I’m hosting Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn for the April/May edition of Cook the Books. I had previously read this novel and loved it and I am done recommending a book without having read it first. 🙂

There is not a huge amount of food in the story but I’m hoping the plot and the locations will aid in the inspiration.

About the book:

Two women. One Sacred trail. A remarkable journey that entwines their lives forever.​ ​​

From the international bestselling author of In An Instant comes a deeply moving story about two women’s transformative journeys across Spain. Powerful and redemptive, it is a story about love and loss, longing and belonging, and the complicated, winding road to self-discovery.

Reina Watkins lost her father when she was eight. Seventeen years later, she still carries that grief. When her budding journalism career takes an unexpected turn, it leads her to the ancient five-hundred-mile pilgrimage across Spain her father made at her age. As she sets off to follow in his footsteps, she has no idea the true power of the Camino de Santiago or how profoundly it will change her.

​Twenty-seven years earlier, Isabelle Vidal is a teenager on the run for her life. With nothing but the clothes on her back, she flees her boarding school and heads for the Way of St. James, hoping the legend is true and that the Camino will provide. Her thoughts solely on escape, the last thing she expects is to find love or the promise of a beautiful future with a handsome young American. All of it perfect… until her past catches up with her and threatens to destroy it all. 

​One walks to understand her past, the other to grasp her future. Both follow the ancient, hallowed path of St. James with no idea that the miraculous journey will entwine their fates forever. (From the author’s website.)

About the author:

Suzanne Redfearn is the #1 Amazon and USA Today bestselling author of eight novels: Call of the Camino, Two Good Men, Where Butterflies Wander, Moment In Time, Hadley & Grace, In an Instant, No Ordinary Life, and Hush Little Baby. Her books have been translated into twenty-seven languages and have been recognized by RT Reviews, Target Recommends, Goodreads, Publisher’s Marketplace, and Kirkus Reviews. She has been awarded Best New Fiction from Best Book Awards and has been a Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist.

Born and raised on the east coast, Suzanne moved to California when she was fifteen. Currently, she lives in Laguna Beach with her husband where they own Lumberyard Restaurant. In addition to being an author, Suzanne is an architect specializing in residential and commercial design. When not writing, Suzanne enjoys doing anything and everything with her family—skiing, golf, tennis, pickleball, hiking, board games, and watching reality TV. She is an avid baseball fan. Her team is the Angels.

What I thought…

I actually enjoyed this book more the second time around. I honestly wasn’t going to re-read it and just rely on my Kindle notes but as I perused the novel again, I caught lots more food reference. I also caught a lot more insight into Isabelle. I will admit that the first time I read this, I felt like she was maybe taking worrying about the family vendetta to an absurd extreme. Then I did some research. It is hard to find but I stumbled upon this. OK. Maybe Isabelle wasn’t being a flighty teenager. In fact, Isabelle seems older than seventeen. Besides being forced to flee for her life, she is sexually assaulted and has a serious illness during her time on the Camino. Her difficulties make the modern day travel that Reina does seem trivial.

About Reina. I loved her spunk but she is bent on thinking the worst of her coworker, Matt, and trying to beat him in the travel-journalism game. It’s a juvenile stunt to put rocks in his backpack while her own mother was truly trying to survive on this hike. But, there’s a lot that Reina did not know about her mother’s trek. Reina does have a lot to figure out, too.

Redfearn does an outstanding job depicting the community, fellowship and found-family on the Camino during both Isabelle and Reina’s journeys. The depiction of the pilgrims makes me want to hike the trail just for the connections one makes.

What to make….

Tortillas (the Spanish potato ones) are mentioned so often that I wanted to make another one. My previous tortilla experience had been a post for Labyrinth in the old Food ‘n Flix days.

I came across a quick recipe for one using potato chips in Milk Street Shorts when I reviewed that earlier this month. I could not help but try out this recipe because it uses potato chips.

The Milk Street staff states that this recipe was inspired by Spanish Chef Ferran Adria, the father of molecular gastronomy movement, who came up with this shortcut (albeit, I am sure, it was with homemade potato chips).

Spanish Tortilla with Potato Chips

Based on a recipe from Milk Street Shorts by Christopher Kimball.

I added a bit of water, garlic, some fresh thyme and red pepper flakes to the original recipe. I also tweaked the instructions a bit.

Ingredients

• 10 large eggs
• a splash of water
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper
• 3.5 oz. (about 5 c.) kettle-style plain potato chips
• 3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 1-2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• 1 t. smoked paprika
• 1 pinch of red pepper flake
• 1 pinch of fresh thyme
• Chopped herbs (parsley or chives)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and ½ t. salt. Add the potato chips and stir to coat set aside. (Try not to crush the potato chips but they do need to be coated with the egg mixture so they will soften a bit.)
3. Heat the olive oil in a 10” oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. Add the onions, garlic, paprika, red pepper flakes and ¼ t. each of salt and pepper. Stir to coat with oil, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 12-15 minutes checking to stir occasionally. Onions should be softened and lightly brown. Add thyme and stir to combine.
4. Add the egg/potato chip mixture and quickly stir with a silicone spatula to combine with the onion mixture. Then, cook undisturbed until the eggs are set and opaque at the edges, 1-2 minutes.
5. Place the skillet in the oven and bake until the eggs are just set on the surface, about 12 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven. Run the spatula around the edges of the tortilla and underneath it to loosen. Then carefully slide onto a cutting board. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with herbs and a sprinkling of sea salt.

Yield: 4-6

I forgot to garnish with chives. But I did serve it with a side salad.

This was an inventive recipe. I would never have thought to use potato chips. That does make for a quick and delicious dinner. For something completely different, I wonder about using flavored chips.

I am probably one of the last to post. This is a quick read and even if you can’t join up, I recommend that you put this on your TBR list for the summer.

I’m linking up with Foodies Read.

Join Cook the Books in June and July for with Novels of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal. Simona (briciole) is hosting. Look for an announcement post soon at Cook the Books.

This is another one that I need to reread. I was on a Stradal kick a couple of years ago and read this novel along with Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club.