Novel Food #7: A la Carte by Tanita S. Davis

March 30, 2009 | Filed Under Books, Eggs, Food Blogging Events, Novel Food | 17 Comments 

When I turn eighteen, I already know what I’m going to do.

First, I’m going to buy a plane ticket to D. C. and go to Julia Child’s kitchen at the Smithsonian and leave roses.  They don’t let you walk through it, but somewhere– I don’t know where — I’m going to leave a bouquet and a little note for her.  Julia Child is my patron saint.  She’s the queen of all reasons people can do anything they want in life.  Saint Julia didn’t start cooking until she was practically forty, and she went on to do TV shows and make cookbooks and be this huge part of culinary history.  She never got too fancy, she never freaked out, and she was never afraid to try new things.  I want to be just like her — except maybe get famous faster.

The second thing I’m going to do is buy myself a set of knives.  Pia swears by this set of German steel knives she got when she graduated, but I’ve seen the TV chef Kylie Kwong use a phenomenal-looking ceramic knife on her show on the Discovery Channel.  Either way, knives are what the best chefs have of their very own.

The third thing I’m going to do, after I get back from Washington and get my knives, is… get discovered.  Somehow.  I know I’m going to have to pay my dues, but I’m so ready for my real life to start.  It’s not something I admit to a lot, but my real dream is to be a celebrity chef.  Do you know how many African American female chefs there aren’t?  And how many vegetarian chefs have their own shows?  The field is wide open for stardom.  Every time I watch old episodes of Saint Julia, I imagine that I have my own cooking show.  The way celebrity chefs do it now, I could also have a line of cooking gear, cookbooks, aprons, the works.  People would know my name, ask for my autograph, and try my recipes.  All I have to do is finish my trig homework and get back into the kitchen.

A la Carte

Lainey is a 17-year-old high school student who loves to cook.  She wants to become a  famous chef, with her own cooking show, and has chosen Julia Child as her patron saint.

I enjoyed A La Carte by Tanita S. Davis, who is part of the T & D blogging duo team  of Wish I Were Baking and Hobbits Abroad.

I loved this young character who is really creative, talented with food and knows what she wants to do with her life.  Lainey’s classmates and teachers reap the benefits of her culinary skills.  I wish I’d been that talented when I was her age.  Who knows?  I could have had my own show on the Food Network channel by now. 

All through the book, I kept thinking to myself, why didn’t didn’t I have a younger sibling like that who’d enjoy cooking for me.  I guess it’s too late to ask my parents for one, huh ?

Normally, when I read about a food mentioned in a book that strikes my fancy, I have to look up a recipe for it.   However, in A la Carte, part of the charm of the story is that the story character, Lainey, includes several handwritten recipes from her notebook.  I couldn’t wait to try the Saint Julia’s "Perfectly Hard-Boiled" Egg Salad. 

It was very interesting to make the "perfectly hard-boiled" egg the Julia Child way.  I liked that my egg yolks didn’t turn green.   The recipe called for pimento stuffed green olives.  Since I didn’t have that, I used Greek olives.  I didn’t have a sweet pickle relish or sundried tomato or tapenade.  Instead, I used a few grape cherry tomatoes.  Oh, and I didn’t have shallots so I used red onions, which I like.  So, there were minor substitutions to some of the ingredients but it wasn’t a problem.  I really liked the way the egg salad turned out.  Delicious!

A la Carte is a book for young adults but adults of all ages can enjoy it.  I certainly did. 

This is my entry for the 7th culinary/literary blogging event, Novel Food.   It’s co-hosted by Simona of Briciole and Lisa of Champaign Taste.    If you’re interested in reading more about the event and would like to participate in it, go here to read the guidelines.  

Paz

Ed Note:  A round of up the Novel Food entries has been posted in two parts.  You can find the one part on Briciole and the second half on Champaign Taste.   There are a lot of fun books and recipes.  Check them out!

Saint Julia’s "Perfectly Hard-Boiled" Egg Salad

A la Carte by Tanita S. Davis

4 Hard-Boiled Eggs**

2 Tbsp. Mayonnaise

5 or 6 Pimento-stuffed Green Olives, chopped (or 2 Tbsp. olive Tapenade)

1 small Shallot (optional), finely chopped

1 tsp. Dijon Mustard

1/8 tsp. Paprika

1 Tbsp. Sweet Pickle Relish (or Sundried tomato or Tapenade)

1 Tbsp. Fresh Parsley.   Finely chopped * (or cilantro)

To taste:  Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper (about 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of each)

Peel your eggs - in the sink, to keep the shells close to the disposal.  Carefully take out your yolks, and set the whites aside.  Add to your yolks the mayonnaise, your chopped olives, shallots, the mustard, paprika, and pickle.  Then chop your whites, and add to mixture.  Add parsley, salt, and a litte fresh ground black pepper to taste.

*You can use cilantro and sundried tomatoes as a variation.  Some people like their bread cold for cool egg salad — For a fresh egg salad, you might use warm rolls.  Yum.

** Saint Julia’s notes on boiling eggs are easy.  All you have to do is make sure your eggs are covered at least an inch deep in cold water in the pot, so make your pot deep, not flat and wide.  Boil for exactly 17 minutes.  Transfer the boiled eggs to ice water immediately to chill for 2 minutes.  Take them back into the boiling water for 10 seconds:  This will make sure your yolks aren’t green and that the eggs won’t stick to the shells.  Now move them back into the cold, and let them sit — if you can — for 15 minutes.  If you can’t, it doesn’t matter, but cold eggs peel better.