My favorite recipe
Back when I ran a romance imprint for a publishing company, I worked with several authors who wrote cozy mystery slash romance. Most writers had a blog where they’d post at least a few times a week and when all else failed, they’d stick a recipe up and call it good.
That worked because their characters were the kinds of people who would have a recipe and it would be a good recipe that people would want to make.
I’m trying to imagine what recipe Lois, the Mage of Motor Avenue, would write (urban fantasy, animal sidekick). It would be something along the lines of, “Buy a Lean Cuisine, follow package directions.”
Or what details Lucinda, the Wanderer (epic fantasy with strong female lead), would share. “First, build a fire. Then take a small pot and fill it with water from the nearest stream…”
And then I started my current work in progress, which is about woman who lives on a farm, which is perfect—farm-to-table recipes galore! Except she doesn’t like to cook.
Here in Spain I’ve noticed that many of the kitchens in the apartments where I’ve stayed don’t have ovens, including my current long-term apartment.
They have stovetops, fridges, freezers, and microwaves but no ovens. I suspect this is because there’s a bakery with delicious baked goods every fifteen meters, so who needs an oven.
But a lot of the meals I’m used to cooking get popped into the oven – roasted vegetables, a casserole made with bechamel sauce. I got an air fryer and while it’s not up to cooking the casserole it does roast vegetables and I’ve learned to adjust what I cook.
A quick stir-fry on the stoveotop does’t heat up the apartment too much, which, in Spain, in summer is genius.
S0 here’s my go-to stir-fry sauce recipe:
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 3 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
Mix together. Good for one head of broccoli or the equivalent.
I am not a complicated cook but unlike my characters at least I do cook.