ‘melting pot,’”  she adds. Her recipe has been passed down through generations in her family — from her grandfather’s dish to her father’s version which he has been perfecting for years. See says this taste of her childhood “is fast, colorful, and combines all the food groups.”

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A Treat for the Feast: Philippa Gregory’s Medieval Gingerbread

Posted on January 24, 2011 by admin

In The Cousins’ War series, Philippa Gregory explores the royal intrigues of pre-Tudor England.  With Medieval Gingerbread, a recipe she contributed to Table of Contents, she transports the reader straight to the imperial feast.

As Gregory explains, gingerbread was a rare treat during this period, because it derived its flavor from ginger, an expensive spice imported from the Mediterranean region. “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,” she writes.

Her recipe, adapted from a 15th-century cookbook, combines boiling honey and spices with finely ground bread crumbs.  The resulting “dough” is rolled and cut into shapes, then decorated with cloves or leaves, or rolled into balls and dipped in cinnamon and sugar.   This wonderfully dense, rich, chewy candy is the perfect ending to any book club feast.

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Hum Bao: Barbecued Pork Buns from Jamie Ford

Posted on January 19, 2011 by admin

When we asked Jamie Ford to contribute a recipe to Table of Contents that relates to his novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, he quickly selected a Chinese dim sum delicacy he had enjoyed as a child:  hum bao.  On many occasions, he explains, his grandparents would send him off with a dozen hum bao, or barbecued pork buns, in a to-go box, to re-heat later in his college dorm.  Ford’s character, Henry, furnishes his son with the same gift after they share a dim sum lunch.

Ford’s hum bao recipe is surprisingly easy and impressive: these dumplings look and taste authentic.  The secret? Ford starts with frozen bake n’ serve white dinner rolls.  He stuffs them with ground pork (or ground beef, if you prefer) sauteed with whiskey, honey, soy sauce, and spices, and either steams them or bakes them to a lovely golden brown.  Our testers couldn’t get enough of these warm, puffed buns with the tangy filling.

We’re grateful to Jamie Ford for sharing his recipe – a sweet (not bitter) addition to our recipe collection.

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A Taste of Israel from Anita Diamant

Posted on January 7, 2011 by admin

The classic, colorful Israeli breakfast – soft cheeses, hummus, olives, marinated fish, bread, rolls, jams, and the ever-present chopped vegetable salad – delights and surprises many tourists to modern-day Israel.  Author Anita Diamant imagines this same surprise as her protagonists in Day After Night, four Holocaust survivors from Europe, encounter Israeli Salad for the first time in their post-war internment camp.  They are grateful to never go hungry, because there’s always “plenty of… tomato and cucumber salad that the locals seemed to think was a fit dish for breakfast.”

Diamant graciously contributed a recipe for Israeli Salad to Table of Contents.   A tangy olive oil-and-lemon juice dressing coats a heaping bowl of freshly-chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and scallions – a salad bursting with freshness and hope, and a perfect start to any day.

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Cowboy Cake from Kathleen Kent

Posted on January 2, 2011 by admin

Florence Carrier’s Cowboy Cake,  is a recipe for courageous women everywhere, says Table of Contents contributor Kathleen Kent. Kent’s novel, The Heretic’s Daughter, is based on the story of her ancestor, Martha Carrier, who was condemned as a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. (Kent’s prequel – The Wolves of Andover, was just released.) During the 17th century, says Kent, the Carrier women would have made Johnny Cakes from corn mash in a pan suspended over an open hearth. Cowboy Cake, a modern take on the Johnny Cakes, is a delicious coffee-like cake, and the recipe originates  from a descendant of Martha Carrier — Kent’s grandmother, Florence. Some of her grandmother’s most prized kitchen utensils and recipe box are pictured here.  “I remember my grandmother as a wonderful cook, often using simple, home grown ingredients from her own garden to create deeply satisfying and delicious meals that could best be described as comfort food,” writes Kent.

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Hannah Tinti: Mrs. Sands’s Apple Crumble Pie

Posted on December 30, 2010 by admin

In Table of Contents, Hannah Tinti tells us about the pie mentioned in her novel, The Good Thief. Set in New England in the 1800s, The Good Thief tells the story of Ren, an orphan who is claimed by a conman as his brother and taken from his orphanage on an adventure throughout New England. The gruff Mrs. Sands takes in Ren, feeds and clothes him, and serves him apple pie.

Tinti’s recipe — Mrs. Sands’s Apple Crumble Pie — is the dessert she and her family savor for Thanksgiving each year. With its delicious crumbly topping (butter and sugar – need we say more?), it’s s a hit with our families, too!

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A Taste of the South: Chess Pie in BACKSEAT SAINTS

Posted on December 22, 2010 by admin

To bring a taste of the South to your holiday table this year, present your guests with Joshilyn Jackson’s family favorite, Chess Pie.  This sweet concoction, made with eggs, brown sugar, and butter, is not any specific type of pie, according to Jackson.  “It’s just a sweet, rich, gooey, basic pie,” she tells us.  “Pie reduced to its lowest common denominator.”

We love Jackson’s tale about the origin of the pie’s name (see Table of Contents for the story).  And her explanation of why Rose Mae Lolley – her character in gods in Alabama who reappears in Backseat Saints – bakes Chess Pie while negotiating with her abusive husband, touched us.

Jackson recommends eating Chess Pie with a cup of strong black coffee.  We like this combination of bitter and sweet – a delicious reminder of the bitterness and sweetness that graces the lives of Jackson’s characters.

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From James Patterson: Isabelle’s Wacky Cake (no mystery to this cake)

Posted on December 20, 2010 by admin

What could easier than a one bowl (or even mix-in-the-pan) chocolate cake?
Author James Patterson contributed his mother (Isabelle)’s Wacky Cake to Table of Contents – the cake his mother made for Patterson and his siblings when they were growing up. Now, it’s his favorite way to celebrate a completed manuscript. Patterson suggests serving it  with a scoop of  his favorite ice cream (he prefers Graeter’s).Wacky Cake is eggless (it was popular during times of short supply) and takes minutes to prepare for baking. Enjoy!

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