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Born to Rebel: The Life of Harriet Boyd Hawes

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Harriet Boyd Hawes

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“She opened the oven with a potholder and poked a meat fork into both buttercup squash halves cooking under tinfoil, one stuffed with sausage and sage and the other with butter, apples, black walnuts, and cinnamon. She pressed the side of the fork against the chicken Titus had brought them last night. Herself had inspired to guide Dorothy through stuffing it, and a little extra stuffing was in a pan on the shelf below. As she closed the door, the sausage, cinnamon, and chicken smells wafted into the warm room.”

“Agnes added the yolks of half a dozen eggs to her stuffing, cracking each one over a small bowl so the white ran into it, then dropping each golden orb into the crumbled mixture, where it gleamed like a small sun. Taking up a long metal spoon, she began to stir the ingredients together, cutting again and again through the mix until it had transformed to a rich yellow-tinged forcemeat.”

“First, I placed the clean snapper on a bed of aluminum foil sprinkled with sea salt and olive oil. I then stuffed the tomatoes, garlic, onions, and coriander into the belly of the fish before sewing it shut. The first time I'd tasted this, the snapper was skewered and turned over open flames. To accompany it, I'd drunk the sweet juice from young coconuts cut with machetes, taken off the very trees above us. Now that I was back to apartment living, I had to modify the recipe and grill the fish in a closed packet. The texture of the skin wouldn't be as crisp, but the flesh would be even more tender. If I had thought Celia preferred the crisp texture, I would have fried it with the stuffing mixture served on the side. The fish was ready to be baked. I prepared sinanag, Filipino garlic fried rice, to accompany the fish: jasmine rice, smashed garlic cloves, sea salt, and a sprinkle of vegetable oil.”

“This stuffing! He didn't use the standard Chou Farci filling of roast pork and onions. It's a stuffed chicken breast! He used breast meat from locally raised chickens... ... and filled it with morel mushrooms, asparagus, and foie gras that were sautéed together in beef grease... ... along with a mixture of diced chicken breast, egg, butter and cream that was pureed into a mousse. He then steamed the entire ensemble to perfection! The smooth, creamy mousse slides onto the tongue and melts... ... filling the mouth with the rich, savory flavor of chicken." "But most impressive of all is the cabbage leaf that wraps all of it together. Savoy cabbage... smelling strongly of grass when raw, it has a very delicate sweetness when cooked. Through blanching and steaming, he cooked it to perfection, accentuating all the strengths of the filling. The resulting delicate sweetness refines the overall taste of the dish by an order of magnitude... almost as if by magic!”

“They cannot have what they want,' Casteel snarled as his gaze shot to mine. 'Ever.' I stilled as he held my gaze. There was a vow in his words, one that spoke volumes- one that said he knew where my thoughts had gone. 'They're here for me,' I said, holding his stare and willing him to hear what I couldn't say in front of others. 'We can't risk-' 'Yes, we can,' he cut me off, eyes burning an intense yellow. 'And, yes, I will. They cannot have you.”