Eating Authors: Terri-Lynne DeFino

Welcome back to another installment of asking authors about their favorite meals. This feature was inspired by my protagonist, the Amazing Conroy, who in addition to being a stage hypnotist is also very much a foodie.

Here with us today is Terri-Lynne DeFino, a graduate of the Viable Paradise workshop, a fellow Hadley Rille Books author, as well as one of the Fantasy editors at HRB. Terri’s first novel, Finder, was published in 2010, and though we haven’t sat down to a meal together yet, that detail will likely be taken care of next March when we’re both attending Lunacon.

LMS: All right, Terri, what’s your best, most memorable meal?

TLD: Being a world-class chef within the confines of my own mind, it comes as no surprise that the best thing I ever ate came from my own hands: Terri’s Nectar of the Gods Mushroom Soup. (TNotGMS)

I found a recipe for mushroom soup in a magazine; it looked good, but I don’t follow recipes unless I’m baking. It sparked a thought, and this one became another–sort of like writing–and what happened next, I could not have anticipated; and good thing, because if I knew how long it was actually going to take, I might not have made it at all.

TNotGMS takes all day to cook, because you can’t start with canned vegetable broth. You have to make it yourself, and that means getting the carrots, onions etc just the right sort of caramelized. It’s key! When the veggies are that gorgeous, golden brown, they go into a pot of water to stew for a couple of hours. When that’s done, the poor spent veggies come out and several cups of chopped mushrooms go in. It simmers–never boils!–another couple of hours, uncovered, to let all that mushroomy goodness get good and rich. This is about the time the family starts noticing the heavenly scent and hovers about the kitchen asking, “Is it done yet?”

Not yet, my darlings. Not yet.

Chopped mushrooms come out, and then it has to cool for at least half an hour–the longer the better, letting all those cooling flavors meld. Just before that highly anticipated, slurping moment, in goes a handful of thinly sliced mushrooms, just to look pretty, and cream. Yes, cream. Warmed through and served with bread, or better, over a homemade crouton, TNotGMS is gastronomy at levels most of humanity will never aspire to.

I’ve had heartier meals. I’ve eaten in amazing restaurants: Italian fare in NYC’s Little Italy, fresh seafood out of Galway Bay in Ireland. I’ve gorged myself with lobster tails and escargot on French night while sailing to Bermuda, but there has never been anything quite as delicious as the soup I made in my own kitchen, scents rising and kids hovering, sparked by a recipe in a magazine.

Thanks, Terri.

Next Monday: Another author and another meal!