QUINCE AND SPARROW PIE

Setting the Scene:

In ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE, Janet, the heroine, and her sister have been

recruited into cooking at the medieval charity fair. She should be preparing a roast, but,

while sneaking the beer marinade, she watches the hero Devin battle for her hand in

marriage. Janet puts down her tumbler of beer.

Excerpt from ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE:

“

Just checking it. Besides, I need something to get me through the weekend. I’m

going to be married tomorrow and my betrothed is being beaten to a pulp by the sheriff.”

Maggie-Ann peered out at the practice field. “Good God, is he ever. If I didn’t

know better, I’d say Silas was enjoying it. Maybe you’re the prize.”

“

If I am, I’m going home.”

Don’t want to marry Silas?” Maggie-Ann asked.

The thought turns my stomach.”

Maybe it’s all the beer you’re swilling. Get the meat into it, before it’s all gone,

will you? You’re making supper, remember?”

Janet dumped the huge seasoned roast into the clay pot she’d swiped with grease.

Almost crying, she dumped the beer into it. “What next?”

“Check the list,” Maggie-Ann said.

Janet walked over to the table and sat down. The lady who’d organized all the

meals had been precise with her instructions.

“’Take out the pie pastry and fill it with the quince and sparrow mixture,” she

read. “Good grief, Maggie-Ann, who killed the sparrows for this?”

Maggie-Ann laughed, slopping the custard over the rim of the bowl. “They’re just

Cornish hens. You’ll have to eat some of that tonight. They’re an aphrodisiac.”

Cooking By The Book