A Meal from Prune, The Cookbook

I've been enjoying Gabrielle Hamilton's cookbook, Prune, based on the recipes featured in her New York restaurant of that name, and which I checked out from our local library.  I didn't renew it though. Bought my very own copy, YES!  A fairly hefty tome.  And looking forward to trying many more of her recipes, methods and creative ideas.

We at Cook the Books Club had just read and reported on Gabrielle's previous book, a memoir, Blood, Bones and Butter, which led me to check out her cookbook. So glad I did.  Gabrielle's background, learning to cook with her French mother, working for various small restaurants, and catering companies, traveling and learning along the way, all informed her unique personal style and conception for Prune.

A Not So Rhapsodic, Gourmet Rhapsody

 Just finished a little, 156 page, novelette, Gourmet Rhapsody, by Muriel Barbery.  I had read a review of this book last month, which led me to check it out myself.  So, my two cents' worth follows.  Especially as it follows Dinner with Edward, which we did for Cook the Books Club, this provided such a contrast in characters.  One a loving  husband, caring father and warm human being, the other a greedy, self-indulgent, self-absorbed and cold hearted individual, who treats his wife, children and most other people with contempt.  We know from the outset that he's an arrogant douche-bag, so no surprises there.

The book alternates the reminiscences of a renowned food critic, Pierre Arthens, on his death bed, trying to recall a particular flavor from his past, with chapters from the point of view of Pierre's various relatives, acquaintances, etc.  He blatantly  enjoys his power to make or ruin both chefs and restaurants; a man who has spent his life, as Barbery notes, among those erecting "temples to the glory of the goddess Grub."  Definitely an extreme of living to eat, rather than eating to live.  I found the whole thing rather sad, as there are so many in this world who do spend a lifetime seeking pleasure in one form or another, often at the expense of others, dying unregretted, and spiritually bankrupt.

Green Pineapple Chutney with Cranberries

You see here a couple of green, unripe pineapples that no one in their right mind would pick.  However, at the beginning of the season, when the desire for a lovely, sweet, fresh pineapple overrides common sense,  we usually make this mistake at least once, thinking maybe it's ready.  Hope prevails.  Both Bob and I did it.  They sat around for a week or more, and I could see those guys were never going to ripen up.  Meanwhile really, truly ripe ones were happening.

Cooking them into a tangy chutney was the solution.  Lots of wonderful spices, red peppercorns, cranberries, you get the picture.  A double rescue.

Spicy Starfruit (Carambola) Raita

Even though the book I just finished, The Last Kashmiri Rose,  by Barbara Cleverly, was set in India, there were no really inspiring food references.  Apparently in the days of the British Raj, local cuisine was not properly appreciated.  Those idiots wanted the stuff of good old England.  Though the novel was authentic in that sense,  I kept wondering what the servants were eating off stage, so to speak, being one who does appreciate the culinary gifts of India.

However, her book was a well plotted, puzzling mystery, filled with intriguing, finely developed characters, and set in a fascinating time and place.  Quite an enjoyable read, and the first in her series with investigator Joe Sandilands.  I believe she's written eleven more featuring Sandilands.

So when carambolas are dropping off trees on the subcontinent, this dish would likely show up.  They have a pretty long season here in Hawaii, and though it has slowed down, they're still available on our tree, which drives me to come up with new uses for the juicy, aromatic fruit.

I made Carambola Mead again this year, we eat them out of hand, and occasionally add one to a salad, but this Indian curry accompaniment, a Raita is a new one for me.   This dish is mostly raw, like a salad, or side dish for an Indian meal.  Also, I was able to use my recently purchased nigella seeds, aka black cumin, kalonji or black onion seed.

Caribbean Style Curried Lobster with Breadfruit Salad and Guava Chutney

We're off on another vicarious adventure at Cook the Books Club, this time in the Caribbean with voyager and writer, Ann Vanderhoof, author of An Embarrassment of Mangoes, (Doubleday Canada, 2003), which means a whole lot of them. Adventures as well as fruit. What an inspiring, envy provoking, and darn good read!

She and her husband had a dream - to cast off for a year or two from jobs, cold weather, the stress of city living, and sail South to the islands of the Caribbean. They saved their money over a period of several years, acquired a near perfect yacht and made the plunge. This book is Vanderhoof's log of events, characters met and wonderful meals - which she kindly shares with her readers.

I did go through a phase, with Bob, wherein we saw ourselves sailing off into the sunset, living on our own little home away from home at sea. We purchased a small boat (23 ft.) to learn sailing. Round and about in Kaneohe Bay was fun for awhile. Then, life interfered with our tentative plans. Like a newborn daughter, below decks in the cabin, squalling her sweet head off; Bob's ever present fear we were about to rack up the investment onto a nearby coral reef; and of course, the not so small matter of money. Truthfully,  I did wonder about encountering pirates and whales (too close). Possibly just not determined or brave enough.  Anyway, that's what arm chairs are for, right?

One of the nice things about our blogger club is that you usually get an excellent read as well as some wonderful recipes, and this selection is no exception. I wanted to cook up everything Ann mentioned eating. However, given the opportunity to eat lobster, guess what?? Yes, I'll take lobster. And curried, oh boy! I really had to try Dingi's recipe, which Ann gives us on page127. When I've eaten lobster in the past it has always been with butter and lemon. Standard fare. Time to rock the boat.

This guy is saying, "Please do something special with me."

Luckily, my brother-in-law's brother is a fisherman.  I mentioned wanting to cook some lobster, and a few days later he had a nice one for us. Then, with a freshly picked green breadfruit, I made up a Potato Breadfruit Salad, which along with rice for the curry to nestle up next to, and a bit of Guava Chutney, our meal was set. True island style ingredients, with a tang of the Caribbean.

Passionate Starfruit Cranberry Chutney

 I normally have passion fruit off and on during the year, but some kind soul dropped off a bag of the purple ones, at our office yesterday, which needed to be used, yesterday.  So, I just whipped up a batch of passion fruit syrup, which is excellent on cheese cake, as well as pancakes.  And, there was a tad extra.....so.....

Next we have starfruit, or carambola, dropping off the tree.  You see where this is going, combined with a smallish basket of imported pricey cranberries, this should make a totally excellent chutney.  Maybe some hot pepper flakes, a bit of ginger and cardamom could be added in. Yes, I do think so.  A different take from the one I made last year.