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Rebecca York's out-of-this-world recipes

Special for USA TODAY
The Off World Cookbook by Rebecca York.

Rebecca York, author of The Off World Cookbook, introduces her latest cookbook, filled with recipes inspired by the stories in her futuristic Off World Series.

Rebecca: I've been playing with food for years — writing cookbooks along with my romantic suspense and paranormal novels. For decades these two careers ran along separate tracks, until I realized I could combine my love of romance writing with my love of recipe creation.

That's how The Off World Cookbook was born. It's food from outer space. Well, sort of. The recipes are all based on what the characters in my Off World Series like to eat hundreds of years in the future.

To date, I've written five short stories and novellas in my Off World Series, set on planets settled by colonists from Earth in the far future. In the first story, Conquest, Earth men on Jalar have become sterile. To keep the colony from dying out, the elders force their women to mate with the intimidating Jalaran men. But can the proud, fierce Jalaran warriors conform to the elders' rules? The latest Off World story is Christmas Home, a sweet and sensual tale of two lonely people who could make a life together if they can only bridge the barrier that separates them. And what better time than the Christmas season? It's set on my planet, Palomar, where all the marriageable guys are virgins, since they were sent to the planet with their fathers after a plague wiped out the women on their home planet. You bet I've had fun with macho virgin heroes. Nightfall is also set on the same world. Another novella, Assignment Danger, will be coming out in January. In it, an undercover cop meets up with his long-lost love under the worst possible circumstances.

The Off World Cookbook gives me a chance to tell readers a little more about the backgrounds of my characters.

Like what do the heroes and heroines in these science-fiction romances really eat? And where did they get the recipes? Or are they foraging for their supper in the forests, fields and streams of strange planets?

I had a lot of fun envisioning these future meals in unusual environments. But I didn't want to write a cookbook that nobody here on 21st-century Earth could actually use. So each recipe in the book utilizes ingredients you can find at your local supermarket, even the Farlian Celebration Cake pictured on the cover and created by my friend Nancy Baggett.

Christmas Home by Rebecca York.

Some of the recipes, like the Backcountry Quick Bread, from Assignment Danger, feature native foods, which you've never encountered here. But you can make quick substitutions with easy-to-find ingredients. Just switch out pumpkin for the swamp root featured in the original.

Other dishes, like the Roasted Summer Vegetables or Cheesecake that the colonists on Jalar enjoy or the Fresh Cherry Compote made from the trees on Caleb Raider's farmstead in Nightfall, are made with ingredients originally brought from Earth and carefully cultivated in their new environments.

Some, like the Grilled Steak with Peppers and Onions from Conquest, are a blend of native and Earth traditions.

All of these dishes are easy to prepare, and each is rich with the atmosphere of another time and place. Here's a sample:

JALARAN SHISH KEBAB

Conquest

Skewered meat is a favorite of the Jalaran natives who cook it over fire pits when they are off on hunting expeditions. Although they generally use wild peld, you can use either lamb or chicken and cook the skewers on a grill or in the broiler. Additionally, a marinade gives the meat or poultry a wonderfully rich flavor.

The heroine of the story, Elena, also adds vegetables. To insure everything is done at the same time, she parboils the onions and peppers before threading them on the skewers. And she threads cherry tomatoes on their own separate skewer and grills them for only a short time because they cook more rapidly than the other items. If small white onions are unavailable, very small yellow onions can be substituted. Or larger onions can be cut into quarters. The shish kebab is good served with rice.

Makes 4 servings

Marinade

½ cup bland oil such as corn or canola

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

1 medium-sized onion, coarsely chopped

¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 large garlic clove, minced

1½ tsp dried marjoram leaves

1½ tsp dried thyme leaves

½ tsp salt

Meat and Vegetables

2 pounds of lean lamb (from the leg or shoulder), trimmed of fat and cut into 1¼-inch cubes, or 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, cut into 1¼-inch pieces.

2 large green peppers, trimmed, seeded and cut into 1½-inch pieces

12 to 14 small white onions

1 large sweet red pepper, trimmed, seeded and cut into 1½-inch pieces

1 large zucchini, cut into ½-inch-thick rounds

12 to 14 cherry tomatoes, washed and stemmed

To prepare the marinade: In a medium-sized bowl, combine the oil, lemon juice, chopped onion, parsley, garlic, marjoram leaves, thyme leaves and salt. Stir to mix well.

To marinate the meat: Add the lamb or chicken, and stir until well coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, or preferably 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

To assemble the shish kebab: Put the onions and green pepper in a large saucepan of boiling water. Parboil over medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes. Drain in a colander. Trim and peel the onions.

Remove the lamb or chicken pieces as needed from the marinade with a slotted spoon. Alternate green peppers, onions, and zucchini with lamb or chicken pieces on 4 or 5 large skewers. Pack the skewers tightly, as this will help keep the vegetables from shifting as the skewers are turned during grilling.

Thread the tomatoes on a separate skewer and set aside.

To grill, place the meat and vegetable skewers on a charcoal or gas grill, and cook 20 to 30 minutes depending on the heat and the degree of doneness desired. Turn frequently so that the meat and vegetables can cook evenly.

To broil, rest the ends of the skewers on the rim of a baking pan so that the oil from the marinade can drip into the pan during broiling. Broil about 5 inches from the heat for 25 to 30 minutes, depending on the degree of doneness desired; turn frequently so that the meat and vegetables can cook evenly.

During the last 5 minutes of cooking, broil or grill the tomatoes, turning frequently.

To serve, use a fork to slide the meat and vegetables off the skewers onto a large serving platter. If desired, arrange rice on the serving platter before adding the shish kebab.

Rebecca York writes the Off World series and the Decorah Security series, where all the agents have paranormal powers or take on paranormal cases. Her next Sourcebooks Rockfort Security novel, Private Affair, will be out in January. Find out more at rebeccayork.com.

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