Cooking Spirits: An Angie Amalfi Mystery (Angie Amalfi Mysteries) (26 page)

“Not in the car,” she said, brushing dust, dirt, and leaves
off of her clothes and hair. She knew she would have very sore muscles
tomorrow, but for the moment, she felt fine. “I want to go into the house. I’ll
be comfortable there, and safe.”

He glanced at her with surprise.
“Into the
house?
I thought you’d never want to have anything to do with that house
or this area again.”

Angie knew what had happened out on the cliff, how she had
been saved, but she also knew she could never explain it to Paavo or to anyone
else unless she wanted to share adjoining padded cells with Carol Steed.

She walked with him through the garage into the house. An
odd sense filled her of being welcomed and protected. The rational part of her
said such good feelings were probably a mixture of adrenaline and pride over
managing to wrestle a mad woman to the ground. After all, nobody had been shot
or killed. The irrational part said much more was going on here.

The sliding glass door in the living room had been left open
and she shut it after a quick look outside at the back yard, and the view
beyond. It was a lovely sight. She decided a little white lie would explain a
lot, and do more good than harm. “Carol Steed kept coming into the house, doing
things here that made it feel as if some occult presence was involved. But
there wasn’t. It’s just a house, Paavo.
A lovely house.”

He put his arms around her and studied her. “Are you sure
you’re all right? Do you want to see a doctor?”

“I’m fine.” She looked up at him with love. They had a lot
still to work out—minor, unimportant details about their wedding, and more
important issues such as his ongoing relationship with Katie and
Micky
Kowalski. But she had faith that everything would
turn out well in the end. “I’m glad we now know what happened to the two people
who once lived here, and that they can finally have peace.”

“They?”
Paavo’s arms tightened
around her. “Well, if there are such things as ghosts, I agree that they should
be happy that the truth has finally come out. Maybe they’ll go off to wherever
it is that ghosts go off to.”

“I imagine they’ll do exactly that.” Angie put her arms
around his neck. She was about to kiss him when from the corner of her eye she
noticed something white in the back yard. She turned her head to see a little
white Scottie dog sitting out there looking in at her.

She smiled.
Or,
she thought,
maybe not.

 
ANGIE’S BAKED CHICKEN KIEV

Note that Chicken Kiev is usually
deep-fried, but if you’re watching your weight, like Angie, you might prefer to
use this recipe.

6 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

½ tsp. leaf tarragon, crumbled

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

¼ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

3 whole
chicken breasts (6 halves—about 2 ½ lbs.)

Coating:

½ cup unseasoned bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. flour

1 egg

2 Tbsp. sesame seeds

Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Fahrenheit.

Combine butter, parsley, tarragon,
garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Roll into 6 individual pieces. Place in
refrigerator to chill, about 15 minutes until butter is firm.

If using whole chicken breasts,
split in half; remove bones and skin. Place each piece between 2 pieces of
waxed paper and flatten with wooden mallet or rolling pin. Remove
parsley-butter from refrigerator. Place each roll of seasoned butter in center
of each flattened chicken breast. Fold long side of chicken over butter, then
fold ends over, being sure butter is completely covered. Fasten with wooden
toothpicks.

Place flour on a sheet of waxed
paper. Beat egg in a small bowl. In another bowl, combine bread crumbs, sesame
seeds and salt and pepper to taste. Roll and cover each piece of chicken with
flour, then egg, then bread crumb mixture. Coat completely.

Bake 5 minutes at 425 degrees, then
lower heat to 400 degrees, and bake 25 minutes longer. Outside should be golden
and crisp.

(Angie often drizzles a bit of
melted butter over the chicken before serving.)

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA

¼ lb. pancetta diced (if not
available, use 1/4 lb. bacon, diced)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 white onion, chopped

1 clove garlic minced

¼ cup dry white wine (optional)

1 lb. spaghetti

1 Tbsp. olive oil

4 eggs

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

1 large leaf basil, chopped fine

Salt & pepper to taste

In a large skillet, add oil,
chopped pancetta (or bacon) and onion.
Cook until pancetta is
slightly crisp and onion translucent.
Add garlic and wine and cook 1
minute more. Remove from heat.

Cook spaghetti in boiling water
with 1 Tbsp. olive oil until al dente (8-10 minutes).

While spaghetti is cooking, in
large bowl combine eggs, Parmesan cheese, parsley,
basil
,
salt and pepper to taste. As soon as spaghetti is cooked, drain thoroughly, and
toss hot spaghetti into bowl. Toss to coat spaghetti with mixture.

Reheat pancetta and as soon as
skillet is hot, add

spaghetti
.
Toss to mix in pancetta and to cook the egg. Serve.

(Angie sometimes sprinkles red
pepper flakes on her carbonara at the table to add a little zest—but not too
much or it’ll overwhelm the subtle flavor of the carbonara.)

HARD, ROUND ICED ITALIAN COOKIES

Like Angie’s Mamma makes…

½ lb. butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. anise extract

4 cups flour

2 Tbsp. baking powder

Icing:

1 ¾ cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. anise extract (or 1
Tbsp. vanilla or 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice)

2 Tbsp. milk

Colored sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Fahrenheit.

Cream butter and
sugar until soft.
Add eggs, vanilla and anise flavorings. Mix well.
Combine flour and baking powder,
then
blend into the
butter mixture.

Break off small, tablespoon size
pieces of dough, roll and then twist into a circle, lightly pinching ends to
stick together. (Can twist into any shape you like, bows, braids, “s” etc.)
Bake 375 degrees until lightly browned, 15-20 minutes.

Icing: Blend sugar and
flavoring,
slowly add milk to form soft, smooth icing.
Ice cookies when they cool off a bit.
Sprinkle with colored
sugar before icing sets.

Joanne Pence was born and raised in northern California.
She has been an award-winning, USA Today best-selling author of mysteries for
many years, but she has also written historical fiction, contemporary romance,
romantic suspense, a fantasy, and a paranormal thriller. All of her books are
now available as e-books, and most are also in print.

Joanne hopes you'll enjoy her books, which present a
variety of times, places, and reading experiences, from mysterious to
thrilling, emotional to lightly humorous, as well as powerful tales of times
long past.

Visit her at
www.joannepence.com
.

Ancient Echoes

Over two hundred years ago, a covert expedition shadowing
Lewis and Clark disappeared in the wilderness of Central Idaho. Now, seven
anthropology students and their professor vanish in the same area. The key to
finding them lies in an ancient secret, one that men throughout history have
sought to unveil.

Michael Rempart is a brilliant archeologist with a
colorful and controversial career, but he is plagued by a sense of the
supernatural and a spiritual intuitiveness. Joining Michael are a CIA
consultant on paranormal phenomena, a washed-up local sheriff, and a former
scholar of Egyptology. All must overcome their personal demons as they attempt
to save the students and learn the expedition's terrible secret.

Seems Like Old Times

When Lee Reynolds, nationally known television news
anchor, returns to the small town where she was born to sell her now-vacant childhood
home, little does she expect to find that her first love has moved back to
town. Nor does she expect that her feelings for him are still so strong.

Tony Santos had been a major league baseball player, but
now finds his days of glory gone. He's gone back home to raise his young son as
a single dad.

Both Tony and Lee have changed a lot. Yet, being with him,
she finds that in her heart, it seems like old times...

Dance
With
A Gunfighter

Gabriella
Devere
wants
vengeance. She grows up quickly when she witnesses the murder of her family by
a gang of outlaws, and vows to make them pay for their crime. When the law
won't help her, she takes matters into her own hands.

Jess McLowry left his war-torn Southern home to head
West
, where he hired out his gun. When he learns what
happened to Gabriella's family, and what she plans, he knows a young woman like
her will have no chance against the outlaws, and vows to save her the way he
couldn't save his own family.

But the price of vengeance is high and Gabriella's
willingness to sacrifice everything ultimately leads to the book's deadly and
startling conclusion.

This is a harsh and gritty tale of the old West, in the
tradition of Charles
Portis
'
True Grit
and
Nancy Turner's
These
is My Words
.

The Ghost of Squire
House

For decades, the home built by reclusive artist, Paul
Squire, has stood empty on a windswept cliff overlooking the ocean. Those who
attempted to live in the home soon fled in terror. Jennifer Barrett knows
nothing of the history of the house she inherited. All she knows is she's glad
for the chance to make a new life for herself.

It's Paul Squire's duty to rid his home of intruders, but
something about this latest newcomer's vulnerable status...and resemblance of
someone from his past...dulls his resolve. Jennifer would like to find a real
flesh-and-blood man to liven her days and nights—someone to share her life
with—but living in the artist's house, studying his paintings, she is surprised
at how close she feels to him.

A compelling, prickly ghost with a tortured, guilt-ridden
past, and a lonely heroine determined to start fresh, find themselves in a
battle of wills and emotion in this ghostly fantasy of love, time, and chance.

Gold Mountain

Against the background of San Francisco at the time of the
Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906 comes a tale of love and loss. Ruth Greer,
wealthy daughter of a shipping magnate, finds a young boy who has run away from
his home in Chinatown—an area of gambling parlors, opium dens, sing-song girls,
as well as families trying to eke out a living. It is also home to a number of
highbinder tongs, the infamous “hatchet men” of Chinese lore.

There, Ruth meets the boy's father, Li Han-lin, the
handsome, enigmatic leader of one such tong, and discovers he is neither as
frightening, cruel, or wanton as reputation would have her believe. As Ruth's
fascination with the area grows, she finds herself pulled deeper into the
intrigue of the lawless area, and Han-lin's life. But the two are from
completely different worlds, and when both worlds are shattered by the
earthquake and fire that destroys San Francisco, they face their ultimate test.

Dangerous Journey

C.J. Perkins is trying to find her brother who went
missing while on a Peace Corps assignment in Asia. All she knows is that the
disappearance has something to do with a "White Dragon." Darius Kane,
adventurer and bounty hunter, seems to be her only hope, and she practically
shanghais him into helping her.

With a touch of the romantic adventure film Romancing the
Stone, C.J. and Darius follow a trail that takes them through the narrow
streets of Hong Kong, the backrooms of San Francisco's Chinatown, and the wild
jungles of Borneo as they pursue both her brother and the White Dragon. The
closer C.J. gets to them, the more danger she finds herself in—and it's not
just danger of losing her life, but also of losing her heart.

[This is a completely revised author's edition of novel
previously published as
Armed and Dangerous
.]

Gourmet cook, sometime food columnist, sometime restaurant
critic, and generally "underemployed" person Angelina Amalfi burst
upon the mystery scene in SOMETHING'S COOKING, in which she met San Francisco
Homicide Inspector Paavo Smith. Since that time—over the course of 14 books and
a novella—she's wanted two things in life, a good job...and Paavo.