by Gigi Pandian
creamy garlic tomato sauce (vegan)
Total cooking time: 1 hour
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
• 2 tbsp plus ¼ cup olive oil, divided
• 10 medium-size cloves garlic
• 24 oz. jar tomato puree or strained tomatoes
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• ¼ tsp red chili pepper flakes (or to taste)
Directions:
Smash the garlic cloves, and let them rest for 10 minutes. Heat a medium saucepan on low heat while peeling and mincing the smashed garlic. Add 2 tbsp olive oil and garlic. Cook garlic and oil slowly on low heat for 20 minutes. Add tomato puree and simmer for another 20 minutes, minimum.
Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes, then stir in ¼ cup olive oil. Use an immersion blender or transfer to a blender. Watch the color of the red sauce transform to a lighter shade of pink before your eyes, as if you’d added cream.
Once blended, stir in salt and red chili pepper flakes.
Add to 4 servings of a grain (e.g., pasta or freekeh) or use as a dipping sauce for bread.
Note:
You can skip the step of letting the garlic rest for 10 minutes, but the most health benefits will be released by letting it rest for at least 10 minutes once smashed or chopped before heating.
Note:
The trick of transforming these simple ingredients into more than the sum of their parts is time. For the best results, don’t skip the step of letting the garlic and sauce simmer.
chocolate mousse (vegan, raw)
Total cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes 2 servings
Ingredients:
• 1 large ripe avocado
• ¼ cup cacao powder
• ¼ cup maple syrup (or 1⁄3 cup for a sweeter mousse)
• ¼ cup cashew milk (or other nut milk of choice)
• ½ tsp vanilla
• dash sea salt
Directions:
Add all ingredients to a food processor. Puree for at least 1–2 minutes, until smooth and creamy. If lumps persist, stop the food processor and stir the mixture before resuming blending.
Divide into two dessert serving bowls. Optional: garnish with fresh berries on top.
Note:
Skeptical that avocado is the main ingredient? Tasters were surprised to learn the mousse even contained avocado.
frozen lemon cheesecake drops (vegan, raw)
Total cooking time: 15 minutes hands on (plus overnight soaking time, and time to set in freezer)
Makes 6 servings (approx. 24 drops)
Ingredients for the topping:
• ¼ cup dates (or up to ½ cup, if you prefer a sweeter crust)
• ½ cup walnuts (or substitute almonds)
Ingredients for the cheesecake:
• 1½ cup raw cashews
• 1⁄3 cup maple syrup
• 1⁄3 cup coconut oil
• 3 tbsp lemon juice (add an additional tbsp lemon juice for a tarter tart)
• dash of salt
• dash of turmeric (optional)
Directions:
Soak the cashews in water overnight. Or, if in a rush, boil water and soak in hot water for 4 hours.
To make the topping, chop the dates and walnuts in a food processor. Set aside in a small bowl.
To make the cheesecake drops, drain and rinse the cashews. Melt the coconut oil. Puree all cheesecake ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth, around 1 or 2 minutes. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Scoop heaping tablespoons of batter onto the parchment. Sprinkle with the date and nut topping. Let set in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
Author’s Note
As with the other books in the Accidental Alchemist mystery series, The Elusive Elixir is a work of fiction, but the historical backdrop is real.
The façade of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris includes several alchemical carvings, including a person carrying a shield with a salamander in flames. My addition of Dorian’s alchemy book to the carving is fictional, and there aren’t currently any alchemists using Notre Dame as described in the book—as far as I know.
Dorian Robert-Houdin is based on the famous Le Penseur gargoyle that sits high on Notre Dame. If you’re ever in Paris, he’s worth the long line and stairs to visit.
Nicolas Flamel’s house still stands in Paris at 51 rue de Montmorency, and is now a restaurant. Rue Nicolas Flamel, a street in the 4th Arrondissement in Paris, is also named after the famous alchemist. Le Cabaret de L’Enfer was a real Hell-themed café that opened in the 1800s in Paris’s Pigalle neighborhood, the red-light district famous for the Moulin Rouge.
The Death Rotation is a real concept in alchemy, but backward alchemy as portrayed in this book is fictional. I enjoyed developing this idea because alchemy is so shrouded in secrecy that it’s easy to imagine what some of the codes and concepts might have meant. Alchemy is an example of a subject where the Internet doesn’t reveal all. In my research I came across many old books that have not been digitized, filled with fascinating historical facts about alchemy and old alchemical drawings.
Alchemy, in reality, is both a figurative concept and a precursor to modern chemistry. As Zoe explains, alchemy is about transformation. Alchemists of previous centuries wanted to transform their bodies (seeking the Elixir of Life for immortality) or the elements (transmuting lead or other metals into gold). Their experiments resulted in many discoveries that led to chemistry as we know it today. Zoe is a spagyric alchemist, someone who uses alchemical processes to extract healing properties from plants. Spiritual alchemy is the practice of inner transformation.
I’m not an alchemist (nor am I a French gargoyle chef), but my life transformed five years ago when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in my thirties. I began writing this series steeped in alchemy and cooking transformations while I was undergoing chemotherapy. I took cooking classes and learned how to cook healing vegan foods that nourished both my body and soul. As I write this, I’m four years cancer-free and working on the next Accidental Alchemist mystery.
Acknowledgments
What would I do without my critique readers? Huge thanks go to the ever-insightful and supportive Emberly Nesbitt, Nancy Adams, Brian Selfon, Stephen Buehler, Juliet Blackwell, Susan Parman, my agent Jill Marsal, and my editorial team at Midnight Ink: Terri Bischoff, Amy Glaser, and Nicole Nugent.
I’d go crazy without the support from the writers in my life. Local pals Emberly Nesbitt, Mysti Berry, Juliet Blackwell, Lisa Hughey, and Michelle Gonzales make sure I make it to the café and keep writing. Sisters in Crime, especially the Guppies, provide endless online support. And Diane Vallere, my kindred spirit on this path, is always there to bounce around ideas.
My parents always told me I could be anything I wanted to be. Without their early encouragement, there’s no way I would have conceived of this series. And my amazing husband James encourages my dreams in every way.
© Michael B. Woolsey
About the Author
Gigi Pandian is the USA Today bestselling author of the Accidental Alchemist mystery series and the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mystery series. A breast cancer diagnosis in her thirties taught her two important life lessons: healing foods can taste amazing, and life’s too short to waste a single moment. Gigi spent her childhood being dragged around the world by her cultural anthropologist parents, and she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with an overgrown organic vegetable garden in the backyard. Find her online at www.gigipandian.com.
his book with friends
