The Butcher of Rostov's Last Meal: Serial Killer Supper Series, Part III

Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo - fittingly dubbed the Butcher of Rostov and the Red Ripper - holds the dubious distinction of being one of the most prolific and disgusting mass killers of modern times. To be sure, there are, in the West at least, more famous serial killers - Son of Sam, the Zodiac Killer, Dahmer, Bundy - but in my research I have not come across one who chose his victims with more calculated coldness, or seemed to carry out his crimes with such absolute depraved gusto and complete lack of remorse.

Between 1978  and 1990 he killed over 50 women, boys, and girls. Impotent in his "normal" life, Chikatilo stabbed and often eviscerated his victims, achieving sexual pleasure from their bleeding and dying cries. He sometimes bit or chewed off parts of their faces, and he claimed that he chewed on the uterus of at least one of his victims. He gouged out his early victims' eyes, believing an old folktale that held that the last moments of death were recorded on the retinas of the dead.

The Poisoner's Cake: Serial Killer Supper Series, Part Two ~ the Blonde Borgia

While it is true that serial killers are statistically more likely to be men, women are perfectly capable of racking up an impressive body count, though the killing methods of the two sexes tend to differ. Typically male serial murderers gravitate towards performing violent and bloody atrocities against the (usually female) body; women, in contrast, have historically turned to the comparatively gentle, more hands-off method of poisoning.

Victorian England, in fact,  saw the rise of the woman poisoner as a cultural archetype. After all, poisons such as arsenic were easy to come by and forensic science was not yet adept at detecting such causes of death. To be fair, married women had little or no rights then, and poison often presented the only means out of an abusive marriage. I admit I have a something of a soft spot for women who poisoned out of self-preservation.

Serial Killer Supper Series: Schnitzel, Fried Potatoes, & White Wine; the Last Meal of the Dusseldorf Ripper

In honor of the wondrous, gloomy, and shadowy month of October - temporal home of the year's best holiday, Halloween - I bring you "Serial Killer Suppers," a weekly series in which I will feature a notable meal of a notorious killer. I'm excited, as the series combines two of the things I love most in the world: food and murder. (Say it with me, Hitchcock style: MUH-deh.)

That's not to say I love the actual killers, or their hideous acts, although I do find serial killers to be particularly fascinating. The psychology of multiple murderers, their peculiar and horrible methods, the pleasure, often sexual, they derive from the act of killing, their unstoppable compulsions, their inability to empathize or sympathize with their victims - all of this makes them seem somehow simultaneously less and more than human. After all, notorious killers such as Jack the Ripper or the Zodiac Killer have become more monster than man in the popular imagination, endowed with almost supernatural powers and superhuman prowess.

Wild Blueberry & Lemon Love Balls (Astarpungar): An Icelandic Sweet Treat for the NORTH Festival, a Celebration of Nordic Cuisine

This is a sponsored post in collaboration with the upcoming NORTH Festival in New York City. The content is 100% my own. 

In case you missed the memo, I adore Iceland. Reykjavik is an incredible city, and the surrounding countryside is breathtakingly beautiful. I am well aware that I'm incredibly fortunate to have had the chance to visit twice: once for a combination holiday and research trip for an article for Culture magazine, and a second time as part of an impromptu girls' weekend, aka the Hangover, Lady Edition. 

And so when Honest Cooking contacted me to do a post sharing my love of Iceland as part of the upcoming NORTH Festival in New York, I was more than happy to oblige. I was given complete freedom to write about anything I wanted, and naturally I knew my topic would be food.

Two Way Torta: Half Smoky & Half Spicy Shredded Chicken Salad with Jalapeno, Tomato & Avocado

In my last post, I explained my general disdain for popularity contests masquerading as recipe competitions. On a more positive note, however, I expressed my pleasure at having discovered the Mezzetta "Make That Sandwich" contest, as it's curated by food professionals and the prize is the not inconsiderable sum of $25,000.

The Mezze Cristo: Fried Ham & Cheese Sandwich with Creamy Horseradish, Garlic & Capers and a Sweet & Hot Dipping Relish

In general, I am not a huge fan of recipe contests.  All too often lately these things seem to revolve around how adept one is at badgering friends and family for multiple votes rather than actually determining a winner based on quality. I'm not saying the two things can't intersect and result in a deserving winner, but it's certainly not a foregone conclusion. And begging people for votes is pretty high up on my long list of Things I Cannot Stand To Do.

But the  Mezzetta "Make That Sandwich" competition is different from these tedious personality contests. It is actually curated. By people who aren't related to me. Because of this, and because I love sandwiches in a big way, I've decided to enter.

Oh, and also because the grand prize is $25,000. So there's that.

Nopales (Cactus Paddles) Three Ways: Pickled, In Cheesy Quesadillas, & In Spicy Salsa Verde

Use one fruit or vegetable in three different ways - that's the theme of this month's Creative Cooking Crew challenge, hosted as always by the lovely Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks.

This is both a deliciously intriguing and a perplexingly open-ended challenge. Any fruit. Any vegetable. Any three ways. To narrow down the endless choices, I decided I'd make three things that would form a part of one dish. The trick would be to manipulate one ingredient into three components with different, yet complementary, tastes and textures.

Mental for Lentils: Berbere-Spiced Red Lentils with Yogurt {Another 5:2 Fast Day Dinner}

Just when I start to get smug about how well my 5:2 Diet is going, I go and make a pig's breakfast of it. Indeed, my last "fast day" was nothing short of disastrous.

I don't know what ravenous beast got into me, but before the day was over I had cheated with the following foods: many nibbles of Cotswold cheese, handfuls of wasabi peas, and no fewer than 3 glasses of rose. I had broken my 500 calorie limit before dinner.

White Beans with Rosemary, Tomato Candy, & Roasted Garlic {A 5:2 Diet Dinner}

I generally cannot stand the idea of diets. There's always something you're supposed to cut out forever and ever. Going Paleo? Buh-bye pasta and grains. Doing the Eat to Live thing? No more steak or cheese for you, and I hope you really - and  I mean really  - love beans.

Sorry, dieters, but a life without cheesy pizza and the occasional burger and fries is not what I would consider truly living.

However. One of my many freelance jobs is recipe development. Sometimes these recipes are incredibly fattening, like the feature I am working on right now involving not one but five baked pasta and cheese dishes. Given that I am no Olympic athlete and I don't believe in wasting food, there is no way I could ever do enough exercise to burn off all those carbs without breaking something.

Romesco Sauce with Charred Onions: an Authentic Catalonian Recipe

One of the things I love most about travel is - surprise! - eating, drinking, and tasting a variety of new dishes and flavors. I am especially happy when I get the opportunity to chat with chefs and restaurant owners and, if possible, come away with an authentic recipe or two, as I did with Chef Mike's gnocchi in pumpkin cream in Vienna. 

This recipe for Romesco sauce comes courtesy of Hugo, co-owner of the adorable Gastromaquia in Madrid.