The Book Post - April

What's been on my bookshelf - and a recipe for onions

It’s the third Friday of the month, so it’s time for the monthly post on all things bookish. This month, though, I’m changing things up a tad and will share a recipe inspired by one of the books I’ve read…

Fiction

The Late Mrs Willoughby (Mr Darcy and Miss Tilney No. 2), by Claudia Gray and

The Perils of Lady Catherine De Bourgh (Mr Darcy and Miss Tilney No. 3), by Claudia Gray

Enjoyable Regency cosy crime, and lovely to catch up with all the characters from Jane Austen’s books.

As much as I enjoy these, there’s something that jars a little with me. Perhaps it’s that time has moved on for all the characters except the Dashwoods. For example, Elizabeth and Darcy, Charlotte and Mr Collins, and Catherine and Henry all have grown children. Marianne and Elinor, however, have only been married a year or so. Maybe it’s that. Maybe it’s something else. Anyways, it doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of this series, it just lurks at the edge of my brain.

Cookbook

The Weekend Cook, by Angela Hartnett

The theme for BKD Cookbook Club heading into May is Celebrity Chef - and I (blushes) have several examples on my cookbook shelf that if I met the authors in real life I’d fan girl over. People like Nigella, Jamie, Gordon, Rick Stein, Paul Hollywood and James Martin. James Martin has even made a cameo appearance in one of my novels (Christmas at Fountains Hall).

Instead I’ve chosen Angela Hartnett. I love Dish, the podcast she does with Nick Grimshaw for Waitrose. Her booming laugh makes me laugh, and I’ve made quite a few of the dishes she’s made on Dish.

Anyways, I have a digital copy - which is probably just as well given the number of digital corners I’ve turned.

Classics

The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene (read by Colin Firth)

When it comes to books we throw around the term, “this one had all the feels” lightly, well, I do, anyway. This one, though, really had them all. It’s not a light read by any means, nor is it a happy one, but I’m not sure I can remember when I last read something so full of … emotion … all of them.

The novel, published in 1951, is set in London during and just after WW2. It’s a retrospective account of the affair (and its aftermath) between the narrator, an author, Maurice Bendrix (based on Greene) and Sarah Miles, the wife of a civil servant. The character of Sarah is based on Greene’s affair with Catherine Walston.

The novel begins with a chance encounter between Maurice and Sarah’s dull but decent husband, Henry, on Clapham Common almost two years after Sarah unexpectedly and without explanation broke off their affair. Henry voices his concern on that rainy evening in January 1946 that Sarah might be having an affair, leading the angry and jealous Maurice on a journey to discover the identity of her new lover and why she broke off their affair.

This was easily my read of the month.

A recipe…

“Is it possible to fall in love over a dish of onions? It seems improbable, and yet I could swear it was just then that I fell in love. It wasn’t, of course, simply the onions; it was that sudden sense of an individual woman, of a frankness that was so often later to make me happy and miserable.”

Graham Greene, The End of the Affair

On their first evening together Maurice and Sarah dine at Rules, a traditional chophouse in London and London’s oldest restaurant. As an aside, we tried to eat there when we were in London in 2022, but it was Monday and closed.

Sarah tells Maurice, however, had no such trouble. Sarah tells Maurice that Henry hates onions - and then promptly orders them… showing him that she is ready to defy her husband, ready to fall in love … and ready for her husband to smell them on her breath.

Rules no longer has steak and onions on the menu (yes, I checked … to be honest, the menu is all a bit posh these days and, as my husband would say, the prices are “getting up there a bit”), but I think the onions in the recipe below go very nicely with steak.

Roasted Red Onion, Rocket and Parmesan Salad (for two) to eat with a good steak

Ingredients

• 2 medium red onions, peeled, halved, and cut into thick slices

• rocket leaves

• parmesan cheese, shaved

• 2 good glugs of extra virgin olive oil

• half a clove of garlic, minced or crushed

• lime juice (about half a lime)

• salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan) and lightly oil a baking sheet.

Arrange the onion slices in a single layer on the baking sheet, brush with one tablespoon of the olive oil, season and bake for 25-30 minutes. They should be tender and look a tad toasty around the edges.

Meanwhile, get onto the dressing. Whisk together the garlic, lime juice, another tablespoon of oil and some black pepper. Taste and adjust as necessary.

When the onions are done, transfer them to a bowl, pour over the dressing and toss them about a bit so they’re coated well with the dressing.

To assemble the salad, arrange a layer of rocket leaves on a plate, add a layer of onions, some shavings of parmesan, a sprinkle of dressing and repeat. Or, plonk it all down, toss it about and top with extra parmesan and a drizzle of oil.