Makes 2 to 3 servings
Green Beans Amandine
When I was young and started doing the family cooking, one box of frozen vegetables used to be called “Green Beans Amandine.” It was easy to make: Boil a bit of spring water, add the block of frozen sliced beans, cook for a few minutes, then open the teensy-weensy package of sliced almonds that came with the beans, and sprinkle them on top. Now, we are very fortunate to have fresh, slender French green beans (haricots verts) at almost every grocery store. We can also buy roasted, salted Marcona almonds. (At this writing, both are available at Costco.)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound fresh haricots verts (French green beans), trimmed
Butter, salt, and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup salted roasted Marcona almonds, chopped
1. Bring a large quantity of spring water to boil. (If you have a pasta pentola, it will work perfectly, because you will not be cooking the beans long, and they need to drain quickly.) Add the 1 teaspoon salt to the cooking water. Have your serving dish ready.
2. Add the beans to the water and reduce the heat. Cook 1 minute. Using tongs, remove one bean from the water, allow it to cool slightly, and taste it. It should be just done. If it still tastes raw, cook the beans another 30 seconds.
3. Quickly drain the beans. You want them to be cooked, but crunchy. Place them in the serving dish, place a large hunk of butter on top, and sprinkle with the salt, pepper, and chopped almonds.
Makes 4 large servings
Hard-Core Prawn Salad
On a low-carb diet, mayonnaise and avocados are a-okay. This recipe is good if you have people over for a summer lunch or dinner. It is similar to a dish from Chopping Spree, but that dressing contains sugar. The sauce gribiche here is full of flavor. (You can also serve it with the Tenderloin of Beef, here.) When this dish is sprinkled with paprika, it looks ready for a photo shoot. Use one avocado per person if you are serving this for a main dish. (For the shrimp, I buy the “wheel” of shrimp cocktail from Costco or the grocery store, discard the sauce, and remove all the shells.) I make the gribiche first, so the avocados do not have a chance to turn brown.
Sauce gribiche:
2 teaspoons chopped scallions (including tops)
2 teaspoons chopped gherkins or cornichons
2 teaspoons chopped capers
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon sugar substitute
1 large egg, hard-boiled, peeled, and chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup best-quality mayonnaise
Salad:
1 head butter lettuce, washed, dried, trimmed, and carefully separated into leaves
4 avocados
32 large cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
Paprika
For the sauce gribiche:
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the scallions, gherkins, capers, parsley, tarragon, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, sugar substitute, egg, and pepper to taste. Stir in the mayonnaise. Process until the ingredients are well mixed (but not puréed; you want the distinctive aspects of the sauce to shine through), 10 to 15 seconds. Refrigerate until ready to use. Just before serving, take the sauce out of the refrigerator.
For the salad:
Arrange 4 or 5 lettuce leaves on each of 4 salad plates. Peel, halve, and pit the avocados. Place 2 avocado halves on the arranged leaves, and place 4 shrimp on each avocado half. Spoon about ¼ cup sauce gribiche on top of each serving. (Any unused gribiche—you may have about ½ cup—can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for 2 days.) Sprinkle each serving with paprika. Serve immediately.
Makes 4 servings
Chicken Tarragon
This was actually one of the very first dishes I made for Jim that wasn’t out of a box. Mrs. Tita Peters, an amazing cook and the mother of my maid of honor, Louise, used to make it. Tita sent me the recipe, to which I have made very few changes over the years. Jim loved this dish, as does the family to this day. You make the brine first, so the chicken can soak in it for several hours or overnight before cooking.
¼ cup kosher salt
5 cups spring water
2½ pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup dried tarragon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parsley, for garnish
1. In a large glass bowl, stir the salt into the water. Stir until it is completely dissolved. Carefully place the thighs in the brine, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
2. When you are ready to make the chicken, line one or two large plates with paper towels and have more paper towels ready. Carefully place the bowl in the sink and drain off the brine. Rinse the chicken pieces with cold water, then fill the bowl with cold water and allow the chicken pieces to sit for 10 minutes, to remove excess salt.
3. Using tongs, place the chicken pieces on the paper towels and pat them dry.
4. Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
5. Smear all the butter in a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish. Place the chicken pieces (you should have about 6) into the pan. Pour the lemon juice over the chicken. Crumble the tarragon over the chicken pieces, so that each piece is thoroughly covered. Salt and pepper the chicken, and place a meat thermometer into one of the pieces, so that it does not touch the bone or the bottom of the pan.
6. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the thermometer reads 170˚F. Remove the pan from the oven, tent it with foil, and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
7. Using tongs, place the chicken pieces on an attractive platter. Pour the accumulated juices into a gravy boat. Surround the chicken pieces with large stems of parsley and serve.
Makes 6 servings
Tenderloin of Beef
This is our favorite dish for holiday dinners. The only challenge, if you buy a tenderloin that is untrimmed, is trimming it of the fat and membrane. Once trimmed, you wrestle the beef into a cylinder and use kitchen twine to tie it, so it will cook evenly. You must have a working meat thermometer to prepare this dish properly.
5-pound whole tenderloin of beef, trimmed, preferably prime grade, or a 7-pound whole tenderloin that you trim of fat and membrane yourself (both are usually available at Costco)
¼ cup garlic oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
Sauce Gribiche (from Hard-Core Prawn Salad, here) or your favorite horseradish sauce
1. If you are using the untrimmed tenderloin, use a sharp knife to carefully trim the beef of fat and visible membrane.
2. Allow the beef to come to room temperature. Tuck the slender end underneath the meat. Using four 12-inch pieces of kitchen twine, tie the beef at 2-inch intervals, so that it is in an even cylinder.
3. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Brush some of the garlic oil on the rack of a roasting pan.
4. Place the meat on the roasting rack. Rub the meat with some garlic oil and pour any left over on top. In a small bowl, mix the salt, pepper, and tarragon. Sprinkle this evenly over the roast. Insert a meat thermometer into the beef. (For this and all other recipes using a meat thermometer, I use a digital probe type, set to a certain temperature.)
5. Roast until the meat thermometer reads 125˚F for medium-rare (about 1 hour, but watch the thermometer carefully, or if your thermometer comes with an alarm, set it to beep to remind you when the roast comes to 125˚F). Remove the roast from the oven and tent it with foil. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. (The meat will rise 5 degrees in temperature while it is resting.)
6. Place the meat on a platter. Either pour the accumu
lated pan juices over the meat or serve it separately in a gravy boat. Serve with sauce gribiche or horseradish sauce.
Makes 8 to 12 servings
Berries with Yogurt Cream
One of the few guilt-free desserts you can have on a low-carb diet is berries, either sweetened with sugar substitute or served with sugarless yogurt or cream. Still, it’s better than nothing, and you can also serve berries with the Sugar-Free Vanilla Gelato (here). I originally developed this recipe before Greek yogurt was widely available. I have tested the recipe with Greek yogurt, and it works well. The finished Yogurt Cream will be softer if you use Greek yogurt, but using it means you can skip the overnight draining step. If you choose to drain plain yogurt overnight, the resulting Yogurt Cream will be thicker and more substantial. Either way, you can indulge in a healthful bowl of lusciousness while the family is slicing into pieces of (store-bought) chocolate cake.
1 quart plain full-fat yogurt, such as Wallaby, or 1¾ cup full-fat plain Greek yogurt
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sugar substitute, to taste
1 to 2 pounds fresh raspberries, strawberries, or blueberries, or a mixture
1. If you are draining the regular yogurt, cut two 18-inch pieces of cheesecloth, wet them, and wring them out. Use them to line a sieve that you place over a large bowl. Spoon the regular (not Greek) yogurt into the sieve and cover the mixture with plastic wrap.
2. Place the bowl in the refrigerator and allow the yogurt to drain overnight. In the morning, discard the accumulated liquid in the bottom of the bowl. (Again, if you are using the Greek yogurt, there is no need to do the overnight draining.)
3. Just before serving, whip the cream. Stir in the vanilla, then the yogurt. Taste and carefully add sugar substitute, if desired, a small amount (less than a teaspoon) at a time. (A little goes a long way here, and you cannot take it out once you’ve put it in. You may find that you like the yogurt-cream mixture as is, and do not want any sugar substitute. But I doubt it.)
4. Place a cup of berries in a bowl and spoon a ½ cup or more of the yogurt cream over it. Enjoy with abandon.
Makes 4 or more servings
Epilogue
Now I’m going to switch hats and say a last few words about writing:
If you want to write books and have them published, first, you must educate yourself. Read as widely as possible in the genre in which you want to publish. Make a notebook. Study those books you like to read. Outline them. How does the book work? How do the characters work? Put all this in your notebook.
Second, ask if you can visit a critique group. While there, see if you agree with the criticisms being offered on the manuscripts. Usually members will bring ten or so pages to be critiqued. Groups that are either too flattering or too harsh are worthless. Groups that see what a manuscript needs are like gold. If you can’t find a critique group, you can start your own or ask your library to help you get one going.
Third, as I have said, join good writers’ organizations and make booksellers your friends. Great booksellers can help you find books that work with your taste. Trust them, and buy the books they recommend while you are in the store. Sorry, but there is no algorithm that will predict correctly “books you might like.” But when a bookseller says to me, “Diane, I just finished a book that I think you are going to love,” that, too, is gold.
Fourth, there is the extremely important issue of training oneself. This means finding a writing schedule that works. Many authors fit doing their writing into their workday or their family’s natural rhythms. Sue Grafton, a great, longtime source of inspiration for me, memorably uses the daily page quota. Gabriel García Márquez would take his sons to school, come home, and write until it was time to pick them up. Anthony Trollope talked about his daily page quota, for which he was roundly ridiculed at the time. But the judgment of history is that his novels are brilliant.
Even if what you produce is terrible, it’s a starting place. As Joanne Greenberg, one of our treasured local authors, so wisely says, “The beginning writer says, ‘It stinks; toss it.’ The professional writer says, ‘It stinks; fix it.’”
Finally, it is extremely important to find sources of positive reinforcement, wherever they may be. Write them down. Read them every morning. Tape them to your computer or hang them on your wall. It’s hard enough to write a book that a publisher wants to buy, so cherish any positive feedback you receive.
I had a longtime source of inspiration that was the very best: I mentioned at the outset of this cookbook how watching Julia Child on television was revelatory. I put the story about messing up her recipe for Gâteau de Crêpes à la Florentine into Dying for Chocolate, which was published in 1992. To my great surprise, after Dying for Chocolate came out, Julia Child herself wrote me a fan letter! She thanked me for mentioning her as inspiration! She wished me all success with my writing!
I taped that note to my kitchen window. It served as the very best motivation possible.
Then I went on a book tour. Because Jim and I were always tripping over each other in our tiny kitchen, we had decided to have it expanded and remodeled. When I returned, the contractor had installed new kitchen windows . . . and the note from Julia Child had disappeared. High and low searching never uncovered it. (This is one of the reasons I had to kill off a kitchen contractor in the book I was working on.)
I love writing as well as cooking. If I create a novel or a dish, and it doesn’t work, I try (and try and try) to fix it. All those years ago, on the night before Jim’s and my wedding, I did not need to be sobbing in the front seat of our car. Things worked out. Things will work out for you, too.
Many of you have written asking if there will be more Goldy books. I am taking a break now, but have not given up on the idea of revisiting the Goldy series. Thank you many times over for your support.
Throughout the writing and publication of the Goldy books, you wonderful readers have become my constant source of inspiration and support. I feel blessed to have known you through meeting you in bookstores and through your letters and posts on my Facebook fan page. You have taken Goldy, Arch, Tom, Marla, Julian, and all the rest of the Aspen Meadow gang into your hearts. And you are in mine.
Index
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.
A
Ad Guys’ Roast Beef and Gravy, 128–30
Alexander, Carol, 281
All-American Deep-Dish Apple Pie, 291–93
almonds: Almond Poppy Seed Muffins, 190; Babsie’s Tarts, 242–43; Chocolate Coma Cookies, 234–35; Chocolate-Dipped Biscotti, 212–13; Chopping Spree Salad, 92–94; Goldy’s Nuthouse Cookies, 244–45; Green Beans Amandine, 316; Keepsake Cookies, 226; Lemon Butter Wafers, 222–23
amaretto liqueur: Chocolate Tartufi Diana, 303–7; Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake, 266–67
André’s Coq au Vin, 139–40
anise: Chocolate-Dipped Biscotti, 212–13
Anniversary Burgers, 131
apples: All-American Deep-Dish Apple Pie, 291–93; Blondes’ Blondies, 224–25; Crunchy Cinnamon Toast, 199; Party Apples, 77; Shuttlecock Shrimp Curry, 161–62; Turkey Curry with Raisin Rice, 155–56
artichokes: Bacon-Wrapped Artichokes with Dijon Cream Sauce, 17; Collector’s Camembert Pie, 52–54; Diamond Lovers’ Hot Crab Dip, 22–23
asparagus: Asparagus Quiche, 61; Chilean Sea Bass with Garlic, Basil, and Vegetables, 166; Collector’s Camembert Pie, 52–54; Stir-Fry Chicken with Asparagus, 147–48
avocados: Hard-Core Prawn Salad, 317–18; Holy Moly Guacamole, 15; Nachos Schulz, 16; Schulz’s Guacamole Salad, 82; Spicy Guacamole Dipping Sauce, 20; Stylish Strawberry Salad, 97; Tom’s Layered Mexican Dip, 18
B
Babsie’s Tarts, 242–43
bacon: Bacon-Wrapped Artichokes with Dijon Cream Sauce, 17; Dijon Pasta Salad, 83; Quiche Me Qui
ck, 47; Slumber Party Potatoes, 73
Banana-Pecan Muffins, 194
basil: Chilean Sea Bass with Garlic, Basil, and Vegetables, 166
beans: black bean sauce (note), 148; Boulder Chili, 58; Chicky Bread, 186–87; Green Beans Amandine, 316; Mexican Egg Rolls with Spicy Guacamole Dipping Sauce, 19–20; Nachos Schulz, 16; Stir-Fry Chicken with Asparagus, 147–48; Tom’s Layered Mexican Dip, 18; The Whole Enchilada Pie, 132
Beard, James, 174
Becker, Gavin de, The Gift of Fear, 7
beef: Ad Guys’ Roast Beef and Gravy, 128–30; Anniversary Burgers, 131; Boulder Chili, 58; Chile Con Queso Dip, 21; Chinese Beef Stir-Fry with Vegetables, 118–19; Love-Me-Tenderloin Grilled Steaks, 123–24; Shakespeare’s Steak Pie, 120–22; Sweethearts’ Swedish Meatballs in Burgundy Sauce, 125–27; Tenderloin of Beef, 321–22; Unorthodox Shepherd’s Pie, 133–34; The Whole Enchilada Pie, 132
beer: Not-So-Secret Cheese Spread, 29
berries: Berries with Yogurt Cream, 323–24; Labor Day Flourless Chocolate Cake with Berries, Melba Sauce, and White Chocolate Cream, 260–63; Totally Unorthodox Coeur à la Crème, 295–96
Big Bucks Bread Puddings with Hard Sauce, 269–71
Biscotti, Chocolate-Dipped, 212–13
Black-and-White Cake, 297–98
Blakeslee, Ann, 226
Bleak House Bars, 250–51
Blondes’ Blondies, 224–25
Boulder Chili, 58; Huevos Palacios, 57–58
Bracken, Peg: I Hate to Cook Book, 5
breads, 169–201; Almond Poppy Seed Muffins, 190; Banana-Pecan Muffins, 194; Bread Dough Enhancer for Yeast Breads, 173; Castle Scones, 196; Chicky Bread, 186–87; Cinnamon Griddle Scones, 195; Crunchy Cinnamon Toast, 199; “Dad’s Bread,” 170, 174–75; Galaxy Doughnuts, 176–77; Goldy’s Guava Coffee Cake, 200; Got-a-Hunch Brunch Rolls, 184–85; Grand Marnier Cranberry Muffins, 197; Irish Soda Bread, 191; Julian’s Five-Grain Bread, 182–83; Monster Cinnamon Rolls, 178–79; note on recipes, 172; Piña Colada Muffins, 192–93; Stained-Glass Sweet Bread, 198; What-to-Do-with-All-the-Egg-Yolks Bread, 180–81; Yolanda’s Cuban Bread, 188–89
Goldy's Kitchen Cookbook Page 26