Recipe for a cheesy snack inspired by the 'Outlander' book series

Several years ago Theresa Carle-Sanders decided to quit her dissatisfying job in downtown Vancouver handing in her two-weeknotice andtossing her cell phone off the Burrard Street Bridge.

On her first "job-free day" she walked into a bookstore and discovered the Outlander books, a series of novels by Diana Gabaldon in which a 20th-century British nurse time travels back and forth between 18th-century Scotland and finds romance with a handsome Highland warrior.

After reading all the books in the series available at the time, the Pender Island resident became fascinated by the various meals from the 1700s mentioned in the books, and came up with a recipe for one of them.

• Browse allCBC'sB.C. recipes

"I sent a request off to Diana Gabaldon, to her publicist, if I could use an excerpt from the book to publish the recipe, and Diana responded the next day. She thought it was a great idea,"Carle-Sanders told North by Northwest host Sheryl MacKay.

Over the last five years or so Carle-Sanders said she has been working with Gabaldon to create more recipes and the popularity of the Outlanders television show gave her the opportunity to release her own cookbook.

Outlander Kitchen is full of recipes inspired by the characters, events and the 18th-century food in the the books, including cullen skink a chowder made from smoked white fish caught off the Moray Firth.

Carle-Sanders shared one of her character-inspired dishes with North by Northwest:

Mr. Willoughby's Coral Knob

A perennial staple at picnics, potlucks, and church socials in the American South, pimento cheese was actually first developed in New York at the turn of the nineteenth century, and gained popularity across the nation as a new, mass-produced, and modern food. Originally a combination of Spanish pimiento peppers and newly invented cream cheese, its popularityfell in the Northafter World War II.Since then, Southerners, in addition to purchasing pimento cheese,have made their own homemade versions, although there is little reference to it in cookbooks, even in the South, before the 1990s.

Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon hot paprika
• 1 cup diced pimentos or roasted red
• peppers (reserve 2 tablespoons for garnish)
• 8 ounces (225 grams or about 1 cup)aged cheddar cheese,
• shredded
• 8 ounces (225 grams or about 1cup) Monterey Jack cheese,
• shredded
• 1 to 2 tablespoons grated onion
• Tabasco to taste (optional)

Method:

In a large bowl, mix together the mayonnaise and paprika. Add the pimentos, cheeses, and onions. Beat together well with a wooden spoon to develop a slightly creamy texture. Taste and season with a dash or two of Tabasco, if desired. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours,and up to overnight, to allow the flavours to blend and mellow.

Pack the mixture into a small bowl and invert onto a plate. Top with a small mound of the reserved pimentos (the knob).

Serve with crackers or baguette slices, or try it in a grilled cheese stirred into grits, or atop a sandwich of Rosamund's Pulled Pork with Devil's Apple BBQ Sauce (page 120).

Keep leftovers in the fridge up to 3 days.

Note:The hot paprika may raise the hackles of some pimento cheese purists,but along with a little coral color, it also adds depth of flavor. If you can't find hot paprika, use sweet instead.

With files from CBC's North by Northwest

To hear the full story listen to the audio labelled: Pender Island woman creates cookbook with recipes inspired by 'Outlander' book series