A cranberry chutney or Scandinavian lingonberries go well with this dish. Serves six to eight.
WALDORF SALAD
1 cup diced crisp celery
1⁄4 cup sour cream
11⁄
1
2 cups cored (but not
⁄4 cup mayonnaise
peeled), diced Granny
Pinch of salt
Smith apples
Freshly grated nutmeg to
3⁄4 cup coarsely chopped
taste
walnuts
Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving; then let it warm slightly. Serve as is or on a bed of greens. This recipe tastes best with a slightly tart apple, and Granny Smiths are also pretty with the green celery.
The original recipe was created by Oscar Tschirky, the maître d’, not the chef, at New York’s famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It called for equal parts of diced celery and apples combined with mayonnaise and served on lettuce.
Walnuts were a later addition. Faith has altered it still more, and on occasion she replaces the walnuts with pecans, adds seedless green grapes or golden raisins, and often a slight squeeze of lemon. Serves six.
BIG APPLE PANCAKES
3⁄4 cup milk, plus 2 tablespoons 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1⁄4 teaspoon salt melted
1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1 Empire apple, peeled,
1 cup all-purpose flour
cored, and cut into thin
2 teaspoons baking powder
slices, halved
Put the milk, butter, and egg into a mixing bowl and beat lightly. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the liquid ingredients, stirring just enough to mix. Add the apple slices and stir. Cook on a griddle or in a frying pan, making sure that the apple slices are evenly distributed in the batter.
Makes sixteen four-inch pancakes.
Serve with warm maple syrup—they don’t need much.
FRENCH APPLE CAKE
2 cups sliced, peeled cooking
1 tablespoon cassis
apples
(optional)
Juice from 1⁄2 lemon
4 tablespoons unsalted
1⁄2 cup sugar, plus 1⁄3 cup
butter, melted
1⁄4 teaspoon grated nutmeg or
1 teaspoon baking powder
cinnamon
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus
1⁄4 cup milk
1 tablespoon
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Grease a cake pan. Toss the apples with the lemon juice and arrange in a spiral on the bottom of the pan. Cover the pan completely, overlapping the slices if necessary. Sprinkle with 1⁄2 cup sugar and the nutmeg. Cover the apples with 1 tablespoon of flour and driz-zle with the cassis, if using, then with 3 tablespoons of the melted butter. Set the pan aside while preparing the batter.
Sift the 1 cup flour, 1⁄3 cup of sugar, the baking powder, and salt together. Beat the milk, egg, egg yolk, and 1 tablespoon of the melted butter together. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until you have a thick, smooth batter.
Spread the batter on top of the fruit and bake for twenty-five minutes. Do not overcook. The cake should be light brown on top. Cool slightly and invert on a serving plate.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a small dollop of whipped cream. This cake is also delicious when made with peaches or pears.
MANHATTAN MORSELS
1⁄2 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 1-ounce squares semisweet
1⁄2 cup white sugar
baking chocolate
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 cup applesauce
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan and set aside.
Melt the butter and chocolate in the top of a double boiler.
Cool slightly. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside. Beat the eggs, sugars, and vanilla together. Then add to this the chocolate-butter mixture and the applesauce, mixing well. Stir in the dry ingredients and mix well again. Add the walnuts, stir, and pour into the greased pan.
Bake in the middle of the oven for approximately twenty-five minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack. This recipe makes twenty-four squares.
One of Faith’s favorite apple recipes is the apple version of Denouement Apple/Pear Crisp found in the recipe section of The Body in the Cast. Make it with New York State apples to give it a Big Apple twist.
As always, all of these recipes may be modified, substituting Egg Beaters, margarine, low-fat milk, and low-fat sour cream. The only exception is the sauce for the pork loin. It doesn’t need to be heavy cream, but it does need to be creamy—light cream or half-and-half.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. Robert DeMartino once again for his invaluable medical advice and our years of friendship.
Many thanks also to Faith Hamlin, my agent, and Zachary Schisgal—an editor who edits.
And I am especially grateful to Patricia Hero of Arlington, Virginia, who suggested the title years ago at a bookstore signing!
About the Author
KATHERINE HALL PAGE is the author of thirteen previous Faith Fairchild mysteries. Her first book in the series, The Body in the Belfry, received the Agatha Award for best first mystery novel. She also won an Agatha Award for her short story “The Would Be Widower,” and The Body in the Lighthouse was nominated for a Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives with her husband and son in Massachusetts. You can visit her website at www.katherinehallpage.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Praise
THE BODY IN THE BIG APPLE
“New Yorkers and suburbanites alike should enjoy this fast-paced mystery; and gastronomes will relish the aptly apple-flavored recipes.”
—Publishers Weekly
And praise for Agatha Award-winner KATHERINE HALL PAGE’s previous
Faith Fairchild mysteries:
“Scrumptious suspense.”
—Boston Herald
“This highly entertaining series effectively mixes modern-day moral dilemmas with
charm, warmth, and humor.”
—Booklist