Grilling the Subject (30 page)

Baste your meat or poultry liberally with sauce while you barbecue.

From Bailey:

My mother loves serving this dish at The Pelican Brief Diner. It's savory and is a good side dish to just about everything. It has become one of Tito's favorite dishes. He likes things spicy, like me.

(serves 4 to 6)

¼ cup butter, cubed

2 cups uncooked white rice

1 can (14½ ounces) diced tomatoes with their liquid

1 cup beef broth, plus more if needed

1 medium onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

⅛ teaspoon white pepper

In a sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the rice and stir until lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes.

Add the diced tomatoes with their liquid, beef broth, chopped onion, minced garlic, bay leaf, sugar, salt, black pepper, and white pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer the rice for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Add more beef broth if needed.

Remove the bay leaf before serving.

Isn't that easy?

From Katie:

I'm always searching for a new recipe for sweets. The patrons at the café don't want the same old, same old. They want new. And they seem to love spicy. For the Wild West Extravaganza, I decided that a hot, spicy fudge would do the trick. This is so easy to make. If you don't like it too spicy, omit the cayenne pepper, but keep the bacon. Chocolate and bacon are a superb sweet-savory combination!

(makes 32 large or 64 small pieces)

3 cups dark chocolate morsels

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

⅛ teaspoon white pepper

4 tablespoons crisply cooked and crumbled bacon

Line an 8-inch-square pan with parchment.

In a saucepan, heat the chocolate and the sweetened condensed milk over medium-low heat until the chocolate is melted. Be sure to stir continually so the chocolate melts evenly.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and white pepper.

[If you're worried about how hot it might be, cut back on the peppers and taste with the tip of a spoon.]

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Top with crumbled bacon and press the bacon lightly to affix to the chocolate.

Allow the fudge to set for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator. Slice into pieces using a hot, wet knife.

(serves 6-8)

3 cups milk

1¼ cups yellow cornmeal

3 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1¾ teaspoons baking powder

butter, if desired

Measure the milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the cornmeal; reduce the heat to low. Cook and stir for several
minutes, until the cornmeal has absorbed all of the milk. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for about 1 hour. The mixture will be very stiff.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 1½-quart casserole dish.

Place the cornmeal mixture in a large bowl.

Separate the eggs. Stir the yolks, salt, baking powder, and butter into the cornmeal mixture.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold the egg whites into the cornmeal mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared casserole dish.

Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges of the spoon bread become lightly toasted. Serve hot. This does not cut like a pie. Use a large spoon to dish it
up.

Daryl Wood Gerber
is the Agatha Award–winning author of
Fudging the Books
,
Stirring the Plot
,
Inherit the Word
, and
Final Sentence
, as well as the Cheese Shop Mysteries under the pseudonym Avery Aames. Like her protagonist, Daryl is an admitted foodie and an avid reader of books, including cookbooks. Prior to writing, Daryl acted on stage and television, including on
Murder, She Wrote
. To sign up for her newsletter, download recipes, and join contests, visit her website at darylwoodgerber.com.

Looking for more?
Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.
Discover your next great read!