THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY: Amor Towles’s Fettucine Mio Amore One of my best friends growing up was an Italian American named Claudio, who lived in Milan. When we were boys in the 1970s and Claudio would come to New England for the summer, he would be horrified by the American insistence upon drowning all pasta in […]
Tag Archives | book inspired food

WHAT YOU WISH FOR: Katherine Center’s Campechana de Mariscos Seafood Cocktail Recipe
WHAT YOU WISH FOR: Katherine Center’s Campechana de Mariscos Seafood Cocktail Recipe My novel, What You Wish For is set on Galveston Island in Texas, the place where I write most of my books, in a sunny little beach house by the Gulf. This is a special story for me. I grew up coming […]

THE SHOW GIRL: Nicola Harrison’s Maple Bee’s Knees Recipe
THE SHOW GIRL: Nicola Harrison’s Maple Bee’s Knees Cocktail Recipe When Olive Shine, the protagonist of my novel, The Show Girl, invites her friends to visit White Pines Camp in the Adirondacks for the summer, she serves the camp’s signature drink: a Maple Bee’s Knees—a twist on the better-known Honey Bee’s Knees,—using maple syrup […]

SO WE MEET AGAIN: Suzanne Park’s Korean Mandu (Deep Fried Dumplings)
SO WE MEET AGAIN: Suzanne Park’s Korean Mandu (Deep Fried Dumplings) Recipe In my novel So We Meet Again, Jessie Kim, after moving back home to Tennessee, spends a lot of time cooking with her umma. For many Asian families, food is an expression of love and affection, whether it’s through preparing homemade meals […]

BEFORE WE WERE YOURS: Lisa Wingate’s Apple Bread Pudding Recipe
BEFORE WE WERE YOURS: Lisa Wingate’s Apple Bread Pudding Recipe “Shantyboat families, such as the ones depicted in my novel Before We Were Yours, often gathered in small communities to share news and food, find companionship, trade goods, and play homemade instruments and sing. A rare sweet treat would have thrilled Rill and her siblings. Wingate […]

THE BOOK OF LOST FRIENDS: Lisa Wingate’s Buttermilk Pie Recipe
THE BOOK OF LOST FRIENDS: Lisa Wingate’s Buttermilk Pie Here’s a recipe that’s a true time period delight from Hannie’s era —Hannie was a freed slave in Louisiana in 1875. It would also be a favorite in the cafe’s dessert case in present-day Augustine, Louisiana. It’s not a ‘pretty’ pie, but served as a […]

THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR: Alka Joshi’s Aloo Gobi Matar Subji (Curried Vegetable)
THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR: Alka Joshi’s Aloo Gobi Matar Subji (Curried Vegetable) Growing up, whenever my mother wondered what to make for dinner, my brothers and I clamored for her Aloo Gobi Matar Subji or Potato-Cauliflower-Pea Curried Vegetable. I want you to taste my mother’s version of this delicious comfort food because it […]

Mary Kay Andrews: THE NEWCOMER Prosecco Sippers
Mary Kay Andrews: The Newcomer Prosecco Sippers (Shark Bites) I wanted deliciously beachy, no-fuss recipes that could be served poolside, packed into a cooler for the beach, or beautifully arrayed on a hostess’s table for your The Newcomer book club gathering (see menu). My book club besties usually bring LOTS of wine to our gatherings, […]

Ellen Alpsten’s Tsarina Borscht (Beet Soup)
Ellen Alpsten’s Tsarina Borscht (Beet Soup) Catherine I grew up on a nourishing and simple Baltic Russian cuisine, allowing her to withstand a lifetime of hard physical labor in a harsh climate. Northern and Eastern European, Caucasian, Central Asian, Siberian, and East Asian cooking traditions influenced this cuisine, which combined plentiful fish, pork, poultry, caviar, […]

Ellen Feldman’s “Paris Never Leaves You” French Omelette
Ellen Feldman’s Paris Never Leaves You French Omelette Food plays a unique role in my novel, Paris Never Leaves You, not only for its intrinsic appeal but as an expression of Vivi’s search for her identity and the conflict between Charlotte’s past in Paris and their current life in New York. At one point, Vivi […]