Cardamom Tea – The Throne of the Crescent Moon

“Tea. Adoulla leaned his face farther over the small bowl and inhaled deeply, needing its aromatic cure for the fatigue of life. The spicy-sweet cardamom steam enveloped him, moistening his face and his beard, and for the first time that groggy morning he felt truly alive.”

–The Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmad

Thoughts:

Now, let’s start with the simple fact that I love cardamom. As soon as I heard about this beverage, I knew I had to try it.

The book is set in a quasi Middle Eastern setting, which I took as my starting point. Having lived in Turkey for a year, I know how essential tea is to everyday life. I decided to go for spiced added to a base of actual tea (rather than just an herbal/spice infusion). As I constructed the recipe, though, the realization slowly dawned that I knew this beverage I was making.

Chai.

What a wonderful example of how slightly changing the name of something defamiliarizes it enough for us to discover and wonder over it all over again. The flavor of the tea is rich and spicy, with the cardamom and ginger at the forefront.

Cardamom Tea Recipe

Making: 15 minutes

Makes 2 servings

Cook’s Notes: As with all recipes, feel free to tweak this one to suit your own tastes!

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
1 ” fresh ginger, thinly sliced
4-6 cloves
7 cardamom pods, crushed (or 1 tbs. seeds)
1 heaping Tbs. black tea leaves
Milk
sugar or honey to taste

Combine ingredients except for milk and sugar in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Keep on the heat for about 5 minutes, then strain into serving cups. Add milk until it is a rich tan color, and sweeten to taste. Enjoy!

Freshwater Trout – Vlad Taltos series

“’Freshwater trout,’ announced Mihi, ‘from the Adrilankha River, stuffed with carrot slivers, fresh rosemary, salt, crushed black pepper, a sprinkling of powdered Eastern red pepper, minced garlic, and sliced lemon wedges. Accompanied by fresh goslingroot, quick-steamed in lemon butter.’ Then, wielding the serving spoons like tongs, he reverently delivered some fish and vegetable onto our plates…

I can’t tell you a lot about the trout, other than what Mihi said, except that Mr. Valabar had once let slip that it was double-wrapped in a heat-resistant parchment so that it was steam that actually cooked it. If I knew more, I’d make it myself, as best I could. A great deal of the art of Valabar’s, of course, consisted in putting astonishing amounts of effort into making sure that each ingredient was the freshest, most per-fect that could be found. It’s all in the details, just like assassination. Though with a good fish, more is at stake.“

–Dzur, by Steven Brust

Thoughts:

Delicious. Sometimes elaborate words fail me when a dish is just so wonderfully good, and this is no exception.

The fish cooks to perfection in the parchment, ending rich and tender, with not a hint of dryness. The inclusion of carrots in the stuffing threw me at first, but as usual, Brust knows his business. They, along with the rosemary, gave a bit of a textural counterpoint to the tenderness of the fish, while the lemon soaked into the whole thing, perfecting the combination of flavors. I, for one, can’t imagine a better way to enjoy trout (unless it’s wrapped in bacon…).

Recipe for Freshwater Trout

Cook’s Notes: Author Steven Brust said that he was thinking of asparagus when writing about goslingroot, so that’s what I’ve included here. I used white asparagus for the Goslingroot, since it was available, and is more visually interesting than the regular green variety (which is also tasty).

Ingredients:

2 whole trout
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 tsp. fresh rosemary, minced
generous pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. Aleppo pepper, or paprika
1 lemon, sliced thin
1 bunch asparagus
2 Tbs. butter
juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 2 sheets of parchment paper large enough to completely cover both fish.

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the filling except the lemon. Divide equally between the two fish, and place the lemon slices on top of the filling. Wrap the fish up: bring the ends of the parchment up over and parallel to the fish. Roll the two ends together, toward the fish, then tuck the ends underneath the packaged fish. Repeat with the second sheet of parchment, wrapping it around the first parchment. Place the wrapped fish on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Cut open the parchment and serve the fish immediately.

For the asparagus: fill a large sautee pan halfway with water. Turn up to a simmer, and blanch the asparagus for about 2-3 minutes. Drain, then melt the 2 Tbs. butter in the pan. Add the asparagus back into the pan, and toss with the butter. Continue to cook gently for several more minutes until the asparagus is tender. Sprinkle with lemon juice, and serve.

Flower Rolls – The Hunger Games

“Cinna invites me to sit on one of the couches and takes his place across from me. He presses a button on the side of the table. The top splits and from below rises a second tabletop that holds our lunch. Chicken and chunks of oranges cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny green peas and onions, rolls shaped like flowers, and for dessert, a pudding the color of honey.”

–The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

These are a fun and decorative way to add to a dinner spread. The rolls are beautiful and unique, and can be filled with whatever you like. I enjoyed the filling I’ve included here, which includes goat cheese, garlic, and a bit of parsley or basil. The inside of the rolls stays warm and melty, and peeling back the “petals” to get to the filling is a fun way to play with your food. They are especially delicious next to a nice savory soup.

Flower Rolls Recipe

Roll Ingredients:

4 cups all purpose/plain flour, added gradually
1 tsp. instant yeast
1 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. oil
1 egg, divided
2 Tbs. honey
warm water (enough to make the dough a firm but workable consistency- exact measurement to come!)

Filling Ingredients:

6 oz. goat cheese
1 egg, divided
pinch of salt
1 clove garlic
1 Tbs. parsley or basil, diced

In a large bowl, mix together the ingredients for your dough, using just the egg yolk. Add flour gradually until the dough is a nice cohesive consistency. Knead to a medium soft dough that bounces back when poked, and leave to rise for 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, combine all the ingredients for the filling. Set aside.

Divide the dough into 15-16 sections and shape them into neat balls; now you can start shaping the flowers. Roll out each ball to about 5″ diameter. Brush a bit of butter on the circle of dough. Make 4 diagonal slits, leaving the center intact. Add about 1 Tbs. filling in the center.

Brush the outside of each filled dough circle with beaten egg white. Take the first section and wrap it around the blob of filling, pinching the sides of that “petal” together to hold it in place. Take the opposite side’s “petal” and cover the other side of the filling with it. Repeat with the two last sections, pinching or pressing the dough on the side to seal it. Repeat with each round of dough until all the rolls are made up. The rolls should look roughly like roses, with swirls of doughy petals.

Place the prepared rolls on a greased tray. Pre-heat your oven to 350F. Brush each roll gently with the remainder of the egg white. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden.

Serve soon after baking.

Watercress Sandwiches with Pea & Cabbage Soup – Redwall Series

“Tiria and Lycian took the birds to the buffet table, allowing them to choose what they liked. Brantalis opted for soft cheese and watercress sandwiches, which he immersed in a bowl of pea and cabbage soup and gobbled down with evident relish.”

–High Rhulain, by Brian Jacques

What an ideal light lunch!

The sandwiches are fresh and inviting, soft crusts giving way to the crunch of cucumber and watercress. The soup has a hearty warmth unusual in vegetarian dishes, but you may want to encourage guests to add salt and pepper to taste. I would encourage you to eat three or four bites before adding anything though- the flavors develop as you go. If the flavors are too mild for you, consider adding a little (very un-Redwallian) diced ham.

Recipes for Watercress Sandwiches and Pea & Cabbage Soup

Makes enough for 4 sandwiches, and soup for 6

Ingredients for 4 Sandwiches:

2 Tbs. softened butter
4 oz. soft cheese of your choice (thinly sliced cheddar is also delicious)
1 cup watercress leaves & thin stems, rinsed and rung out in a tea towel
1 Cucumber, sliced thin
8 slices wheat bread

Spread the butter in a thin layer on half the pieces of bread (if using cheddar, butter both sides). Follow with a layer of cheese, then a layer of cucumber, and finishing with a layer of watercress. Place the top slice on the sandwich.

Using a long, sharp knife, trim off the crusts, and cut into triangles. Serve with soup below.

Ingredients for soup:

1 cup dried split green peas (you can use yellow if you prefer)
7 cups of water
2 Tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large carrot, chopped
2 cups vegetable or meat broth
2 russet potatoes, roughly chopped
salt and ground pepper
1/2 head cabbage (green, red or savoy) chopped into bite-sized pieces (about 7 cups)

Pour peas and seven cups of water in large pot and bring to a boil. Cook for about 20 minutes.

In a skillet heat 2 Tablespoons of oil over medium to medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Then add the garlic and cook for 5 additional minutes, stirring often.

To the onions and garlic, add the carrots and cook another 5-10 minutes, stirring often.

To the peas, add the potatoes and continue to boil another 10 minutes. Then add the onion mixture to the pot containing the peas and add 4 cups of broth and bring to temperature.

Blend the ingredients using an immersion blender. Add the cabbage to the pot and allow to cook over medium heat, for 15 minutes or so until the cabbage is wilted.

Poultry ala Sunbird – Fragile Things

Thoughts:

This plate is full of exotic, old world flavors. The chicken is soft and tender, and the meat falls from the bone, gently infused with the ingredients in the cider can. Flavors from the herbs are just barely present, but there, and the lavender mostly fades to the background, except for a hint of aroma.

The sauce is out of this world. Vanilla bean might seem counter-intuitive but it blends with the other flavors surprisingly well. I wondered how the garlic and the sweeter flavors would meld, but the whole thing came together wonderfully. The grains of paradise, which were my own addition, give the sauce a little bit of a kick. The final squeeze of citrus in the sauce gives the whole a little zip, and helps to round out the feeling of the sauce on the tongue.

I’d love to try this same recipe with a pheasant, but until one happens my way, I’ll be more than happy to enjoy this with chicken again and again.

Poultry ala Sunbird Recipe

Ingredients:

1 chicken
1 can of cider, 1/3 filled
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig sage
1/2 tsp. dried lavender
1 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. coriander seed

Fill the can of cider with the spices and herbs. Place the can inside the chicken, and stand it up in a pot. Cover with aluminium foil, and cook for around 1 hour. While it’s cooking, make the sauce (below).

Remove the chicken from the oven, and let rest for 15 minutes.

Discard the can and carve the bird. Drizzle with sauce, and serve hot.

Sauce:

Cook’s Notes: Of all the quirky ingredients that went into the description of this dish, patchouli was the only one I didn’t have on hand. Feel free to improvise according to what’s in your own pantry!

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
2/3 can cider
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs. honey
1/2 tsp. red sandalwood powder
1/2 tsp. ground grains of paradise
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of cloves
pinch of nutmeg
1 vanilla bean
1 Tbs. molasses
1 Tbs. worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs. fresh orange or lemon juice

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and sautee until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for around 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened. Turn off the heat, add the citrus juice, and stir to incorporate. Serve immediately.

Honey Drops – from The Inheritance

“The market in the little town was a tiny one, not more than a dozen shops and stalls and half of them seasonal. She was able to buy a short coil of sturdy line, a long slender boning knife, and then, because there was so little left of her money and life, she now knew, was an uncertain thing, a packet of honey drops for the boy. He’d never had candy before and could scarcely bear to put even one of the bright-colored drops into his mouth. When she finally persuaded him to try a pale green one and saw his face light with surprise at the taste of honey and mint, she folded the packet up tight and put it into the bag. ‘Later, you can have more,’ she promised him…”

–Inheritance, by Robin Hobb

These are lovely. Hard candies that soften in one’s mouth, bursting with mint-honey flavor. I struggled a bit to come up with a recipe that satisfied the description- pale green, minty, and made with honey. They’re not quite as pale green as I’d hoped, but they are very tasty. In developing the recipe, I wanted to use only common historical ingredients, as might befit a fictional world. As such, the food coloring is optional, but adds a nice tint. Before commercially available food coloring, green could be obtained from clover, or lawn grass in a pinch. I have a recipe for pistachio ice cream that uses such a method; very quirky, but a must-try in my opinion!

These drops would also be absolutely wonderful as individual sweeteners for tea!

Honey Drops Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 sprigs of mint
green food coloring (optional)

Line a baking sheet with a silpat or waxed paper, and set aside. Combine the vinegar and mint leaves, and puree in a food processor. If you like, you can strain out the mint, but it’s also nice and easier) to leave it in.

Add the honey to the minty liquid in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until it reaches just about 300 degrees F. Be careful to keep from burning it, and if it looks like it’s turning at all brown at the edges, remove from heat immediately. When you take the candy off the heat, immediately stir in the food coloring, if you’re using it.

Before it cools, spoon drops about the size of a quarter onto the prepared baking sheet. Allow to cool, then toss with some powdered sugar to keep them from sticking to one another. In drier weather, they should keep fine with just powdered sugar, but in more humid months, it’s best to store them in the freezer.

Seedcake – The Hobbit

I ate two slices before I could slow down and focus on adjectives, rather than just scarfing down the tasty, tasty morsels.

The brandy and spices are there, but not in a boozy, overwhelming way. In fact, I’d say it has only the good taste of brandy, without the kick. The cake itself is soft and dense, with only the slightest hint of crunch on the outside crust, and imparted by the seeds. Although it would be good with honey or jam, I found that the seedcake itself was good enough to enjoy plain, or with a smidge of butter alongside some afternoon tea.

Recipe for Seedcake

Like most of my recipes, I based this on a traditional recipe from an old cookbook. In this case, it’s #1776, taken from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1861.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. of butter (2 sticks)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground mace
1 Tbs seeds (caraway is traditional, but I like poppy seeds)
3 eggs
1/4 cup brandy
2 cups flour

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the spices and seeds, followed by the eggs and brandy, beating to combine. Gradually add the flour, stirring until everything is mixed together completely. Pour this thick batter into a tin lined with buttered paper, and bake it at 350F for 1 hour.

Flaming Christmas Punch – A Christmas Carol, 1843

“Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam.”

–A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, 1843

The original recipe, unaltered, delivers quite a hefty alcoholic blow. I had expected much more of the alcohol to burn off, since 3-4 minutes seems like a good amount of time, but it was very much still present. The lemon is also prominent, between the zest and the juice, and compliments the rum/brandy mixture nicely.

In the end, though, to stretch out the recipe for a party, and to help ease the taste of serious booze, I added some cinnamon sticks and apple cider to the mix. I imagine that a variety of fruit juices would work equally well, and I enjoyed this recipe enough to try some variations in the future!

Recipe for Flaming Christmas Punch

Prep Time: ~25 minutes

Makes about 6-8 servings

This recipe is from a letter penned by Charles Dickens: “Peel into a very strong common basin the rinds of three lemons, cut very thin, and with as little as possible of the white coating between the peel and the fruit, attached. Add a double-handfull [sic] of lump sugar (good measure), a pint of good old rum, and a large wine-glass full of brandy — if it not be a large claret-glass, say two. Set this on fire, by filling a warm silver spoon with the spirit, lighting the contents at a wax taper, and pouring them gently in. [L]et it burn for three or four minutes at least, stirring it from time to Time. Then extinguish it by covering the basin with a tray, which will immediately put out the flame. Then squeeze in the juice of the three lemons, and add a quart of boiling water. Stir the whole well, cover it up for five minutes, and stir again. At this crisis (having skimmed off the lemon pips with a spoon) you may taste. If not sweet enough, add sugar to your liking, but observe that it will be a little sweeter presently. Pour the whole into a jug, tie a leather or coarse cloth over the top, so as to exclude the air completely, and stand it in a hot oven ten minutes, or on a hot stove one quarter of an hour. Keep it until it comes to table in a warm place near the fire, but not too hot. If it be intended to stand three or four hours, take half the lemon-peel out, or it will acquire a bitter taste. The same punch allowed to cool by degrees, and then iced, is delicious. It requires less sugar when made for this purpose. If you wish to produce it bright, strain it into bottles through silk. These proportions and directions will, of course, apply to any quantity.”

Ingredients:

3 lemons
1 cup sugar
2 cups rum
1 cup brandy
Juice of 3 lemons
4 cups boiling water

Optional additional ingredients:

1-2 cups apple cider or other juice
2 cinnamon sticks

Using a veggie peeler, take strips of peel off the lemons, leaving off as much of the bitter white pith as possible.

Add the peels, sugar, rum, and brandy to a saucepot and warm over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Using a long match or taper, carefully lower a flame to just above the surface of the liquid; it should catch and burn with a lovely blue flame. Allow this to burn for 3-4 minutes, then quickly and carefully place a lid on the pot to extinguish the flame.

Remove the lid and add the lemon juice and boiling water. Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes, then taste. Add more sugar if it’s to your liking, or additional ingredients until it is delicious by your standards.

Strain out any floating bits of lemon or spice, and keep warm until serving.

Ent-draught – The Lord of the Rings

“The drink was like water, indeed very like the taste of the draughts they had drunk from the Entwash near the borders of the forest, and yet there was some scent or savour in it which they could not describe; it was faint, but it reminded them of the smell of a distant wood borne from afar by a cool breeze at night. The effect of the draught began at the toes, and rose steadily through every limb, bringing refreshment and vigour as it coursed upwards, right to the tips of the hair… He poured them out two full bowls from a stone jar; but from a different jar. The taste was not the same as it had been the night before: it was earthier and richer, more sustaining and food-like, so to speak.”

–The Two Towers, by JRR Tolkien

Thoughts:

As you can see from the quote above, there are at least two different versions of Ent-Draught. I knew that I wanted the drink to be clear, like the waters of the Entwash from which the draught was made, but that’s where I ran into a snafu. To get a clear alcoholic drink, one must distill, which is quite illegal in the US. So i turned the idea on its head, and distilled an herbal infusion instead.

The first version, described as an invigorating drink, with a sense like a breeze from distant woods, what what I decided to tackle first. It gave me a bit of trouble. I though it should have some floral notes, to give a sense of meadows that the wind has traveled over, but also be light and green. It’s good, but could probably be better.

The second version was much easier to formulate. It’s described as being filling, earthy, and rich, so I imagined flavors that would be reminiscent of a damp forest floor. I started with a mixture of black teas, then added some thyme for some mossy green notes, and some heather tips for a slight hint of floral. The peat-smoked barley gives the whole thing a very subtle damp, old feel, in the best way.

The flavor of both draughts is unique, unlike anything I’ve tasted before. They have hints of familiar flavors, but presented in a wholly new way. Despite being dark tea-based brews, the finished draughts are as clear as water. I deem them to be as much of a success as a mere mortal can accomplish.

I can’t promise that it will make you grow, but these Ent-Draughts are a wonderful beverage that will remind you of cool forests and breezes through the Shire…

Ent-Draught Recipes

Prep: 10 minutes Distilling: 45 minutes plus

Makes about 1.5 cups per recipe

Light Version:

6 cups water
1/2 cup loose green or white tea leaves
1/2 sprig fresh rosemary
3 mint leaves
2 Tbs. chamomile
1 Tbs. roses
lots of ice

Earthy Ingredients:

6 cups water
4 tea bags (two earl grey, two other black/Turkish)
1 sprig thyme
1 Tbs. heather tips
1 tsp. peat-smoked barley
lots of ice (at least 6 trays worth…)

The directions are essentially the same for both versions: Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan with a lid. Warm slightly. Place a heatproof bowl in the center of the pot; make sure it is tall enough to stay above the water level. Turn the lid of the pot upside down and place it on the pot. This will enable the distilled vapors to run down the lid and collect in the bowl. Cover the lid with ice, and bring to a simmer.

The first version should be served chilled, the second at room temperature.

Fictional Food Words

Just for a bit of fun, here’s a compilation of words from one of my master reference docs. It’s what I use to keep track of tasty sounding dishes from historical fiction, fantasy, movies, video games, and more. Recognize anything?

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