The Book Tour Stops Here: A Partial Review of The Secrets of Still Waters Chasm, Served with Penne with Roasted Eggplant Puree

Last year I was on the TLC Book Tour for The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor by Patricia Crisafulli, the first book in the Ohnita Harbor Mystery Series and today, I am happy to be a stop on the tour for book two, The Secrets of Still Waters Chasm. This will be a partial review as I was having challenges with my e-book ARC and it's taking me longer than I expected to read it. So, I'll just post my initial thoughts along with a recipe inspired by my reading. 

Publisher's Blurb:

On a beautiful September afternoon, a hike through the pristine wild of Still Waters Chasm become a path of mystery and deadly danger for Gabriela Domenici and her boyfriend, Daniel Red Deer. First, they take a side trail to an inexplicable construction site in the middle of the woods, where every tree has been cut down and a huge truck bearing strange-looking equipment is parked in the middle. As they continue their hike to the lake, they find a man convulsing with his last breaths, not far from the lifeless body of a woman. After going for help, Gabriela and Daniel return to the scene—only to find the two people and their canoe and gear are gone. It seems impossible that two bodies could revive and leave on their own, but there is no other explanation. 

When she conducts a library outreach program in the rural Town of Livery, near Still Waters Chasm, Gabriela discovers a community that is both curious and suspicious. There, she meets Lucinda Nanz, an herbalist whose encyclopedic knowledge of plants for help and harm is both fascinating and troubling, and Wendy Haughton, a young woman who desperately wants to sell an old drawing of unknown origin so she can escape her abusive husband. Despite the state police's warnings to stay out of the investigation, and Daniel's urging to not get involved, Gabriela cannot stay away from Livery and Still Waters Chasm—which puts her on a collision course with yet another murder and people who will stop at nothing to prevent her from getting too close to the truth that could destroy chasm. 

Publisher: Woodhall Press (September 5, 2023)

Paperback: 220 pages

My Thoughts So Far:

I am at about 35% of the book and find myself caught up in the story. Gabriela is suffering from PTSD from the first book when she was nearly killed. (I won't say more due to spoilers and I do always recommend starting at the beginning of a series even if there is enough info given to catch you up on what happened in the second book.) Being a book lover, I like that Gabriela is a Director of Circulation and Head of Programing of the Ohnita Harbor Library (which is in a castle-like building in town). In this book she is trying too create can outreach program in a local community in nearby Still Waters Chasm but some mysterious goings on and a couple of murders are getting in the way. I will come back and give my full review soon as I think, even though it's a challenge with the ARC format, I really want to know what happens. 

Food Inspiration: 

Even at 35% in, there is plenty of food in this book. Gabriela and her Italian mother cook frequently so there is mention of eggplant parmigiana, pasta, salad, steak, meatballs, cookies, lemonade, fruit punch, tea, berries, maple syrup, salmon, eggs, bread, pies, preserves, potatoes, apples, honey, zucchini, chard, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, bananas, yogurt, milk, popcorn, fried perch, Cobb salad, fish sandwich and fries, beer and red wine so far. 

For my bookish dish, I decided on pasta with eggplant as Gabriela's mother, Agnese, says Gabriela's son eats too much pasta when she finds out she is serving leftover eggplant farm to her boyfriend for dinner and planning to feed Ben Can there be such a thing?

Giada's Penne with Roasted Eggplant Puree is an old favorite. I posted this recipe in 2011.

Penne with Roasted Eggplant Puree
Adapted from "Giada's Kitchen" by Giada De Laurentiis
(4 to 6 Servings)

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pint cherry tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, whole (I used 5 cloves)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 pound penne pasta
1/4 cup torn fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (I used feta cheese)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine the eggplant, cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and red

pepper flakes. Spread the vegetables out in an even layer on the baking sheet. Roast in the oven until the vegetables are tender and the eggplant is golden, about 35 minutes.

While the vegetables are roasting, place the pine nuts in a small baking dish. Place in the oven on the rack below the vegetables. Roast until golden, about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta into a large bowl and reserve 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid.

Transfer the roasted vegetables to a food processor. Add the torn mint leaves and extra-virgin olive oil. Puree the vegetables.

Transfer the pureed vegetables to the bowl with the pasta and add the Parmesan. Stir to combine, adding the pasta cooking liquid 1/2 cup at a time until the pasta is saucy. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the top and serve.

My Notes/Results: This makes a nice chunky sauce with good flavor. I like the combination of the roasted veggies with the coolness of the mint and the slight kick from the red pepper. I used 5 large cloves of garlic in mine and liked the extra flavor--since it roasts along with the eggplant and tomato it doesn't overpower. I think the Parmesan called for in the recipe would have been good too, but I couldn't resist adding the feta--which I needed to use up anyway, and it went nicely with the mint and pine nuts. I used a multi-grain penne pasta to get a little more fiber in and the thick sauce held up well to it. This is a great hearty vegetarian dish, although adding a little sausage certainly would be delicious too. 

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Note: A review copy of "The Secrets of Still Waters Chasm" was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.  

You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and learn what other reviewers thought about the book below.

Thursday, September 28th: @donasbooks

Thursday, September 28th: @subakka.bookstuff and Subakka.bookstuff

Friday, September 29th: @strandedinchaos9438

Monday, October 2nd: @aimeedarsreads

Wednesday, October 4th: @paws.read.repeat 

Friday, October 6th: @fashionablyfifty

Monday, October 9th: Bookchickdi

Wednesday, October 11th:  Kahakai Kitchen

Thursday, October 12th: @kristens.reading.nook

Sunday, October 15th: @literally_lit_in_miami 

Monday, October 16th: What is That Book About

Wednesday, October 18th: Girl Who Reads

Thursday, October 19th: @always_reading1

Friday, October 20th: @chicagobooklover 

Monday, October 23rd: Books Cooks Looks

Friday, November 3rd: @welovebigbooksandwecannotlie

TBD: Friday, September 29th: Laura’s Reviews

 

Dukkah Earl Grilled Eggplant Toasts with Topped with Whipped Feta & Dukkah for #BlendsBash

2020 has not been a year full of bright spots for most of us. In fact, I know very few people that aren't just ready for it to be over with. So when The Book Club Cookbook contacted me and asked if I'd like to close the year taking part in their 2020 virtual #BlendsBash I was all in! From September into mid-December I'll be sharing some original recipes made with their wonderful spice blends, al cleverly and punnily named for books, television shows and songs. 

First up for me, some fun and fabulous Dukkah Earl Grilled Eggplant Toasts Topped with Whipped Feta & Dukkah.

A little background: 

Duke of Earl" is a 1962 US number-one song, originally by Gene Chandler. It is the best known of Chandler's songs, and he subsequently dubbed himself "The Duke of Earl". The song was penned by Chandler, Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwards. This song was a 2002 inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is not too hard to learn the words too! 😉

Dukkah is a Egyptian and Middle Eastern condiment made up of a mixture of herbs, nuts (usually hazelnuts) and spices. It is typically used as a dip with bread or vegetables as an appetizer or pupu as we call them here. I had a small kine addiction to Trader Joe's Dukkah Blend a few years ago and then they stopped making it for a while. I tried making my own but I confess, the urge to have someone blend and pound the mixture for me usually wins out. 

When I saw that my friends at The Book Club Cookbook added Dukkah to their Song Blends line-up, cleverly calling it Dukkah Earl, I knew I had to add it to my list of spice blends for the Blends Bash party they are hosting.   

Dukkah Earl contains hazelnuts, sesame, coriander, cumin, black pepper, sumac, sea salt, nigella seeds, Aleppo, spearmint. I wanted to do something fun with it and I had seen a few articles online about eggplant toasts--a lower carb, bread-free toast option and had been wanting to try them. I decided to do a version with whipped dukkah feta and a sprinkling of Dukkah Earl on top for the crunch factor. You could of coarse smear the whipped feta on actual bread or pita bread, but I think the eggplant toasts are fun!

Dukkah Earl Grilled Eggplant Toasts with Whipped Feta & Dukkah

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes 4-6 Toasts)

1 medium-large eggplant, sliced into 3/4-inch slices
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp spice of choice (might I suggest One Flew Over the Couscous Nest by The Book Club Cookbook--it's a blend of Cumin, coriander smoked sweet paprika, cinnamon and parsley)
a sprinkling of salt and pepper to taste

Whipped Dukkah Feta (see recipe below)

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Dukkah Earl spice blend to garnish (or another dukkah blend, or crushed hazelnuts)

Place the eggplant slices in a strainer and toss with 1/2 tbsp salt. Let drain for 1 hour. (This is a good time to make the whipped feta!) After 1 hour, rinse off the eggplant slices and pat dry with paper towels. 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Brush the slices in olive oil and sprinkle on the spice blend and sea salt and pepper. 

Pace the eggplant slices on the paper lined baking sheet. Roast for around 20-25 minutes or until the eggplant appears soft and slightly browned. Allow to cool slightly before spreading the whipped feta topping on. Top with a sprinkle of the Dukkah Earl and enjoy!

Whipped Dukkah Feta

by Deb, Kahakai Kitchen 

 

6 oz feta cheese

3 oz cream cheese

1 Tbsp lemon juice, or to taste

1 tsp Dukkah Earl Seasoning Blend (or seasoning blend of choice)

 

Add crumbled feta to a food processor and pulse until small crumbs remain. Add in cream cheese and puree for 4-5 minutes, scraping down the sides when necessary, until feta is super creamy. Serve as desired.

 

Notes/Results: These were really tasty and really fun to eat! I liked the mix of all of the Middle Eastern spices with the eggplant, feta and lemon juice. The flavor of the dukkah comes through and the crunch of the herb mixture on top is a nice contrast. This is an excellent dukkah--fresh and just the right coarseness. The one thing I would change is trying to pan fry my eggplant toasts next time. They were soft and delicious but when I think of toast, I want more crisp crunch. Still, I ate them all happily--they were like nice soft bread. My eggplant was not particularly large and so I thought three toasts with the whipped feta was a good amount of breakfast or lunch. They would be really fun for one-bite appetizers if you used a small eggplant too. While there are a few steps to making these, they are very easy to make and I will definitely be making them again. 

Many thanks to The Book Club Cookbook for providing me with this tasty seasoning blend. I received no compensation for taking part in the virtual 2020 #BlendsBash party and my thoughts and experience using the blends are my own.

I'll be sharing more recipes between now and December as will more than 30 other bloggers as part of the 2020 Blends Bash!  You can check out all the bloggers participating in the #BlendsBash here

Here's a sneak peek at the other blends I'll be featuring over the next couple of months in their adorable packaging. These blends are so delicious and fun that they will make wonderful gifts for your foodie friends and fans of the many book, TV and song blends they feature. Check out a list of blends here. 

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I'm sharing this post with the Weekend Cooking event  being hosted by Marg at The Adventures of An Intrepid Reader. It's a weekly event that is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share. You can see this week's round up post here.

 

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "The Eighth Sister" by Robert Dugoni, Served with a Recipe for Smoky Eggplant Spread, Marbled Rye Toasts & Pickled Veggies

I can't believe how quickly this week has flown by, and that it's is already Thursday. Just one more day until the weekend can begin. If you are looking for a suspenseful weekend read, try the latest Robert Dugoni book, The Eighth Sister. I'm reviewing it as today's stop on the TLC Book Tour and I am pairing my review with a recipe for a Smoky Eggplant Spread, accompanied by toasted marble rye and pickled vegetables, and inspired by my reading.

Publisher's Blurb:

A pulse-pounding thriller of espionage, spy games, and treachery by the New York Times bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series.

Former CIA case officer Charles Jenkins is a man at a crossroads: in his early sixties, he has a family, a new baby on the way, and a security consulting business on the brink of bankruptcy. Then his former bureau chief shows up at his house with a risky new assignment: travel undercover to Moscow and locate a Russian agent believed to be killing members of a clandestine US spy cell known as the seven sisters.
 
Desperate for money, Jenkins agrees to the mission and heads to the Russian capital. But when he finds the mastermind agent behind the assassinations—the so-called eighth sister—she is not who or what he was led to believe. Then again, neither is anyone else in this deadly game of cat and mouse.
 
Pursued by a dogged Russian intelligence officer, Jenkins executes a daring escape across the Black Sea, only to find himself abandoned by the agency he serves. With his family and freedom at risk, Jenkins is in the fight of his life—against his own country.

Hardcover:

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (April 9, 2019)

My Review:

I am a huge fan of Robert Dugoni's Tracy Crosswhite series and feel like I am often anxiously awaiting the newest one. I hadn't ventured into Dugoni's other books because of my over-full TBR lis, but when I heard this was the start of a new series, I quickly jumped on the tour. Me being me and me being very anal retentive about reading series books in order, I was bit dismayed to learn that Charlies Jenkins, the main character in The Eighth Sister, is a secondary character in the author's David Sloane series. I think that there is enough explanation of the relationship in this book that you don't need to have read the David Sloan books first, but dogonnit, Dugoni made me curious, and now I want to and thus the TBR pile grows again ;-)

Charlie Jenkins is ex-CIA and living in Washington with his younger wife, young son, and a baby on the way. Disillusioned by his service to his country and how it ended, he is running a security firm with his wife when his old bureau chief tracks him down and asks him to reactivate and go undercover in Russia to find the leak behind a very secret spy ring known as the Seven Sisters, before more of these undercover agents are killed. Charlie doesn't want the assignment but his business is going under and he needs the money. so he heads to Moscow. Things do not go well and soon he is fighting to get out of Russia and to clear his name. 

Dugoni does an excellent job of building the pace and suspense throughout the story. making it a fast read for a thick book, as I didn't want to put it down and may have chewed down a couple of fingernails. I don't generally choose spy novels to read but i liked the way The Eighth Sister was both a spy thriller and a legal thriller with both the scenes in the filed and the courtroom scenes equally gripping. Charlie Jenkins is a great character, as were the supporting characters--his wife Alex, son CJ and the aforementioned David Sloane, and I look forward to spending more time with them in future books. I find Russia fairly fascinating and Dugoni's afterword about his inspiration for the book including a trip he made to Russia with his family in 1998 and some of their experiences was an interesting read as well. If you have not read Dugoni, you can't go wrong with either his Tracy Crosswhite books or this new series and I have a feeling his other books are equally as well done. (I'll let you know!)


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Author Notes: Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series, which has sold more than 4 million books worldwide. He is also the author of the bestselling David Sloane Series; the stand-alone novels The 7th Canon, Damage Control, and The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, for which he won an AudioFile Earphones Award for the narration; and the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. He is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He is a two-time finalist for the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. His books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than two dozen languages.

Connect with Robert on his website, Facebook and Twitter.

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Food Inspiration

There is so much action in this book and Charlie has little time to eat, but there were a few food mentions like pastries and veal with onions, junk food--chips, donuts, candy, granola bars, crackers, cheese, juice and chocolate bars, strong Turkish coffee, lamb with rice, scrambled eggs with onions and pepper and bread, cinnamon rolls, Thai food--chicken pad Thai, tom yum soup, and phat khing, and homemade tacos. 

There is one scene where Jenkins is meeting with his Russian contact Federov and they share a plate of appetizers at a restaurant:

"The man set a plate of appetizers on the table. speaking while gesturing. 'Rye bread bruschetta with eggplant spread. marinated mushrooms, and pickled vegetables. Naslazhdat'sya.'

Federov picked up a piece of the bruschetta and spread the eggplant with a butter knife. 'Please,' he said, gesturing to Jenkins. 'You will enjoy.' 

Jenkins chose the bruschetta and spread, mimicking whatever Federov ate."

There were marinated mushrooms mentioned and of course vodka. So I decided to make my book-inspired dish as a nod to the appetizer plate and especially the eggplant spread. 

When I looked up Russian eggplant spread, I found many recipes for it, often called Baklazhannaia Ikra (poor man’s caviar) or eggplant caviar. The recipes varied slightly in ingredients and sometimes spices and i ended up going with one of the simplest--just eggplant, onion and tomato paste with oil, salt and pepper. The flavor comes more from the roasting of the eggplant and the caramelizing of the onions.

Smoky Eggplant Spread
From Emily Han, via TheKitchn.com
(makes about 4 cups) 

2 large eggplant (about 1 lb each)
olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped
about 6z/3/4 cup tomato paste
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Prick the eggplants all over with a fork and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast in the center of the oven, turning over once, until soft, about 1 hour.
 

Let the eggplants cool in a colander in the sink, where their juices can drain. When cool enough to handle, press any excess liquid out. (This step helps to reduce any bitterness.)
Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 20 minutes.
 
Cut the eggplants in half and scoop out the flesh. Discard the peel. Using a large knife, chop the flesh very finely. (Avoid using a food processor, as you want the eggplant to be more textured than a purée.)
 
Add the eggplant to the onions along with the tomato paste, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and a couple good cracks of black pepper. Turn the heat to low-medium and cook, stirring frequently, for 10-15 minutes. Add more oil as necessary to prevent the mixture from sticking to the pan. (Be liberal with the oil; any excess will rise to the top as the mixture cools, and you can remove it then, if you wish.)
 
Transfer the mixture to a heat-proof bowl and let it cool completely before storing in the refrigerator. Adjust salt and pepper to taste before serving.

Notes/Results: With so few ingredients, I was surprised just how flavorful this eggplant spread was--and how good. Slightly smoky, and a bit sweet from the onion, it was really good hot, warm and cold and I think it will make a fabulous sandwich spread. I served mine on marbled rye toast points and with a small assortment of pickled and marinated veggies from the olive bar at my local grocery store (including some very spicy marinated mushrooms), which made a nice contrast to the eggplant spread. I will happily make this spread again.

I'm sharing this post with the Weekend Cooking event at Beth Fish Reads, a weekly event that is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share. For more information, see the welcome post.

Note: A review copy of "The Eighth Sister" was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.  
 
You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and what other reviewers thought about the book here.

 

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "Within These Lines" by Stephanie Morrill, Served with a Recipe for Grilled Eggplant with Orange-Miso Sauce

I am very excited to be today's stop on the TLC Book Tour for Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill, a touching and absorbing young adult World War II novel. Accompanying my review is a recipe inspired by my reading, Grilled Eggplant with Orange-Miso Sauce. 

Publisher's Blurb:

From Stephanie Morrill, author of The Lost Girl of Astor Street, comes Within These Lines, the love story of a girl and boy torn apart by racism during World War II.
 
Evalina Cassano’s life in an Italian-American family living in San Francisco in 1941 is quiet and ordinary until she falls in love with Taichi Hamasaki, the son of Japanese immigrants. Despite the scandal it would cause and that inter-racial marriage is illegal in California, Evalina and Taichi vow they will find a way to be together. But anti-Japanese feelings erupt across the country after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Taichi and his family are forced to give up their farm and move to an internment camp.
 
Degrading treatment makes life at Manzanar Relocation Center difficult. Taichi’s only connection to the outside world is treasured letters from Evalina. Feeling that the only action she can take to help Taichi is to speak out against injustice, Evalina becomes increasingly vocal at school and at home. 

Meanwhile, inside Manzanar, fighting between different Japanese-American factions arises. Taichi begins to doubt he will ever leave the camp alive.
With tensions running high and their freedom on the line, Evalina and Taichi must hold true to their ideals and believe in their love to make a way back to each other against unbelievable odds.

Hardcover: 352 Pages

Publisher: Blink (March 5, 2019)

My Review: 

I think it took me all of 30 seconds to sign up for this tour when I saw the email about it. If you ever read my reviews, you know that World War II historical fiction is a passion of mine and the mention of the Manzanar Relocation Center made me think of Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, one of my favorite young adult memoirs. Starting in junior high, I checked that book out regularly for years until I bought my own copy. Several years ago I was thinking of it again and bought myself another copy (mine long since gone) at the library bookstore. The sheer horror of the U.S. government interning Japanese Americans in internment camp with Executive Order 9066 is something that pains me and our recent political climate makes the mistakes from the past chillingly relevant today. Although Within These Lines is a novel, it is based on fact, and Taichi and the Hamasaki’s experiences in the internment camps are gripping and moving.

The heart of the story is the relationship between Evalina and Taichi, in a hidden relationship already when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor on December 7. 1941. The book starts three months after the attack, when anger at the Japanese is erupting and the government begins the process of moving families of Japanese descent to the camps. Evalina, an Italian-American and Taichi, a Japanese-American would have faced challenges even before the war, with most states having miscegenation laws prohibiting marriage between different races, but after the attack the odds seem insurmountable. Although a romance, the book is really about the characters and their personal growth—particularly Evalina, as she begins to find her voice. It is poignant and had me tearing up a few times, but there is hope in the pages too.

Within These Lines is well researched and well written, with the mostly fictional characters seamlessly blending with actual people interned at Manzanar. Stephanie Morrill wrote so vividly that I felt like I could see Manzanar and feel the intense winds and grit of the constantly blowing sand. Northern California during the WWII era comes alive too, and I could feel the desperation of the characters and the anger and bigotry against them by so many, as well as the hearts of those who tried to help them. Although written primarily for young adults, it’s a novel equally appropriate for adults. My only complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed and I wanted to know more about the characters—main and supporting and learn more details about their lives after the war. Morrill writes in the afterword about her research and her inspiration for the book and that gave me more books to explore on this important part of our history that should be remembered and never repeated.

 
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Author Notes: Stephanie Morrill is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com and the author of several young adult novels, including the historical mystery, The Lost Girl of Astor Street. Despite loving cloche hats and drop-waist dresses, Stephanie would have been a terrible flapper because she can’t do the Charleston and looks awful with bobbed hair. She and her near-constant ponytail live in Kansas City with her husband and three kids. 

Connect with Stephanie on her website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Food Inspiration: 

The food in Within These Lines reflects the times, both in the San Francisco setting where Evalina’s Italian family owns a restaurant and the Hamasaki family grew produce, and in the Manzanar Relocation Center where the Hamasaki family is relocated to, and where Taichi works in the kitchen in his housing block. Mentions included jars of olives, strawberries, lettuce, asparagus, eggplant and blackberries, marinara sauce with veal and beef meatballs, onions and tomatoes, eggplant parmesan, tangerines, lemon bars and tea, mochi, chicken salad and egg salad sandwiches, gnocchi, linguine with clam sauce, Vienna sausages and bologna sandwiches with a side of rice and canned peaches, chicken with brown sauce , stew, deep-fried rice balls rolled in sugar, lemonade, lasagna, meat ball sandwiches, fresh mozzarella, carrot sticks, spinach, blueberries and strawberries, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, fennel, tomatoes and lemons, fish, cranberries, and rice pudding.

I thought about making mochi as the Hamasaki family eats it for breakfast on the day they are relocated to the camp. I also considered something with blackberries—Evalina’s favorites, or rice since it is a part of both Italian and Japanese cuisines or some type of Italian-Japanese fusion dish. Ultimately I decided that I needed to include the oranges that are mentioned several times in the book. Mrs. Ling, a vendor of Chinese descent who sells produce in the farmers market along side the Hamasakis, gives one to Evalina and tells her it is for luck. She says that oranges are the perfect fruit as they are the easiest to share, and Evalina and Taichi share them a few times throughout the book. When I was Googling orange recipes I found one for a Orange-Miso Sauce from Eating Well magazine. I liked the Japanese-leaning ingredients and that it was served over eggplant—used frequently in both Japanese and Italian recipes.

When I was at the grocery store, I saw some locally-grown eggplant, not as long as a Japanese eggplant and not as round as an Italian eggplant, and labeled “hapa” –which is literally translated in Hawaiian to “part” or “mix” and refers to a person of mixed ethnic heritage. That seemed like a perfect fit for a dish for Taichi and Evalina. 

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Eating Well says, “Mild, nutty flaxseed oil, the richest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids, provides the perfect base for salty miso and sweet orange juice. This sauce is delightful over grilled eggplant, fish and chicken or used as a salad dressing.”

Orange-Miso Sauce

Recipe by Jim Romanoff via EatingWell.com

(Makes about 3/4 Cup)

1/2 cup sweet white miso

1 Tbsp orange zest

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup flaxseed oil or canola oil

1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp mirin, (optional)

Combine miso, orange zest and juice, oil, ginger, rice vinegar and mirin (if using) in a small bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended.

 

Notes/Results: The sauce's orange & miso pairing is really good, especially with the addition of the rice wine and mirin and I liked the pairing with the eggplant. I am taking the leftover eggplant with some cooked shrimp to work for lunch as I think the sauce will pair well with seafood too. Rather than whisk my sauce, I did it the cheater's way and pulsed it in my blender. You must like orange and miso for this one, as the flavors come through predominately, but it worked for me and is an easy, almost pantry sauce as I usually have everything, including an orange or two, available. I will definitely make it again. 

I'm sharing this post with the Weekend Cooking event at Beth Fish Reads, a weekly event that is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share. For more information, see the welcome post.

Note: A review copy of "Within These Lines" was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.  
 
You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and what other reviewers thought about the book here.