7 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 small package fresh blueberries (approximately 6 ounces)
1 small package fresh raspberries (approximately 6 ounces)
Melba Sauce (recipe follows)
White Chocolate Cream (recipe I follows)
Place the oven rack in the middle to lower (not the lowest) part of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 10-inch Springform pan. Make sure you have the bottom of another 10-inch Springform pan on hand.
Place the butter, chocolate, and coffee in the top of a double boiler and melt over boiling water. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool slightly, then stir in the egg yolks and whisk until smooth. Sift the cocoa and sugar together, then sift this mixture directly into the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and set aside. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold half the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then pour the chocolate mixture on top of the remaining egg whites and fold in. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and set it on the lower rack of the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cake is puffed and the center no longer appears moist.
Remove the cake from the oven and immediately press another spring-form pan bottom onto the cake to deflate it. Allow the cake to cool on
When the cake is cool, remove the Springform ring and place the cake on a serving platter. Decorate the top with concentric rings of blueberries and raspberries. When serving, ladle large dollops of Melba Sauce and White Chocolate Cream on top of each slice.
Makes 8 to 12 servings
Melba Sauce
½ cup currant jelly
2 (6-ounce) packages fresh
raspberries, sieved (approximately
1 cup after sieving) 2 teaspoons cornstarch 7 tablespoons sugar
Heat the jelly and sieved raspberries in the top of a double boiler (placed directly on the burner) over medium heat until bubbly, about 4 or 5 minutes.
Remove from the direct heat and place on top of the bottom of the double boiler that is filled with boiling water. Mix the cornstarch with the sugar and stir into the jelly mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and clear. Remove from the heat, cool, and chill at least an hour before serving.
White Chocolate Cream
6 ounces best-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1¾cups whipping cream
Over low heat, melt the chocolate with ¾ cup of the cream, stirring constantly. When the mixture is melted and smooth, remove from the heat. Pour into a bowl and, stirring occasionally, allow the mixture to come to room temperature. Whip the remaining cup of cream and, whisking constantly to ensure smoothness, stir into the chocolate mixture. Chill before serving.
Keepsake Cookies
Cookies
⅔ cup blanched, slivered almonds
2 cups (4 sticks; 1 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons very finely minced orange zest
¼ cup Grand Marnier liqueur
3⅓ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar, for preparing the cookies
Filling
½ cup (1 stick;¼ pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier liqueur
Grind almonds in a blender until they resemble large bread crumbs; set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter until it is very smooth and creamy. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the zest and liqueur. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, and ground almonds. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until very well combined. Chill the mixture for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter two cookie sheets. Measure out the cookie dough into ½ tablespoon increments. Roll each spoonful of dough into a ball and place them, two inches apart, on the cookie sheets. Butter the bottom of a glass, then dip the glass bottom in sugar. Flatten each cookie with the buttered and sugared glass bottom to a diameter of 2¼ inches. (Do not make the cookies too thin.) Dip the glass into the sugar before flattening each cookie. Bake approximately 7 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies are just cooked through but not at all browned. After removing the cookies from the oven, allow them to cool 1 minute on the cookie sheets. Then transfer them to racks to cool completely.
For the filling, in the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar, cream, and liqueur, and beat until very smooth and creamy. Spread about a teaspoon of filling on the flat underside of half the cookies; make a sandwich with the flat underside of the other half of the cookies. Store tightly covered.
Makes 64 sandwich cookies
“Marla, you never mentioned this,” I accused. “Calling like a mother hen when he was going through rush!”
“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to tell, Julian,” Marla said.
“Well, just don’t give me this stuff about how you never call,” Julian zinged back. “Plus, Arch and I have decided it’s an effect Goldy has had on you. Arch told me, ‘You’ll never be able to do anything again, without Marla checking to see if you’re still alive, or telling you that whatever you’re doing is dangerous or will make you sick.’”
“Uh, excuse me,” I interjected, smiling. “If people want to eat, they need to be nice to the caterer.”
Julian patted my shoulder. “Let me finish about Leah, okay? I think at first she was relieved I wasn’t her biological nephew. She figured I wanted money, or land, or her cabin, just like Bobby and Ian. I told her I just wanted her to know that she has another relation besides Weezie and Bobby. So then she got like, all teary, and said she was just so vulnerable since Ian had died. And did I want to move in with her in the big family house in Aspen Meadow until she sold it, that she would enjoy having family around her, besides Bobby. And I could help her with her move to Phoenix, she said. There was lots and lots for me to do, to help her.”
A familiar fear gripped me. Don’t leave us, I thought, not again. Not daring to look at Julian’s happy face, I picked up the serving spoons and moved them around. You can’t hold on to people, I warned myself. You can’t keep them, any more than Charlie Smythe could protect his wretched treasure.
A whoop arose from the elephant rock.
“They found it!” Hanna cried. She had brought bird-watching binoculars, which she now swung into place. “Goodness, it’s just an old coffee can!”
We all watched Cameron Burr carefully uncap the discovery and pour it out on a piece of canvas.
Boyd cried, “Hey! How much is there?”
Sylvia Bevans, who had changed from the linen Unen suit to baggy khaki pants, sensible boots, and a wide-brimmed sun hat, bent down to ask Cameron a question. Then she turned toward us. Her face was stern. And then, for the first time in my life, I saw Sylvia smile.
“Jewelry!” she cried. “Old bills! Gold coins!”
I exhaled and smoothed the tablecloth. Well, finally, I thought. It’s over.
“So don’t you want to know what I told Leah?” Julian asked when we got home. His face was bright with mischief.
I pressed my lips together and unpacked the first box of dirty dishes and set them in the dishwasher in my brand-new beautiful kitchen. You can’t hold on to him any more than Leah could hold on to her grandfather’s land. Or Bobby could be a young and slim model forever. Or you could keep André forever. You can’t hold on to people. You can’t hold on to anything.
Tom’s large hand clasped mine. He murmured, “Stop worrying so much.”
Julian put his hand on my shoulder. “I told Leah,” he said, “that I really appreciated her offer to move in with her. But that I already had my family here.”
My eyes filled and I cursed them. The doorbell rang. “Oh, answer it, answer it!” I cried. “I can’t deal
with any more in one day.”
Julian disappeared. I heard him open the front door and then argue with someone whose voice I did not recognize. Tom gave me a hug and I snuffled contentedly into the familiar warmth of his shoulder. We really are a family, I thought. An absolutely terrific family.
Julian reappeared in the doorway. His face was ashen.
“It’s the county health inspector. Should I let him in?”
About the Author
DIANE MOTT DAVIDSON lives in Evergreen, Colorado, with her her husband and three sons. She is the author of eleven bestselling culinary mysteries, including Dying for Chocolate, The Main Corpse, The Grilling Season, and Chopping Spree.
This edition contains the complete text of the original hardcover edition.
NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED
Prime Cut
A Bantam Book
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Bantam hardcover edition / 1998
Bantam mass market edition / March 2000
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1998 by Diane Mott Davidson
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Bantam Books.
eISBN: 978-0-307-42882-0
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, New York, New York.
v3.0_r2
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Books by this Author
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
About the Author
Copyright
Prime Cut Page 30