As Gouda as Dead (28 page)

Apple Bacon Gouda Quiche

(SERVES 4–6)

1 pie shell (homemade recipe below, or store-bought, usually frozen)

1 green apple, pared and sliced into thin slices

4–6 slices of bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled

1 tablespoon brown sugar

¹
⁄
₂
cup sour cream

¹
⁄
₂
cup whipping cream

¹
⁄
₂
cup milk

¹
⁄
₂
cup mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese)

2 eggs

¹
⁄
₂
cup shredded Gouda cheese

¹
⁄
₂
teaspoon cinnamon, if desired

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake pie shell for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce oven heat to 375 degrees F.

Arrange apple slices in cooled pie shell. Arrange crumbled bacon on top. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

In a small bowl, mix sour cream, whipping cream, milk, mascarpone cheese, and eggs. Mix in the shredded cheese. Pour the mixture into the pie shell on top of the apples and bacon. (The apples and bacon will rise in the cream. Don't worry.) Dust with cinnamon, if desired.

Bake 35 minutes until quiche is firm and lightly brown on top.

[
Note from Charlotte:
If you need to eat gluten-free, either use a gluten-free pastry mix, a gluten-free store-bought pie crust, or substitute the sifted flour in the Pastry Dough recipe below with gluten-free flour. My favorite combo is sweet rice flour mixed with tapioca starch. Add
¹
⁄
₂
teaspoon xanthan gum to the mix. And make sure you roll out the dough between parchment paper for best flexibility. Gluten-free dough doesn't hold together as well as regular dough, but be patient.]

Pastry Dough for Pie Shell

1
¹
⁄
₄
cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon salt

¹
⁄
₂
teaspoon white pepper

6 tablespoons butter or shortening

2–3 tablespoons water

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash on pastry

Put flour, salt, and white pepper into food processor fitted with a blade. Cut in 3 tablespoons of butter or shortening and pulse for 30 seconds. Cut in another 3 tablespoons of butter. Pulse again for 30 seconds. Sprinkle with 2–3 tablespoons water and pulse a third time, for 30 seconds.

Remove the dough from the food processor and form into a ball using your hands. Wrap with wax paper or plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove the covering. Place a large piece of parchment paper on a countertop. Sprinkle flour onto parchment paper. Place the dough on top of the parchment paper. If desired, cover with another large piece of parchment paper. This prevents the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. Roll out dough so it is
¹
⁄
₄
-inch thick and large enough to fit into an 8-inch pie pan, with at least a
¹
⁄
₂
-inch hangover around the edge.

Remove the top parchment paper. Place the pie tin upside down on the dough. Flip the dough and pie tin. Remove the parchment paper. Press the dough into the pie tin. Crimp the edges.

Brush with the egg wash. Bake the pastry shell for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

The Country Kitchen Diner Chicken Potpie

(SERVES 4–6)

4 cups chicken broth (gluten-free, if necessary)

¹
⁄
₂
cup butter (one stick)

1 onion, chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into thin rounds

1 celery stalk, diced

1 tablespoon dried parsley

¹
⁄
₂
teaspoon dried sage

1 clove garlic, chopped fine (if desired)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¹
⁄
₄
cup cornstarch

¹
⁄
₄
cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons white wine

1 pound skinless chicken breasts, precooked and shredded

1 cup frozen peas

1 recipe Pastry Dough (see below)

[
Note from Delilah:
Make pastry dough first and refrigerate, then precook your chicken breasts. To cook chicken breasts, I wrap them in foil and pop them in the oven at 300 degrees F for 35–40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.]

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

In a 6-quart saucepan, heat the chicken broth over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large stockpot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery, parsley, sage, and garlic. Sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Stir.

To the hot broth, add the cornstarch and whisk together until it thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the mixture to the vegetables. Stir in the heavy cream, white wine, chicken, and frozen peas. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes.

With a ladle, fill 4–6 ovenproof ramekins or bowls with the filling. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet.

[
Note from Delilah:
For the crust, you can use store-bought pastry dough, or you can make it from scratch using this recipe. For gluten-free, substitute your favorite gluten-free mix for the flour. I use a blend of sweet rice flour and potato starch.]

Pastry Dough for Potpie

[
Note from Charlotte:
This recipe is slightly different from the recipe for the quiche pie shell, in which I use white pepper. All the savory quiche recipes I make at Fromagerie Bessette have white pepper in the pie shell. Without it, the pastry doesn't have quite the
kick
.]

1
¹
⁄
₄
cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter or shortening

2–3 tablespoons water

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash on pastry

Kosher salt

Put flour and salt into food processor fitted with a blade. Cut in 3 tablespoons of butter or shortening and pulse for 30 seconds. Cut in another 3 tablespoons of butter. Pulse again for 30 seconds. Sprinkle with 2–3 tablespoons water and pulse a third time, for 30 seconds.

Remove the dough from the food processor and form into a ball. Wrap with wax paper or plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove the covering. Place a large piece of parchment paper on a countertop. Sprinkle flour onto parchment paper. Place the dough on top. If desired, cover with another large piece of parchment paper. This prevents the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. Roll out dough so it is
¹
⁄
₄
-inch thick. Using a biscuit round or mold (or be daring and go freehand), cut out dough large enough to cover the tops of the ovenproof ramekins, leaving about
¹
⁄
₂
-inch hangover. Place each round on top of the individual bowls and crimp the dough over the edge.

Brush with the egg wash and—IMPORTANT—make 4 small slits on the top of each to let out steam. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Place the baking sheet with ramekins in the preheated oven. Bake for 15–20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve hot.

[
Note from Delilah:
This is perhaps the most scrumptious potpie I've ever made. The stew is savory and reminds me of cool winter nights, tucked in front of a fire.]

Triple-Chocolate Pudding

From The Country Kitchen Diner

(SERVES 6)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

4
¹
⁄
₂
ounces semisweet chocolate

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate

1 cup sugar

¹
⁄
₄
cup cocoa powder

3 tablespoons cornstarch

¹
⁄
₈
teaspoon fine kosher salt

3 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk

¹
⁄
₄
cup heavy cream

3 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon espresso coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped cream and shaved chocolate for topping (optional)

Melt the butter in a heatproof bowl or double boiler over a saucepan of hot water. The water should be simmering, not boiling. Chop the semisweet and unsweetened chocolate and add to the butter. Stir until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove the bowl or top of double boiler, and set the mixture aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk
²
⁄
₃
cup of the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt. Add the eggs and egg yolk and cream. Stir. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk and the remaining
¹
⁄
₃
cup of sugar until it is steaming. You'll see little bubbles around the edge of the milk.
Note: Do not overcook
.

Gradually stir half of the hot milk mixture into the sugar/cocoa mixture, whisking continually. Pour that mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk mixture. Stir continually and bring to a boil, scraping the sides of the pan. When the mixture starts to boil, reduce the heat and let bubble for about 30 seconds. It will thicken a lot!

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Have a sieve with big holes ready. Strain the pudding through the sieve into a medium bowl. Add the melted chocolate mixture, espresso coffee, and vanilla, and stir well.

Spoon the pudding into 6 dessert bowls. Cover each serving with plastic wrap. The wrap can touch the pudding surface. Pierce the plastic to let out steam. Cool the pudding to room temperature for 1 hour.

Refrigerate the pudding until chilled for
at least 2 hours.

Remove the plastic wrap and top each serving with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

[
Note from Delilah:
This can be made up to three days ahead. How cool is that? And here's a cool tip that I learned from my dad. To shave chocolate, use either a vegetable grater or a knife instead of a cheese grater. These tools help make the chocolate look artistic.]

Dear Reader,

You may not know this, but I write two culinary mystery series under two names—my pseudonym, Avery Aames, and my real name, Daryl Wood Gerber. As Daryl, I write the Cookbook Nook Mysteries. I thought it would be fun for fans of the Cheese Shop Mysteries to have a taste of Cookbooks at the end of
As Gouda as Dead
. Why not? There are cheese cookbooks, aren't there? (Hint: Yes, is the answer; I have dozens.)

If you're not familiar with the Cookbook Nook Mysteries, let me introduce you to Jenna Hart, a former advertising executive who, two years after losing her husband in a tragic accident, moved home to the beautiful coastal town of Crystal Cove, California, to not only find her smile, but also help her aunt open a culinary bookstore. Jenna is an avid reader, a marketing whiz, and a foodie, but she doesn't have a clue how to cook. She's eager to learn. The Cookbook Nook sells cookbooks, foodie fiction, and culinary goodies for the kitchen. In addition, the store and the town offer all sorts of specialty events. In the fourth installment in the series,
Fudging the Books
, due out in 2015, the town is not only celebrating Chocolate Month, but during the first week of the month, they celebrate Pirate Week. Jenna and the Chocolate Cookbook Club have invited good friend and local candy shop owner Coco Chastain as well as Coco's publisher, a former local, to join in the festivities. When the publisher is found stabbed while editing Coco's latest cookbook, tempers snap.
Argh, mateys
, Coco claiming she's innocent doesn't amount to beans. Determined to find out who killed her friend, Jenna searches for clues. Will she melt under the pressure?

I hope you will join Jenna and her darling friends and family as she once again seeks to right a wrong. Perhaps you'll even find a new chocolate-y cookbook or recipe to share with friends! Turn the page to read an excerpt from
Fudging the Books.

For those of you who love the Cheese Shop Mysteries, don't despair. The seventh in the series,
For Cheddar or Worse
, debuts February 2016.

Savor the mystery and say cheese!

Avery aka Daryl

Chocolate. Is there anything not to like—excuse me,
love
—about chocolate? And it's February, so it's national chocolate month, which means I can focus The Cookbook Nook's theme on chocolate. Heaven. I plucked a homemade chocolate-cherry bonbon from a bowl sitting on the sales counter and popped it into my mouth, relishing the burst of flavor.
Yum!

“Back to work, Jenna,” I whispered.

I was alone in The Cookbook Nook. My aunt had yet to arrive, and Bailey, my best friend in the world and the main sales clerk at the shop, had called saying she was running late, too. I enjoyed mornings in the shop by myself. I could take time to scan the wares and appreciate what I'd been able to build in the past few months.

Back in August, I gave up my cushy job at a swank San Francisco advertising firm and returned home to help my Aunt Vera open our culinary bookshop. I am so proud that, with my aunt's financial backing and my marketing expertise, we have created a must-visit haven for foodies and lovers of cookbooks. The floors are filled with moveable bookshelves upon which sit hundreds of cookbooks with tasty titles. On the shelves along the walls are colorful arrays of cooking utensils, saltshakers, peppermills, aprons, and more. We fashioned the rear corner as a young cooks area, where kids and their parents could sit and read or even do crafts. My aunt, who loves to tell fortunes, set up a vintage kitchen table near the front entrance where she can offer occasional readings. She isn't a seer; she doesn't have extrasensory powers, but she likes to predict the future, and she occasionally reads for clients who trust her predictions. I'm not a believer, but I am not about to tell her sharing her passion is out of the question. Sometimes her predictions come true.

“Work!” I reminded myself.

I moved to the display table, where I had arranged delicious cozy mysteries with some of my favorites by Krista Davis and Jenn McKinlay. I added a new cozy to the grouping,
Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry
by Denise Swanson. I also added a couple of new books to our permanent supply of food-related fiction:
The Chocolate Lovers' Club
and
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris
.

“Perfect.”

Next, I gathered a stack of chocolate-themed cookbooks from the sales counter and skirted around the centermost moveable bookshelf, while gazing lustfully at the top book—one I intended to take home with me, written by the renowned chocolatier Michael Recchiuti:
Chocolate Obsession: Confections and Treats to Create and Savor
. Granted, it was not a book for beginners, like me. In fact, one woman who had reviewed the book on Amazon said to do exactly what Recchiuti said
or else
. Um, okay, perhaps she hadn't written that as a specific threat, but it was implied. Make sure to buy the higher butterfat butter was one of her suggestions. Also use the expensive chocolate. Forget about baking with Hershey's. Now, I adore Hershey's Kisses and those adorable Hershey's miniatures, but even I can tell the difference between an everyday chocolate and Scharffen Berger.

I placed the chocolate books on another display table, stood the Recchiuti book upright with its pages fanned open, and set a pile of books behind it. I laid out other titles, like
Crazy About Chocolate: More than 200 Delicious Recipes to Enjoy and Share—
the cover alone, with a dozen mouth-watering mini chocolate éclairs, would sell the book in a heartbeat
—
and
Absolutely Chocolate: Irresistible Excuses to Indulge—
its sinfully all-chocolate cover was great, as well. I had space for a few more titles and hurried back to the stockroom.

When I returned from the storage room, carrying a stack that reached my chin, a fortysomething woman with sleek black hair, one of our regulars, rapped on the front door, which I'd propped open—I love crisp, fresh air. She wiggled her fingers. “Jenna, are you ready for a few customers?”

It was almost nine. “Sure.”

“Can you help us?” She and two friends made a beeline for the paleo diet section of books. I followed. “Paleo,” she said matter-of-factly. “Can you explain the regimen to us?”

Although it wasn't my preferred way to eat—I savored carbs—I knew the basics. Paleo involved eating the way cavemen did, which meant consuming only things we could hunt, fish, or farm. Sugar-packed cereal and pasta made with white flour were out. Not the diet for me—

I really like fettuccini Alfredo.

“We're confused, then,” she said when I finished speaking. “How can this be right?” She held up
The Paleo Chocolate Lovers' Cookbook: 80 Gluten-Free Treats for Breakfast & Dessert
. The woman's forehead and eyes were pinched with concern. “I thought you said sweets were out.”

I smiled, having wondered the same thing. With Bailey's help, I'd made sense of the notion. “None of the recipes include gluten, grain, or dairy. The author, a popular cooking blogger, created many of the recipes using coconut or ground nuts. With the help of the herbal sweetener stevia, she shows you how to keep the honey and coconut sugar—her preferred sugars—to a minimum.”

“Ooh, I get it.”

“By the way,” I added, “I've heard the chocolate pie with raw graham cracker crust is to die for.”

Bailey tore into the shop and skidded on her wedged heels, almost taking our customers and me down. “Sorry.”

“Excuse me,” I said to the ladies. Juggling my pile of books, I scooted Bailey around a stand of bookshelves and whispered, “What's gotten into you?” She was my age—twenty-nine going on thirty— and often full of pep, but this was over the top.

“I did it.”

“Did what?”

Bailey fluffed her fringed hair and batted her baby blues. “As head of the Chocolate Cookbook Club”—a club Bailey had divined a month ago for all of our customers who craved chocolate; we had over thirty members, men and women—“I declared we are going to celebrate the entire month of February by purchasing a new chocolate-themed cookbook each week. Everybody is on board. Do the math. Ka-ching!” She mimed opening a cash register then grabbed me by the shoulders, her arms barely able to reach around the books I held. I forced myself not to laugh. She was, after all, at a disadvantage, being shorter than I was by almost a foot. At five foot eight, I stood taller than most women I knew.

Bailey shimmied me. “C'mon, girlfriend, do a happy dance with me.”

My hair bounced around my shoulders. My tower of books teetered. “Cut it out.”

“Not until you dance.”

I shuffled my feet. “Look, Ma. I'm dancing.”

“You call that dancing?”

“Let me go.”

Bailey giggled but obeyed. “Get this, I talked them into buying Coco's latest cookbook first.
Sweet Sensations: All Things Chocolate, From the Delicious to the Fantabulous.
”

Coco Chastain was one of Bailey's and my good friends. We had known her since high school, although at the time we didn't hang out. Bailey was in the popular girl group; I floated between the studious and theater groups; Coco was part of the art crowd. Now she was a local chocolatier who owned Sweet Sensations, a delectable candy store. I couldn't walk by the place without stopping to inhale. Coco, a lusty woman with a curvaceous figure, had been engaged once, but her fiancé left her for a younger, skinnier woman.
Boring
, as Coco would say. I glanced over my shoulder at my customers. They didn't seem to mind that Bailey was distracting me.

“Go on,” I said.

“I asked Coco to speak to the group,” Bailey said. “She jumped at the chance. She even offered to invite Alison.”

Alison Foodie, a successful independent publisher in San Francisco who specialized in cookbooks and related nonfiction, was Coco's publisher. We carried a few of Foodie Publishing's titles on our shelves. Foodie was Alison's real surname, Scottish in origin, and not a fictitious name for her business. She originated from Crystal Cove, too. In fact, her family lineage, which was colorful to say the least, dated back to some of the first settlers. However, up until a couple of years ago, I had never met her. Neither had Coco. Alison was a few years older than we were. Bailey had brought us all together. Bailey and Alison met at a businesswomen's retreat. When they realized they came from the same town, they became fast friends. Small world.

I said, “Alison will deign to come down from San Francisco?”

“Stop it.” Bailey swatted the air. “You know she's not a snob.”

Actually Alison had a wicked sense of humor. She was incredibly smart.

“She doesn't come back to town often because she's super busy,” Bailey went on. “She does visit occasionally to check in on her mother.”

“That's sweet,” I said, though I had to wonder. Alison's younger brother lived with their mother. Didn't Alison trust him to tend to her?

“Coco said Alison will give the club the inside scoop on the publishing world. Isn't that cool?” Bailey clapped her hands.

“Super cool. Maybe she'll give me an insight to the next best thing in the cookbook world.”

A swish of fur swiped my ankles. I sidestepped and eyed Tigger, my silly kitten. At least I think he was still considered a kitten. He'd wandered into the shop—and into my life—a few months ago. At the time, I'd pegged him at two months old. I had him neutered in November.
Ouch
, but necessary. As a result, he hadn't ever sprayed my cottage, and he had retained his kittenish playfulness.

I set the books on a nearby table, scooped him into my arms, and scruffed him under the chin. “What's up, Tig-Tig?” I'd dubbed him Tigger because, like the Disney character that pounced and trounced, Tigger had done twirls and other fun gyrations that first day to win my heart. “Did silly old Bailey and her loud voice wake you up from your nap?”

Invariably, when we arrived at the shop, Tigger moseyed into his spot beneath the children's table for a lengthy snooze.

Tigger meowed.

“I am not loud,” Bailey said.

He yowled again, disagreeing with her.

“Are you hungry? Let me check your bowl.” I signaled the three ladies by the paleo section. “I'll be right back, if you need me.”

Bailey trailed me through the shop to the stockroom. She propped the drape open with a hip and continued her conversation while I refreshed Tigger's goodies. “I was thinking we should have a soiree for the book club tomorrow evening in the Nook Café.”

The eatery, an adjunct to The Cookbook Nook and connected by an enclosed breezeway, had become a wonderfully profitable side business, thanks to the budding reputation of our inspired chef, Katie Casey, another high school buddy of Bailey's and mine.

“Tomorrow?” I said. “As in Thursday? Yipes, that's quick.”

“Katie agreed to close the café.”

“You already cleared it with her?”

“Yep. She'll make a tasting from Coco's latest cookbook,” Bailey went on. “Not just the sweets, but the savory things, too, like the chicken with the luscious chocolate
mole
sauce.”

“Yum.”

“Or the mixed salad with orange slices dipped in chocolate. And, of course, an assortment of desserts. C'mon. This'll be fun.” Bailey rapped me on the arm. “Girls' night out. We'll help Katie with the cooking.”

“We?” I gulped. “For thirty?”

“With Katie's supervision.”

Remember, earlier, when I mentioned that Michael Recchiuti's
Chocolate Obsession
might be beyond my ability? That is because I'm not a cook. I'm trying to learn. I've graduated from making five-ingredient recipes to multiple-ingredient ones. I've even tried my hand at cooking entrees as well as desserts. The chocolate cherries on the sales counter? Mine. But creating an entire meal for what might be a hypercritical crowd? My heart started to chug until I channeled Sophie Winston, the event planner from the
Domestic Diva
mysteries. She made cooking sound so easy; she always had things prepared way in advance, much of it stored in the freezer. I could do this. I could. Yes, indeed, with a battalion of cooks and Katie's supervision, a soiree was going to be a snap.

Tigger butted my ankle with his head. He opened his eyes wide, as if offering reassurance.

“Please, pretty please,” Bailey said.

“Okay. We'll do it.”