Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in skillet. Sauté crab meat until heated.
Spoon the crab into bowls. Pour soup gently on top. Garnish with crumbled bacon.
Serves 6
Note: For a real Texas kick, season to taste with hot red pepper sauce.
Third Course
Salad
Grapefruit and Avocado Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
INGREDIENTS
3 ripe, sweet grapefruits
3 ripe avocados
6 leaves butter lettuce
DIRECTIONS
Cut the grapefruits in half crosswise. Use a knife to cut grapefruit sections from the membrane. Cut the avocados in half. Remove the seed. Peel off the skin. Slice avocados into long slices.
Poppy Seed Dressing
INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground dry mustard
1 cup olive oil
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
DIRECTIONS
Vigorously blend sugar, vinegar, salt, and mustard until the sugar dissolves. While still blending, slowly add the oil. When mixed, gently stir in the poppy seeds.
Makes approximately 1½ cups.
Place one butter lettuce leaf on individual plates. Place grapefruit sections and avocado slices on each lettuce leaf. Drizzle the poppy seeding dressing on top.
Serves 6
Fourth Course
Palate Cleanser
Blood Orange Ice
INGREDIENTS
3 cups freshly squeezed blood orange juice (or use tangerines or oranges)
½ cup sugar
Juice of 2 large limes—adjust based on sweetness of oranges—the sweeter the orange the more lime needed
2 tbsp. orange liqueur
1 tbsp. kirsch
Vodka (optional)
DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, stir together 1 cup blood orange juice and the sugar until they are thoroughly dissolved. Stir in the remaining blood orange juice, lime juice, orange liqueur, and kirsch. Mix thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into gallon-size plastic zip bags. Before zipping closed, squeeze out as much air as possible. Freeze overnight.
Take the bags out of the freezer; manipulate the bags with your hands just a bit to loosen up the ice. With a fork, break up then ice into small chunks. (The consistency should be icy slush.) Spoon into glasses. Top with splash of vodka if desired.
Serves 6
Fifth Course
The Entrée
Fried Chicken with Sweet Jalapeño Mustard
INGREDIENTS
2 cups panko
2 cups bread crumbs
Seasoned salt, salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 eggs, scrambled (can use yogurt or buttermilk instead)
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (use kitchen mallet to pound into flat, even pieces)
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (use kitchen mallet to pound into flat, even pieces)
Vegetable oil for pan frying
DIRECTIONS:
Mix the panko, bread crumbs, and seasoning in a bowl for dipping, or a bag for shaking.
Dip the pieces of chicken into the egg to coat; then dip in the bowl of crumb mix. Coat the chicken in the mixture. (For extra-crispy chicken, repeat the dipping steps.) Place the prepared chicken on a cookie sheet.
Cover the bottom of a large skillet with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Heat on medium-high until hot. Carefully fill the bottom of the pan with chicken pieces. Brown, approximately 4 to 6 minutes each side (depending on the thickness of the chicken), until cooked thoroughly. Place on a paper towel to drain.
Serves 6
Sweet Jalapeño Mustard
INGREDIENTS
½ cup mustard powder
3 tbsp. vinegar
½ cup white wine
2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. finely chopped jalapeños
DIRECTIONS
Stir together the mustard seeds and mustard powder. Mix with the vinegar and wine. Add the salt. Mix thoroughly. Mix in the honey and jalapeños. Pour the mixture into a jar. Refrigerate anywhere from 1 to 3 days to bring out flavors.
Makes approximately 1 cup
Sixth Course
Dessert
Mountains of Wildly Sweet Watermelon with Fresh Violet Garnish
INGREDIENTS
One whole, sweet watermelon
Sprigs of violets, washed and stems removed
DIRECTIONS:
Lay the watermelon on the counter. Cut out two top sections, leaving a “handle” of the outer shell along the top length of the watermelon. Carefully hollow out the watermelon until left with a “watermelon basket.” Cut the watermelon meat into bite-size pieces and return to the “basket.” Place violets on top to garnish and serve.
Also by Linda Francis Lee
Emily and Einstein
The Ex-Debutante
The Devil in the Junior League
Simply Sexy
Sinfully Sexy
Suddenly Sexy
The Wedding Diaries
Looking for Lacey
The Ways of Grace
Nightingale’s Gate
Swan’s Grace
Dove’s Way
Crimson Lace
Emerald Rain
Blue Waltz
About the Author
LINDA FRANCIS LEE is a native Texan now living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She is the author of twenty-one books that are published in twenty countries. When Linda isn’t writing, she loves to run in Central Park and spend time with her husband, family, and friends. Visit her on the Web at www.LindaLeeBooks.com.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE GLASS KITCHEN. Copyright © 2014 by Linda Francis Lee. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Olga Grlic
Cover photographs: mason jars with flowers © Missy Norment, Beach Blues Home decor, www.BeachBlues.Etsy.com; bee © Subbotina Anna / Shutterstock.com
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE PRINT EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Lee, Linda Francis.
The Glass Kitchen / Linda Francis Lee. — First edition.
p. cm
ISBN 978-0-312-38227-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-5061-3 (e-book)
1. Divorced women—Fiction. 2. Women cooks—Fiction. 3. Clairvoyance—Fiction. 4. Cooking—Psychological aspects. 5. Widowers—Fiction. 6. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)—Fiction. 7. Texas—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3612.E225G53 2014
813'.6—dc23
2014000125
e-ISBN 9781466850613
First Edition: June 2014