Healing Recipes

Can a cookbook cure a person?Surprisingly yes.In the case of one centenarian New Yorker classic and beloved French recipes did the trick in healing her.The cure starts with devotion and ends with a potluck feast. The New Yorker is Ruth Levy ,a tough Bronx native who once decoded Nazi intercepts during the Second World War.Her story was the subject of an article written by John Willoughby in yesterday's New York Times Dining section.Ms Levy wound up with an almost lethal case of pneumonia and as she healed, had all sorts of books read to her by a distant cousin, David Vos.All sorts of books were read to her as she made it from the hospital to rehab to finally back home.One book was the classic cookbook,Clementine In The Kitchen.It's about an American family living in France and blissfully enjoying French cuisine prepared by their cook Clementine.When the rumblings of a War are heard the family including Clementine head back to Massachusetts where she introduces the locals to the joys of French cooking.The book was written by Samuel Chamberlain. As a carrot for Ms . Levy to get completely better Mr. Vos promised a feast from the cookbook.It was a potluck salute to the book and it certainly did the trick making Ms.Levy feel better. The recipes were tweaked to her liking.Red wine, was used in coq au vin as opposed to white, no capers in the deviled eggs and heavy cream instead of egg whites in a sinful chocolate mousse. One recipe that wasn't in there yet celebrated the book was a flour less cake made with Clementine orange made by pastry chef and family friend Dawn Datso.Ms. Datso made this Passover appropriate cake is kind of reminiscent of the top half of a Boston creme pie.It is redolent of the clementines with it and almond flour are the two main ingredients of the cake.A decadent chocolate glaze is then poured over it and allowed to set before putting candied slices of the fruit on top as decoration. Food is one of the best medicines out there.Ms. Levy was lucky to have good French food waiting for her so to speak at the beginning of her recovery. What a great way of celebrating with good food and good friends.