Recipe Weekend, Book Review and Giveaway: Holy Guacamole by Nancy Fairbanks

** this giveaway is closed **


Today I have another Nancy Fairbanks novel for you- I told you I wanted to read her whole Carolyn Blue series! Today's feature some great Tex-Mex food!

Synopsis: Carolyn Blue spices things up at a post-production opera party in El Paso, Texas-where the company's notorious artistic Director, Vladislav Gubenko, eats some bad guacamole that disagrees with him right to the death. A scorned soprano admits to maliciously mixing the dish to get back at Vlad for passing her over for her dream role. But Carolyn learns that foul play, not foul food, was the real culprit-and uncovers, in a wild, cross-border investigation, pursued with the help of retired Vice Lt. Luz Vallejo, some unsavory secrets about Gubenko, not to mention the non-culinary killer.


You can read an excerpt on the author's website!

About the Author: Nancy Herndon is a US lecturer in English, and the author of historical romances under the pseudonym Elizabeth Chadwick, and mysteries under the name Nancy Herndon and Nancy Fairbanks. Originally from St Louis, she now lives in El Paso, Texas, with her husband, a University professor. From 1989 she published historical romances and short stories under the pseudonym Elizabeth Chadwick. She then wrote seven comic police procedural mysteries, with protagonist, Texan Elena Jarvis, under her married name, Nancy Herndon. Her current series is the Carolyn Blue Culinary mysteries, written under her maiden name, Nancy Fairbanks


Review: This is an enjoyable book, one that I read in one sitting! Like all the Blue mysteries, the plot is neatly wound up at the end and the author peppers the story with El Paso legends, history and recipes. If you love Tex-Mex food, you'll love them, as they are primarily taken from the El Paso Chili cookbook. This book is light and perfect for diverting yourself for an afternoon- I liled the contrast between Blue who is persona of naive and quite, and Vallejo who is worldly and aggressive- it helped move the story back and forth, as each showed they had the same qualities as each other. I had no problem picturing them wandering around with Vallejo's retired K-9! While not my favorite of the Blue series, it's an enjoyable read!


Here's a perfect FALL recipe from the book, which is actually from the El Paso Chili Texas Border Cookbook, a reknown authority of real Tex-Mex cooking!


Mexican Crepes, aka Crepes de Cajeta con Nuez Cajeta :


Ingredients:
Crepes

• 1 cp half n half
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cp unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp yellow stone ground cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
• 2 tspn sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Corn Oil (for frying)
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter (for assembly)

Sauce

• 1 1/23 cps cajeta (thick caramel sauce traditionally made with goat's milk, 
•      you CAN substitute dulce de leche)
• 
  

• Topping:
• 1/2 cups pecans

Instructions:

For crepes:
1. Combine all crepe ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and let stand 1 hour at room temperature. 

2. Warm 7 inch crepe pan (or nonstick skillet) over medium-high heat. Brush lightly with corn oil. Stir batter to recombine.
3. When pan is hot (oil should smoke slightly), pour scant 1/4 cup batter into skillet, tilting  coat bottom of skillet thoroughly. Cook 20 seconds, turn the crepe, and cook another 10 seconds. Transfer to waxed paper, stacking crepes when cool between wax paper (keeps them from sticking together- they can be stacked and stored in fridge for 2 days). Repeat with remaining batter, making about 10-12 crepes.

For Pecans:
1. Spread 1/2 cp pecans in a layer on a metal pan (like a cake roll pan), and toast them, stirring once or twice, until crisp and fragrant (8-10 minutes). Remove from pan and cool, then chop coarsely.


For sauce:
1. In small saucepan, heat cajeta, til warm, stirring often.


Assembly
1. Place a rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Fold crepes into quarters, the most attractive side out. Spread 1/2 tbsp of unsalted butter on each crepe, and wrap in foil. Warm crepes about 15 minutes, or until hot and butter has melted.
3. Arrange 2 crepes each on 4 plates, spoon careta over and around crepes. Sprinkle with pecans. Serve immediately.

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Disclosure / Disclaimer: I bought this book for my own reading purposes. No  compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.