Shot in the Dark
Page 33
Pork Chops Smothered in Onions
This down-home Southern comfort food is a Jones family tradition. Leonidas Jabari Jones prepared it every Sunday for his wife and daughters. Lee Jones’s favorite musician, Jimi Hendrix, was a fan of soul food, too—and some say smothered pork chops was his favorite dish. At the special dinner Madame hosted for her son, Lee’s chops were served over Matt’s Fluffy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, with a side of Hard Cider Green Beans, a popular specialty at the Village Blend’s upstairs jazz supper club in Washington, DC. You can find the recipe for Matt’s potatoes on page 330 of this book, and the recipe for the Village Blend’s Hard Cider Green Beans can be found in the back of Coffeehouse Mystery #15: Dead to the Last Drop.
Serves 4
4 large, bone-in pork chops, well marbled, at least 1½ inches thick
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon salt (standard table salt)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, enough to cover bottom of pan
3 tablespoons salted butter
2 large Vidalia or yellow onions, sliced thin
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1⅓ cups chicken broth
½ cup buttermilk (see end note*)
Salt and pepper to taste
Mashed potatoes (optional)
Step 1—Brown the chops: Preheat oven to 250°F. Season the chops with the poultry seasoning, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, begin browning the chops well, about 6 minutes per side. Remove the chops from pan and reserve in preheated oven.
Step 2—Prepare the onions: Pour the excess fat out of the pan and return it to medium heat. Melt the butter in the pan and add the onions. Sauté for 15 to 20 minutes—the onions must be caramelized a golden brown before you continue with the recipe! Stir in the flour and cook for 3 minutes.
Step 3—Finish the sauce: Add the chicken broth and buttermilk to the pan of onions. As the mixture comes to a simmer, scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat to low and let the onion gravy simmer for 15 minutes. Add a little water if it becomes too thick.
Step 4—Combine: Add the pork chops and any juices (that were shed in the oven) back into the pan with the onions and coat the pork with the gravy. Cook for 8 minutes, or until the chops reach an internal temperature of 155° to 165°F. Add salt and pepper to taste, serve over mashed potatoes, and dive into soul food joy!
*Cooking tip: If you do not have buttermilk on hand, add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar to ½ cup of whole milk and let stand for 15 minutes before using in the recipe.
Sparkling Pear Pick-Me-Up
Despite the twelve-dollar price tag, Clare fell in love with this brisk and bubbly fruit drink from the Euclid—a slick juice bar in the Equator luxury gym. Since she wasn’t a member, Clare decided to create her own homemade version. The drink is deliciously refreshing after a walk in the park or Clare’s new favorite workout with Tucker and Punch at the McBurney YMCA: Sweatin’ with the Seventies. Madame enjoys this drink, as well, although she notes it can be greatly improved by the addition of prosecco!
Makes four 16-ounce servings (or eight 8-ounce servings)
2 cups chilled pear nectar
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup raw honey, or ½ cup granulated sugar
2 quarts very cold seltzer* (or 1 quart seltzer + 4 cups prosecco)
1 chilled, fresh pear, quartered
4 to 8 cinnamon sticks (optional)
*Note: Be sure to choose seltzer for this recipe and not club soda or mineral water. Seltzer is simply carbonated water. Club soda and mineral water include other ingredients (e.g. sodium bicarbonate) and will not give you the best results.
In a large container, combine the pear nectar, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, honey (or sugar), and cold seltzer. Cut a fresh pear into slices (4 or 8, depending on glass size). Place one slice in each glass and pour the punch over the fruit. For a garnish, add a cinnamon stick. For an alcoholic version of this recipe (Madame’s favorite), simply replace 1 quart of the seltzer with 4 cups of chilled prosecco.
The Euclid’s World Famous ($18) Banana Smoothie
Renowned for its creative and beautiful drinks, the Euclid juice bar’s most popular item is this Banana Smoothie. This thick dream of a drink delivers layers of flavor from banana and pineapple to cinnamon and coconut. Despite its fame, Clare felt the drink’s price tag was a tad high (even with Southampton honey), so she asked Nancy to charm the recipe out of a Euclid bartender. Now you, too, can drink this famous, overpriced smoothie—and you don’t even have to sneak in through a luxury gym’s grubby back door to do it.
Makes 1 very large or 2 average servings
3 frozen organic bananas, chopped into 1-inch pieces
½ cup lite coconut milk
½ cup pineapple juice
½ cup plain Greek yogurt (Not to be confused with geek yogurt, says Nancy, which would be a typo.)
1 tablespoon raw, local honey (the Euclid sources from Southampton)
Pinch of finely ground Himalayan pink salt (or any posh sea salt)
Pinch of quality ground cinnamon (the Euclid favors Saigon)
2 ice cubes (the Euclid uses bottled spring water)
Cinnamon sugar (for glass rim)
(Clare’s optional addition) Generous splash of Plantation rum!
Peel the bananas and freeze them. Into a blender, measure the coconut milk, pineapple juice, Greek yogurt, honey, salt, and cinnamon. (If using Clare’s optional addition of Plantation rum, add it now.) Cut 2 frozen bananas into 1-inch pieces, and add them to the blender with the 2 ice cubes. Pulse the blender until your ingredients are smooth—no lumps. If too thin for your taste, add more frozen banana pieces (from your third frozen banana) or add more ice and blend again. To serve, pour the smoothie into a glass with a rim dipped in coconut milk and encrusted by cinnamon sugar (see below for method).
How to rim a glass with cinnamon sugar—Into a shallow bowl, mix ¼ cup granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon (or halve the recipe by mixing 2 tablespoons sugar with 1½ teaspoons cinnamon). Invert your glass and dip its rim into a bit of coconut milk (or another liquid). Now dip the same moistened rim into the cinnamon sugar to encrust the edges. Pour your libation into the glass, carefully avoiding disturbing the pretty edges, and . . . drink with joy!
Mommy and Me Chocolate Chip Cookies
Like so many parents, Clare Cosi did her best to get her baby through all the hardships and humiliations of childhood. From bruised feelings to heartbreaking crushes, the kitchen is where they talked things over and cried things out. And sometimes, during those bittersweet talks, she and her daughter baked together. This simple yet wonderful chocolate chip cookie recipe was one of their favorites because it made just enough for “Mommy and Me.” Easily whipped up in one bowl, in just a few minutes, these cookies truly are amazing with perfect crispy-chewy texture and buttery-caramel flavor, laced with just the right amount of chocolate.
Makes 4 large, flat, absolutely delicious cookies
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt (table salt or finely ground sea salt)
1 yolk of a large egg
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar, firmly packed
¼ cup all-purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
2½ tablespoons mini semisweet chocolate chips (see end note*)
(optional) 2 teaspoons finely chopped walnuts
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter and set it into the freezer
to cool for five minutes while you preheat oven to 350°F. Once the butter feels cool to the touch, whisk in the following ingredients in this order: the vanilla and salt; the egg yolk; and the two sugars (white and light brown). Measure in the flour, sprinkle in the baking soda, and switch to a rubber spatula to stir into a sticky, loose dough. Finally, fold in the mini chocolate chips (and nuts if using). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop the dough in four equal-size mounds on the pan, leaving plenty of space between the cookies for spreading. For perfect-looking, café-style rounds, flatten the mounds very slightly and shape into circles. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes. Remove cookies when golden-brown but still slightly underdone. Allow to finish cooking by sitting on the hot baking sheet, outside the oven, for another 8 minutes, and . . . Eat with Joy (or your own daughter)!
*Cooking tip: For best results, use mini chips. If you prefer to use standard chocolate chips or chunks, chop them into smaller pieces and measure after chopping.
Clare’s “Secret Ingredient” Café-Style Peanut Butter Cookies
Crispy on the outside yet beautifully chewy on the inside, these sweet, nutty circles of goodness are the very cookies Mike Quinn was pining for while working in London. Clare’s secret to the outstanding chewy texture comes from a baker’s trick that’s been around for years. When an astringent ingredient (in this case, a small amount of apple cider vinegar) is mixed with the proteins in the egg, the resulting combination enhances the chewy texture of the cookie’s interior. To preserve it, Clare warns not to overbake the cookies, and she gives you tips to get the best results in her recipe. Like Mike Quinn, the Village Blend customers have fallen in love with these cookies—may you, too, eat with joy!
Makes 28 to 32 cookies, depending on size
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1¼ cups peanut butter (standard creamy, do not use “natural” separated)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten with fork
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (the secret ingredient)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon table salt or finely ground sea salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup (or so) granulated sugar for rolling dough balls
Step 1—Make the dough: Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs with the (secret ingredient) vinegar and add this mixture to the large bowl, blending well. Now mix in the vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Finally, blend in the flour until a soft dough forms. Cover with plastic and chill to firm up (2 hours).
Step 2—Form the balls: Pinch off generous pieces of dough and roll into big, golf ball–sized rounds. Gently roll the balls in granulated sugar.
Step 3—Bake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Place the cookie balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, keeping the balls a few inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake them for about 17 minutes. Do not overbake. The cookies are not done until they flatten out with cracks appearing across their tops. Be patient and wait for this to happen. Remove from oven and allow the cookies to continue baking on the hot pan for another 5 minutes before moving the cookies to a rack to finish cooling. These sweet, nutty circles of goodness are especially delicious with a mug of hot coffee. And on that note . . .
From Clare, Matt, Madame, Esther, Tucker, Dante, Nancy, and everyone at the Village Blend . . .
May you eat and drink with joy!
Don’t Miss the Next Coffeehouse Mystery by Cleo Coyle
For more information about the Coffeehouse Mysteries and what’s next for Clare Cosi and her merry band of baristas, visit Cleo Coyle at her website: coffeehousemystery.com
Photo by Alice Alfonsi
Cleo Coyle is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are the New York Times bestselling authors of the Coffeehouse Mysteries (Dead Cold Brew, Dead to the Last Drop, and Once Upon a Grind)—now celebrating more than ten years in print. As Alice Kimberly, they also write the nationally bestselling Haunted Bookshop Mysteries. Alice has worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C., and New York, and has written popular fiction for adults and children. A former magazine editor, Marc has authored espionage thrillers and nonfiction for adults and children. Alice and Marc are also bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, and MGM. They live and work in New York City, where they write independently and together.
You can visit them online at coffeehousemystery.com, facebook.com/cleocoyle, and twitter.com/CleoCoyle.
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