BOOK/A TABLE - Rollin' on the River

Percival Everett’s remarkable novel James reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as narrated from the enslaved Jim’s perspective. The New York Times bestseller was also recently announced as Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year.

During Jim and Huck’s journey together down the Mississippi river, they discover a stash of books that includes Candide. I loved Jim’s testament to the transporting nature of reading:

       “I pulled my sack of books closer, reached in and touched one. I let my hand linger there, a flirtation of sorts. The small thick book I’d wrapped my fingers around was the novel. I had never read a novel, though I understood the concept of fiction. It wasn’t so unlike religion, or history, for that matter. I pulled the book from the bag. I checked to see if Huck was still sleeping soundly and then I opened it. The smell of the pages was glorious.

       In the country of Westphalia...
       I was somewhere else. I was not on one side of that damned river or the other. I was not on the Mississippi. I was not in Missouri.”

Now, the friends don’t find a lot to eat during their travels (their bread ruined, they mostly subsist on catfish and berries), but talk about nourishment! Huck couldn’t read much, but Jim was thankful that he could feed his soul.

What are you reading that feeds your soul? What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? While you chew on that, think about making these traditional yeast rolls courtesy of Southern Living to share with your family and friends as you break bread together for the holiday.

Why? Because that’s how you roll, of course.

Click on the Southern Living link below for tips and make-ahead options and do enjoy!

Buttery Yeast Rolls
Adapted from Southern Living Test Kitchen
By Southern Living Test Kitchen
Yield: 32 rolls

Ingredients
2 (1/4-oz) envelopes active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
1 1/4 cups warm water (105° to 115°F), divided
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
5 to 5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, as needed, divided, plus more for work surface
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tsp flaky sea salt

Directions
Activate yeast:
Stir together yeast and 1/4 cup of the warm water in a large bowl; let stand until mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Make dough:
Add eggs, shortening, sugar, salt, 2 cups of the flour, and remaining 1 cup warm water to yeast mixture. Beat with a wooden spoon until well combined and smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually stir in 3 cups of the flour until a soft dough forms, adding up to 1/4 cup remaining flour if dough is too sticky.

Complete first rise:
Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel; let rise in a warm place (about 80°F) until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Divide dough into rolls:
Punch down dough in bowl. Turn out onto a floured work surface, and knead until slightly smoother, 3 to 4 times. Divide in half. Working with 1 portion at a time and keeping remaining dough covered, shape each portion evenly into 16 balls (about 2 heaping tablespoons each). If baking right away, skip to Step 6.

Freeze dough balls if making ahead:
To freeze, arrange dough balls about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap. Freeze until solid, about 4 hours. Transfer to a freezer-safe zip-top bag. Seal bag, and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw at least 8 hours in the refrigerator, covered, before using.

Complete second rise:
Arrange fresh or frozen dough balls in 2 lightly greased (with cooking spray) 9-inch square metal baking pans. Cover each pan with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place (about 80°F) until slightly more than doubled in size, about 1 hour. If dough balls were frozen, let rise about 1 hour, 30 minutes. You can also let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight. Let sit at room temperature while the oven preheats before baking.

Bake rolls:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove plastic wrap from baking pan. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from oven, brush evenly with butter, and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Serve warm.

BOOK/A TABLE - Fegato alla Venezia

If you’re like me, you probably have a stack of books waiting to be read. The books in my pile are removed as I finish them of course, but new additions keep coming in and the pile never seems to dwindle...

I also keep notes in my datebooks (dating back to 1988!), listing more titles I intend to cross off one day. Somewhere around 1993, I made a notation to read Sister Carrie.

Well, saints preserve us, I finally read Theodore Dreiser’s novel just last month.

Was it worth it after all this time? Did I enjoy following Carrie’s eventual ascendence to the stage despite the unsuitable men complicating her life? Sure. I didn’t love (it ain’t Tess of the D’Urbervilles), but like so often when turning to the classics, I find it extremely satisfying to discover the lives secreted away in the pages, the stories I’ve long heard about unearthed at last.

At one point, Carrie proposes to make dinner for her tiresome husband Hurstwood:

“We’re all out of flour,” she said; “you’d better get some this afternoon. We haven’t any meat, either. How would it do if we had liver and bacon?”

Now, liver and bacon is something I do love, espcially when served with melted onions. When my D.C. friend comes to visit me in Manhattan, we hightail it to Joe Allen, one of the few places in town (Gene’s is another) that has liver on the menu. Reading Sister Carrie I was reminded too of the outrageously good Fegato alla Veneziana (Venetian-style liver) found in POLPO: A Venetian Cookbook (of sorts) and which may be easily prepared at home. 

The cookbook is so fabulous, filled with uncomplicated recipes that pay delicious tribute to the glories of Venice. Pictured above is my splattered copy. Sadly, I ruined the gorgeous cover during a misfortune that involved a pear galette—but that’s another story!

What are you reading? What’s on your reading list? Please let me know in the comments!

Fegato alla Veneziana
Adapted from POLPO: A Venetian Cookbook (of sorts)
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
6 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 large white onions (Spanish, or cipollini if you can find), finely sliced
Flaky sea salt and black pepper
12 sage leaves
1 kg (about 2 lbs) calf’s liver, trimmed, cleaned and thinly sliced
50 ml (a quarter cup) white wine
50 g (3-4 tbs) unsalted butter

Method
Pour 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into a heavy-based pan and sweat the onions with a pinch of salt on a very low heat for approximately 30 minutes, or until soft. The onions will become translucent and should not burn—they should be only lightly brown. Add a grind of pepper. Take off the heat and set aside.

Cut the sliced liver into thin triangles. In another large heavy-based pan, heat the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil on a medium flame with the sage leaves and when hot add the liver, season, and cook until brown on both sides (if your pan is hot this should be no more than 1minute in total). Add the melted onions, heat through, and add the wine. Turn up the heat to get it bubbling for one minute and then immediately add the butter, simmer for another minute, check the seasoning and serve.

If you want to include bacon...fry up a proper amount, then drain off the fat and pat dry. Crumble when cool and top your dish.

COOKBOOK/A TABLE - Howdy, Dolly!

 

Someone’s in the kitchen with Dolly—and it’s her sister Rachel!

My cousin is one of those kind and generous souls who doles out little gifts throughout the year, whether or not it’s your birthday or a holiday. It’s her wonderful way to let you know she is thinking about you. When I recently visited my hometown in NH, she presented me with Dolly and Rachel’s Good Lookin’ Cookin’: A Year of Meals—A Lifetime of Family, Friends, and Food, featuring a whimsical calendar of seasonal recipes designed for delicious celebrations.

Included in the Parton sisters’s spirted, down-home collection are Southern favorites such as a Mother’s Day Mimosa, Barbecue Ribs for the 4th, a Thanksgiving Turkey with gravy, a festive Crème Brulée for Christmas—and Fried Chicken and Mac and Cheese, which of course are welcome anytime.

Fortunately for my family, my cousin also makes a fantastic Mac and Cheese that she brings to many gatherings, but until I wrest that particular recipe from her...here’s how the Partons do it!

“Ours is made with a variety of cheese, but we had to include a little Velveeta—ultimately, that’s what makes this version so creamy and good.”

 

Mac and Cheese
Adapted from Good Lookin’ Cookin’: A Year of Meals—A Lifetime of Family, Friends, and Food

Makes: 6 to 8 servings
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
Butter, for greasing
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups elbow macaroni
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon mustard powder
8-ounce block Velveeta, cubed

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with butter.

Place a large saucepan of water over medium heat, add the salt, and bring it to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for 2 to 3 minutes less than indicated on the package. Don't overcook and don’t rinse. Drain the macaroni well in a colander, return it to the pot, and add the olive oil. Gently stir to coat so the macaroni doesn’t stick together.

Set aside 1/4 cup of the shredded cheddar and 1/4 cup of the shredded Monterey Jack for topping.

In a large bowl, use a wooden spoon to combine the eggs, milk, sour cream, butter and mustard powder. Add the Velveeta, remaining cheddar and remaining Monterey Jack, stirring well. Add the macaroni to the mixture and stir until well combined and the macaroni is nicely coated.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan, spreading it evenly, and sprinkle the top with the reserved cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses. Bake until the cheeses are bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes to thicken before serving.

BOOK/A TABLE - A Pumpkin Party!

“But it was rather remarkable, seeing so many pumpkins or vegetable marrows, whatever they are. They were everywhere, in the shops, and in people’s houses, with candles or nightlights inside them or strung up.”

So says Ariadne Oliver, ranting in Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party. But good gourd! She didn’t say a word about all the many other ways to feature pumpkins—such as chicken pot pie or cheese fondue in a pumpkin, outrageous cheesey-choco-pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie of course, or its modest sister—pumpkin bread.

The recipe I found in the New York Times turned out to be a pretty good roadmap, but not quite the fall flavor-burst I’d hoped for. Pumpkin on its own tends to be bland and the flavor really needs to be teased out, so next time I would double up on the cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger before digging in. Don’t over bake, but do slather with apple or pumpkin butter. 

Pumpkin Bread With Brown Butter and Bourbon
By Melissa Clark
Yield:Two 8-inch loaves

Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
¼ cup bourbon (or use water or apple cider)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 ¾ cups pumpkin purée, homemade or canned (1 15-ounce can)
4 eggs
½ cup olive or other oil (such as canola)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1¾ cups light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cardamom

Preparation
Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees and arrange a rack in the center. Grease the insides of two 8-inch loaf pans with butter or line with parchment paper.

Step 2
In a large skillet, melt ½ cup (1 stick) butter over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until the frothy white milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan and turn a fragrant, nutty brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Brown butter can burn quickly, so watch it carefully. (A tip: You will know your brown butter is almost ready when the frantic sound of bubbling begins to die down, so use your ears as well as your eyes and nose.)

Step 3
In a glass liquid measuring cup, combine bourbon and vanilla. Add water until you reach the ⅔ cup mark. In a large bowl, whisk together bourbon mixture, pumpkin purée, eggs and oil. With a spatula, scrape all the brown butter from the skillet into the pumpkin mixture and stir to combine.

Step 4
In another large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Step 5
Divide batter between the two greased loaf pans. Place them on a rimmed baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow bread to cool completely before removing from pan.

Keep the party going! Karen Pierce features Devilled Eggs also inspired by Hallowe’en Party in her fabulous cookbook Recipes for Murder—66 Dishes that Celebrate the Mysteries of Agatha Christie. Read about another Agatha Christie celebration here. 

                                                       

I hope you enjoy some of these fanciful, seasonally spot-on dishes—and if your guests ask who made them, you can certainly take satisfaction in telling them YOU dunnit. 

Happy Hallowe’en!

BOOK/A TABLE - King and I

In a drafty auditorium, while other cast members were taking a break from rehearsal, I sat glued to one of the theater seats reading Stephen King’s The Shining. It was around Hallowe’en, I was about 12 or 13 years old and our local theater group, the Garrison Players, was putting on a musical revue called Encore, Encore!. I don’t know where any of the other performers had scuttled off to, but I do know some moldy dead woman was climbing out of a bathtub at the Overlook Hotel. 

I was alone in that huge auditorium, well, just me and the old woman, when suddenly a wild gust of wind blew in from the lobby, a door slammed shut, and I jumped about a foot. I spun around, on the defensive, but no one was there. It was just the wind...and I knew that, but as I settled back down in my chair and returned to The Shining, I knew too that I’d just experienced the power of a great book.

By opening night, I was duly recovered. Curiously enough I’d been enlisted to kick off the show (in knickers) with ‘I Whistle a Happy Tune’ from The King and I—about the King of Siam, not Stephen.

There’s also the character of Wendy in The Shining, the hapless (certainly not helpless) wife, exploring the vast hotel kitchen, looking for something to make for dinner. To me, the whole scene has such a creepy feel about it, like a trip to the morgue...

“When she opened the big walk-in freezer the light clicked on automatically. The chill made her gasp. The shelves were neatly stacked with lamb chops, roasts, chickens, frozen vegetables.” 

But let’s take a moment to think about those roasts in a different (and certainly more appetizing) light: here I present a simple, best ever off-oven roast beef that I’m sure you’ll take a shine to.

And don’t overlook the divine Henry Bain sauce!

Off-Oven Roast Beef
Adapted from New York Magazine

Serves 4 to 6 as a main course, with leftovers for sandwiches

Ingredients
1 beef roast, like top, eye or bottom round, approximately 3 pounds
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
Red-pepper flakes to taste

Preparation
Remove roast from refrigerator. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and red-pepper flakes to create a kind of paste. Rub this all over the roast. 

Place beef in a roasting pan or cast-iron skillet, fat-side up, and put in oven. Cook undisturbed for 5 minutes per pound.

Turn off oven. Do not open oven door. Leave roast to continue cooking, undisturbed, for two hours.
After two hours, remove roast from oven. Slice and serve alongside, ideally, a watercress salad, some skillet-fried potatoes and a small tureen of Henry Bain sauce.

Creamy Cranberry-Cherry and Pistachio Spread

Inspired by a layout in Martha Stewart’s Halloween 2024 issue, I made this appetizer off the cuff for a recent party, tailored to what I thought would taste good. Alter the proportions to achieve the perfect combination of tingly, creamy, tart, and sweet that you desire. 

Creamy Cranberry-Cherry and Pistachio Spread
Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients
1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/3 cup chopped dried cherries
1/3 cup chopped pistachios
6 oz crème fraiche
6 oz goat cheese

Method
Mix crème fraiche and goat cheese together with a fork to soften, add fruit and blend. Spoon mixture into a ramekin, top with pistachios and serve with crackers alongside OR spread fruit mixture onto endive leaves and sprinkle with pistachios.

BOOK/A TABLE - Vampire Weekend Cocktails

“There lay the Count, but looking as if his youth had been half restored. For the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey. The cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath. The mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran down over the chin and neck.” From Dracula, by Bram Stoker.

We all know what Dracula likes to drink. Here we offer a cocktail less revolting, more fun and refreshing, and certainly in keeping with the spooky season: the Pina Ghoulada! But never fear—with a red syrupy rim, there will be blood (in ghastly appearance anyway) during the Hallowe’en weekend soon to rise upon us...!

 

Pina Ghoulada
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Special Issues, 2000
Serves 10 to 12 eight-ounce servings

Ingredients:
FOR THE “BLOOD”
3 tablespoons corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon red food coloring

FOR THE DRINK
20 ounces pineapple juice
1 can (15 ounces) cream of coconut
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup orange juice
10 ounces good-quality rum

Instructions:
Pour the corn syrup in a shallow bowl. Dip a toothpick into the food coloring, and stir a very small amount into the syrup to combine. Hold a glass by the stem, dip rim into the syrup mixture, and turn glass, coating entire rim. Turn the glass upright, allowing mixture to drip down sides for an eerie effect. Dip the remaining glasses. Set aside.

Whisk together drink ingredients. Place 2 1/2 cups ice in a blender, and add 1 cup drink mixture. Blend until smooth; add more pineapple juice if mixture is too thick. Repeat with remaining ice and mixture. Carefully pour into prepared glasses; serve.

*BONUS* Frozen eyeballs for your highballs! Click here for eye-popping garnishes from thismamacooks.com that will give your martinis a particularly ghoulish “look.”