Three-Bean Chili with a Cornbread Roof

Plus: A "Food Person" Dinner in East Troy, Caesar Salad with Cheeseburger Croutons, and the Rest of the Tour.

Hey everyone,

I’m back home in NY and, more importantly, I’m cooking again! Now I know how Sweeney Todd feels when he gets his razors back: at last my right arm is complete again. Only instead of slitting people’s throats and baking them into pies, I’m making a three-bean chili casserole with a cornbread roof.

Remember that time I made a three-bean chili and cooked the dried beans in three separate pots before marrying them in a fourth pot? That was insane. How did you not unfollow me that day?

Well last night I did it again, only instead of cooking the dried beans in three separate pots I just put the beans — still dry, just rinsed — directly into the chili mixture and just added more liquid (including beer). Let’s go to the tape:

amateurgourmet

A post shared by @amateurgourmet

I got this idea from Smitten Kitchen who, similarly, added three dried beans directly to her three-bean chili mix — without pre-cooking them first — and just added lots of liquid to ensure they cooked all the way through over a three hour period with the lid on and the beans on a low simmer.

For the chili recipe itself, I stuck to this one from America’s Test Kitchen.

To take things to another level, I stole an idea from Nigella Lawson and made a cornbread batter with cornmeal and buttermilk to pour on top of the chili before covering it with grated extra-sharp cheddar and baking it in a 425 oven.

Served with sour cream and onions and cilantro, it was the dreamiest combination of textures: the cake-like cornbread, the caramelized cheese, the toothsome yet pliant beans, the thick chili-infused sauce. Highly recommend!

Now let’s rewind the tape for a second: the last I spoke to you, I was wrapping up the L.A., S.F., and Portland legs of my book tour. From there, I went to Seattle where my mother-in-law, Julee Johnson, did an excellent job of interviewing me at Elliott Bay Book Company:

From Seattle, I journeyed up to Bellingham — Craig’s hometown — and dazzled the crowd at Village Books with the help of my interlocutor, Samantha Ferraro.

Rough crowd! Just kidding, everyone was so nice. And we sold out of every book!

One culinary highlight were these strawberries that Julee picked up from the local strawberry fields. They really know how to grow berries in the northwest.

Also my sis-in-law Kristin and her boyfriend Dean made me a delightful dinner of roasted chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, and banana pudding. Thanks fam!

The final stop on my tour was East Troy, Wisconsin where Kayleen Rohrer of InkLink Books hosted me for a Food Person-themed dinner. How cool is that?

Check out the menu that they made:

Everything was decorated to fit the theme of the novel: tables with bananas and flames and a ghost in a crystal ball (a ghost writer!).

The first course — a haloumi watermelon salad — was made to look like the cover of the book:

And this soup, inspired by one of Jeannie’s franken-soups from the book — split pea and clam chowder — was shockingly delicious. I’m not just saying that: there was lots of bacon and clams and somehow they combined beautifully with the split peas? So much umami and no cream, so lighter too?

But the whackiest course had to be the Caesar salad with cheeseburger croutons!

I loved the concept but I scratched my head at the connection to the book. Finally, Kayleen explained that the salad was a reference to the kale salad Molly makes on Instagram and that Molly, as a character, “needs a hamburger and a hug.” I’ll buy it!

The rest of the night was lovely, with great questions from my interviewer Melanie Denhart of The Global Glass:

And the very fun audience of East Troy residents, many of who lined up at 6 AM to get tickets to the event:

So thanks so much to Kayleen for having me! I promise to come back with my next novel. Now I just have to write it.

Hey, let’s look at some links:

• Food Person makes The Hollywood Insider’s Summer Reading List (The Hollywood Reporter);

• Enrique Olvera’s Grub Street Diet is a great read (Grub Street);

• How Healthy is Chicken Breast? (A NYT gift link).

That’s all for today, folks!

If you live in NY, I’m doing an event tonight called Chardonngay in the East Village. Come have wine and hear me read from the book.

Until next time….

Your pal,

Adam