Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **AUTHOR SPECIAL** with SHARON BLACK!
Welcome to my Friday bonus feature called Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **Author Special**!! Today, in lieu of one of my own recipes, I’m going to introduce you to a new author who will share one of her favorite recipes. Not only will you and I occasionally learn how to make something new and delicious, but we’ll get a chance to check out some wonderful authors. Introducing author, SHARON BLACK, and her favorite recipe for FISH PIE!
GOING AGAINST TYPE
By SHARON BLACK
Book Blurb
Some would say Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Regan has it all. Beautiful, smart, athletic and a great job working as a journalist – in the almost exclusively male sports department. But Charlotte is not quite so sure as she seems. Recently split from her overbearing boyfriend, she escapes for weekends, surfing in the Atlantic, and spends her free nights watching sports, roaring at the TV.
Derry Cullinane is a fashion writer, gossip columnist and sophisticated man-about-town. The go-to guy for any woman seeking expert advice on what fabulous outfit to wear for any given occasion. He’s also tall, dark, good looking – and straight! So what’s the snag? He has a track record of dating glamorous, vain and shallow women.
Charlie gets an opportunity to write a new column under the pen name Side Swipe, but soon is drawn into a war of words and wit with a rival paper’s columnist The Squire – and their verbal fireworks get readers and editors talking. Yet neither Charlie nor Derry knows just who the opponent is…
When Charlotte and Derry meet at the Races, the attraction is instant. As their relationship develops, so much more proves at stake than protecting their alter egos. But a blunder puts Charlotte’s job in jeopardy just as Derry’s past makes front page, and Charlotte begins to doubt her feelings. When Side Swipe and The Squire are finally forced to reveal themselves, will they revert to type – or confound everyone’s expectations?
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GOING AGAINST TYPE
By SHARON BLACK
Excerpt
Charlotte had waited years for Donal to utter those magical words. This morning he’d finally said them.
‘We’re trying you out as a columnist, Charlie. Go grab ‘em by the…’
‘Thank you, Donal,’ Charlotte replied fervently. Yesssss!!!! She mentally punched the air. ‘I won’t let you down.’
Maybe not the magical words every girl longed to hear, but for Charlotte Regan – sports reporter for Ireland Today – they were music to her ears.
Now she sat at a blank computer screen in the noisy sports department and thought hard about her first column. The sports editor had given her carte blanche. She grinned mischievously as she typed her introduction.
What witless wonder dreamt up the idea of men’s underwear with the logo ‘Small’ emblazoned on it?
And what was English striker Adam Small thinking when he recently dunked his two big feet into the tacky world of big brand fashion?
‘Charlie?’
‘Donal!’
‘What are you down to do this weekend?’
Oh, let’s see. Paint my toenails. Bathe in goats’ milk. Have wild sex with that gorgeous new reporter in the newsroom.
‘I’m covering the hurling match on Sunday…’
‘I need you to get down to Cork. There’s open war! Nine months’ stand-off and the players have called a strike from next week. No-one gets that GAA bloodletting the way you can.’
‘Uhhmm. I was there yesterday. Just drove up last night.’
‘Yesterday? Monday? You were in Cork?’ Donal’s eyes widened. Charlotte nodded. What other yesterday was there? Maybe he was surprised she’d gone down on a day off.
‘And I got a story.’
Donal rubbed his nose as he stared in bewilderment at Charlotte. ‘What are you talking about Charlie?’
She smiled patiently.
‘I mean, I went into the dressing room last night and got a story. JJ Nevin’s not being disciplined. The selectors haven’t been stood down. Nevin’s switching codes. He’s going to sign for Galway. He’ll be playing soccer in the Airtricity League.’
Donal, Charlotte thought – not for the first time – did a great goldfish impression.
‘When were you going to tell me?’ he managed finally. Then, as an afterthought, added, ‘Hang on, you went in where last night?’
‘The dressing room.’
Donal glanced over at the deputy sports editor, Tim Hanlon, who grinned and shrugged. ‘They let you in?’ His eyes narrowed.
‘Not the first time I’ve been in a men’s dressing room,’ Charlotte said, enjoying herself now.
‘Well yes, but…’
‘What am I supposed to do? Let the male reporters steal a march? Who’d stop me anyway? After JJ was substituted, he was taking a shower. I’d never get a story if I were shy!’
‘Nobody could accuse you of being shy, Charlie,’ John Dempsey, the soccer correspondent announced as he strode in and threw a newspaper down on the adjacent desk. ‘We talking about the weekend activities?’
Charlotte rolled wide-set, hazel green eyes and grinned.
‘Not yet.’ She switched her attention back to Donal. ‘Anyway, Nevin–clothed in a towel, I might add–and I had a long talk. He filled me in on the whole thing. They’re announcing the signing on Thursday.’
‘And we lead with the story tomorrow in the supplement!’ Donal said, slapping his hand down delightedly. ‘You boys hearing this? None of you will ever be half the man Charlie is!’
About the author…Sharon Black.
Sharon Black trained as a journalist and worked for The Evening Herald and The Irish Examiner.
She has had short stories published and she won the 2010 Dromineer Short Story Competition.
She lives in Sandymount, Dublin, with her husband and their three children.
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Links to Sharon’s website, blog, books, etc.
Going Against Time Buy Link ~ Tirgearr Publishing
Amazon and Goodreads buy links.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJ2OL4M
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NJ2OL4M
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23213024-going-against-type
www.tirgearrpublishing.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sharon-Black-Author-Page/1433997893531882?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
http://sharonblackauthor.blogspot.ie/
@AuthorSharonb
I hope you enjoy the recipe Sharon is sharing with us today on Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. Happy eating!
Karen
P.S. We’re at 164 recipes and counting with this posting. Hope you find some recipes you like. If this is your first visit, please check out past blogs for more Killer Fixin’s. In the right hand column menu, you can even look up past recipes by type. i.e. Desserts, Breads, Beef, Chicken, Soups, Author Specials, etc.
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SHARON BLACK’S FAVORITE RECIPE
This fish pie is easy to make and relatively cheap. It’s also good for you and provides perfect comfort food when the evenings start to get a bit colder.
Better still, you don’t have to put the same vegetables into it each time. So it’s perfect for using up whatever you have – within reason. My whole family loves this meal – so clean plates all round. Serve with a green salad if you like.
This makes enough for six, but you have to judge the fish yourself – it depends on how much your own family will eat.
* Any amount of chopped, mixed fish (often you can get ready-diced mixed fish in your supermarket, especially for fish pies).
* 2 red onions.
* Any mix of the following veg: leek/courgette/celery/cherry tomatoes/frozen peas.
* Enough butter and flour to make a roux.
* Milk.
* White wine (optional).
* Seasoning (salt/pepper/parsley/dill – whatever you like)
* Olive/other cooking oil.
1. In a pot of water, gently bring the fish to a boil. The minute it’s boiled, take out the lightly cooked fish with a slotted spoon and retain the water.
2. In a pan, heat the oil and lightly fry the chopped onions, leeks, courgettes and/or celery. Then turn off the heat.
3. Make a decent amount of roux in a clean pot. Start to whisk in about half a pint of milk. You’re aiming for a reasonably thick sauce. Gradually, start to add some of the water you cooked the fish in. At this stage, it’s a matter of judging and tasting, to see how much of each you want. A splash of white wine is lovely. Once the sauce is made, check for seasoning.
4. As you’re making the roux, steam enough peeled potatoes to make a generous mash covering for the pie.
4. Line a pie dish with the fish and lightly fried vegetables. This is the time to add frozen peas and raw cherry tomatoes.
5. Mash the potatoes well in a pot, and cover the pie with the mash. Finish with a couple dots of butter and a grinding of black pepper.
6. Put it in an electric oven at 200 degrees/ Gas mark 6. It should be cooked in about 40 minutes, but all ovens are different. Keep an eye on it. The potato should turn golden if you’re using a bit of butter on top, but don’t be afraid to take the pie out after 20 minutes and make a hole in the middle to ensure it’s cooked right through.
Thanks for stopping by to share your story and favorite recipe with us, Sharon!
The book sounds great but I am not sure I am a fish pie kinda girl.:)
Good morning, Sharon, and welcome to Karen’s Killer Fixin’s! Thanks for sharing your new release and favorite recipe. Have to say, I’ve never had a fish pie but the recipe sounds yummy. I’ll have to give this one a try!
Thanks again. Have a great day!
Hi there Karen, Thanks so much for having me on the blog today. Hope it’s a better day there than it is in Dublin. The rain has been teeming down all day!
Hi Paula, I do agree that you’re either a fish person or you’re just not. Dublin obviously is right on the East coast of Ireland, so I ate a lot of fish growing up. I’d say you could take the basic idea of this recipe and substitute the fish with meat. Make a hearty meat stock instead. And obviously, if it’s red meat, a splash of red wine! As for the book, I had great fun writing it – thank you for your kind comment and I hope you enjoy reading it. x Sharon.
We’ve got plenty of sunshine here in Colorado although Fall has definitely arrived. It’s cooler than I’m ready for right now, probably because I still need to get outside to clean all my windows for the winter and set up Halloween decor. 🙂
Hmmm, Fish Pie is not something I would have thought up on my own — the meat version I’ve done before. Might have to try this one out when my ‘no cow’ eating daughter is home from college. 🙂
The book sounds interesting. I really liked the excerpt!
Hi Glenda, Being a pescatarian (or just eating fish but not meat) is becoming more popular here. I eat everything, to be honest. Going Against Type is my debut, although because of my job, I’d been writing professionally since I was quite young. I had a lot of fun writing Charlotte, but I had an equal amount of fun writing Derry. I wanted to write a male character who is very comfortable in his masculinity, but who works in a very female world. By the end of the book, I felt like I knew them both really well. Thank you for your kind comments, by the way. If you do read the book, have as much fun as I did!! x Sharon
Hi Sharon, congratulations on your interview and on your recipe! Must try it some time.
Daithi
Hi Daithi,
Thanks – I know I’m terrible for not giving exact measurements, but I find it difficult to cook like that. I think most people just like to judge a recipe, and actually it doesn’t really matter with this one. Honestly!
Sharon.