#COOKING WITH CLORIS--AUTHOR DAVID RYAN'S FBI AGENT COOKS UP A SPAGHETTI DINNER

Author David Ryan’s debut novel, Dead Odds, features an FBI agent who enjoys cooking. Today he shares the recipes for the apology spaghetti dinner his protagonist cooked for an Orlando homicide detective. Learn more about David and his series at his website. 

In my debut novel, Dead Odds, the protagonist is a Tennessee-based FBI agent who takes time off to handle some family business in Florida. The agent has been out of college (and out of law school) for more than a decade and is single, but he is not the law enforcement version of Oscar Madison. (For those of another generation, Conrad Keane, my protagonist, is not a slob.)

Keane finds himself in Orlando investigating the murder of his estranged and much-younger brother, and he discovers his brother did not lead the life everyone believed he did.

One of the revealing scenes in Dead Odds is when Keane, needing to apologize to an Orlando homicide detective because he stuck his nose into her murder investigation. On the spur of the moment he shows up at Det. Tina Rossi’s house and cooks a spaghetti dinner for the two of them. He knows that Rossi’s family owns and runs an Italian restaurant in Leesburg, Florida, a small city near Orlando, which probably gives him a clue to the kind of food she’d be receptive to eating without notice.

Keane doesn’t necessarily fancy himself a gourmet chef, but he takes pride in the fact that he doesn’t rely on fast food or Uber Eats. He cooks, and he’s good at it.

Enjoy. I promise you, this is delicious.

Conrad Keane's Spaghetti Dinner

Red Sauce

Ingredients:
5-6 mild Italian sausages
6 12 oz. cans of tomato sauce
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
1 medium or large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 T fennel seeds
2 T garlic powder
2 T dried basil
1/2 cup basil leaves, chiffonade
1 T dried oregano
1 T onion powder
3 T olive oil
Grated, shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a pot and sweat onions for 4 minutes. 

Remove casings from sausages. Pinch off small portions of sausage, drop into onions mixture and brown, breaking up the chunks into smaller bits as you go. 

Remove excess grease with a ladle and add fresh garlic, stirring for 1 minute. Add tomato sauce, fennel, dried basil, garlic powder, oregano and onion powder. Stir, lower heat and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Add most of the basil leaves, reserving some for dressing. Add tomato paste to get desired thickness of the sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer 15 minutes uncovered, remove from heat and cover.

Note: You can make this sauce one or two days ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator. I recommend making it at least one day in advance. That gives the ingredients time to marry and makes for a more developed sauce.

Garlic Bread

Ingredients:
4 cloves finely chopped garlic
4 T melted butter
1 loaf French bread

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice bread into desired thickness. Keeping the bread pieces in order, brush insides of the bread with butter and add garlic pieces.

Place the bread pieces back together into loaf. Wrap in foil. Bake 20 minutes.

Spaghetti

Ingredients:
1 box of your favorite dried spaghetti
1/2 cup kosher salt

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add the salt, stir, and add the pasta. Turn down the temperature after the water comes back to a boil and cook until the pasta is al dente.

Prepare your dinner in the manner of your choice: Plate the pasta and add sauce, or mix the pasta with the sauce and then plate.

Sprinkle fresh basil and Parmesan cheese on top.

Dead Odds
A Conrad Keane Novel, Book 1

There's nothing FBI Agent Conrad Keane wouldn't do to catch his brother's killer. Will his pursuit of justice lead him beyond the law and ruin his life?

Keane's reunion with his estranged half-brother Sean is cut short by a seemingly random tragedy outside an Orlando bar. Detective Tina Rossi vows to track down the person responsible, but Keane is determined to find his own answers.

An outsider with no jurisdiction, Keane forms a tenuous alliance with Rossi to investigate Sean's life as a star college football player. But the deeper he digs, the more he uncovers that Sean led a secret life - one that got him killed.

The university president, his cadre of well-heeled friends, and a mysterious former donor keep Keane and Rossi guessing about a puzzle they can't piece together. When other men connected to the school turn up dead, Keane races to catch a killer whose sights have turned on him.

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COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR ROSEANN DEFRANCO

Contemporary romantic comedy author RoseAnn DeFranco returns today to share some recipes with us. Learn more about her and her books at her website and blog.

‘Tis the Season in Audubon Springs…The Making of Mama’s Italian Sauce

Thank you for welcoming me back to Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers! 

Previously I introduced you to my Brothers of Audubon Springs series set at the Jersey shore where the men run as hot as the temperatures in late July at the shore. My heroes in the series, Rafe, Tony, and Vince have a dominating Italian Mama. Some people dominate in a boardroom, others captivate from the stage; Marcella Iuliano runs her family with a firm hand from the kitchen.

It should come as no surprise the women strong enough to claim the hearts of these men also need to win the approval of their mother. She is a force of nature, and it is best to have her on your side.  What better test, or initiation, into the family than the making of Mama’s own Italian sauce?  I imagine each of my heroines attempting mama’s recipe, with varying degrees of success, under her watchful eye, over the years to come.  I’m sure it will only take ten to forty years to get the recipe deemed acceptable. Good thing Emma, Annie and Kit are in it for the long haul!

This recipe has been pulled from my own mother’s cookbook…she is my real life version of Mama Iuliano, and I love her dearly.  Once I let go of the pressure of being her equal in the kitchen, my life became much easier.  She is a tough act to follow.  I do however make a MEAN version of her sauce every year for the holidays.  It has become my own personal tradition. While standing in my kitchen, I feel close to my mom, my grandmother, and all the women in our extended families.  As our families have spread out across the years and miles, and our traditions have changed, one thing remains a constant and will always bind us together…we love to EAT! 

Enjoy my Mama’s Sauce recipe – complete with my own notes…that of the novice chef!

Ingredients

4 Lg. Cans Tomato Puree

4 Lg. Cans Crushed Tomatoes

3-18oz. cans Tomato Paste

2 handfuls of fresh basil chopped (I’ve been known to use 6 Tbsps. dried basil without detection)

1 Tbsp. pepper

1 tsp. salt

1/3 C. sugar

½ Tbsp. baking soda

3 medium onions chopped (DO NOT use the food processor as a short cut!)

10 cloves garlic, chopped (food processor approved)

Directions

Sauté onion & garlic in olive oil over medium heat until tender. Add tomato paste with a little water and continue to cook. After a few minutes add puree tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients. I LOVE watching the sauce bubble when adding the baking soda. I think this is the secret ingredient that pulls the acidity out of the recipe. Add a few cans of water to the desired sauce thickness. Simmer on stove while preparing meat. I always love this bit of direction…it is understood that if you are making mom’s sauce, you better add the meat!

Note from Mom: This is a large recipe which I make and freeze. It requires 2 large pots (8 & 16 quarts). Recipe may be cut in half or quartered.  All of her recipes include notes of what may and may not be done regarding cutting and doubling.

Meatballs

4 lbs. ground round

1 lb. ground pork

5 eggs

5 cloves garlic, chopped

2 ½ C. Grated Romano

2 ½ C. Flavored breadcrumbs (Mom likes Progresso)

2 lg. Onions chopped fine

Salt and pepper to taste (This always throws me. I do not taste raw meat, so just add some salt and pepper)

This is where the instructions she provided to me end. The message here is clear…any daughter of hers better know how to make a meatball. I’ll fill in the gaps…

Mix all ingredients. Add a little water.  Shape and fry in olive oil then place in simmering sauce.  That is what mom wants you to do, but I skip the fryer and put the meatballs right into the sauce and let them cook that way. This cuts down on grease in the sauce, again reducing acidity. To this day I’ve never been questioned on my meatballs! They ROCK!

Mom also adds other meats depending on the holiday. Spare ribs are a fan favorite, and of course the Italian Specialty – Brasciole – YUM! That is a recipe for another day. The newly minted Iuliano women are NOT ready for Brasciole. 

Return to Audubon Springs

When Emma Grant returns to her family's Audubon Springs beach house to fulfill the stipulations of her father's will, she has every intention of forcing her former lover out of the house for good. She's never fit into her wealthy family and would prefer avoiding her past, but with her brother threatening to reveal her young daughter, she has no choice.

Rafe Iuliano has other plans. The wealthy Grants tried to bribe him out of Emma's life years ago, but he's determined to prove once and for all that a master carpenter is worthy of Emma and the house.

Their ridiculous and steamy battle for the house reignites the love and passion that bloomed between them years ago. But when Rafe discovers she's kept their daughter a secret for two years, can he overcome anger and pride to claim his family and the love of his life, or will the deception drive a final wedge between them?

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