My Favorite Pappa Al Pomidoro Soup (And Fried Basil Croutons) for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

Back to a no soup making week, this week. It was a great day for it, rainy and cool but I was busy and slightly under the weather with asthma. That made me think about this Ina Garten Papa Al Pomidoro Soup that I first made back in 2008 over Christmas Weekend when I was too sick to go to Oregon. Excuse the early days pictures. 

I ate meat on the regular at the time and the topping of ciabatta, fresh basil, and pancetta but I have made the topping again, several times since, with the bread and basil. It's the best part of the soup. Here it is on Creamy Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Fried Basil Croutons from Christmas Eve 2017. 

Pappa Al Pomidoro

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, Ina Garten

(1/2 Recipe Below Makes 6 Servings) 

1/2 cup good olive oil
2 cups chopped yellow onion (2 onions)
1 cup medium-diced carrots, unpeeled (3 carrots)
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and medium-diced (1 1/2 cups)
4 teaspoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
3 cups (1-inch) diced ciabatta cubes, crusts removed
2 (28-ounce) cans good Italian plum tomatoes
4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
For the topping:
3 cups (1-inch) diced ciabatta cubes
2 ounces thickly sliced pancetta, chopped
24 to 30 whole fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons good olive oil, plus more for serving
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, fennel, and garlic and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until tender. Add the ciabatta cubes and cook for 5 more minutes. Place the tomatoes in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process just until coarsely chopped. Add the tomatoes to the pot along with the chicken stock, red wine, basil, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and allow to simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

For the topping, place the ciabatta cubes, pancetta, and basil on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss well. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes, until all the ingredients are crisp. The basil leaves will turn dark and crisp, which is perfectly fine. Reheat the soup, if necessary, beat with a wire whisk until the bread is broken up. Stir in the Parmesan and taste for seasoning. Serve hot sprinkled with the topping and drizzled with additional olive oil.

What I said about it then: 

Notes/Results:  This makes a lot of soup--Ina says it serves 6 and as usual, they would be "ginormous" servings.  I made a half batch, which was at least six, decent-sized servings, but I ate it all the past few days and actually wish I had more. Don't omit the topping--if you don't do meat, still bake the basil and ciabatta cubes and then grate some Parmesan over it when you serve.  This soup is delicious and I will make it again. Thanks Natalie for a great recipe pick!  Since it's Christmas, the Barefoot Bloggers have until 12/31 to post this recipe and you can check out their results here.

Linking this Ina soup up to I Heart Cooking Clubs November Potluck:

Now let's check out the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here:

Judee of Gluten Free A-Z Blog shares Mediterranean Tomato and Red Onion Salad, saying, "Tomato and red onion salad is simple to prepare yet makes a lovely presentation and is very delicious. It's made of a few ingredients and can be thrown together quickly. With all the rich heavy food for the holidays, why not serve some healthy low calorie salads as well."

Radha of The Magical Ingredients for a Wholesome Life from the Heart of My Home brought Roasted Cauliflower Soup and says, "This is a simple, creamy, and delicious soup made with roasted cauliflower. A piping hot bowl of this soup is a perfect one as the temperature dips. For a vegan version, add coconut milk. Serve with a crusty bread or garlic bread."

Finally Tina of Squirrel Head Manor brings Dal Makhani from the local Indian shop, saying, "The Indian market always has interesting fare on their shelves.  They also have the best fresh green beans and lots of other fresh produce.  Pity it's located so far from our home so we don't go often.  I'm loving this prepackaged Dal Makhani for lunches."

Thank you Tina, Judee, and Radha for joining me this week! 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
• Although we are pretty wide on what defines a soup, sandwich or salad, entries that are clearly not in the same family (ie: desserts, meats, random main or side dishes that aren't salads, etc.) are meant for another round up and will be deleted. 

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to ente

Have a happy, healthy week!

 

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "Mrs. Rochester's Ghost" by Lindsay Marcott, Served with a Shrimp Cobb Salad & a Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe

It's almost Friday! I am excited about that and the fact that I am today's TLC Book Tour stop for Mrs. Rochester's Ghost by Lindsay Marcott, a modern retelling of Jane Eyre.  Accompanying my review is a Shrimp Cobb Salad from a nearby restaurant and a recipe for one of my favorite Blue Cheese Salad Dressings.  

Publisher's Blurb:

In a modern and twisty retelling of Jane Eyre, a young woman must question everything she thinks she knows about love, loyalty, and murder.

Jane has lost everything: job, mother, relationship, even her home. A friend calls to offer an unusual deal, a cottage above the crashing surf of Big Sur on the estate of his employer, Evan Rochester. In return, Jane will tutor his teenage daughter. She accepts.

But nothing is quite as it seems at the Rochester estate. Though he’s been accused of murdering his glamorous and troubled wife, Evan Rochester insists she drowned herself. Jane is skeptical, but she still finds herself falling for the brilliant and secretive entrepreneur and growing close to his daughter.

And yet her deepening feelings for Evan can’t disguise dark suspicions aroused when a ghostly presence repeatedly appears in the night’s mist and fog. Jane embarks on an intense search for answers and uncovers evidence that soon puts Evan’s innocence into question. She’s determined to discover what really happened that fateful night, but what will the truth cost her?

Hardcover: 398 Pages

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (August 1, 2021)

My Review: 

Although Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte does not garner the same level of love and devotion from me as Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion and Jane Austen do, I have always enjoyed it and have read it four or five times throughout my life. This made me more than happy to jump on the tour for Mrs. Rochester's Wife, the modernization of the classic novel. I love a good retelling--preferably where the author doesn't just pick up the novel and put it in a different time or setting, but rather one that reaches out and gives me another angle to explore. 

Mrs. Rochester's Wife manages to keep the dark gothic vibe of the original, even as it moves the story to the dramatic and rugged coastline of Big Sur. Jane is now the unemployed writer of a gothic television series that was recently canceled--making it impossible to afford her rent. She is also recently an orphan, having lost her mother to cancer, and she also lost her boyfriend and best friend who together, betrayed her when her mother was sick. An old friend calls and talks her into leaving New York for California to take a summer job tutoring a notorious tech mogul's teenage daughter and living in a cottage on a massive coastal estate, she is unsure but low on options. Evan Rochester is darkly handsome, and is thought to have killed his mentally unstable wife Beatrice--although no one has been able to prove it. Jane begins to look for answers and finds herself falling for her employer at the same time.

The story is told both by Jane and in flashbacks of Beatrice Rochester which adds an interesting element, as she is quite mad and these bits are very dark and twisty. I liked how the Thorn Bluffs estate setting was brought to creepy and gothic life and how some of the supporting characters in Bronte's work were reimagined here. I did get annoyed a time or two by Jane and some of her actions, and at how quickly she fell for Evan, despiser her misgivings, his secrets and lies, and some pretty good evidence that at the very least, he may have driven his wife to drown herself. But, I get a bit annoyed at the original Jane Eyre too--so it wasn't a new feeling. For me, overall it worked and I had a hard time putting the last third of the book down. I think someone with an appreciation for the original novel (but who is also open to interpretations of it) will enjoy it and someone less familiar or completely new to the story will appreciate it as a slightly soapy and gothic mystery/thriller. 

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Author Notes: Lindsay Marcott is the author of The Producer’s Daughter and six previous novels written as Lindsay Maracotta. Her books have been translated into eleven languages and adapted for cable. She also wrote for the Emmy-nominated HBO series The Hitchhiker and coproduced a number of films, including Hallmark’s The Hollywood Moms Mystery and the feature Breaking at the Edge. She lives on the coast of California.

You can connect with Lindsay on her website, Twitter or Instagram

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Food Inspiration:

Jane's friend and Rochester's cousin is the chef on the estate and so there was plenty of food and drink to be found in Mrs. Rochester's Ghost. Mentions included, a menu of pear and allium to start, black cod with caviar beurre blanc, chocolate ganache, and cocktails made of lavender and lemonade, caraway cookies, a bottle of Sancerre, tapas, peanuts, cabernet, Frappuccinos, a turkey wrap, margarita, coffee, orange juice, homemade cranberry muffins, honey, gelato, a $27 Cobb salad at a sidewalk cafe, a Manhattan, copping (chunky with fresh seafood and fragrant with anise and oregano), a mascarpone fig tart, Cristal, baby back ribs, cheese, soba noodles, garlic, cherries, mojitos, a turkey and Swiss clubs, tubs of assorted salads, apples, peaches, Argentinian Malbec, liqueur, kirsch, chicken tikka masala, mezcal, venison chili, clove tea and lacy rose water cookies, Dr. Browns Black Cherry Soda, cokes, Wavy Lays, burgers, wilted kale and a pear, kugel and potato knishes, matzo ball soup, egg creams with extra Hershey's, Le gloop (penne pasta glooped together with a bunch of random ingredients from the fridge like leftover steak, sour cream, Greek olives), a tale of eating fried rattlesnake, cantaloupes, pizza, popcorn shrimp, Mac and cheese, candy-colored tropical fruit drinks, breadsticks shrimp in cocktail sauce, crab salad lemonade, Perrier, salmon, chocolate-hazelnut biscotti, an açaí bowl, soft-shell crabs, eggs, Fat Tire beer, sushi, bison burger, sweet potato fries, zinfandel, Vanilla Spice Energy tea, fried food, Grape Nuts with blueberries on top, a salad of arugula, radicchio, and fennel with white sardines and toasted slices of sourdough, pistachios, croissants, strawberry-and-kiwi tonics, champagne, martinis, vegetable curry, carrot cake, ice-cold Stoli, Sweet Chili Doritos, steak, and cranberry-bread toast and vanilla yogurt. 

Set in Big Sur, California, salads seemed to feature heavily-- a crab salad for Beatrice, a Cobb salad Jane purchases on a first day there and various salads that Otis made. I decided on a Cobb salad--mainly because it sounded good for a hot and humid night. It has been a long and busy week, and even though a Cobb Salad is not at all difficult to make, I wanted someone to make it for me so I ordered one from a local restaurant/brewery by my house and ran in and grabbed it. I subbed in shrimp for the chicken and although I asked them to hold the bacon, it came with it. 

But, because you probably come here for a recipe, I am including one of my favorite easy blue cheese dressing recipes, perfect for a Cobb salad. It comes from Ina Garten and I first tried it on her Crunchy Iceberg Salad with Creamy Blue Cheese, here. 

Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing
Slightly Adapted from Ina Garten via BarefootContessa.com
(Serves 4)

For the Dressing:
4 oz Roquefort blue cheese, crumbled
2/3 cup good mayonnaise
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp sherry vinegar

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

For the dressing, place 4 ounces of blue cheese in a small bowl and microwave for 15 seconds, until it begins to melt. Place the mayonnaise, yogurt, warm blue cheese, sherry vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until smooth. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.

Notes/Results: Never underestimate the power of a good Cobb Salad. This totally hit the spot and I didn't complain that they left the bacon on. ;-) I will order it again. 

 

Ina's dressing recipe above is pretty perfect too--just blue cheesy enough without being too overpowering and thick and creamy enough to be a dip or spread. If you love blue cheese, give it a try.

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. Here's a link to this week's post. 

And of course a delicious salad and dressing has to get linked up here at Kahakai Kitchen for this week's Souper Sundays post, my weekly feature where anyone can share their soup, salad or sandwich recipes. Here's the link to this weeks post. 

Note: A review copy of Mrs. Rochester's Ghost 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. 

 

Ina's Zucchini Vichyssoise: Hot or Cold for Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays

I made soup this week! Ina Garten's Zucchini Vichyssoise. After a couple of weeks of lazy, I finally decided that I better use up my wilting veggies and get a soup made. Since it is pretty warm and humid (although nothing like the temperatures my friends and family in the Pacific Northwest are in right now), this is a great soup as it can be enjoyed both hot or cold. 

I changed Ina Garten's recipe slightly--using non-chicken broth, adding a bit more cream, and using my high-speed blender instead of a food mill. Oh, and I added a little Tarragon, just because. 

Zucchini Vichyssoise 

Slightly Adapted by Ina Garten via FoodNetwork.com

(Yields 6 Servings)

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 Tbsp GOOD olive oil ;-)

5 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (about 4-8 leeks)

4 cups chopped, unpeeled white boiling potatoes (I used Yukon potatoes)

3 cups chopped zucchini (about 2 zucchini) 

1 1/2 cups chicken broth or light vegetable broth

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

(I added 1/2 tsp dried tarragon)

2 Tbsp heavy cream

fresh chives, julienned zucchini or parsley for garnish

Heat the butter and oil in a large stockpot, add the leeks, and saute over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, zucchini, chicken stock, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil; then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Cool for a few minutes and then process through a food mill fitted with the medium disc. Add the cream and season to taste. Serve either cold or hot, garnished with chopped chives and/or zucchini.

Notes/Results: A simple and very tasty soup, the leeks are the prominent flavor here but there is nothing wrong with that. It's a silky and satisfying soup and so far, I have tasted it hot, room temp, and mostly chilled and I think I like room temp or chilled best but I'll you know tomorrow after it sits over night. I would make it again. 

I'll be linking this soup up at I Heart Cooking Clubs this coming week as it will be our June 2021 Potluck theme. 

Let see who is in the Souper Sundays kitchen this week!

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shared a Griddled Ham & Cheese with Mustard this week, saying, "A few posts back I mentioned Doug was getting good use of the Blackstone griddle. The  breakfasts are great but so are the grilled sandwiches. The crust was toasted and delicate for this ham and cheese with mustard.  Now that we are home the griddle is set up on the porch.  Guess we will buy another one for camping and storing in the RV."

Radha of The Magical Ingredients for a Wholesome Life From the Heart of My Kitchen is here with Jowar/Sorghum Salad. She says, "This is a simple, colorful, and delicious salad made with Jowar or sorghum that satiates hunger. This salad is easy to make and I guarantee that this is going to be made often in your home. This is a perfect summer salad. Fresh veggies and peanuts give the crunch, jowar provides the carbs as well as fiber and garbanzos give a protein boost along with peanuts. The added spices give a kick to the salad."

Kim of Stirring the Pot brought Ina's Breakfast Sandwich this week, saying, "I thought this was an incredibly delicious and filling sandwich. I was trying to think about how to describe it and words like  "unctuous and top-quality and so satisfying" came to mind. It's only a few simple ingredients, but you can taste them all so well and they all play together so nicely."

Thanks everyone for hanging out with me this week! 

 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
• Although we are pretty wide on what defines a soup, sandwich or salad, entries that are clearly not in the same family (ie: desserts, meats, random main or side dishes that aren't salads, etc.) are meant for another round up and will be deleted. 

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!

 

Ina's Chilled Cucumber Soup with Shrimp for Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays

I usually wait until after Memorial Day to slide in a few chilled soups for the summer but the heart and stomach want what they want and I wanted cold cucumber soup. 

The trade winds died down this weekend and it's 80 degrees F., and so not having to turn on an oven or stove today was appealing. I chose Ina Garten's Chilled Cucumber Soup with Shrimp as today's recipe because the shrimp make this soup more substantial and satisfying. Crab or smoked salmon would be equally delicious on top. 

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Shrimp

From Ina Garten, Cook Like a Pro via Food Network

(Yields 9 Servings)

2 (17-oz) containers Greek yogurt

1 1/2 cups half-and-half

3 hothouse cucumbers, unpeeled, seeded, and chopped

3/4 cup chopped red onion

9 scallions, white & green parts, chopped

2 Tbsp kosher salt, or to taste

1 Tbsp black pepper, or to taste

1/4 cup fresh dill

3/4 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice (about 6 lemons)

3/4 lb cooked large shrimp, halved

thin slices of lemon, halved, for garnish

fresh dill for garnish

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the yogurt, half-and-half, cucumbers, red onion, scallions, salt, and pepper. Transfer the mixture in batches to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until cucumbers are coarsely pureed and then pour into another bowl. Continue processing the soup until all of it is pureed. Fold in the dill, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until very cold. 

Just before serving, stir in the lemon juice. Serve chilled, garnished with the shrimp, lemon, and fresh dill.

Notes/Results: Tangy and refreshing from the lemon and yogurt I could almost feel this soup rehydrating me with every bite. The herby notes of the dill and sweetness of the shrimp are a nice contrast. I followed Ina's recipe mostly although I used my high-speed blender instead of dragging out my food processor and found I needed less salt (and pepper) than called for between the yogurt and the lemon. I love cucumbers in the summer and this soup makes the most of them. If you don't have a lot of experience with eating cold soups, I think cucumber is a good one to start with and this soup is quick and easy to make and would be perfect enjoyed al fresco with some crusty bread. I would happily make it again. 

Linking up with I Heart Cooking Clubs where the theme is Picnic Prep this week--recipes good for picnics and outdoor dining. 

It's just me in the Souper Sundays kitchen this week, but come and join me sometime with a soup, salad, or sandwich post. Details for joining in are below.

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
• Although we are pretty wide on what defines a soup, sandwich or salad, entries that are clearly not in the same family (ie: desserts, meats, random main or side dishes that aren't salads, etc.) are meant for another round up and will be deleted. 

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!

 

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "Resurrecting Rain" by Patricia Averbach, Served with a Recipe for a Green Goddess Tuna Salad Sandwich

Aloha! It's almost the end of a long busy week and I am very excited to be today's stop on the TLC Book Tour for Resurrecting Rain, a new novel by Patricia Averbach. Accompanying my review is a Green Goddess Tuna Salad Sandwich inspired by my reading.

Publisher's Blurb:

Deena’s house is being auctioned off at sheriff’s sale and her marriage is falling apart. As her carefully constructed life unravels, her thoughts return to the New Moon Commune outside Santa Fe where she was born, and to Rain, the lesbian mother she had abandoned at fourteen. No one, not even her husband and children, know about New Moon or that she sat Shiva for Rain in exchange for living in her Orthodox grandmother’s house in an upscale suburb of Cleveland.

Deena’s story unfolds with empathy and wit as a cascade of disasters leaves this middle aged librarian unmoored from her home and family, penniless and alone on the streets of Sarasota, Florida. The novel is populated with deftly drawn characters full of their own secrets and surprises–from Deena’s blue haired freegan daughter who refuses to tell her parents where she lives, to the octogenarian TV writer who believes that crows are the reincarnated souls of Jews lost in the Holocaust. Deena loses her house, but will she find a home? Maybe the crows know.

Resurrecting Rain explores the unanticipated consequences of the choices that we make, the bonds and boundaries of love and the cost of our infatuation with materialism. At its heart the novel is a tale of loss and redemption, a reevaluation of our material culture and an appreciation for the blessing of friends and family. It demonstrates that sometimes you have to lose everything before you find yourself.

Paperback: 324 pages
Publisher: Golden Antelope Press (February 3, 2020)

My Review:

When I finished Resurrecting Rain, my first thought was "Wow! So many things happen in just 324 pages! How will I begin to describe it in a review?" I'm going to do my best without giving everything away. Deena is a woman whose life begins falling apart from the very start of the book when a really bad investment made by her husband has their house being sold at auction and her carefully constructed life imploding. Her daughter is away at college and distances herself further from the family, her son, a high school swimming star in his senior year sees his prospects dissolving and her husband completely withdraws, shell-shocked and depressed by the guilt of the havoc he has brought on the family. Forced to move to a tiny apartment both Deena a librarian and her husband a pharmacist have their jobs and life begins to move on in a very different way. of course. If that were the only thing that happened it would be an interesting character story of the impact of a financial crisis on a family, but Deena makes some bad decisions of her own that send her careening out of control. I don't want to recount all of them but there is an affair that had me screaming at her in my head (I tend to do that with characters that do dumb things) and that takes her situation from bad to worse. She truly epitomizes the saying "if it weren't for bad luck, she'd have no luck at all." But it is when she hits rock bottom and is separated from her family and alone in Florida that I began to really like her and root for her to make it out of the mess. Deena has been keeping secrets her whole life about her childhood in a commune in New Mexico with her mother and her terrible trade of that life for a "normal" one growing up with her grandmother, and her downward spiral has her longing to search out her past. With everything that happens you might think the book is bogged down in melodrama and while there is an abundance of drama, Patricia Averbach keeps a touch of dark and sly humor and a sense of adventure running throughout the story that moves it along. I sped through the pages, especially the final third of the book, wanting to know what would happen and I quite enjoyed the ride as Deena tries to resolve her past and find herself. A unique book and the author's second novel, I look forward to reading more from her. 

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Author Notes: Patricia Averbach, a Cleveland native, is the former director of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center in Chautauqua, New York. Averbach’s second novel, Resurrecting Rain, the contemporary story of a woman who loses her house but finds her home, was released by Golden Antelope Press in 2020.

Her first novel, Painting Bridges, was described in a Cleveland Plain Dealer review as “introspective, intelligent and moving.” Her poetry chapbook, Missing Persons, received the London based Lumen/Camden award in 2013 and was selected by the Times of London Literary Supplement (Nov. 2014) as one of the best short collections of the year.

Previous work includes a memoir about her early career as Anzia Yezierska’s sixteen year old literary assistant and an article about the Jewish community in a virtual world called, Second Life. Her work has appeared in Lilith Magazine, Margie, The Muse, and The Blue Angel Review

Connect with Patricia on her website, Facebook and Twitter.

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Food Inspiration: There is quite a bit of food in Resurrecting Rain. When the novel starts Deena loses her house and is forced to down-size but still cooks and eats like she did before.Once her luck changes even more, she finds herself trying to make ends meet and often food insecure, then we go from that to the food of her childhood in  New Mexico, so the food runs the gamut. Mentions included crantinis of vodka and cranberry juice, tacos, salad with cherry tomatoes, a meal to tempt her husband of lobster bisque, honey bourbon salmon, asparagus risotto, and limoncello mousse, Pinot Grigio, leftover lasagna, cupcakes, coffee and biscotti, organic broccoli, tofu, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, matcha, powered donuts, cappuccino, paprikash, with dumplings and with chicken livers, dobos torte, Chinese food, pita chips, gyros and falafel, sautéed mushrooms, pecans, red beans and rice, stuffed peppers, cracker, hummus and cheese, mushroom soup, spaetzle, Russian tea biscuits, Mandelbrot, herring, gefilte fish, hardboiled eggs and chopped liver, bread with butter, pizza, fettuccine drenched in butter, cream and melted cheese, green tea, burgers and fries, brownies, dry cereal, canned soup, buttered toast, Starbucks Komodo Dragon Blend coffee, rice and oatmeal, frozen burritos, strawberry yogurt, grapefruit, eggs, Spaghetti-Os, apple and sliced processed cheese, oranges, a bagel, muffins, sugar cookie dipped in chocolate, vanilla wafer, sweet corn and fry bread rolled in sugar, strawberries and cream, vodka and orange juice, French toast, died chicken, eggs, bacon and biscuits, pastries, instant oatmeal, hot waffles,grits and sausage gravy, sopapillas with honey, three bean chili, golden cornbread, pancakes, salsa and guacamole, apple cakes with honey, challah, matzo ball soup, chili rellenos, and enchiladas.

While the southwest and Mexican food was a temptation and the limoncello mousse had me drooling, I ultimately went with a tuna sandwich. When Deena is close to running out of funds and food in Florida she is eating tuna sandwiches and fruit from a brown paper bag outside. By a Whole Foods, she wishes her meal was curried chicken or sushi with sesame seaweed salad. I thought, maybe if it wasa good tuna sandwich, it would make it make it a more desirable lunch. I had seen this recipe for a Green Goddess Tuna Salad Sandwich in Bon Appetit and liked everything about it from the herby dressing to the Toasted English Muffin so I decided to recreate it. I did swap the Green Goddess dressing in the recipe with Ina Garten's, no real reason other than using her recipe made it fit into I Heart Cooking Clubs so I could join in this week. I think any Green Goddess dressing would be lovely.

Basil Green Goddess Dressing
Slightly Adapted from Ina Garten via FoodNetwork.com
(Makes about 2 cups of dressing)

1 cup good mayonnaise
1 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (6 to 7 scallions)
1 cup chopped basil leaves (18 to 20 leaves) (I used mostly basil but mixed in tarragon & parsley) 
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp anchovy paste
2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sour creamPlace the mayonnaise, scallions, basil, lemon juice, garlic, anchovy paste, salt, and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the sour cream and process just until blended. Use immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.

Note: I dressed two cans of good drained oil-packed tuna with about 1/2 cup of the salad dressing. I don't like my salad too "gloppy" but you can use whatever proportion you like. Use the leftover dressing on veggies, salad or dip boiled shrimp into it (my favorite). 

To make the sandwich: toast a sourdough English muffin or bread of choice and lightly butter. Make a salad of whatever greens and leftover herbs you have (and celery leaves too if you have them. Place the herb salad on top of one side of the English muffin, then add a scoop of the tuna salad. Top with the other muffin half and enjoy!

Notes/Results: The Green Goddess dressing is delicious--complex, herby, savory and creamy and it really elevates the canned tuna and makes it seem luxurious. I did mix in tarragon and parsley that I had on hand to the basil Ina called for and I liked the change. I also think the anchovy is completely necessary as it adds a layer on umami to the flavor.  With the toasted and  buttery English muffin (good call Bon Apetit!) and the herb salad, this little sandwich made me very happy served with a crunchy Honeycrisp apple. I am looking forward to using up the rest of my dressing and I will happily make this sandwich again.

Linking up at I Heart Cooking Clubs for another week of Needs Must cooking.

I'm also sharing this post with the Weekend Cooking event that was held at Beth Fish Reads, but is now being hosted with 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 last week's post here.

Finally I am adding this salad to the Souper Sundays linkup here at Kahakai Kitchen where each you can post soups, salads and sandwiches. Here's the link to this week's post if you'd like to join in.

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