Jeffery Deaver

This was one of the deserts served on the first-class menu on the Titanic the night before she sank. The flavor of the liqueur Chartreuse is an acquired one, like aquavit or grappa, but Jacob Swann occasionally enjoys a dish that challenges.

Ingredients:

2 large clingstone peaches, ripe
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
5 teaspoons powdered gelatin, unflavored
1/3 cup white sugar
1 cup Chartreuse
Water as needed
Sprigs of wheat or barley grass for garnish

Directions:

1. Dissolve the gelatin in 1 cup of water. Bring another cup of water to a boil. Lower the heat and add the sugar in the boiled water, stirring until it’s dissolved. Off the heat. Add the Chartreuse and the gelatin mixture and stir to combine. Pour into a glass baking dish that has been lined with plastic wrap. Let the gelatin set completely. This will take between one and two hours.

2. Combine 2 cups water and the sugar in a saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook until syrup is clear, about a minute or two. Add lemon juice, cinnamon stick and cloves.

3. Peel and slice the peaches and add to the syrup pan. Poach until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Off the heat and let them cool, remaining in the liquid.

4. Lift the wrap holding the gelatin out of the baking pan and cut into small squares.

5. To serve,  place peach slices in a large martini glass, cover with gelatin cubes and garnish with sprigs of the edible grass.

Jacob Swann got this recipe from, of all people, my grandmother, an even better cook than he.

Ingredients, cake: 

2 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients, icing:

5 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons  heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Beat eggs until thick and lemon-colored, four minutes. Don’t cheat; beat.

3. Add sugar and vanilla. Continue beating for another four minutes. Don’t forget the part about not cheating.

4. Sift together flour and baking powder, salt. Add to sugar-butter-egg mixture slowly, beat on low mixer.

5. Scald the milk and add butter. Cool to the point where it’s touchable.

6. Mix together milk-butter and flour-egg.

7. Pour in greased and floured 9-inch pan.

8. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes clean, so to speak, about 25 minutes.

9. Heat icing ingredients over low to medium heat until thick. Spread on warm cake. Place cake under broiler until bubbling, watching like a cliché’d hawk, to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinned chicken breasts, with the tenderloins removed
2 cups unseasoned panko crumbs
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
3 eggs
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
Olive oil as needed
Butter as needed
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chicken stock
Nutmeg
Water
Pepper
Salt
Fresh dill sprigs for garnish

Directions:

1. Heat oven to warming.

2. Place chicken between sheets of wax paper and pound to ¼-inch thickness (use the non-murder-weapon hammer or hatchet).

3. In a mixing bowl combine flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  In second bowl whisk eggs. In another bowl, combine breadcrumbs and cheese.

4. Heat about 2 tablespoons each oil and butter over medium heat in a skillet.

5. Dredge chicken in flour, then coat in egg mixture and finally in the bread crumbs. Make sure there’s no naked chicken; use your fingers (this gets rather gluey; Mr. Swann wears gloves).

6. Sauté the chicken in the pan for about three minutes on each side, until they middle is no longer pink and outside is crispy and brown. Don’t overcook it (dry chicken is a travesty). Remember: Small batches!

7. Remove sautéed chicken from pan and warm in oven.

8. Add more oil-butter mixture and cook the garlic until golden. Remember: garlic burns to cinders faster than the careers of most reality show contestants. Be vigilant.

9. Add cream, up the heat and boil while whisking until reduced by one-half and thickened.

10. Lower heat. Add mustard, lemon juice and chicken stock. Simmer for three or four minutes, then adjust seasonings.

11. Pour sauce on a serving platter, place chicken atop the sauce and garnish with dill sprigs.

This serves six to eight—but Mr. Swann would recommend being antisocial and inviting only four people to dinner. Because the dish is even better the next day, save a good portion for yourself.

Remember to start the recipe the night before. You’ll see why below.

And by the way, the word “venison” technically refers to any game, not just deer (it’s from the Latin for “hunting”). It’s fun to drop this factoid at a dinner party, though probably not one at which vegans are present.

Ingredients: 

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 quart of buttermilk
3 pounds venison loin, with fat and silverskin removed, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
3 large yellow onions, chopped
2 cups baby carrots
2 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut in 1 ½ inch cubes
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 bottles of stout, like Guinness (12-ounce bottles)
5 cups beef stock
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped fine
Olive oil
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Pepper
Butter as needed
All-purpose flour as needed

Directions:

1. The night before serving, pierce the cubes of venison with a fork, place in a glass bowl and add the buttermilk, cover with plastic wrap. Soak until you’re ready to start cooking the next day. This removes some of the gaminess of the venison.

2. When ready to cook, remove the venison and discard the buttermilk. Pat dry the meat, season with salt and pepper.

3. Heat the oil to sizzling in a Dutch oven.

4. Dredge the venison in flour then sear on all sides for several minutes until brown. (Small batches again!) Remove the meat and set aside.

5. Reduce the heat to medium and sauté the onions, stirring constantly. Cook until they’re translucent, about ten minutes.

6. Add the garlic, cook until golden, about 3-5 minutes.

7. Pour in the Guinness and the beef stock. Add the bay leaf, brown sugar, cayenne and Worcestershire sauce

8. Up the heat, bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer.

9. Add the meat and simmer, covered, for two hours.

10. Add the carrots and potatoes and continue simmering for another 45 minutes, or until the vegetables are fork tender.

11. If the sauce is too thin, make some butter manié—lazy-man’s thickening agent. Mix 3 tablespoons room-temperature butter and 3 tablespoons flour together in a bowl to make a smooth paste. Ladle a cup or so of the stock into the bowl slowly and whisk together. Then slowly add ½ of the resulting liquid back to the stew pot, stirring and letting the manié cook. If the stew sauce is still too thin, repeat.

12. Serve in bowls, with plenty of crusty French bread and butter (Mr. Swann does not approve of margarine).

I know I said the recipes serve four. This one could serve four as an appetizer, or it could serve one: me, for instance, I’m home alone with a nice salad, a cold Chimay beer and a new episode of Veep or House of Cards or a John Gilstrap novel to enjoy.

Ingredients: 

1 clove of garlic, crushed
¾ cup dry white wine
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
25 chicken wings
¾ cup melted butter—salted or unsalted; your call
½ cup hot sauce of your choosing

 Directions:

1. Combine marinade in plastic bag and add wings. Refrigerate overnight.

2. Remove wings from marinade (discard marinade) and pat wings dry. Place wings, flour, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper in plastic bag. Shake to thoroughly mix.

3. Place the wings on oiled baking sheet. Refrigerate for one hour.

4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

5. Combine melted butter and hot sauce in a small bowl, whisk. Brush generously on wings, top and bottom.

6. Bake for twenty minutes, turn wings over and bake for another 20-30 minutes until done (internal temperature of 180 degrees F).

Ingredients: 

4 pounds beef short ribs, cut crosswise into 2″-3″ pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 ¼ cups dry red wine
1 teaspoon each crushed thyme, rosemary, oregano and sage
1 bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 cups beef stock
Salt and pepper
Sprigs of some herb for garnish. You pick. Mr. Swann can’t do all the work.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Salt and pepper ribs.

3. Heat oil in a Dutch oven and brown ribs slowly in batches so that they’re thoroughly browned. Set ribs aside.

4. Drain off most of the oil and drippings, leaving about 3 tablespoons in the Dutch oven.

5. Brown onions. Add flour and tomato paste and cook this mixture, while stirring constantly for several minutes until uniform in texture.

6. Return ribs (and any juice from plate) to the Dutch oven. Add wine. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to simmer.

7. When liquid is reduced to about half, add the herbs and garlic.

8. Add stock and bring to boil, then cover and transfer to the oven.

9. Bake until ribs are very tender, about 2 ½ hours.

10. Transfer to serving platter. Add garnish. Skim fat from the liquid and boil to thicken on stove top, then strain into serving bowl.