Martha Murphy

By day, Martha Murphy is the manager of marketing and communications at South County Hospital in Wakefield. She is also the author of three books: The Bed & Breakfast Cookbook, A New England Fish Tale, and Don Bousquet’s Rhode Island Cookbook, which she co-wrote with the famous Rhode Island cartoonist. Martha provided more than 50 recipes of classic Rhode Island fare, which accompany Bousquet’s food-related cartoons.

Martha’s first book was a collection of recipes from bed-and-breakfast establishments in all 50 states, which she wrote back in 1990s when she was operating a B-and-B out of her home in Narragansett. “I became a published author almost by accident,” she explains. “Guests wanted my recipes, and when they talked about their travels to diverse, extraordinary places, they talked about food as much as anything else. It gave me an idea, and I began telling people I was thinking of writing a cookbook/guidebook for B-and-B travelers. Eventually, I told so many people, I had to write the book.”

A revised version of A New England Fish Tale will be published in 2012, with newly added food photography, streamlined cooking directions and new recipes. This Thanksgiving, Martha and her husband Kevin, a former commercial fisherman who is now an operating room nurse (how’s that for a career change?), will be dining with friends and family in Pride’s Crossing, Massachusetts, where two turkeys will grace the table to feed the crowd. Everyone brings a dish to this potluck dinner, and Martha will be in charge of the very important gravy.

Indian Pudding is one of her favorite dishes – it appears in the cookbook she wrote with Don Bousquet. “I like it so much, I eat it for breakfast – that is, if there’s any left over,” she says. The recipe is on the next page for you to enjoy as well.