Blog Tour Guest Post & Giveaway: Feel the Heat – Kate Meader

We have Kate Meader with us today sharing some foods for seduction (yes, take notes), an excerpt from her book AND a recipe.  Talk about giving us a little bit of everything!  LOL!  Help me in welcoming Kate to Cocktails and Books!

Top Five Foods for Seduction

Thanks to Cocktails and Books for hosting me today! In Feel the Heat, the first in my Chicago-set Hot in the Kitchen series about an Italian restaurant-owning family and the sizzling, sexy chefs who love them, my hero and heroine seduce each other with food. Sensual, mouthwatering, to-die-for food. Lili DeLuca, the daughter of an Italian chef is unafraid to show her love—usually with throaty moans—for the gorgeous creations of Jack Kilroy, ultra successful British celebrity chef.  And her reaction gets his heart…and other organs pumping! Here’s a selection of dishes these two use to connect and get closer.

1. Goat cheese, caramelized onion, and sarriette pizzetti
   Mini pizzas? No self-respecting Italian would go there but Lili has to admit Jack knows his way around those magical discs of awesome.
2. Linguine with rabbit ragu
   Our intrepid duo get down and floury when Lili “shows” Jack how to pound the dough! Of course, any top chef can make pasta, but Jack’s happy to let Lili take the lead especially as it gets them oh-so-close in the kitchen.
3. Goat cheese salted caramel gelato
   Jack pulls out all the stops with this creamy, tangy dollop of heaven. It isn’t long before he’s using this sweet-salty confection as a topping on Lili’s body…
4. Scrambled eggs with truffle shavings
   The guy might be the best-known chef in the Western Hemisphere but if he’s not doing breakfast right, forget it! And a bare-chested Jack at Lili’s stove wearing nothing but low-slung jeans and testosterone is a morning-after vision to savor.
5. Each other
   Food might be the opening course but when things get hot, it’s the undeniable chemistry between these two that keeps Jack and Lili coming back for more.

Goat cheese caramel gelato is one of Jack’s tools for seduction. Here’s an excerpt showing Lili’s reaction to tasting this delicious frozen treat:

They were supposed to be sharing a bowl of gelato, pressing thighs together, accidentally brushing fingers, while Jack wore her down and got her to agree to a date. That had been the plan, anyway.

So why was he now standing in her tiny living room, as skittish as a lobster within kissing distance of a stockpot? It was only a bloody photo. Shoots for magazines and show publicity never failed to bore him, but they didn’t make him nervous. The thought of Lili pointing her lens at him made him sweaty-palms, pulse-pounding nervous. As if she needed another weapon to get past his rickety defenses.

The weapon in question, a complicated-looking piece of equipment, lay on a scarred mahogany credenza, exuding menace. Reminding him that he was here because he made a promising subject for her art. An arrangement of facial features that conformed to someone’s standard of handsomeness.

He didn’t want to be a pretty face in her viewfinder; he needed her to see past his image and understand that putting up with a few nasty comments was worth it. That he was worth it.

While she puttered in the kitchen, he perched on the edge of the plush, well-worn sofa, his body taut as bamboo, and cracked his knuckles. The room was chockablock with funky art pieces. An industrialized bronze angel with metal fan blades for wings loomed in the corner. To its right, some weird shit that looked like carpet remainders and shellacked eggshells left Jack floundering for adjectives. On the opposite wall, a photo collage sprawled like a half-finished jigsaw puzzle. He recognized Lili’s cousins and servers from DeLuca’s, all beaming and at ease. Not a single photo of Lili, which didn’t bode well for their future in the public eye.

She appeared at his side and handed him a bowl of gelato, the spoon standing to attention in the center like a…Damn, he really needed to get laid.

“That’s cool,” he said, nodding at the collage. He suspected it was all cool, but he didn’t feel qualified to discuss the more abstract works. “Why aren’t there any pictures of you?”

“I prefer to stay behind the camera.”

His follow-up query died on his lips as her low moan transmitted right to the receiver in his boxer briefs.

“Sweet baby Jesus, is this goat cheese?” she asked.

He nodded. More specifically, goat cheese gelato with caramel. The result was tangy like cheesecake; it needed the sweetness of the caramel to even it out.

“I’ve never tasted anything like it.” She plunked down on the sofa as if her legs might buckle any second. Her thigh brushed his.

Excellent.

Excellent, indeed. And you too can seduce with gelato. Here’s a very simple recipe for this tangy, almost cheesecake-like frozen treat.

Goat cheese salted caramel gelato

For the gelato:

1 1/2 cups whole milk

2/3 cup sugar

8 oz. fresh goat cheese
(crumbled)
6 large egg yolks

1. Prepare an ice bath and set aside
2. Place the goat cheese in a bowl with a mesh strainer over it
3. Mix the sugar and milk over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves
4. Whisk the egg yolks lightly until thickened
5. Add the milk/sugar liquid to the egg yolks slowly, stirring constantly to prevent the egg from scrambling
6. Return the egg/milk/sugar mixture to the pan and heat, again with constant stirring. When the liquid steams and the custard coats the spoon, it’s ready
7. Add the hot mixture to the goat cheese through the strainer. Stir until the goat cheese is melted and the combination is smooth
8. Set the bowl over the ice bath and stir until cool. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours
9. Make the ice cream/gelato in your ice cream maker

Salted caramel sauce

2 cups granulated sugar

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces

1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature

1 teaspoon sea salt

1. In a heavy-bottomed 2-3 quart saucepan, cook the sugar over medium-high heat. It take s a few minutes but it will start to melt and clump. Whisk it until it is completely melted, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the butter (stand back, it will spatter) and whisk until smooth
3. Remove from heat and add the cream
4. Add the salt and stir through
5. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes in the pot, then pour into a jar and refrigerate
6. Sauce will keep for 2 months in the fridge

Make the sauce ahead of the gelato so it is cool enough to mix with the frozen delciousness. You can layer the gelato in a container and swirl the caramel through or you can drizzle over the top. Now you’re ready to seduce with gelato!

During the Feel the Heat release tour, I am giving away foodie-related swag: one Grand Prize and five smaller prize packs! Details and pics on my website.

To enter, complete the Rafflecopter below (if the form doesn’t appear, click the link to be taken to the form)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the book

FEEL THE HEAT by Kate Meader

Hot in the Kitchen, Book 1

IF YOU CAN’T STAND THE HEAT . . .

Photographer Lili DeLuca spends all her time managing her family’s Italian restaurant, instead of following her dream of getting an MFA. When famous British chef Jack Kilroy unexpectedly challenges her father to a cook-off, Lili decides she’s tired of playing it safe and vows to seduce the tempting Brit. But once a video of her and Jack kissing goes viral and her luscious butt starts trending on Twitter, Lili fears she’s cooked up a recipe for disaster.

GET INTO THE BEDROOM

Jack Kilroy’s celebrity has left him feeling used and used up. While Lili’s oh-so-sexy moans when she tastes his delicious creations turn him on, he’s even more aroused by how unimpressed this beautiful, funny woman is with his fame. He knows they could be amazing together, if she could only see past his bitch fork-wielding fan base. Now, as he’s about to start a new prime time TV cooking show, can Jack convince Lili to realize her own ambitions – and turn up the heat in his kitchen?

About Kate

Kate Meader writes contemporary romance that serves up delicious food, to-die-for heroes, and heroines with a dash of sass. Originally from Ireland, she cut her romance reader teeth on Catherine Cookson and Jilly Cooper novels, with some Mills & Boons thrown in for variety. Give her tales about brooding mill owners, oversexed equestrians, and men who can rock an apron, and she’s there. She has a bachelor’s in law (useless), a master’s in history (not as useless), and another master’s in library and information science (yay, using). When not writing about men who cook and the women who drool over them, she works in an academic library. Her stories are set in her adopted home town of Chicago, a city made for food, romance, and laughter – and where she met her own sexy hero. For news, excerpts, and recipes, check out her website at http://www.katemeader.com.

Links
Contact: kate.meader@gmail.com

Website: http://katemeader.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorkatemeader

Twitter: @kittymeader

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6551743.Kate_Meader

Blogs: http://katemeader.com/blog/