Interview: Laura Ray & Shrimp Lingurian a la Lou

Today I'm pleased to welcome Laura Roodman Edwards Roodman Edwards Ray (she married and divorced the same man with the same problems twice, hence the very long name). We got to talking about books recently at 6 North Cafe in Ballwin, Mo., and I knew her book, BRAIN DEAD IN THE BURBS, was perfect for this fun-loving group of foodies!

Laura lives in a St. Louis suburb with her two daughters, her loving husband, and a stepson close by. She is a full-time mom, law firm sales representative, and first-time author. She is currently finishing the second volume of her “memoir” and plans on making it an annual occurrence if anyone would like to continue reading the strange stories of her life and pick up great recipes at the same time. She welcomes anyone from the “Smoking Gun” or any other “truthful literary agency” to try to prove that her memoir is made up at all. That would be a lot less embarrassing to her, as well as to her family.

About her book: 

"She shares hilarious stories about her first husband (“the same man with the same problems whom I married twice”), job, girlfriends, dating, and spoils readers with recipes that will make you a hit at any party.
Once, when her young daughters snuck into bed to snuggle, Laura guiltily asked them, “How can I be a better mommy to you?”
The oldest looked at her and said, “Oh Mommy, just never leave me again [at grandma’s] when I’m sick.” Laura then turned to her youngest daughter, who, without hesitation looked up and said, “MORE BEEF.” Predictably, that chapter includes a recipe for scrumptious and “beefy” meatballs. With each struggle or bizarre incident, Laura brings us further into her world with a witty tone and positive yet slightly twisted outlook on life. Her insights will ring true to anyone who has ever questioned her own actions, sacrificed for love, or taken a stand to get what she wants. The book contains 24 recipes with full color photos and true stories that will make you laugh, cry and then cook."

BRAIN DEAD IN THE BURBS is available at Amazon & at most of the independent book stores and gift shops in St. Louis: Left Bank Books, Puddin’Head, Webster Groves,  etc.

If you were marooned on an island, and Pots & Pens granted your wish for only one book and one food, what would you choose? To Kill a Mockingbird and a steamed artichoke with 4 different condiments (I’m the condiment Queen and I would have melted butter, Green Goddess, honey mustard, and a Bernaise)…that way, all of my taste buds would be satisfied!) 

If you were serving one of your characters his or her ideal meal, what would it be and why? Sven (Who really is my husband Tom); I’d make him the Shrimp Lingurian (a recipe that I stole from Balaban’s before they closed….they wouldn’t give it to me, so I just made it up and actually my version (because I add more stuff!) is better, The Strawberry, Candied Pecan salad and warm blueberry bars right out of the oven with Vanilla Bean ice cream.

Let’s say a couple of your characters are raiding your fridge right now, what are they most likely to eat? Are they disappointed or excited about what they find? Every condiment you can imagine and left over Grouper sandwiches from 569-Dine.  Hopefully, they won’t be disappointed, and realize that even the best of cooks (especially the full time working mom ones) have to order take out some time.

What is your A+, number 1 writing/editing/query-reading snack? Drunken Brie with an assortment of crudités and gourmet crackers….to die for!!!!!!

   

Tell about a time when food inspired your writing or a book inspired your cooking. When my daughter and I were cooking three huge beef briskets for her swimming banquet at 7am in the morning (they take forever to cook) and my husband sleepily stumbled into the kitchen trying to make the first pot of perfect coffee and saw all of the beef, he stopped  and said, “Oh hell….Who died?”

Shrimp Lingurian a la Lou

1 Pound of Thawed, Cooked, Peeled & Deveined Jumbo Shrimp

½  Cup of Olive Oil

½ Cup (1 Stick) Butter

½ Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper

½ Teaspoon Minced Garlic

¾ Cup of quartered Walnuts

½ Cup of Rinsed Julienne Cut Sun Dried Tomatoes (found in a jar in the Produce Dept. near the Tomatoes)

Salt and Pepper

 

¾ Cup of Crumbled Feta Cheese

 

1 lb. Of Spinach Fettucinni

1 lb. Of Fettuccini

 

In Large Pot, Boil Water with ½ tsp. of salt and 1 tsp. of Olive Oil.

Cook both types of Fettuccini until al dente, stir so that the two pastas are mixed together.

When done (hopefully at the same time as the Shrimp Saute), drain and put in a Large Pretty Pasta Bowl.

 

At the same time, take large sauce pan, and under medium heat melt the butter and add olive oil.  Add Crushed Red Pepper,Minced Garlic, Walnuts, and Sun Dried Tomatoes. Salt and Pepper, and then add the all ready cooked Shrimp.

Saute all ingredients until hot.  At last minute, crumble the Feta Cheese, stir in lightly so that it is slighty warm.

Pour all ingredients over the pasta and serve immediately.

  

Appetizers--the cooking world's short stories

Appetizers are versatile—at times, they are filling enough for a meal. Or several “small plates” can be shared, a style that tapas has perfected. Sometimes, appetizers merely whet the appetite for what’s to come.

The same can be said for short stories. Whenever I think of Isaac Asimov’s legendary 1941 story “Nightfall,” it’s hard to believe it wasn’t a novel. Anthologies become the equivalent of small-plate meals for readers, giving an assortment of stories for enjoyment. While I was reading Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series, I took a break from the novels to enjoy SIDE JOBS, an anthology that gave some tantalizing glimpses into what was to come. Sometimes, you just can’t get enough of a good thing!

I came across this appetizer, campechana, at Goode’s Seafood Restaurant in Houston last summer. With avocado, crabmeat, shrimp and more, it's both satisfying and light. Rather than recreate the information here, check out the recipe and a video of Levi Goode himself preparing campechana on the Houston Chronicle’s Fork and Cork website. I promise, if you make it, you’ll be glad you did. In my book, it’s “goode” enough to be a meal in itself!

Suzanne Lazear on Steampunk, Bento Boxes and Tired Mommy Dinners

I met Suzanne Lazear through the Apocalypsies group and have been following her bento box lunch chronicles on Facebook. Her young adult Steampunk dark fairytale, INNOCENT DARKNESS, Book 1 of The Aether Chronicles, will be released from Flux in August of 2012. Visit her website here. She’s also part of the Steampunk group blog Steamed.

Tell me a little about your own history with writing and with cooking.
I like to cook and bake, but I’m a total disaster in the kitchen—I prefer to refer to myself as “domestically awkward.” I do enjoy good food and I often bribe myself with candy and cookies when on deadline. I’ve been cooking since I was a little girl. I have vivid memories of making a chocolate putting pie with an Oreo crust when I was about 6. I let my little brother lick the middles out of a whole box of Oreos so I could crush up the cookies for the crust. I am not entirely sure where my parents were during this process.

I’ve wanted to be a writer for a long time—the third grade is when I really remember publication as a goal, but it may go back even further. For the most part I “doodled”—writing stories for fun but never finishing them—and certainly never editing them. Then one day I realized that if I really was serious about getting published, then I needed to write an *entire* story. So I did. Then I did it again. And again. Finally, I wrote one someone liked enough to buy. (INNOCENT DARKNESS, my YA Steampunk Dark Fairytale comes out in August 2012, from Flux.)

Do you write about food? Do any foodie scenes appear in your debut novel?
Sometimes I write about food and cooking, but it all depends on the characters. In Innocent Darkness, there’s not a whole lot of cooking or food scenes, though there are a couple of scenes in the Otherworld where Noli, the main character, is trying foods she’s never had before.

You write steampunk... have any cool steampunk kitchen gadgets found their way into your work?
I have flying cars and hoverboards, but no neat kitchen gadgets. Noli, being a bit of a rebellious hoyden, would much rather fix things then engage in the “ladylike” arts.

What kind of food fuels your writing process?
I have a thing for sour patch kids, chocolate toffee, and those butter cookies with the slabs of chocolate on them.

What kind of meals do you make for your family? How does cooking fit into your workday?
I work a full-time day job in addition to writing and having a family. My dinners tend to be easy things—a lot “tired mommy dinners” where you cook everything in one pot. I try to make things healthy while also making them quickly—and I’m always on the hunt for new recipes especially since I have a picky eater with food allergies.

I do make bento lunches for my daughter—they tend to be on the easy spectrum. A lot of people think bento lunches are only for stay-at-home moms—that’s not true, there’s a ton of fun and easy lunches you can make. Here’s the first part in a four part series I did on bento lunches for the working mom.

Your blog bio says you keep chickens. Do you cook the eggs?
We have two chickens, Trudy and Fluffy. They’re spoiled pets, though we do eat the eggs. Gathering the eggs and feeding them are part of my daughter’s chores.

If you were marooned on an island, and Pots 'N Pens granted your wish for only one book and one food, what would you choose?
Wow, that’s really hard. I would have to say chocolate and Little Women – I love that book and have read it a million times.

Tired Mommy Dinner
This one is designed to use whatever you have handy, you can use whatever meat and sauce you have handy—fish and chicken will go well with white sauce, beef and chicken with red sauce, etc. You don't even need to add meat. Add whatever veggies you want (fresh or frozen) for a yummy vegetarian dinner.

Ingredients:
Note: I made this for three, adjust accordingly

Noodles (I used 1/3 of a box of angel hair pasta)
Veggies (I used about a cup of tiny, uncooked broccoli florets; use as much veggies as you think you can get everyone to eat)
Meat (I used 1/2 lb cooked shrimp)
Sauce (I used 1/2 c. prepared Alfredo sauce)

Directions:

Boil water for noodles. Since the angel hair pasta only needs 4 min to cook, I dump the uncooked broccoli florets in with the water, I've cut them so they're tiny and cook faster.

When the water boils I add the noodles and the shrimp (which is cooked, I just need to warm it up).

While it's boiling I put some garlic toast in the toaster oven. You can also put some lettuce in a bowl for a salad.

When the noodles are done, I drain the whole mixture, then put it back in the pot and toss it with just enough sauce to coat everything. I like alfredo sauce, but depending on your meat and veggies you could use marinara, pesto, or even gravy. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese if you'd like. Serve with garlic toast and salad.

Prep time: virtually none, unless you need to cook the meat ahead of time or cut veggies.

Cook time: varies depending on how long the noodles need to cook, but under 20 min.

Serving notes: There are infinite ways you can make this. You can also make the noodles with veggies and sauce as a side dish (sans meat) and serve it underneath a chicken breast, piece of fish, etc.—or use lots of different veggies for a hearty vegetarian dish. I also make this using couscous—I add some veggie or beef bouillon to the water, tiny pieces of chicken or beef, and sweet corn or frozen mixed veggies.