Cooking Things Up

[Writers Plot]

Posted by guest blogger Kate Flora

Sometime around early November, when the leaves are sailing down from the trees and the air grows nippy, I move my attention from the pleasures of the perennial gardens to the pleasures of the kitchen. In spring and summer, I'm so challenged by the job of balancing dedicated writing time with time spent gardening that I resent having to also keep house and prepare meals. This is when I entertain fantasies of having a housekeeper who will appear around four and inquire about 'what madam would like for dinner.'

That changes as I'm surrounded by the sere browns and grays of November and frost has reduced the displays in my lovely planters to wilted black sticks. Now I am happy to be in my chair, surrounded by reference books and stacks of interviews, digging deeply into the new book I am shaping. I stop fidgeting about the inside/outside balance and begin to enjoy being wholly immersed in a single task. And I stop reading garden catalogues, or 'flower porn,' as I call it, and start reading cookbooks.

I sometimes joke that right after my favorite writerly word, imagination, comes the word discipline. I have always attributed my success—ten books and counting, seven published short stories, numerous essays and artist profiles--to a combination of imagination, discipline, and stubbornness. I try to be at my desk by seven. Often, I'm there before, and while I'm working, I'm working. I can get so lost in story that the house could burn and I wouldn't notice until the flames licked my feet.

By late afternoon, though, I'm ready to stir. Food fantasies begin to intrude and efforts to bring a particular police officer or scene to life get nudged aside as I start thinking about what to make for dinner. Summer's composed salads and food off the grill gives way to slow-cooked stews, to pots of thick, rich soup, to the mouth-watering smell of roasted root vegetables.

Sometimes thinking about food circles around and sneaks its way into my writing. My strong amateur PI character, Thea Kozak, likes to cook. I often have her cooking in the books and in each of my Yours in Crime newsletters, I try to include one of Thea's recipes. Because she and Andre had such demanding jobs, all of Thea's recipes have to be quick. Often they are also inspired by a challenge Thea and I both face—how to get guys to eat vegetables. A meditation on spices led to this one:

Thea's Quick One-Pot Moroccan Chicken Stew

In a large over-proof pot, heat 3 T. olive oil and sauté until tender:

1 large onion 1 t. chopped garlic

Add and cook 2 mins., stirring:

1 ¾ t. cumin 1 t. ginger
1 t. turmeric
¼ t. cinnamon
1-2 t. curry powder
black pepper

Cut into chunks and add, with one can chicken broth:

3 boneless chicken breasts 1 turnip
1 large sweet potato
2 red or orange peppers
½ c. dates, pitted and sliced

Bring to a boil and bake at 350 for an hour.

Serve alone or over couscous.

Now and then I'll reread one of my old newsletters and find a recipe I've forgotten. Some have come from Thea's fans, who like it that she cooks and want her to try out their recipes.

Fall's return to cooking also fuels another trip down memory lane. When I turn to it, the little wooden recipe box I've had since I was eight is like a culinary map of my life—full of carefully handwritten recipes from people I've known over the past fifty years. Looking back, I'm sure I only made it through law school because of my friend Judy's cooking. Here's one of my favorites. My husband calls it the heartburn special.

Stuffed Cabbage

Rinse 1 large can of sauerkraut and drain.

Cook ½ c. rice with water until dry.

Combine 2 pounds of ground chuck, 2 T. onion flakes, rice, 1 t. paprika and some ground black pepper into 2" meatballs.

Oil a pot lightly and dust with flour. Layer sauerkraut and meatballs, sprinkling each layer with white pepper, paprika and flour.

Add enough water so it looks wet when pressed with a spoon. Simmer (or bake) 1 hour.

Serve with sour cream.

My four p.m. food thoughts often send me out of the house and down to the local farmstand. There's a sadness that comes with knowing we're at the end of the fresh tomatoes and corn, but I can grab a purple cauliflower, or a medley of red, yellow, and orange carrots, three kinds of colorful beets or a bag of those gorgeous purple beans that turn green when cooked. It's hard not to overbuy as I imagine roasted parsnips, sweet potato, turnip and carrot or crisp fall apples sautéed with just a bit of teriyaki sauce. On my digital camera, I don't have pictures of my camera-shy boys but I do have vegetables.

Tomorrow morning, at seven, I may have my characters sit down to eat. I'll be interested to see what they choose and how they feel about food. I hope they choose well and eat well, after all, we'll be spending a large part of the day together, but if they don't, I'll have that magic time at four, when I can leave them behind, and think about food for myself.