Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

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Yes, I am the consignment guru, the resale expert, whatever… but I’m also a murder mystery author. The Picker Who Perished  is set in Sarasota and features a handsome detective, flakey BFFs and a suave (or criminal?) antique dealer.

My heroine, Wendy Sam Miller, owns Too Good to be Threw, an imaginary consignment shop, and is way too busy to actually cook. So her recipes are simple enough for even the most distracted shopkeeper [slash] employer [slash] amateur detective. Here’s one (there’s more here and here):

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Polter’s Cottage Cheese Pancakes with Strawberry Butter

Wendy Sam’s friend Polter (short for Poltergeist) has spent the night watching her house after someone threw a conch shell into her living-room window. In the morning, he invites himself for breakfast. Fortunately, he can cook better than she can, and does.

    I opened the door and almost tripped over Polter, sitting on the stoop reading the sports section.
“Pancakes,” he said.
“And a good morning to you, too.”
“I’ve been dreaming of pancakes for the last two hours.”
   “I think I can manage that.” I retrieved the rest of the paper while Polter followed the scent of coffee into my kitchen. He’d poured us both big mugs, and I sipped mine while I rummaged for the Bisquick in the pantry. Pancakes involve Bisquick, right? I was peering at the side panel, hoping I had whatever other ingredients might be needed, when I noticed Polter’s frown.
    “Sit,” he said, and aligned the newspaper neatly in front of one of my breakfast bar stools. So I did. He was assembling bowls, measuring cups, other arcane kitchen utensils I didn’t remember owning. I don’t cook a lot, I believe I’ve mentioned.
    “Got any cottage cheese?” he said, as he opened the refrigerator.
“Any self-respecting woman always does,” I said. “It makes us think we’re on a diet.”
    He retrieved it from the back left corner of the bottom shelf and congratulated me on the fact that it was mold-free. I was enjoying the compliment, backhanded as it was, when he came up with another request I could easily fulfill. Sour cream. That’s something that I always have.
     Within a few minutes, he had a pancake batter mixed up, and was looking for the griddle. All I had was a frying pan. There’s nothing to be ashamed of in that; many women don’t have griddles in their kitchens. Do they?
     Then Polter was aghast that I did not have maple syrup in the house. I redeemed myself by whipping up a little gourmet treat of strawberry butter, and we settled down companionably to breakfast.

Polter’s Cottage Cheese Pancakes with Strawberry Butter

1 cup each sour cream and cottage cheese
3/4 cup flour
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs, separated

Combine everything except the egg whites and beat thoroughly to blend.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them in.

Using a lightly-buttered griddle (or frying pan if you’re Wendy Sam), ladle about 1/3 cup batter for each pancake. As you continue to make pancakes, be sure to stir the batter gently so it maintains consistency.

Strawberry Butter

Cream together ½ cup room-temperature unsalted butter and 2-3 tablespoons sugar (superfine if you have it). In another bowl, mash 3/4 cup very ripe strawberries with a sprinkle of lemon juice. Mix a small amount of the strawberries into the butter, adding strawberries as you go to mix it easily. Keeps a few days; great on biscuits too!

(The easier way: use unsalted butter and a good-quality strawberry jam. Put the mixture into a cunning little crock to serve so it looks French and fancy. Adding a mint sprig to the top of the crock takes your breakfast over the top, so to speak!)

If you haven’t read The Picker Who Perished, a Too Good to be Threw Consignment Shop Mystery by Kate Holmes yet, you simply don’t know what living is! You need, I mean REALLY NEED it.