Food – Page 2 – Lauren Gilbert

July 20, 2013

Tasty Summer Blog Hop-Lucinda Brant, Guest Post

Welcome to the Tasty Summer Reads Blog Hop!

It is my great pleasure to introduce the lovely and talented author Lucinda Brant, who will be posting her Tasty Summer Reads blog as my guest today. Lucinda writes Georgian historical romances with wit and adventure, and crimances (crime with lashings of romance). Her latest release SALT REDUX is the sequel to the internationally best selling SALT BRIDE, and is a 2013 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards Finalist. You can read more about Lucinda on her website www.lucindabrant.com And now for Lucinda…

Welcome to the Tasty Summer Reads Blog Hop!
New release:
SALT REDUX: Sequel to SALT BRIDE
Jane and Salt—four years of Happily Ever After
Sir Antony Templestowe—four years of Exile
Lady Caroline—four years of Heartache
Diana St. John—four years plotting Revenge

The time has come…
How does a brother cope with life knowing his sister is a murderess? How can a nobleman have the life he has always wanted when a lurking evil consumes his thoughts and haunts his dreams? What will it take for good to triumph over evil?
For readers who enjoyed Salt Bride, the story continues…
2013 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards Finalist
http://lucindabrant.com/salt-redux.php

Now for the Random Tasty Questions:
1) When writing are you a snacker? If so sweet or salty?
I drink coffee; lots of it! Making a cup of coffee gets me up out from in front of the computer screen. I have a Nespresso machine. I take my coffee black with one teaspoon of raw sugar. I usually just drink the coffee but occasionally I will indulge in a snack, usually a piece of the latest cake I’ve made – some faves are Zucchini and Carrot cake, Pear, Raspberry and Pistachio bread, Orange, Almond and Coconut cake.

2) Are you an outliner or someone who writes by the seat of their pants?
I use an A5 20 ring binder full of notes for each WIP. I get dressed for work each day in my writing PJs. I buy my “writing” PJs from www.peteralexander.com.au which have funky designs for summer and winter. Ah, the life of the full time writer.
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3) When cooking, do you follow a recipe or do you wing it?
I’ve been cooking now for a long time, so don’t follow recipes but my taste buds! But I am new to making cakes. My daughter, who has moved out of home, was the cupcake and sweets maker. So I will follow a recipe when making a cake or dessert.

4) What is next for you after this book?
I’m currently writing book 4 in my Roxton series, DAIR DEVIL, which begins on the night before book 3 ends. It’s about a minor character in book 3 Alisdair (Dair) Fitzstuart, heir to the earl of Strathsay, and Aurora (Rory) Talbot, granddaughter of England’s spymaster general. It should hit the cyber shelves before Christmas.

5) Last question…on a level of one being slightly naughty and ten being whoo hoo steamy, how would you rate your book?
My books have elements of naughty, but if you mean the mechanics of sex, then no. But there is enough sexual tension to get all hot and bothered, that’s for sure!

And now for the really tasty part: the recipe!

Brussels Sprouts, Cranberry and Almond Warm Summer Salad
(sorry, but I don’t use precise measurements – but this is easy to do!)

About 20 Brussels sprouts topped and chopped in half
a quarter of cabbage (any kind) chopped
a big handful of dried ready to eat cranberries
a big handful of slivered almonds
Rice Bran oil to mix

Steam Brussels sprouts in microwave until tender but firm (but not mushy)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss to coat with oil
Place in an ovenproof dish and heat in a moderate oven until Brussels sprouts have caramelized

Serve as an accompaniment to lamb, chicken or beef.

I have tagged author Prue Batten to carry on the hop. Prue Batten writes Historical Fiction and Fantasy. Her fantasy novel A Thousand Glass Flowers received a silver medallion in the 2012 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards. Her latest book is the second in her Gisborne saga Gisborne: Book of Knights.

I’ll now have you hop on over to Prue Batten’s blog! http://pruebatten.wordpress.com/

Other Tasty Summer Reads Blog Hop participants are:
Christy English http://www.christyenglish.com/2013/07/17/tasty-summer-reads-blog-hop/

Anna Belfrage http://www.juditharnoppnovelist.blogspot.com/ or http://www.juditharnopp.com/

Diana Russo Morin http://www.donnarussomorin.com/index.html

Nancy Goodman http://rakesroguesandromance.com/2013/07/11/welcome-to-the-tasty-summer-reads-blog-hop/

Lauren Gilbert http://laurengilbertheyerwood.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/tasty-summer-reads-blog-hop

July 19, 2013

Tasty Summer Reads Blog Hop

Welcome to the Tasty Summer Reads Blog Hop!

First, I’d like to thank the lovely Christy English for inviting me to participate.

Here’s how the hop works! Each author invites up to five other authors to answer five questions about their current summer release or WIP and a tasty recipe that ties into it! It gives readers the opportunity to add these awesome treats (and reads) to your to do list 🙂 I have invited the delightful Anna Belfrage and the wonderful Lucinda Brant to join in the hop. Anna will be getting her post and recipe up, so just click on her link below to see what she’s got cooking! Lucinda’s treat will appear here as she will be a guest poster on this blog, so watch this space!
Well, I guess I’ll start us off!

In 2011, my first book HEYERWOOD: A Novel was published. At present, I am completing A RATIONAL ATTACHMENT (working title-I’ve a couple of others in mind as well!), which I expect to be released later this year. Like the first, A RATIONAL ATTACHMENT is a historical novel, set in the late Regency period. My heroine, Anne, is a young woman who falls somewhere between trade and Society, and has to find her way to her own happiness.

Now for the Random Tasty Questions:
1) When writing are you a snacker? Not really. I tend to save my snacking for afterwards. If so sweet or salty? Both! I love chips and dip, nuts, pretzels, and vegetables with bleu cheese dressing. However, I also have a serious fondness for ice cream!

2) Are you an outliner or someone who writes by the seat of their pants? I do some outlining, but mostly I’m a pantser.

And are they real pants or jammies? That depends… If I’m working after I get home from my day job, I’ve got real pants on. However, there are those non-work days, when I may get up and go straight off to write in my jammies. (There have also been the odd middle-of-the-night forays!)

3) When cooking, do you follow a recipe or do you wing it? I used to be religious about making a recipe as written first. Now, I read it and “take it under advisement.” I substitute herbs or other ingredients based on personal taste.

4) What is next for you after this book? My current WIP should be out sometime this year. A RATIONAL ATTACHMENT (working title) is my second novel. When this one is completed, several readers have requested a sequel to HEYERWOOD: A Novel, for which I have a broad outline and some notes already started. I also want to mention that the book CASTLES, CUSTOMS AND KINGS True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors will be out on 9/23/13. This is an anthology of articles posted by some great writers on the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, to which I have the honor to be a contributor.

5) Last question…on a level of one being slightly naughty and ten being whoo hoo steamy, how would you rate your book? HEYERWOOD: A Novel would actually rate a 0-no naughtiness at all. A RATIONAL ATTACHMENT? Well, that’s still in process!

And now for the really tasty part:
Here’s the recipe! (Really two for one…) Parsnips, a root vegetable that resembles a white carrot with a spicy, sweet taste, is popular in England. This is a variation of a parsnip recipe; I have found many people are not that familiar with parsnips. They work well with carrots, which makes it a friendly combination.

Carrots & Parsnips
3 lbs (48 oz) carrots & parsnips, scraped & cut into pieces (approximately the same size)-this would be about 6 large parsnips & 6 large carrots.
Chicken stock or broth to cover, about 3 cups (24 fluid oz)*
1 or 2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced (depending on your liking for garlic)
1 large shallot or ½ small onion , chopped
Salt & pepper to taste.

Put all in saucepan & simmer until tender but still with some body.
These are good as a side dish as is. Be sure to save the broth for soup or gravy.
*This could be vegetable stock or water, depending on personal preference.

Carrots & Parsnips in Rosemary Cream
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Take above carrots & parsnips out of broth and place in 13” x 9” baking dish. Pour over about 1½ cups of heavy cream (about 1 inch deep, not quite covering the vegetables). Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary over the top (again to your taste-could be more or less). Sprinkle about ¼ – 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (I prefer the 6 Italian cheeses that come already shredded together) over the top. Sprinkle on about ¼ cup to ½ cup fresh bread crumbs over the top, and drizzle with 1 – 2 Tablespoons of melted butter. Bake approximately 20 minutes until bubbly, thickened & crumbs are golden.
Serves about 6. (Can be increased for more very easily.)
Be sure to save the broth for soup or gravy.

Note that, if you love parsnips, this is fantastic without the carrots-just increase the parsnips. If you’re not fond of parsnips, leave them out and go the other way… A wonderful side dish with chicken or pork; terrific at Thanksgiving!

LINKS TO OTHER TASTY SUMMER BLOG HOPPERS!

Christy English http://www.christyenglish.com/2013/07/17/tasty-summer-reads-blog-hop/
Anna Belfrage http://www.annabelfrage.com/Home/
Diana Russo Morin http://www.donnarussomorin.com/index.html
Nancy Goodman http://rakesroguesandromance.com/2013/07/11/welcome-to-the-tasty-summer-reads-blog-hop/

HEYERWOOD: A Novel available at Amazon.com and other fine book sites!

Castles, Customs, and Kings-coming 9/23/13!

June 4, 2013

Summer Banquet Blog Hop

A SUMMER BANQUET: A Regency Picnic

During the summer months, we tend to go for lighter fare, and (whenever possible) to eat outdoors. The picnic was just as popular in England during the Georgian and Regency periods, as illustrated by the picnic at Box HIll in Jane Austen’s EMMA. Using Eliza Smith’s The Compleat HOUSEWIFE cookbook, we can pull together a delightful summer banquet for outdoors. The bills of fare for May, june, July and August provide plenty of ideas.

For the first course, along with a “Grand Sallad”, some “Roasted Losbsters”, “Fruit of all Sorts,” “Gooseberry Tarts”, and “Fish in Jelly” sounds delicious. The second course should include some cold ham and chicken, a dish of “Fish in jelly” and a “Pigeon Pie”. For both courses pickled asparagus and pickled slice cucumbers make tasty garnishes. Removes could include a “Potatoe Pie”, some strawberries or raspberries, and “Morello Cherry Tarts.”

To make a “Pigeon Pie”, you start with a two-crust pastry. After that, Mrs. Smith says “Truss and season your pigeons with savory spice, lard them with bacon, stuff them with forc’d mean, and lay them in the pye with the ingredients for savory pyes, with butter, and close the pie.” (Savory spices include salt and pepper, nutmeg, and mace. Herbs such as thyme, marjoram, parsley, or savory could also be added, with a shallot or onion.) When the pie is done, pour a Lear into the pie. A Lear is a sauce or gravy. Mrs. Smith instructs “Take claret, gravy, oyster-liquor, two or three anchovies, a faggot of sweet-herbs and an onion; boil it up and thicken it with brown butter, then pour it into your savory pyes when called for.” Savory pies such as pigeon pie can be eaten hot or room temperature or cold.

SUMMER BANQUET BLOG HOP GIVEAWAY

Summer is the perfect time to sit outside with a book. I am giving away a signed paperback copy of my book HEYERWOOD: A Novel to a winner in the U.S. or Canada. Just leave a comment for a chance to win (be sure to leave a contact e-mail)! This drawing will close at midnight on Friday, June 7, 2013, and a winner will be announced as quickly as possible. Good luck!

This blog hop will appear from June 3-June 7, 2013. Please visit all of the participating authors for more summer fun!

Hop Participants:

Random Bits of Fascination (Maria Grace)

Pillings Writing Corner (David Pilling)

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Christmas Dinner Now and Then

Christmas Time Here's The Gobbler by Sophie Anderson — Christmas Time Here’s The Gobbler by Sophie Anderson

Now that the decorating is finished, and the gifts are wrapped and shipped, it’s time to start thinking about Christmas dinner (if you haven’t already!) We will be celebrating with dear friends, and I will be taking a particularly decadent vegetable dish, with parsnips, cream and rosemary. For many of us, the main course will be the traditional favorites: turkey, ham, roast beef, possibly even roast goose. Stuffing (or dressing, if you prefer) will also be present in some form. The desserts are usually fairly traditional as well: various pies and cakes, sometimes a version of the old-fashioned Christmas pudding. It was the parsnips that got me thinking…

What would have been served at a Christmas dinner in late 18th century, early 19th century England? What might Jane Austen have eaten? As always, when confronted with a culinary question, I turned to old cookbooks. In my facsimile copy of THE COMPLEAT HOUSEWIFE by Eliza Smith, she helpfully included diagrammed dinner services for summer and winter, showing two courses. The first winter course includes a giblet pie, roast beef with horseradish and pickles and a boiled pudding; the second features a roasted turkey and an apple pie. Unfortunately, Mrs. Smith did not include vegetable suggestions.

I turned to another old friend: The ART OF COOKERY Made Plain and Easy by Mrs. Glasse (a new edition published in Alexandria in 1805). While Mrs. Glasse did not lay out the settings, she did include”Bills of Fare” for each month of the year. December’s menu included three courses, again with no vegetable suggestions, except for mushrooms. One dish in the third course did catch my eye… Ragooed Palates. What, I asked myself, could that be? Surely not what it seems.

Yes, dear reader, it is exactly what it says. The palate is, of course, the roof of the ox’s (or cow’s) mouth. It was apparently considered a form of offal, like kidneys or tripes, and required extra preparation involving blanching and skinning and so forth. I also learned that a “ragoo” or “ragout” is, essentially a stew, so possibly Mrs. Glasse’s Stewed Palates may have been served as Ragooed Palates for a December dinner. Fricassee also seems to be very similar to a stew. Both involve long cooking and a rich, heavily seasoned gravy.

Mrs. Smith’s fricassee of Ox-Palates included stewing beef, salt, pepper, onion, eschalot (shallot?), anchovies, and horseradish to make the gravy: then she stewed the palates until tender, cutting them up, and putting them aside. Then she cut up chickens, seasoned them with nutmeg, salt and thyme and fried them with butter. The palates were peeled and cut up, then were combined with the chicken in half of the gravy and stewed. While the stew was cooking, the rest of the gravy was put in a pan, thickened with egg yolks, white wine added with butter and cream. When ready to serve, the gravy in the pan was blended into the stewed palates and chickens. When dished up, a garnish of pickled grapes was recommended. When all is said and done, this sounds like it could be delicious! (Please remember that this is one dish of several in a course.)

Both cookbooks contain instructions for vegetables, including broccoli, cabbage, carrots and (of course!) parsnips. I feel confident that, season permitting, some sort of vegetable dish would have been included. However, it is interesting to see how heavily the winter menu relied on meat dishes. It is also a timely reminder that little was wasted in those days. Somehow, I can see Jane Austen (or the heroine in my work-in-progress!) sitting down to a festive Christmas dinner of turkey, possibly some parsnips, a Fricasee of Ox-Palates, and a boiled pudding, with great enjoyment.

Sources:

Glasse, Mrs. THE ART OF COOKERY Made Plain And Easy. A New EDITION, with modern Improvements. Alexandria: Printed by Cottom and Stewart, 1805. (First American edition.) In Facsimile, with historical notes by Karen Hess. Bedford, MA: Applewood Books, 1997. P. 59

Smith, Eliza. THE COMPLEAT HOUSEWIFE: or Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion. The Sixteenth Edition, with Additions. London. (Facsimile) London: Studio Editions Ltd., 1994. P. 52.

Web Sources:

CooksInfo.com “Ox Palate.” http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004826650.0001.000/1:3.5.3.9?rgn=div4;view=fulltext

Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Mrs. Taylor’s Family Companion… “Of Ragouts”. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004826650.0001.000/1:3.9?rgn=div2;view=fulltext;q1

Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Mrs. Taylor’s Family Companion… “To Stew Ox Palates.” http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004826650.0001.000/1:3.5.3.9?rgn=div4;view=fulltext

Food Information. “Ragout.” http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~sayyid/culinary/dlist.cgi?food=ragout

Image from Wikimedia Commons: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Anderson_Sophie_Christmas_Time_Heres_The_Gobbler.jpg/450px-Anderson_Sophie_Christmas_Time_Heres_The_Gobbler.jpg

December 12, 2012

Getting Ready for Christmas…Again

Well, here we are, exactly two weeks before Christmas. It seems like I just undecorated and put everything a couple of months ago. Time passes way too fast…but enough about that. This time of year is a beautiful time, full of major celebrations, of which Christmas and Hanukkah are only two. My particular celebration is Christmas, but those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas may have a similar situation involving other holiday traditions. Everyone is very busy decorating, shopping for gifts, sending cards or letters, cooking and baking, and otherwise preparing for their own special traditions and celebrations. All of these activities are going on at the same time we continue to live our regular routine, work, writing, researching, family, and so forth. We try so hard to make it all perfect… Which leads us directly to the all-to-common Christmas meltdown. This year, I am determined NOT to experience one.

I have put up my tree and some decorations. Being a woman of a certain age (don’t you love that phrase?), I have lots of decorations that have been accumulated over years and years. Many memories are involved. Have I dragged them all out and made careful choices? No, I have not. I have put up what came to hand first, and stopped when I felt that it was time. The tree is in the library corner, just like it was last year, and looks very similar. (The picture shown is last year’s tree. I haven’t gotten around to taking pictures yet.)

Our Christmas card list and cards are waiting on the dining room table. We will get them out. My husband and I have already received a number of lovely cards, and a few newsletters, and we are so glad to hear from dear ones at this time of year. I have at least sent the e-cards to friends and family on-line. Gifts? Some shopping is done, some still in process. I’ve even had a couple sent. Giving back to my community is also on the agenda. A new feeling this year-I don’t feel guilty for not having my mailings done at the time I had so hopefully planned.

This year, I am going to take full advantage of the 12 days of Christmas. (Not that this is new… My nearest and dearest usually get cards and packages on a flexible calendar.) The difference this year is that I refuse to get stressed and upset about it. It is more important to relax, enjoy the season and the opportunity to share with our loved ones and others. Getting upset about things only ruins the time you have, it doesn’t make anything happen differently or go more smoothly. Surely it’s more important to be able to enjoy the time you have with the people you love than it is to have ticked every item off your list on schedule even if it burnt you to the socket. We are too hard on ourselves. It’s time to put the focus where it belongs: the meaning of the holiday we celebrate, and the joy of being with those we love.

Merry Christmas!

April 29, 2012

Food In History-What is a “Pupton”?

One of the pleasures of reading history, whether fiction or non-fiction, is learning about the day-to-day living of people in the past. I am particularly interested in the Georgian era in England, especially the Regency period. Recently, I was reading a novel, in which a menu for a particular meal was detailed and “a pupton of cherries” caught my attention. It sounded like some kind of sweet dish, and I wondered what was in it, so I tried to look it up. Not as easy as I expected!

First of all, I could not find a definition of “pupton.” Thanks to the miracle of Google books, I found several old cookbooks on-line. In THE ART OF COOKERY by John Mollard (4th edition published in 1836), I found arecipe for a “Pulpton of Apples” (p. 251) in which quartered apples were stewed until tender, sieved, and mixed with spices, eggs, and breadcrumbs soaked in cream. This concoction was baked in a buttered mould and served turned out on a dish with sifted sugar over it. A recipe for a pulpton of apples also appears in the 1802 edition of Mr. Mollard’s cookbook.

Hannah Glasse, whose popular cookbook THE ART OF COOKERY Made Plain and Easy was first published in 1747, and was released in numerous editions until the last in 1843, includes a recipe for a “pupton” of apples as well. In her version, the fruit was cooked with sugar and only a small amount of water, until the fruit was the consistency of marmalade. She also combined the cooked fruit pulp with eggs, spices, cream and breadcrumbs, with some butter, baked it and served it on a plate.

Both of these recipes sounded good to me, and I could see how this recipe could be adapted to almost any kind of fruit, including cherries. However, this was not the end of the pupton! Looking over the tables of contents, I found recipes for savory puptons as well. These sound remarkably like pate’s and terrines served today, as at least a portion of the fish, meat or poultry component is cut finely with equal portions of suet, then pounded into a paste, called forcemeat. If used alone, the paste would be seasoned, then it could be rolled into balls and poached in a sauce or fried; it could be put into a bag of some kind (one recipe I found took a chicken, removed all the meat, made the paste, seasoned it, and put it back in the chicken skin) and stewed, or baked. A fascinating recipe I found in THE LONDON ART OF COOKERY And Housekeepers Complete Assistant by John Farley (4th edition, published in 1787) included a “French Pupton of Pigeons” on page 127. This recipe took a quantity of forcemeat, made a very thin layer (similar to a pie crust), and then proceeded to layer thin bacon, squabs, asparagus, mushrooms and several other ingredients (a few of which may seem odd in combination today, including cocks’ combs). This was then topped with another thin layer of forcemeat, like a pie, and baked. When done, it was to be served in a dish with gravy poured around it.

Either sweet or savory, the pupton sounds like a wonderful and tasty dish! I love this kind of detail, as it makes the people of the past come alive. Food is something we all have in common.