The Cookbook Club

by Beth Harbison

  Q: Is there a utensil or appliance you just couldn’t do without?

  A: My KitchenAid mixer! I use it all the time, for everything. But at least once a week I use the pasta attachment and make my own pasta noodles from flour, eggs, salt, oil, and water. My grown children come over and beg for my spaghetti as if they were ten years old still. Good knives are imperative. And I use my two-dollar wooden citrus reamer more than you’d think.

  Q: If you could open a restaurant, what would you call it? What kind of food would you serve?

  A: This is a conversation we’ve had a lot in my house. My late husband’s grandfather was a famous DC caterer—he catered to seven presidents! So the name “Harbo’s” has been tossed around a lot. But I always like the personal name that implies a lot: Joan’s Diner. Right or wrong, you can come up with a lot of ideas about what you’d find there and what Joan looks like.

  If I were to open a place, it would be a breakfast-and-lunch place with lots of buttery comfort food. And mimosas. I’m already sweating how hard it is to get a liquor license, but given my druthers, I’d like to have a place that serves slow scrambled eggs, hollandaise sauce on everything, and champagne with lots of fresh raspberries in it.

  Q: Any advice for those who say they “can’t cook” or that they are a disaster in the kitchen? Keeping in mind that some people just shouldn’t go near a stovetop!

  A: Yes—stop being lazy and self-limiting! Follow a recipe, paying attention to the elements. If you’re brand-new or think you’ve failed miserably before, make sure the heat is right (not too hot) and smell and taste every ingredient before using it in order to make sure it hasn’t gone bad. Oil that sits on a shelf for too long can go rancid, and you know it from smelling it. If a sauce has separated in a weird way, don’t trust it. Check expiration dates. If you’re following a recipe from a reliable cookbook, and you’re not burning stuff in a screaming hot oven or over an uncontrolled flame, you’re going to succeed.

  That said, my cooking fails wildly now and then without any obvious reason. I made a bad avocado Brie sandwich the other day and wouldn’t previously have thought that was possible. (I think the wrong move involved the mayo substitute I used to mellow the mustard. Ignored my own rule and didn’t taste it first because I assumed it was fine.) In the past few weeks, I’ve also managed to make hummus that was so bad that I had to throw it out. Afterward, I realized I didn’t like the tahini. You can’t cook a dish you’re going to like with an ingredient you don’t.

  Which reminds me: I don’t know who needs to hear this, but never cook with wine you wouldn’t drink. You can get drinkable wine as cheap as cooking wine. I keep a box of it in my pantry. If you hate the smell or taste of it in the bottle, you’re going to really hate it in your soup or sauce.

  About the Book

  Reading Group Guide

  In what ways do you think Margo uses food as a replacement for facing her deeper emotions?

  Margo seems shocked at Calvin’s actions at the beginning of the novel. Why do you think she didn’t see it coming?

  Trista makes her dream to open a restaurant come true. If money or risk was no object, what would your dream job be?

  Why do you think Aja is attracted to Michael? Are her feelings understandable given her background?

  In what ways would Lucinda perhaps be different if her life had been different? Or was she always so conservative?

  While this is a novel about women and female friendship, how do the men in the novel change from the beginning to the end—or do they change at all?

  Food and friendship and family go together. What are some of the food traditions you have? Are they holiday traditions? Super Bowl traditions? Seasonal traditions?

  Many people dream of opening a restaurant, which Trista does. And many others dream of renovating an old house, as Margo does. What is it about owning a restaurant or fixing up an old house that captures the imagination of so many?

  Are there cookbooks that you use all the time? What is it about cookbooks that is so appealing? What is the kookiest or funniest cookbook you’ve ever seen?

  If you are a cook, talk about the biggest cooking disaster you ever had!

  Bonus: for your book club, everyone makes a recipe from the book!

  Recipes

  Snacks

  Stuffed Mushrooms

  This is a recipe I only recently adapted from Eat, Drink, and Be Chinaberry, because I’m just getting into mushrooms. The culinary kind. I wasted a lot of time thinking I wasn’t a mushroom person. Anyway, this can be prepared right up to the cooking point a day in advance if you prefer—just make sure you cover it well with plastic wrap before refrigerating, so everything doesn’t dry out.

  25 cremini or baby bella mushrooms (or whatever your favorite is)

  ⅓ cup crumbled cooked bacon

  ½ small sweet onion, very finely chopped (about ¼ cup)

  4 scallions, sliced from white through light green parts

  1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

  ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

  Heat oven to 350°F.

  Wash mushrooms and remove the stems, but only discard the dried bottom of the stems (the first ⅛ inch, approximately). Dice the rest of the stems and add them during step 4.

  Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray and put the mushroom caps down on it, bottom side up.

  Mix remaining ingredients and spoon an even amount into each mushroom cap.

  Bake for 15 minutes, then serve.

  Tomato Pesto Dip

  This recipe is based on an old Disney World recipe I got when I took my then three-year-old on a “date” to Tony’s Town Square Italian restaurant. It was so good I asked for the recipe—incredibly, they gave it to me!—and have been building things around it ever since.

  2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (or 2 teaspoons dried)

  2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley (or 2 teaspoons dried)

  2–4 (or more) large garlic cloves, chopped, to taste

  2 ounces pine nuts or chopped walnuts

  ½ small white onion, diced

  4 ounces sundried tomatoes in oil

  ⅓ cup grated Parmesan

  ¼ cup balsamic vinegar

  ½ cup olive oil

  1 tablespoon tomato paste

  3 ounces peeled and chopped tomatoes

  ¼ cup good red wine (you’re not cooking it, so use one that’s drink-worthy)

  Put basil, parsley, garlic, nuts, onion, and sundried tomatoes into the bowl of a food processor and process for 10 seconds to incorporate. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until just incorporated but not liquefied.

  Enjoy with toasted baguette slices, pita chips, or Ravioli Chips.

  Ravioli Chips

  These are addictive. And too easy. And you won’t find the recipe in any diet cookbook. But, man, this is good. Your guests will love them . . . if you don’t eat them all before everyone arrives.

  20+ small-to-medium cheese ravioli

  ½ cup finely grated Parmesan and/or Romano cheese

  2 tablespoons panko bread crumbs

  Italian seasoning

  Red pepper flakes, optional

  1 egg, lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons water

  Vegetable oil, for frying

  Check the ravioli package for al dente cooking instructions and cook one minute short of that. You want them cooked but really al dente.

  While they’re cooking, set out a plate and onto it mix Parmesan with panko and season with Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes, if you want a little heat.

  Put the egg and water in a bowl.

  Heat ½ inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. You’re looking for about 250°F to 275°F.

  When the pasta is cooked, drain it, quickly tossing it back into the pot with some cooking water to keep it warm while you’re working.

  Working quickly, dunk cooked ravioli into egg mix, then coat in cheese mix and fry for 1 to 2 minutes per side to
reach a warm golden brown. Transfer them to paper towels to drain excess oil as you go.

  Serve warm, with marinara sauce for dip. Tomato Pesto Dip is also a good accompaniment.

  Curried Deviled Eggs

  These are just so good, despite their simplicity. If you’re not a fan of curry, you can replace that with any favorite seasoning—my son prefers Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. Go figure. But I like curry and have been known to taste as I go and add up to 2 teaspoons of it, but better to underseason and keep going than to overseason and throw the whole lot out.

  1 dozen extra-large eggs

  ⅔ cup mayonnaise

  2 teaspoons champagne or white wine vinegar (not distilled white)

  2–3 teaspoons Dijon mustard, to taste (some Dijon is more pungent than others)

  2 teaspoons dried tarragon

  Pinch of cayenne

  1 teaspoon curry powder

  Salt and pepper, to taste

  Smoked paprika

  In a pan, cover the eggs with cold water and bring to boil. Then place the lid on the pan and turn off the heat, letting the eggs sit for 12 minutes before rinsing in cold water. Once the eggs are cool, peel and cut each one in half widthwise (then you just make a flat surface on the bottom by cutting a small slice).

  Combine yolks and remaining ingredients, except paprika, gently and pipe into halved egg whites. Sprinkle with paprika to top. (Weird tip: hold your hand high over the eggs while sprinkling the paprika—it gives you more control and fewer clumps.)

  Cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve.

  Creamy Margarita Pops

  Yes, I’m going to go ahead and call this an appetizer because whenever I serve it as one it’s very popular and people tend to forget about food in favor of more pops. Seriously, I’m not including them as “drinks” per se, because they require attention, concentration. They aren’t casual nibbles.

  3 pounds, or about 26, fresh limes, squeezed, or about 2 cups of lime juice

  ¾ cup silver tequila

  1 cup water

  1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

  Margarita or kosher salt for the rims

  10 3-ounce paper cups

  10 Popsicle sticks

  Mix lime juice, tequila, water, and sweetened condensed milk in a blender to thoroughly incorporate.

  Set out a plate of salt and a plate of water and rim about half of the cups (unless you know all your guests are going to be wanting salt or not wanting salt) by dipping the cup rim quickly in the water, then quickly in the salt. Turn right side up and pour the mixture evenly into the cups.

  Freeze for about an hour to thicken enough to put the sticks in and have them stay upright. Then freeze at least overnight.

  Serve and bask in the praise. (These would obviously be good with the Layered Fiesta Dip, or even just chips and salsa.)

  Pesto Torta

  This is a beautiful presentation for company and also a good excuse to make Tomato Pesto Dip, which you can spend the rest of your week using as a pasta sauce, a cracker dip, or even just for dipping your finger in like an animal in the middle of the night. It’s good, but it’s garlicky, so remember that before a date!

  2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

  ½ cup sour cream

  ¼ cup butter, softened

  1 cup shredded Parmesan

  1 cup fresh pesto (Tomato Pesto Dip recipe would be great here)

  ½ cup chopped pistachio meats (optional)

  8 sundried tomatoes in oil, chopped (or cut with scissors)

  Line a flat round bowl with plastic wrap (two pieces, going in opposite directions to cover the whole space)—don’t worry about being neat; this is only so you can get the torta out in one piece. It’s basically a mold for the torte. (Working with plastic wrap is a nightmare, but it’s worth it.)

  Combine the cream cheese, sour cream, butter, and Parmesan in a bowl. And combine the pesto, with or without optional pistachios, in a separate bowl.

  Now you build: set sundried tomatoes evenly in the bottom of your dish (it will be the top in the end), top with all of the cream cheese mixture, then with the pesto (with or without pistachios). You could make another layer here with charcuterie meat, but I’m no expert on meats, so you’d have to wing it with your favorite, sliced into matchsticks for easy spreading.

  Fold the plastic wrap over the top, press gently, and refrigerate overnight or until ready to serve (at least 6 hours). When ready, uncover the top, turn the whole thing upside down onto a serving platter, and carefully set down. Remove plastic wrap and serve with sliced crostini.

  Chicken Pot Pie Fritters

  You can argue that these are cheat-y, since they are, and you are welcome to get down off that Clydesdale and make your own roux-into-cream-soup and cook your own chicken breasts. But if you want a really fast comfort food snack that makes everyone think you’re a culinary genius, look no further! These are pretty substantial, so you really only need to have one or two per person, tops. This recipe makes 8, so adjust accordingly.

  2 teaspoons butter

  1 small yellow onion, peeled and chopped

  Pinch of salt

  1 pound rotisserie chicken breast meat, shredded

  1 10.5-ounce can cream of chicken soup

  ¾ cup frozen peas and carrots

  Salt and pepper, to taste

  1 package crescent rolls

  Okay, so the onion really adds something to this, but if you’re in a hurry or you hate onion, you can skip it, but I wouldn’t.

  Just put 2 teaspoons of butter into a saucepan with the chopped onion and a pinch of salt and cook over medium heat until translucent (about 8 minutes).

  Add chicken, soup, frozen vegetables, and ½ cup of water, and stir. Season to taste. This is the bulk of your dish, so you want it as tasty as possible—if you have a favorite seasoning that you’re just dying to add, do it!

  Heat oven to 375°F.

  Spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray and stretch one crescent roll into a muffin cup, then fill with ⅛ of the soup mixture and pinch the roll closed with your fingers. If you find the odd shape of the crescent rolls hard to work with, you can lay them out and pinch all the seals and cut the dough into squares if you prefer. That’s what I do, but it just sounds like so much work for such an otherwise easy recipe.

  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve immediately.

  Corn Fritters

  Urbana, Maryland—once my home—was a sleepy little farm town in the middle of Civil War battlefields and sprawling farms and cornfields. The Peter Pan Inn opened there in 1926 and ran for more than sixty years, a huge white historical house, with patio gardens surrounded by wrought iron fences and roaming peacocks acting as mobile decor. The place was hugely popular even in my childhood in the 1970s and 1980s, and we used to drive up from Potomac, about twenty-five miles, for a special night out at the Peter Pan.

  It closed in the mid-1980s and was slowly dismantled to the sad, unoccupied shell it is today. But I still have a drink swizzler and an old matchbook bearing its name, and memories of arriving cranky and hungry and leaving happy and full. The food was good old country fare—pot roast, ham steaks, shrimp, fried chicken, and corn fritters. Always corn fritters. Somewhere along the way, some lucky soul got the recipe, and here it is, preserved for generations to come.

  1¼ cups all-purpose flour

  ½ teaspoon salt

  3 tablespoons sugar

  1½ teaspoons baking powder

  1 egg, lightly beaten

  ½ cup whole milk

  1 cup whole corn kernels, drained

  Vegetable oil, for frying

  Powdered sugar, for garnish

  Sift all the dry ingredients together in one bowl; mix the wet ingredients and the corn in a separate one. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and fold gently with a wooden spoon or spatula. Do not overmix—it’s okay if there are some lumps!

  Heat vegetable oil—with a little bac
on fat if you have any (I always have it in my fridge)—to 275°F for frying. When it reaches temperature, drop spoonfuls of the fritter batter in and fry for about 3 minutes, until golden brown.

  Lift out with tongs or a spider skimmer and let cool on paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar before serving.

  Carolyn Clemens’s Spinach Artichoke Dip

  Carolyn has been a friend for more than twenty-five years, and simply put, she is the best cook I know. We used to live across the street from each other, and every once in a while the doorbell would ring and one of her four boys would be standing there with a plate of something delicious she had just whipped up—cookies from the oven, cheesy biscuits, or, one of my favorites, warm latkes with a dollop of sour cream and applesauce, ready to eat! So for many years my family has known, if Carolyn made it, it’s going to be great. Even if it’s something you think you’ve had a million times.

  This is her base recipe. The ingredients she calls her “constants.” Now and then she might add something on a whim, but this is her Spinach Artichoke Dip, and we’re all lucky to have it.

  1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

  1 14-ounce can artichokes, chopped small