From the age of 8, food has been one of the great passions of her life, but instead of choosing a career in the culinary world, Christensen became a writer of fiction, vowing she would make sure to put lots of references to food in her novels. She blogs about her adventures, culinary and otherwise, at www.katechristensen.wordpress.com. She also writes, among other things, “With a Twist,” a drinks column for the Wall Street Journal, and is working on another book. “How to Cook a Moose” is about local history, food lore and living in Maine.

It was while living in the Big Apple in the late ’80s that Christensen savored all the best books written by famous food writers, such as M.F.K. Fisher, Laurie Colwin and Julia Child, sometimes devouring them one after another as an anecdote for her insomnia. When she finally put her hand to autobiographical writing several years later, she found herself weaving her memories around remembered meals. The result is “Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites.”

Published in 2013 by Anchor Books, the memoir is punctuated not only with recipes from Christensen’s formative years that she still stirs up to this day, but also includes well-loved dishes discovered during her travels. The title is a nod to her mother, who, when complimented about the simple yet delicious food she served to her three daughters, would say, “Oh, it’s nothing but a blue plate special.”

“Setting out to write an autobiography wasn’t something I intended to do, but putting the past between two covers felt really good,” Christensen said.

As Christensen worked on the book, she confirmed something she’d known all along, that food is a way of connecting to others.

“Food provides a reason to bring people together and when you write about it, it’s a powerful conduit to memory,” she said. “Sometimes I get a strong whiff of something, you know, that steamy smell, an amalgam of meat and vegetables, and everything comes back.”

Christensen, who has lived in Berkeley, Ariz., France and New York City, has many fond memories of vacationing in Maine with her family when she was growing up in the ’70s. Moving to Portland a couple years ago, she also spends time in the White Mountains where she shares a farmhouse with her partner, Brendan. She spent much of last year promoting “Blue Plate Special” in New England, including reading at Bates College.

Now the author is thrilled to call Maine home. “I always held this certain image in my head of Maine. It was like ‘Blueberries for Sal.’”

Christensen, now 52, said her memories of Maine, along with the convenience of living in a city near an airport, were instrumental in bringing her here. Most recently residing in New York City before making the decision to split her time between here and the Granite State, she often flew into Portland International Jetport with Brendan on their way to New Hampshire.

She said of Portland, “We feel like geniuses that we moved here. This is our town!”

The natural-born foodie and prolific writer whose favorite childhood meal was hot dogs, “creamy” corn and carrot coins with margarine, now feasts most frequently on standard American fare such as tomato soup and grilled cheese, tamale pie, meatloaf, chili and peanut butter on toast. She also loves eating steamers, oysters, lobster . . . and bacon.

“If I was giving a party, I’d serve buckwheat blinis with caviar and creme fraiche, shrimp cocktail, oysters, smoked bluefish, melon with prosciutto and bacon-wrapped dates!” Christensen said.

A line from “Blue Plate Special” that describes her discovery of New York City’s countless restaurants is very telling of this passionate writer who is always planning out what she’ll eat next: “I inhaled all this food; I would have rolled in it if such a thing had been possible.”

The witty, vivacious Christensen said she chose these recipes to share because they are the dishes she makes all the time.

“These are quick, easy, cheap and don’t have a lot of ingredients,” she said. “The Eggplant Pilaf was invented in Minnesota while visiting my sister. We just made it up. I always want food to be cozy and traditional, but have a surprise to it.”

This faintly exotic, but deeply comforting, dish will work with any eggplant, but Christensen said the long, small green eggplants are sweeter and more tender than the purple ones.

“The carbonara is a decadent rendition of a decadent recipe,” Christensen said. “The first time I made it, we ate the entire thing standing up in the kitchen.”

Double-Your-Pleasure Carbonara

Serves 4

1 pound spaghetti or linguine

8 ounces slab bacon or pancetta, chopped

4 garlic cloves, sliced

4 tablespoons olive oil

4 eggs

2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Black pepper to taste

1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Cook the pasta according to the directions until just softer than al dente.

While pasta cooks, saute bacon and garlic in hot olive oil until crisp.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and add 1 1/2 cups cheese, plus plenty of black pepper. When pasta is done, drain it well and toss in the skillet with bacon and garlic until coated. Add to the egg-cheese mixture, tossing it fast and lightly until the strands of pasta are coated with the silky egg and melted cheese.

Serve immediately with the remaining grated cheese and chopped parsley.

Green Eggplant Pilaf

Serves 4-6

6 small green eggplants (or 1 large or 2 smaller purple eggplants), chopped small

2 tablespoons olive oil plus 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 red onion, minced

4 large cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried basil

Black pepper and salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 1/2 cups wild rice blend (Lundberg’s is recommended)

2 3/4 cups chicken stock or broth

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon lemon zest

3/4 cup toasted pine nuts

3/4 cup grated pecorino-Romano cheese

Saute the eggplant over medium-low heat with 2 tablespoons olive oil in a cast iron skillet, stirring until brown and soft, for about 15 minutes, then put aside.

Add 1 more tablespoon olive oil and saute onion and garlic. Add basil, black pepper, salt, cinnamon and cumin. When the onions are soft, add the wild rice blend, broth, tomato paste and lemon zest. Add the eggplant back in and stir well.

Cover and let simmer until the rice is cooked, about 45 minutes. Serve with toasted pine nuts and grated pecorino-Romano cheese.

Harissa Haddock

Serves 4

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound fresh haddock (2 good-sized fillets)

2 tablespoons Harissa dry spice mix

1 lemon

2 large leeks, cleaned well and chopped

2 fresh pork chorizo sausages

1 cup red rice

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon butter

2 pounds baby spinach

8 garlic cloves

1 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt to taste

Cut haddock into bite-size pieces and put them in a bowl with the juice of 1 lemon and Harissa spices. Stir well and leave on the counter to marinate. Following the directions on the rice bag for cooking time, simmer 1 cup well-rinsed red rice in 1 3/4 cups chicken broth and 1 tablespoon butter.

Slit the chorizo sausages down the middle and remove the casings so you’re left with just the insides. Discard casings. In a big cast-iron skillet, heat olive oil then add chopped leeks and sausage. Stir well, breaking up the chorizo with a spatula. Saute for about 15 minutes until the leeks are soft and the sausage is cooked through. Add the haddock with all the lemon juice to the leeks and chorizo. Cover pan and gently poach for 7-10 minutes. Stir well.

Meanwhile, chop 8 cloves of garlic and add to 1 cup chicken broth and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pot. Steam 2 pounds baby spinach, covered, for about 5 minutes, or until limp.

Salt to taste. Serve the haddock on top of the rice with the spinach alongside.

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