Red Beans and Vice by Lou Jane Temple Page A

Hank’s hand and put it on one of her breasts.
    “A medical emergency?”
    “Yes. Heart palpitations,” she whispered in his ear, and pulled him to her.

Trinity Rice Cakes
    3 cups cooked rice
    1 onion, peeled and diced
    3 stalks celery, diced
    1 green pepper, diced
    1 red pepper, diced
    3 cloves garlic, diced
    3 T. olive oil plus a little oil for frying
    3 eggs, separated and the whites beaten stiff
    2 T. flour
    1 tsp. baking powder
    ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
    your choice ¼ cup fresh herbs: basil, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, parsley, orégano
    kosher salt and black pepper
    Heat the oil in a heavy sauté pan and add the onion, peppers, garlic, and celery. Sauté until soft. Add salt, pepper, and herbs, and sauté another couple of minutes. Remove from heat, cool a little and then pulverize in a food processer. Toss the rice with the flour and the baking powder. Add the vegetable and herb mixture and the beaten egg yolks to the rice and mix, then add cheese and beaten egg whites. Heat some oil in a crepe or sauté pan and drop in small dollops of the dough, flatten and fry on each side until the edges are crispy. Drain on a paper towel and serve with a curl of prosciutto or country ham for a starter. You can make a larger version as a side dish for an entree. You can also mix in some cooked wild rice or some barley.

Five
    H eaven, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were the one who caused all the trouble at the convent. Not one bad thing has happened since you’ve been gone.” Nancy Blair was teasing Heaven over lunch at Galatoire’s.
    “Do you think I should have stayed home?” Heaven asked as she tasted her Pompano Almondine. “This is great. I wonder where they get the pompano.”
    “Florida. But who knows what it really is? Any old flat-bodied fish, they call it pompano nowadays.”
    Heaven was surprised Nancy knew about the types of fish bodies. “Are you a cook, Nancy?”
    “We had great food at my houses. We were known for it. Not that I wanted our clients hanging around eating food. No, I wanted them to do their business and get out. But there is another level of customer that demands food and drink along with their romantic interludes. At first I had Antoine’s send over food and a waiter, but there is little markup in something that’s already retail, so I started providing that service myself.”
    “You sound like a savvy businesswoman, Nancy. No wonder you’re rich.”
    Nancy Blair ignored the compliment, lost for a moment in reverie. “Back then, on Sundays I’d cook for all the girls. They could have their children come to dinner, too. If I was in a good mood, I’d let them invite their pimps. I thought pimps were utterly useless, didn’t understand why girls that worked in a respectable house like mine still felt the need to give their money to some man, money they’d worked hard for. By the time I took mine and the pimp took his, the working girl didn’t have a chance.”
    The irony of what she had just said was lost on Nancy, Heaven could see. Her exploitation had been just, while the pimp’s exploitation was unjust? “What would you cook?” Heaven asked.
    “Pot food. The south has a great history of pot food, something made out of a cheap cut of meat and cooked for a long time to be tender. I made great ox tails, Jambalaya, gumbo. Sometimes I’d roast a turkey or some ducks. One of my husbands was a hunter, and we’d have venison stew.”
    “Now we’re getting to the good stuff,” Heaven said with a smile. “The husbands.”
    “I wish they’d been the good stuff,” Nancy Blair chuckled.
    “How many times were you married?”
    “Counting my present husband, six.”
    Thank God she beat me, Heaven thought. “I didn’t realize you were married now. You seem like a single woman and you didn’t mention a husband when we had lunch before.”
    A look of genuine pain came over Nancy’s face. Heaven wasn’t sure if she was sad or having a physicalattack. “Most