Pasta Mortem

by Ellery Adams

  The Red Bird’s Cranberry Kisses Mocktail

  Serves 25

  25 orange wedges

  75 ounces cranberry juice cocktail

  12.5 ounces fresh orange juice

  Club soda or Sprite

  Add juices to punch bowl. Fill with ice and club soda or Sprite. Pour into individual glasses and garnish with an orange slice.

  Milla’s Black Bean Soup

  Serves 2–3

  2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

  1 medium red onion, finely chopped

  2 cloves garlic, minced

  1 tablespoon minced jalapeños

  1 tablespoon tomato paste

  Freshly ground black pepper

  1 teaspoon chili powder

  1/2 teaspoon cumin

  3 (15-ounce) cans black beans, with liquid

  1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth

  1 bay leaf

  Sour cream, for garnish

  Sliced avocado, for garnish

  Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

  In a large pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and jalapeños and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir to coat vegetables, and cook about a minute more.

  Season with pepper, chili powder, and cumin and stir to coat.

  Add black beans with their liquid and vegetable broth. Stir soup, add bay leaf, and bring to a boil.

  Immediately reduce to a simmer and let simmer until slightly reduced, about 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf.

  Using a food processor, blend the soup to desired consistency.

  Serve with a dollop of sour cream, sliced avocado, and cilantro.

  Lindy’s Tuna Garden Pasta Salad

  Serves 6

  2 cups whole-wheat rotini (6 ounces)

  1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise

  1/3 cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt

  2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

  1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar

  1 clove garlic, minced

  1/8 teaspoon salt

  Freshly ground pepper

  2 cans tuna packed in water, drained

  1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

  1 cup diced yellow or red bell pepper

  1 cup grated carrots

  1/2 cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives

  1/2 cup chopped green onions

  1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

  Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes, or according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold running water.

  Whisk mayonnaise, yogurt, oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl until smooth. Add the pasta and tuna, and then toss to coat. Add tomatoes, bell pepper, carrots, olives, green onions, and basil; toss to coat well.

  Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.

  Dolly’s Buttermilk Pie

  3 eggs

  2/3 cup buttermilk

  2 cups sugar

  1 tablespoon flour

  1/2 cup melted butter

  1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

  Pinch of salt

  2 unbaked pie shells

  Preheat over to 275 degrees F. Beat eggs and combine with buttermilk. Sir in the rest of the ingredients. Pour into 2 unbaked pie shells.

  Bake for 10 minutes then increase the temperature to 300 and bake for 50 minutes.

  Makes two because Dolly has a lot of customers who love this pie.

  Mrs. Anderson’s Lentil and Vegetable Stew with Moroccan Spices

  Serves 6

  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  1 teaspoon ground cumin

  1 teaspoon salt

  1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

  1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

  1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

  1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

  1/8 teaspoon curry powder

  1 tablespoon butter

  1 sweet onion, chopped

  2 cups finely shredded kale

  4 (14-ounce) cans vegetable broth

  1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained

  1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

  3 large potatoes, peeled and diced

  2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

  4 large carrots, chopped

  1 cup dried lentils, rinsed

  1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

  1 tablespoon honey

  1 teaspoon ground black pepper, to taste

  Combine cinnamon, cumin, salt, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, turmeric, and curry powder in a large bowl.

  Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the onion in the butter until soft and just beginning to brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in kale and spice mixture; cook until kale begins to wilt and spices are fragrant, about 2 minutes.

  Pour the vegetable broth into the pot. Stir garbanzo beans, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, lentils, apricots, and honey into the broth; bring to boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until vegetables and lentils are cooked and tender, about 30 minutes.

  Season stew with black pepper.

  If you want to thicken the stew, dissolve 1 tablespoon of flour or cornstarch into 1 tablespoon of water; stir into stew and simmer thickened, about 5 minutes.

  Books by Ellery Adams

  The Secret, Book & Scone Society

  The Secret, Book & Scone Society

  The Book Retreat Mysteries

  Murder in the Mystery Suite

  Murder in the Paperback Parlor

  Murder in the Secret Garden

  Murder in the Locked Library

  The Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries

  Pies and Prejudice

  Peach Pies and Alibis

  Pecan Pies and Homicides

  Lemon Pies and Little White Lies

  Breach of Crust

  The Books by the Bay Mysteries

  A Killer Plot

  A Deadly Cliché

  The Last Word

  Written in Stone

  Poisoned Prose

  Lethal Letters

  Writing All Wrongs

  Killer Characters

  The Supper Club Mysteries

  Carbs & Cadavers

  Fit to Die

  Chili con Corpses

  Stiffs & Swine

  The Battered Body

  Black Beans & Vice

  Pasta Mortem

  Hope Street Church Mysteries

  The Path of the Crooked

  The Way of the Wicked

  The Graves of the Guilty

  The Root of All Evil

  Fate of the Fallen

  Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries

  A Killer Collection

  A Fatal Appraisal

  A Deadly Dealer

  A Treacherous Trader

  A Devious Lot

  A Killer Keepsake

  Other Books by Rosemary Stevens

  The Murder-A-Go-Go Mysteries

  It’s a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder

  Twist and Shout Murder

  Secret Agent Girl

  The Beau Brummell Mysteries

  Death on a Silver Tray

  The Tainted Snuff Box

  The Bloodied Cravat

  Murder in the Pleasure Gardens

  The Cats of Mayfair (Regency Romance)

  A Crime of Manners

  Miss Pymbroke’s Rules

  Lord and Master

  How the Rogue Stole Christmas

  About the Authors

  New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. Having spent her adult life in a series of landlocked towns, she cherishes her memories of open water, violent storms, and the smell of the sea. She now writes full-time from her home in North Carolina, which she shares with her husband, two trolls, and three keyboard-hogging felines. Adams loves coffee, champagne, kickboxing, 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles, Pinterest, and black jelly beans.

  Her traditionally
published series include The Secret, Book, and Scone Society Mysteries; The Book Retreat Mysteries; The Books by the Bay Mysteries; and The Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries.

  Her Indie series include the Supper Club Mysteries, the Hope Street Church Mysteries, and the Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries.

  • • •

  Rosemary Stevens is the author of the Murder-A-Go-Go retro mystery series set in 1960s New York City, the Beau Brummell mystery series set in Regency England, and four sweet Regency romances in the Cats of Mayfair series. Stevens won the Agatha Award and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award for her first mystery, Death on a Silver Tray. She lives in Central Virginia with her family, including two Siamese cats whose wishes she caters to day and night. She loves British detective shows, anything vintage, chocolate, pizza, and Southern food, especially biscuits and gravy, and is perpetually on a diet.