FOR THE DOUGH
4 cups unbleached bread flour, divided, plus extra for dusting
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¼-ounce package quick-rise yeast (2¼ teaspoons)
½ cup milk
½ cup water
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
FOR THE FILLING
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup raisins
FOR THE TOPPING
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 To make the dough: In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine 1½ cups of flour, the granulated sugar, salt, and yeast.
2 In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine the milk, water, and butter and heat to lukewarm (110°F.) Gradually beat the milk mixture into the flour mixture. Beat in the eggs, and then gradually stir in remaining 2½ cups of flour to make a soft dough that holds its shape.
3 Knead dough by hand or with a dough hook, adding additional flour as necessary. If using your hands, knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If using a dough hook, knead until dough is not sticky and pulls cleanly from the bowl sides, or 6–7 minutes.
4 Grease a large bowl with butter. Form the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1½–1¾ hours.
5 Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Cut dough in half. Using a rolling 51 pin roll out each half into an 8″ × 15″ rectangle.
6 To make the filling: Spread the rectangles with the butter, dividing it equally. In a bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins, and sprinkle mixture over the dough. Starting with the long side facing you, roll each dough rectangle tightly. Pinch the seams to seal. Cut each roll crosswise into 10 equal slices.
7 To make the topping: Grease one 9-inch round and one 8-inch square cake pan. Stir butter and brown sugar together. Add the pecans and sprinkle mixture over pan bottoms. Place 9 dough slices, cut-side down and almost touching, in the square pan. Place 11 dough slices in the round pan. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size, 60–75 minutes.
8 Preheat oven to 350°F. Uncover the loaves, place in oven and bake until golden brown, about 30–35 minutes. Invert the pans onto wire racks set over aluminum foil. Remove the pans and serve.
Anita Diamant
Mark Ostow
SELECTED WOEKS
Day After Night (2009)
The Last Days of Dogtown (2005)
Pitching My Tent: On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship and Other Leaps of Faith (2003)
Good Harbor (2001)
The Red Tent (1997)
Dancing to Write One of the things that moves me to sit down at my computer and create is modern dance, which inspires me in powerful and joyful ways. I love being introduced to the insights of movement, rhythm, music, and sound as the imagination becomes physical. I treasure the adrenaline rush and the challenge to think anew. It reminds me of the honor it is to be a member of the species that dances.
Readers Should Know I depend upon my writing group a lot. I cofounded a group when I started writing fiction in the mid 1990s. I had not felt the need to be a part of a group as a journalist and nonfiction writer, but the isolation of working without colleagues or a waiting editor made me long for feedback and support. The group has changed over the years and now numbers three dear friends who are trusted editors and necessary cheerleaders.
Readers Frequently Ask “Where do you get your ideas for novels?” I can't give a generic answer because it's different every time. The Red Tent grew out of many sources, including midrash, an ancient and imaginative form of Jewish biblical interpretation, and Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. Good Harbor was a response to the fact that so many friends were undergoing breast cancer treatment, and my love for Cape Ann (Gloucester and Rockport, Massachusetts). That was also the setting for The Last Days of Dogtown, which was inspired by a local pamphlet about the history of the place. The seed for Day After Night was planted in 2001 while visiting Atlit, the “living history” museum where Holocaust survivors were interned by the British in Palestine.
Influences on My Writing A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf. I first read it as an undergraduate and I am still inspired by Woolf's clear-eyed message that women's stories need to be told, and also by her style, conviction, and wit. M.F.K. Fisher, author of many books about food and travel, is a master of clear, clean writing and I am always refreshed by her prose. And speaking of refreshment, I find it in poetry (i.e., Mary Oliver, Yehuda Amichai, Billy Collins, Pablo Neruda) that invites me to slow down and savor the weight and texture of words.
SHAYNDEL'S APPLE KUCHEN
Make 8 generous servings
Adapted from Pies & Tarts by Maida Heatter (Cader Books, 1997)
There is nothing like a dessert to call up a baker, a kitchen table, and the sweetness of childhood. (Proust knew what he was doing with that madeleine.) For the young Holocaust survivors in Day After Night, memories of food are a visceral connection to everything they lost. And yet, biting into a delicious piece of cake among friends is also an affirmation of the senses, of community, of life.
Kuchen, or coffee cake, was popular among German bakers, Jews and Gentiles alike, from the nineteenth century on. There are dozens of varieties, from yeast-based doughs topped with fruit or cheese to quick breads and cakes. Although this version employs yeast, no rising time is required, and the result is a sweet, sticky cake full of the apples and almonds that delight Shayndel at the Rosh Hashanah feast described in Day After Night.
Note: This is equally good with peaches, pears, blueberries, or a combination of fruits. If you use apples or pears, they should be peeled, quartered, cored, and cut into wedges about ½-inch thick at the curved edge. If you use peaches, they should be peeled and halved, with the pits removed, and then sliced into wedges about ½-inch thick at the curved edge.
FOR THE TOPPING
½ cup chopped or slivered (julienned) blanched almonds
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup light or dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup all-purpose flour
FOR THE CAKE
2 tablespoons warm water (105–115°F)
1 teaspoon plus ½ cup granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
Finely grated peel of 1 large lemon
¼ cup milk
4–6 cups peeled, cored, and sliced apples (3–4 medium apples) (see note)
¼ cup raisins (optional)
FOR THE ICING
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon boiling water
1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9″ × 13″ × 2″ cake pan and place it in the freezer (it is easier to press out a thin layer of dough if the pan is frozen.)
2 To make the topping: Place the almonds in a shallow pan in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, until hot but not colored. Set aside to cool.
3 In an electric mixer's small bowl, beat the butter until soft. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon and combine, then add the flour and beat only until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the cooled almonds. Set topping aside.
4 To make the cake: Place the warm water in a small bowl, and add 1 teaspoon of sugar (set aside the remaining ½ cup sugar) and the yeast. Stir briefly with a knife just
to mix. Set aside.
5 Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
6 In an electric mixer's large bowl, beat the butter until soft. Add the remaining ½ cup of sugar and combine. Add the yeast mixture, eggs, the vanilla and almond extracts, and the lemon peel, and combine. (It is fine if the mixture looks curdled now.) On low speed, mix in half of the sifted dry ingredients, then the milk, and finally the remaining dry ingredients. Beat until well mixed.
7 Spread half of the mixture (about 1¼ cups) into a very thin layer over the bottom of the buttered, frozen pan (a frosting spreader works well.)
8 Place the prepared apples in rows, each slice just barely touching the one before it. Or, if you wish, the amount of fruit can be increased slightly and the slices can just barely overlap. Sprinkle raisins over the fruit, if desired.
9 Using two teaspoons — one for picking up with and one for pushing off with — place small spoonfuls of the remaining cake mixture over the fruit and the bottom layer. Try to cover as much surface as possible, although it's okay if some fruit shows through. Then, with your fingers, carefully sprinkle the prepared topping to cover as much of the cake as possible.
10 Bake for 35–40 minutes until the top is nicely browned.
11 Prepare icing just a few minutes before cake comes out of oven to prevent icing from stiffening. To make the icing, combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and water in a small bowl. Use a rubber spatula to mix until icing is smooth and thick.
12 As soon as the cake is removed from the oven, use the spatula to drizzle thin lines of the icing every which way over the cake.
13 Serve warm. Cut into large squares and use a wide metal spatula to transfer the portions.
ISRAELI SALAD
Makes 3–4 servings
Adapted from Cooking with Love by Ruth Sirkis (R. Sirkis Publishers, 1984)
Chopped vegetables for breakfast? This takes the European characters in Day After Night by surprise. A staple on breakfast buffet tables in modern Israel, these vegetables offer a bright wake-up call to the palate — though the dish remains a bit of a culinary shock for many tourists to this day.
Note: Israeli pickles can be purchased online or at specialty stores. Lebanese pickles are an excellent substitute, but do not substitute traditional American pickles. Pickles bring some saltiness to the salad so, if you add them, use the lesser amount of salt.
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
2 small radishes, diced
2 Israeli pickles, diced (optional) (see note)
2 scallions, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
½–¾ teaspoon salt (see note)
Ground black pepper to taste
Combine carrot, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, pickles (if using), scallions, and parsley in a large salad bowl. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and toss gently. Serve immediately.
BARLEY BREAD
Makes 3 (6- or 7-inch) loaves
From Gourmet Magazine (May 2006)
Yeast and ovens were not a part of the era and landscape of The Red Tent. Bread was flat, cooked very quickly on top of a heated surface. And yet, there might have been barley flour and there certainly was olive oil, seeds, honey, water and perhaps even salt — some of the ingredients in this earthy recipe. The rustic, homey taste of this bread goes well with olives and other simple fare. This is not a dainty loaf; rip off a hunk to sop up the leavings of goat stew — or whatever is on your menu.
Note: Barley flour and semolina flour can be found at health food stores, or online. Nigella seeds, also labeled kalungi or black caraway seeds or mislabeled “black onion seeds,” are available at Indian and Middle Eastern grocers, or online.
You will need a large pizza stone for this recipe.
1 ¼-ounce package active dry yeast (2¼ teaspoons)
1 tablespoon mild honey
1¾ cups warm water (105–115°F)
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided, plus additional for dusting
1 cup barley flour (see note)
1 cup semolina flour (see note)
1 tablespoon nigella seeds (see note)
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ cup olive oil, divided, plus additional for dipping
3 tablespoons cornmeal
1 Combine yeast, honey, and 1 cup warm water in a small bowl, and stir gently with a fork. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
2 While yeast mixture stands, stir together 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour with barley and semolina flours, nigella seeds, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in flour mixture and add yeast mixture, 3 tablespoons olive oil, and remaining ¾ cup water, then stir until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, working in just enough of remaining 2/3 cup all-purpose flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, 6–8 minutes.
3 Put pizza stone on lowest rack of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.
4 Divide dough into 3 equal pieces and form each into a ball. Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal and arrange balls of dough on it. Firmly flatten balls into 5-inch rounds (leave about 2 inches between each), then brush dough with remaining tablespoon of oil. Cover rounds loosely with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel, and let stand to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.
5 Transfer loaves, one at a time, using a wide spatula, to pizza stone and bake until well browned and loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottoms, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Serve warm, with olive oil for dipping.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Anand Divakaruni
SELECTED WOEKS
One Amazing Thing (2010)
Shadowland (2009)
The Palace of Illusions (2008)
The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming (2005)
Sister of My Heart (1999)
The Mistress of Spices (1997)
Inspiration What I see in the world around me inspires me. For instance, Sister of My Heart, a story about two cousins living in a traditional family in the city of Kolkata, was inspired by an ancient mansion I saw being demolished on one of my visits back to that city. I recreated that mansion in my novel — it became the home of the cousins. One Amazing Thing, a novel about grace under pressure, came out of the traumatic experience of being evacuated from my home in Houston when Hurricane Rita was approaching.
My latest novel, One Amazing Thing is about a group of people trapped by a major earthquake, and how they manage their desperation by telling each other an amazing story from their lives. It comes out of an idea that has been important to me in much of my writing: the power of stories to affect our lives and to save us. It is unlike my other books because instead of a single protagonist, it has nine equally important characters.
I Don't Play Favorites People often ask me if I have a favorite among the books I wrote. Not really, I tell them, the books are like my children, each a labor of love in a different way. With each one I set myself a different kind of challenge. But perhaps because of that reason, I'm always a little fonder of the latest because it contains the most difficult challenge I could think of. For instance, in One Amazing Thing, I set myself the challenge of having the characters trapped in an office lobby with nowhere to go. I therefore had to work very hard to not let the setting get monotonous. I did this by describing in detail the many worlds of the stories being told.
Books That Have Influenced My Writing A book that greatly influenced me when I began writing was Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior. Maxine also writes about the challenges of being an immigrant in America. Her book resonated with me and inspired me to try and tell the stories of my own people, immigrants 61 from India and their children growing up in America. Following are three recipes, each taken from a dis
h mentioned in one of my books, and modified to fit my lifestyle, one which requires balancing many roles. The first is an appetizer, the second a main dish, and the third a dessert. Together they constitute a well-rounded Indian vegetarian dinner.
AMAZINGLY EASY POTATO PARATHAS (A FAMILY RECIPE)
Makes 4–6 servings
Parathas appear in One Amazing Thing in the story of Jiang, a Chinese woman living in the city of Kolkata, who falls in love with an Indian man. He takes her to eat the foods he loves in clandestine cafés where they can meet without the knowledge of their families. The dough for traditional parathas has to be kneaded and rolled out, but I've substituted tortillas, which taste just as good. Sorry, Mom!
Note: You can prepare the raita while the potatoes are boiling. If you don't want to make the raita, these parathas taste pretty good with salsa or ketchup. That's how my children like them.
Make sure to use the red chili powder found at an Indian grocer, as it has a different flavor from typical commercial chili powders.
4 medium russet potatoes
Salt to taste
½ teaspoon ground red chili powder (less if you prefer milder spice) (see note)
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves (if you like the taste)
8 large flour or whole wheat tortillas
Canola oil for frying (approximately 2 teaspoons)
Raita (see recipe)
1 Quarter potatoes and boil until soft. Peel and mash. Add salt to taste, chili powder, cumin, coriander, and cilantro (if desired) and stir to combine.
2 Spread ¼ of the potato mixture on a tortilla. Cover with another tortilla and press down carefully so the mix spreads to the edge of the tortillas. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
3 Warm a large skillet over low heat. Add a small amount of canola oil. Place paratha in pan, drizzle top with ¼ teaspoon oil, and fry until golden brown, about 3–5 minutes. Flip and fry other side until golden brown. Cut each paratha into four pieces with a pizza cutter and serve with raita.
RAITA (YOGURT SAUCE)
Table of Contents: From Breakfast With Anita Diamant to Dessert With James Patterson - a Generous Helping of Recipes, Writings and Insights From Today's Bestselling Authors Page 6
