NOVEL THOUGHTS
………
KNOPF, 2001
(available in paperback from Vintage, 2002)
RICHARD RUSSO’S Pulitzer Prize–winning novel is a portrait of a depressed small New England mill town whose fate has been in the hands of a powerful and wealthy family for nearly a century.
The Whitings own the mills and the real estate, and employ the majority of residents in the imaginary town of Empire Falls, Maine. Their sale of the textile businesses to multinational corporations abroad has a devastating economic impact on the town. The abandoned factories are a constant reminder of the town’s economic decline, yet residents continue to believe “that Empire Falls would be restored to its old economic viability.”
For the last fifteen years, forty-year-old Miles Roby has managed the Empire Grill, the town diner. As a teenager he worked at the restaurant under the thumb of Francine Whiting, the town’s conniving matriarch, who has assured Miles that he will inherit the Empire Grill upon her death.
Miles left college, returning to Empire Falls to care for his ailing mother, and never left. His mother’s dream was for Miles to have a life beyond Empire Falls, the same wish Miles has for his teenage daughter, Tick. In the midst of a divorce, and burdened by an irresponsible father and a brother recovering from alcoholism, Miles bears the weight of the world on his shoulders. To salvage the future for himself and his daughter, Miles must overcome the inertia that has anchored him to Empire Falls.
Miles’s brother David helps him run the Grill and dreams of upgrading the diner’s greasy-spoon fare to increase business. David convinces Miles to open the Empire Grill weekend nights for dinner to serve “good, cheap ethnic food” to attract a new clientele: college students and professors from nearby Fairhaven, who would consider the diner’s “worn out cigarette-burned countertop and wobbly booths ‘honest’ or ‘retro.’”
Although Miles is skeptical, David’s culinary initiative succeeds. The college crowd makes the seven-mile trip for international nights. Chinese night features Twice-Cooked Noodles with Scallops in Hoisin Sauce—a radical departure from the typical fried haddock and mashed-potato specials.
Miles arrives at the Grill one Friday night to find the parking lot full and a waiting list for tables. It is Mexican night, and David has concocted shrimp flautas as the featured special. “Who knew Dexter County would go for flautas?” Miles asks Charlene, the longtime waitress at the Empire Grill.
A flauta is a tortilla rolled around a filling, and fried until crisp. Our shrimp flautas, certainly not your typical diner fare, are a tribute to David’s Down East ingenuity. Try topping the flautas with Green Chile Salsa (p. 428).
NOTE: Wear plastic or rubber gloves while handling the chiles to protect your skin from the oil in them. Avoid direct contact with your eyes, and wash your hands thoroughly after handling.
16 7- to 8-inch-diameter flour tortillas 3 cloves garlic, minced 4 tablespoons butter 3 jalapeño chiles, stems and seeds removed, cut in J-inch slivers (see note) 1 pound medium-size shrimp, shelled and deveined |
Salt ¾ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (preferably high-quality) 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cups salsa 1 cup sour cream |
Slice a strip about 1H inches wide from opposite sides of each tortilla. The idea is to have an oblong piece measuring about 4 × 7 inches. Cover the tortillas to keep them moist.
Place the minced garlic in a small bowl and combine with 1 tablespoon of water. Set aside.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan. Add the jalapeño chiles and sauté 1 minute, until they begin to soften. Add the garlic with its water and stir. Add another tablespoon of butter and the shrimp. Sauté, turning frequently, until the shrimp are pink, about 2 minutes. Add salt to taste. Do not overcook. After the mixture has cooled a bit, chop the shrimp very coarsely.
Heat a nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Place a small bowl of water beside your work area. Briefly heat a tortilla on each side in the skillet to soften it. Working on a flat surface, spread about 2 tablespoons of the shrimp mixture and 1 tablespoon of cheese along one long edge of the tortilla. Roll tightly into a long, thin shape. Before closing, dip a finger in the water and wet the edge of the tortilla—this will help hold it together. Repeat with remaining tortilllas.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the flautas, in batches, 1–2 minutes, until golden brown and crispy on all sides. Drain well on brown paper or paper towels.
Serve each flauta garnished with a dollop of salsa and sour cream.
Yield: 16 flautas
NOVEL THOUGHTS
The four men and four women of the Madisonville Community College Book Discussion Group are faculty members at the Kentucky college, “but there are no lectures during the meetings,” says Marcella Davis, an instructor of developmental writing, who founded the group.
The group’s favorite book of 2003 was Richard Russo’s Empire Falls. “We all agreed Russo deserved the Pulitzer Prize for this book,” says Davis. “Russo unfolded the plot so gradually that the reader doesn’t realize that vengeance covers entire lifetimes until the end.”
The group spent a lot of time pondering the character of Miles Roby, the book’s protagonist, his unfulfilled dreams, and how he had become reconciled to his life and its disappointments. “We also explored the symbolism in the novel. For example, the black cat was the epitome of evil and is washed away in the floodwaters of self-awareness in the closing scene,” says Davis.
Katherine Thomerson, owner of the Frugal Frigate bookstore in Redlands, California, served diner fare—miniature hamburgers from Trader Joe’s, along with potato chips, wine, and cider—when her store’s A Room of Her Own Reading Group discussed Empire Falls. “The diner-style food put us in the mood for discussion,” says Thomerson, “and it was just fun.”
