Serve at room temperature. Store in a covered jar up to a week in the refrigerator. Makes about ¾ cup.
Erin’s Spur-of-the-Moment Shrimp Florentine
Florentine means “with spinach.” Alternate translation? Quick and yummy! Erin used a blend with sundried tomatoes, parsley, horseradish, lemon, and other herbs and spices. Try an Italian blend, an herbed salt, or a Cajun spice blend for a different flavor punch!
1–2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon or 1 clove minced garlic
2 slicing tomatoes or 2–3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon of your favorite spice blend
2–3 cups (or handfuls!) fresh spinach
20–24 medium shrimp, cooked
Cooked jasmine rice or a short, sturdy pasta, such as penne or rotilli
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Saute the garlic until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook over medium-low heat until soft, 3–5 minutes. Toss in the seasoning and stir well to blend. Add the spinach and cover for 2–3 minutes, until spinach is soft. Toss in the shrimp and stir; cover and cook until shrimp are heated, another 2–3 minutes. Serve over rice or pasta.
This recipe is flexible and easily increased. Serve with a green salad. It pairs well with red or white wine.
Serves 2.
Pan-Baked Lemon-Almond Tart
Because you can’t eat cookies all the time! This gluten-free treat is perfect with vanilla ice cream or a tiny glass of Grand Marnier, for dessert or a special brunch.
2 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted, for garnish
4 eggs
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
½ cup ground almonds
½ cup cream
½ cup sliced almonds
1 lemon, zest and juice
2 tablespoons butter
3–4 tablespoons powdered sugar, for garnish
Heat oven to 300 degrees. Toast 2 tablespoons sliced almonds for about 10 minutes. (Remember, they will continue to darken as they cool.)
Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees.
In a bowl, combine eggs, sugar, salt, ground almonds, cream, sliced almonds, and lemon zest and juice.
In an 8-inch oven-proof skillet over low heat, melt the butter. When the foam subsides, add the almond mixture, tilting the pan to distribute batter evenly. Cook tart until the edges just begin to set, about 3 minutes, then put the pan in the oven and finish cooking, about 10–15 minutes.
When tart is done, broil for about a minute, until just golden on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and sliced toasted almonds. Cool slightly before cutting and serve.
Serves 6–8.
The Perfect Lunch Break
Grilled Caprese Sandwiches
Nothing is quite so comforting as grilled cheese, as this variation of the famous Caprese salad demonstrates. A sturdy bread will grill nicely with oil, but you can use the more typical butter if you prefer. If you’ve got a panini press, press away!
4 slices rustic sourdough or Italian country bread
1 large garlic clove, peeled and halved
½ tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons basil pesto
3 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1 ripe heirloom tomato, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 large basil leaves
Lay the bread on a flat surface. Rub one side of each slice with the cut side of a garlic clove and brush with oil. Turn over. Spread basil pesto on the unoiled side of two slices, then layer with cheese and tomatoes, dividing evenly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with remaining slices of bread, garlic side up.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and butter or spray with cooking spray. Place sandwiches in pan. Cover and cook 2–3 minutes, until golden on the bottom. Flip and cook 2–4 minutes, until the other side of the bread is golden. Remove from heat and place on serving plates. Garnish with fresh basil leaves or carefully open and insert the basil. Cut in half with a sharp knife and serve.
Makes 2 people very happy.
Treats Too Good to Save for Weddings!
Herbed Squash Toasts
An appetizer that will make your guests swoon. The diced butternut squash available in many grocery stores is perfect; pumpkin or other winter squash would work nicely, as well. This spread is best made a day ahead.
2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and seeded, and cut in cubes or large pieces (about 4 cups)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
½ medium onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
1⁄8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ cup walnuts or pistachios, lightly toasted and finely chopped
1⁄3 cup grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Baguette, sliced about ½ inch thick, about 16 slices
Additional mint and nuts, for garnish
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and oil or spray it.
Place the squash on the baking sheet and rub or toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Bake until tender, 40–60 minutes depending on the type of squash and the size of the pieces. Turn the pieces two or three times, using a spatula or tongs, so they cook and brown evenly. When tender, remove from oven and allow to cool a few minutes.
Place cooked squash in a food processor bowl. Pulse, scraping the sides of the bowl, and purée until smooth. Add a little broth or water if needed, to get a smooth puree.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet. Add the onion and a generous pinch of salt, reduce the heat to medium low, and cook, stirring often, until very tender, sweet, and lightly caramelized, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and add to the squash in the food processor bowl.
Add the mint, nutmeg, walnuts or pistachios, Parmesan, and 1 tablespoon olive oil, and pulse together. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Oil and toast the baguette slices in the oven, 3–5 minutes or until lightly crisped. Spread a tablespoon of the mixture on each slice. Garnish with a sprinkling of crushed nuts and a small mint leaf. Additional mint leaves and nuts make a nice decoration on the serving platter.
Makes about 2 cups, or 16 toasts. Spread keeps several days in the refrigerator and freezes well.
Tanner’s Life’s-Too-Short-For-Rehearsals Champagne Cocktail
As readers of Treble at the Jam Fest remember, Tanner loves creating special cocktails. This drink honors the bride: classic, with just the right balance of sweet and tart!
For each drink:
1 sugar cube
5–6 drops Angostura bitters
½ ounce St. Germain (elderflower liqueur)
5½ ounces champagne
Lemon twist, cut with a channel knife or paring knife
In a champagne flute, soak the sugar cube with the bitters. Add the liqueur, and slowly pour in the champagne. Add the lemon twist.
Salut!
∞
Readers, it’s a thrill to hear from you. Drop me a line at [email protected], connect with me on Facebook at LeslieBudewitzAuthor, or join my seasonal mailing list for book news and more. Sign up on my website, www.LeslieBudewitz.com. Reader reviews and recommendations are a big boost to authors; if you’ve enjoyed my books, please tell your friends. A book is but marks on paper until you read those pages and make the story yours.
Thank you.
About the Author
Leslie Budewitz is passionate about food, great mysteries, and her native Montana, the setting for her national-bestselling Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries. The first, Death al Dente, won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. She also writes the Spice Shop Mysteries, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. A practicing lawyer, Leslie is the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. A past president of Sisters in Crime, Leslie loves to cook, eat, hike, travel, garden, and paint—not necessarily
in that order. She lives in Northwest Montana with her husband, Don Beans, a doctor of natural medicine and musician, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.
Visit her online at www.LeslieBudewitz.com, where you can find maps of Jewel Bay and the surrounding area, recipes, and more.
Table of Contents
Copyright Information
Dedication
Acknowledgments
The Cast
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Recipes
Thank You
About the Author
As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles Page 24
