COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR KAYE SPENCER AND MEAT & POTATO PASTYS

Today we’re joined by Kaye Spencer who shares a recipe for Meat and Potato Pasty and a bit about A Permanent Woman, her latest romance which is part of the Lassoing a Mail-Order Bride anthology. Learn more about Kaye and her books at her website. 

In my story, Simon Driscoll needs a wife so he can get custody of his grandchildren. Tessa Morris needs a fresh start and a new reputation. Desperate men — and women — sometimes take desperate measures...but can she be A Permanent Woman?

This excerpt from A Permanent Woman is from Simon and Tessa’s first meeting.

A fiery flush rose up Simon’s neck, and his button-up shirt collar felt like it was strangling him. She was a fine looking woman—creamy smooth skin with a rosy complexion and bright intelligent eyes. Her hat, perched just so on top of the curls pinned up on her head, accentuated her neat, tailored and expensive traveling outfit, which hugged a good figure.

Her gentle touch and the hint of roses hovering about her stirred memories of long ago summer evenings rocking on the porch swing, watching the stars come out, holding hands and sipping lemonade, listening to the owls conversing in the tops of the cottonwoods in the yard, then retiring to the bedroom and slipping between cool sheets—

He jerked back to his senses. Damn it to hell, he’d no business entertaining bedroom thoughts about a woman. And a total stranger at that. It wasn’t part of the arrangement; besides, it not being a fitting topic to broach with a lady. A man could get himself into all sorts of trouble thinking of a woman the way he was thinking of her.

“Miss Morris, it’d be best if we don’t—”

“—waste any more time with formalities? I concur, so I’ll move right on. I admire your determination to assume responsibility for your grandchildren. And please accept my condolences for the loss of your son and daughter-in-law. Such a needless tragedy. With your wife gone but these four years, you’ve had more than your share of troubles.” She clucked her tongue in sympathy and rested her hand upon his knee as if it were the most natural thing to do.

Simon mumbled his thanks, his hands sweating and his mouth as dry as cotton.

“Let’s get to the heart of the issue, shall we?” She sat back, giving space between them, and Simon exhaled in relief.

“As you can see from my appearance, I have a sturdy and healthy constitution. I am of good moral character, although you’ll have to take my word on it, as I am willing to trust you. I’ve lived most of my life in a quaint little lakeshore town I’m sure you’ve never heard of.” She gestured in a generally easterly direction.

 “I have your advertisement here.” Reaching into her handbag, Tessa brought out a paper with a torn, jagged edge, and smoothed it out on her lap. “To further address your requirements, I am well-educated, I keep a decent house, and I am acceptably versed in culinary endeavors. My meat and potato pasty and whitefish chowder are highly regarded…”

So, on that food note, here is a hand-me-down family recipe for a meat and potato pasty that came to me via my maternal grandmother who brought it with her when she and my grandfather moved to Fort Morgan, Colorado from Lamoni, Iowa by way of Oral, South Dakota in 1922.

Meat and Potato Pasty

Ingredients:           

2-1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cold shortening

1/3 cup ice cold water (may need more or less)

2 or 3 medium sized potatoes, finely chopped (peeled or unpeeled)

1 pound (approximately) cooked or uncooked beef cut into small pieces (If already cooked, use larger pieces. If raw, lightly brown the meat in hot lard in a skillet to seal in the juice)

salt and pepper to taste

chopped onion (optional)

butter

1 large egg, beaten

For filling, mix meat, potatoes, onion, salt, and pepper together. Spoon mixture into each pasty bowl, filling until 3/4 full. Top each mixture with approximately 1 Tablespoon butter. Place the top crust over the bottom crust.

For crust, sift flour once, measure, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, sift again. Cut in shortening until pieces are size of small peas. Add ice water, a small amount at a time, and mix with fork just enough to make flour hold together. Continue mixing until it is neither sticky nor crumbly.

Divide dough into pieces according to the size and number of pastys you want to make. Keep in mind you need one bottom crust and one top crust per pasty. Roll the pieces out onto a floured surface.

Place one piece of rolled-out dough in container that holds up the sides, fill with meat and potato mixture. Brush a film of beaten egg around the edges of the bottom and top crust so the edges stick together. Place top crust over bottom crust and crimp them closed. Remove pasty from the bowl and place on baking sheet to bake. Repeat for other pastys, leaving space between each on baking sheet. Brush top crusts with beaten egg. Bake at 350 degrees 45 minutes to an hour until crusts are golden brown.

Lassoing a Mail-Order Bride

A woman would have to be loco to become a mail-order bride...wouldn't she? Leaving everything behind and starting fresh in the untamed west is the answer to a prayer for these ladies! A beautiful socialite needs a husband fast —but her husband wants a bride for life. A pregnant young lady becomes desperate —almost as desperate as her soon-to-be husband, who just inherited his sister's kids. A man is in love with a woman he can’t have —or can he? A woman’s reputation is tarnished and professional career compromised —she runs, but she can't hide. Will they all find love with strangers they've never met who are set on LASSOING A MAIL-ORDER BRIDE?

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COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR & DOUGHNUT MAKER KAYE SPENCER

Our guest cook today is romance author Kaye Spencer, who is also published as A.L. Debran. Kaye is drawn to cowboys and the Old West. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Spectral Legends, Western Romance, and Doughnuts

Halloween — my favorite day of the year. To help us get into the spirit (pun intended) of the holiday, here's a trivia question. What do these legends have in common?

·      Wild Huntsman

·      Herne the Hunter and his pack of white hounds with blood-red ears

·      Gabriel Hounds or Hellhounds

·      Odin astride his eight-legged stallion and followed by the Souls of the Dead

·      Orkney Islands' trows galloping about on midnight rides and driving a stolen cow ahead of them

Regardless of the country of origin, they are all a form of the Wild Hunt or Raging Host. Each legend has a phantasmagorical leader accompanied by a horde of hounds or horses as they race across the night sky amid howls, pounding hooves, and raging winds that stir tumultuous, roiling storm clouds in their wake. To see the Wild Hunt in any of its forms is a bad omen that heralds strife and/or death. They are spectral, supernatural forces traveling the land and sky at night, bringing evil with them, or they are sometimes hunting evil-doers to make them atone for their nasty ways.

So what does any of this have to do with western romance?

Well, America has its own Wild Hunt legend about spirits of damned cowboys doomed to chase a herd of phantom cattle for all eternity as punishment for their evil ways during their lives. Stan Jones wrote a song about it in 1948.

I took that basic idea and turned it into a western romance called Gunslingers & Ghostriders, (written under my A.L. Debran pen name.) The hero, Matt Caddock, has to face the violence he wrought in his past when the Ghostriders come to claim his soul.

Okay, so how do doughnuts fit in?

In Gunslingers & Ghostriders, the heroine, Brenna Stirling, has gained a widespread reputation with the doughnuts she makes each week to give to travelers passing by her ranch house. Here's the scene.

            …On Wednesdays, Brenna made doughnuts and she’d gained wide popularity for having them hot and ready all day long. Because of those doughnuts, word had already spread throughout the area that Matt Caddock, the Cimarron Gunfighter, was breaking horses at the Stirling Compound.

            Matt saw the riders coming at the same time the dogs began barking. He grabbed his plaid shirt from the fence and put it on as he walked into the yard from the corral. He also slipped the thongs off the hammers of his Colts, freeing them for quick use. He watched Brenna meet the riders in the yard. She cradled her shotgun easily in the crook of her elbow, giving the unmistakable impression that she knew how to use the business end, while still presenting watchful hospitality.

            The cowboys tipped their hats and kept their hands on the pommels of their saddles, in plain sight. Matt saw them glance cautiously in his direction as they surveyed the yard. He came up to them as she spoke, staying off to the side.

            “What can I do for you gentlemen? If you’re hungry, you’re welcome to a meal and all the water you need. Get down and cool yourselves in the shade. We never turn a hungry man away.” While her words were genuinely welcoming, the shotgun spoke volumes of its own.

            The cowboys swung down and walked toward her, leading their horses. “Thank you, ma’am, that would be mighty good. I expect you’re Mrs. Gérard.”

            “Yes, I am.”

            The cowboy doing all the talking put his hand inside his vest and came out with paper in his hand, extending it to her. “We just come through Trinidad headed to Laramie and the postmaster asked if we’d bring these letters to you.”

            She stepped quickly to the cowboy. “Thank you. That was very thoughtful. I know it was out of your way.”

            “Our pleasure, ma’am. It wasn’t much more than thirty miles. To be honest, we could have been here yesterday, but we’d heard tell that you make a plate of doughnuts on Wednesdays and we sort of waited.” A good‐natured, embarrassed grin covered the cowboys’ faces and she laughed.

            Matt nodded in greeting to the cowboys. “Akins. Myerson.”

            The cowboys turned to him. “Caddock? Is that you?..."

And here's the doughnut recipe, which is a hand-me-down recipe from my husband's family. Enjoy!

Doughnuts c. 1860

A recipe from Gunslingers & Ghostriders by Kaye Spencer writing as A.L. Debran

Ingredients:

2 eggs                                   

1 tsp vanilla or lemon           

1 tsp salt                       

1 cup sugar            

2 tsp baking powder***                       

2 tblsp oil**

1 cup milk

4 cups flour

1 qt oil** for frying

Directions:

In a small bowl, beat the eggs until silky smooth. Add vanilla, salt, sugar, baking powder, and oil. Stir well. Add milk. Stir well.

In a large bowl, add flour, then stir in the small bowl mixture. It will be thick and sticky and follow the spoon around the bowl. Turn out on floured surface and knead just a little flour in until not so sticky. Roll out no more than 1/2” thick. Cut doughnuts. Fry until lightly browned, turning once to brown both sides evenly. Drain on absorbent cloth. Roll in sugar and cinnamon or dip tops into a thin icing glaze.

Helpful Hints:

--Prep time, 1 hour, start to finish

--Cut all the doughnuts & prepare the absorbent cloth prior to frying

--Heat oil in a pan that is deep and wide enough so the doughnuts and the holes can expand and float as they fry

--Best served (and eaten) warm

--Wrap leftover doughnuts in a tea towel

--Makes 2 to 2-1/2 dozen doughnuts & holes

--Can be fried as dropped doughnuts – just drop heaping tablespoons of batter into oil

Confectioner's Sugar Icing

In sauce pan melt 1 cube butter/margarine, then remove from heat. Add a splash of vanilla, 1/4 cup milk (more or less), and stir. Add confectioner's sugar a cup at a time until consistency is smooth and thick but spreadable. Add more milk and sugar as needed to maintain desired consistency. Reheat if icing hardens before you finish.

   

***Original recipe calls for saleratus, which served as baking powder, & lemon juice or vinegar instead of vanilla in order to activate the saleratus.

**Original recipe calls for melted fat/lard.

Gunslingers & Ghostriders

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