Spice Cake – Beauty

“That wonderful table would never have offered me the same dish twice; but while I reveled in the variety, I also sometimes demanded a repetition. There was a dark treacly spice cake that I like very much, and asked for several times. Sometimes it burst into being like a small exploding star, several feet above my head, and settled magnificently to my plate; sometimes a small silver tray with a leg at each of five or six corners would leap up and hurry towards me from a point far down the table.”

–Beauty, by Robin McKinley

The cake is reminiscent of proper gingerbread: light and airy, with a distinctive ginger bite. However, the treacle gives it an earthy density that can only be achieved with treacle or molasses, and is somehow inherently autumnal. I tried it plain, and while it was good, it really benefits from a touch of icing.

As in the book, I recommend that you enjoy this cake followed by tea sweetened with orange peel, and spiced with fresh ginger.

Treacle Spice Cake Recipe

Cook’s Notes: Although quite nice plain, as an accompaniment to tea, the spice cakes are also wonderful iced. I drizzled a little apple cider glaze over half of mine, then topped with a red cinnamon candy. Wonderful!

Ingredients

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup black treacle (molasses can also work, in a pinch)
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325F; grease an 8″ square baking pan, cover with parchment paper, and grease again.

Cream together the butter, sugar, treacle, eggs, milk, and ginger in a large bowl. Sift in the dry ingredients into this and mix thoroughly. Pour into the prepared pan, and bake for 35 minutes. When it’s done, a toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean.

Pull the cake out by the parchment paper, and allow to cool. Cut into squares, and if you like, dust with powdered sugar, or glaze with icing. Enjoy!

*For an apple cider glaze, start with 1 cup of powdered sugar. Add, in tiny increments, just enough apple cider to get a nice runny consistency. Drizzle this over the cake, and serve.*

Fictional Beverages

I’ve got a list going of various fictional beverages. Most of these are drinks I’ll definitely try out sooner or later; I’m trying to focus mostly on books (sorry, no Romulan Ale!), and would love your suggestions, if I’ve left out any awesome drinks!

The List:

Blue Milk, from Star Wars

Islington’s Wine & Serpentine’s Restorative, from Gaiman’s Neverwhere

Wonka’s Buttercup Tea

Dickens’ Christmas Punch

Other Mother’s Hot Chocolate, from Coraline

Anne of Green Gables: Currant Wine, Raspberry Cordial

Chocolatl, from the Golden Compass

Fleegix, from Alan Mendolsohn, Boy from Mars

Harry Potter: Pumpkin Juice, Nettle Wine, Firewhiskey, Gillywater

Ent-draught, from LotR

Alice’s Potions for Growing and Shrinking

Pan Galactic Gargleblaster

Austershalin Brandy, from Gentlemen Bastards series

Klah, from the Dragonrider series

Ambrosia, from Battlestar Galactica

Grog, from Monkey Island

Blackbriar Mead from Skyrim

Pumpkin Pasties – Harry Potter

“Anything from the cart, dearies?”

–Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by JK Rowling

Thoughts:

I had a pretty clear idea of what my version of Pumpkin Pasties should be. And now that it’s autumn, there was simply no resisting the tug of pumpkin-based recipes. More on those to come…

These pasties are delicious. Portable, yet moist, they can be easily enjoyed on a train, late summer picnic, lunchbox, or my favorite: slightly toasted for breakfast. With the cinnamon icing, it’s like a giant pumpkiny pop-tart, and I mean that in the very best way (like your 12 year old brain remembers them). It’s also a more straightforward recipe than some, which require double baking the filling.

Pair them with some cider, hot or cold, and they’re a must not only for your HP viewing parties, but also for all your autumnal gatherings.

Pumpkin Pasties Recipe

Prep: 15 minutes Baking: 10-15 minutes Cooling/icing: 30 minutes

Makes about 10-12 Pasties

Cook’s Notes: Although I wrote these directions for the pie mold I own, it’s easily adapted to suit what you have. See the notes at the very bottom of the post for details.

Ingredients for Crust:

3 cups flour
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk (save the white!)
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:

2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1 lb. can pumpkin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup dried currants

Icing:

1 egg white
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
water, if needed

Preheat your oven to 350F, and line a baking sheet with parchment.

Make your pastry dough: Mix together the dry ingredients. Rub in your butter, then add the egg yolk and enough cold water to bring the dough together. Set aside.

Mix the filling: Combine all ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed. Set aside.

Divide the pastry dough in half. Roll one half out to a thickness of about 1/4″. Use your cutter to cut out the desired shape. Fill with just enough filling that it won’t eek out the seams. Wet the edges with egg white, and cover with the top piece of pastry. Crimp the edges shut, and transfer the pit to the prepared baking sheet.

Brush the tops of the pasties with a bit of egg white, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the pasties are golden. Remove from baking sheet and allow to cool completely!

Make the icing: Beat what is left of your egg white until it’s frothy. Add the cinnamon and the confectioner’s sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until the consistency is thick but drizzleable. If it becomes too thick, thin with a splash of water. Drizzle the icing over the cooled pasties, and serve!

Note: I used a pumpkin shaped hand pie mold from William-Sonoma. I looked and looked online, but for the life of me couldn’t find them for sale anywhere anymore. Instead, I’d suggest this half circle style press from Amazon, which I also have. If you’d like to just fake it, you can use large circles of dough, and crimp the edges with the tines of a fork.

Are these still sold anywhere?

Fictional Brewing!

Brew-mania!

In honor of a successful move to a new apartment, and the unpacking of the kitchen, I’m set to brew again!

In addition to brewing something from Game of Thrones, I’d love to explore more boozy goodness from other fictional worlds. I’m giving this poll a full month, at the end of which I’ll make the top two reader picks, then post the recipes. Have a favorite fictional alcohol that’s not on the list? Add it!

Lamb Stew with Dried Plums – The Hunger Games

“Before I can stop him, he’s out in the rain, then handing something in to me. A silver parachute attached to a basket. I rip it open at once and inside there’s a feast– fresh rolls, goat cheese, apples, and best of all, a tureen of that incredible lamb stew on wild rice.”

–The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Thoughts:

No wonder this is Katniss Everdeen’s favorite dish from the Capitol.

The finished stew is thick and gooey, with small melting lumps of lamb, vegetable, and shallot, and the occasional crunch of a slivered almond. The flavor is a complex combination of savory herbs, with an unexpected sweetness imparted by the cooked down plums and the yam. Served over a bed of wild rice, the whole is a hearty, near-divine fictional food experience that absolutely lives up to its reputation.

In keeping with the original excerpt, I paired my stew with apples, rolls, and goat cheese. YOM!

Lamb Stew with Dried Plums Recipe

Prep: 15 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour plus

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

Olive oil, enough to cover the bottom of the skillet (abt. 3 Tbs)
3 shallots, sliced very thin
1 medium yam, cubed
1kg diced lamb (3-4cm cubes)
1/4 cup flour
salt, black pepper, and paprika or Aleppo pepper to taste
1 Tbs. cocoa
6-8 prunes, cut up
1 1/2 cup red wine
1 1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
wild rice, enough for 4

Pour the oil into a large skillet, then add the shallots. Cook over medium heat until they are soft but not brown. Add the diced yam and a splash of water, then cover and let cook for about 5 minutes, or until just soft. Transfer the veggies to a large pot.

In that same skillet, pour in enough olive oil to cover the bottom again. Toss the lamb with flour and spices, then brown in the skillet. Add the browned lamb to the pot, along with the remaining ingredients.

Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer for around an hour. As with all stews, the flavors will be better the second day, but you’ll have a tough time not eating it straightaway.

Serve the stew on a bed of wild multigrain rice.

Pan-fried Garlic Bread – Vlad Taltos series

“We went back into his little kitchen, and I sat on a stool at the tiny counter while he made the one thing I’ve never been able to get to come out right: It is an Eastern bread, only slightly raised, and pan-fried in a very light olive oil. I think the trick is getting the oil at exactly the right temperature, and judging when to turn the bread, which is just before it shows any obvious signs of needing to turn; the dough was pretty straightforward, unless Noish-pa was hiding something, which would be unlike him. In any case, I’ve never been able to get it right, which I regretted anew as soon as the first one hit the oil and released its aroma.”

–Dragon, by Steven Brust

Noish-Pa’s pan-fried Garlic Bread

Thoughts:

The bread is described as “a large, raised square of light brown dough”, and Vlad enjoys eating it, alternating bites of bread with bites of garlic. Since biting into a raw clove of garlic doesn’t appeal to most of us, I opted for the joy that is roasted garlic. And, just to give it a bit of that Eastern pizzazz, I sprinkled a bit of zaatar (a middle eastern spice) over the top of it.

Pure culinary bliss. Even if you aren’t enjoying your last home-cooked food before marching off with an army, this bread is wonderful. Roasted garlic, if you’ve never had the fortune of encountering it, has all those wonderful garlic flavors and aroma combined with a sweetness from the roasting process.

I sometimes eat it with a fork, straight from the bulb.

Spread out on a piece of this flatbread, with some spice and salt sprinkled over top, the roasted garlic is delicious. The bread is so soft, fluffy, beautifully seasoned, I’d happily have this for/with lunch several times a week.

Recipe for Pan-fried Garlic Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour
2 Tbs. honey
several tablespoons olive oil
Flour for dusting dough
Roasted Garlic (see below)
zaatar spice, or other of your choice- seasoned salt works well

Make the dough first: combine the water, yeast, flour, honey, and salt. You may need to add a little water or flour to get the dough just right. The consistency should be very gooey and sticky. Transfer the dough to a large clean bowl, greased with a little olive oil, and allow to rise for several hours, or overnight.

Heat about a teaspoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.

Tear off a piece of the risen dough, and toss it with flour to diminish the stickiness. At this point, you can either roll out the piece of dough, or flatten it with your fingers, like a tiny pizza. Either way, the dough should be no more than 1/4″ thick, and not larger than the bottom of the pan.

Carefully place the dough in the frying pan, and shake the pan back and forth to make sure the dough is covered with oil, and not sticking. Let this fry for around 30 seconds, or until it only gives slightly when you squeeze the sides with a pair of tongs, and before it starts to bubble up. Flip over; the dough should be a light brown color.

Let the second side cook for around the same amount of time: This part of the recipe is more art than science, but both sides should be a light brown, and the inside should be cooked through, but still soft. Remove to a plate covered with paper towels to drain off excess oil.

Spread a clove of roasted garlic on each piece of cooked flatbread, and sprinkle with spices and/or salt to taste. Serve while still warm.

Roasted Garlic Recipe

Ingredients:

1 bulb of garlic
a bit of olive oil
tin foil

Chop off the papery skin on top of the garlic bulb, so that you can see the individual cloves (see great photos here). Drizzle some olive oil in the top, and wrap the whole bulb in tin foil. Roast in a 400 degree oven for around 30-40 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft. Allow the garlic to cool enough that you don’t burn yourself before handling.

You can peel the leftover roasted cloves, place them in a jar, and cover with olive oil. Stored in the fridge, they last several months (or more), and are ready at your beck and call. What’s more, the olive oil gradually becomes infused with the garlic flavor. Win!

Butterbeer – Harry Potter

Thoughts:

I’ve never really held with the idea that the Butterbeer in Harry Potter is basically some sort of cream soda. No way. To me, that’s a very American interpretation, with artificial flavoring, and so much sugar that it becomes horrible.

My approach, probably unsurprising to many of you, was to dip into the historical cookbooks for my inspiration. And lo, from the late 1500s, there’s a recipe for “Buttered Beere”. Clearly this was what I needed to try.

My first reaction to the finished historical brew was one of surprise: The smell doesn’t quite match the flavor, so the first sip is not what you’ll be expecting. It almost smells like a sweet dough, as you might make for cinnamon rolls, with that combination of yeast, butter, and eggs. However, the flavor itself is one of creamy, spiced beer, with all the residual hops and tinge of bitterness that go with it.

The mixture thickens, not quite to the density of eggnog, but in a similar way. Served warm in a large mug, and redolent with spices, it’s an interesting and unique winter holiday beverage. Although I can’t quite imagine myself craving a big mug of this beverage on a regular basis, I’d certainly slap down two sickles for a pint at the Hog’s Head Inn or the Three Broomsticks!

Adapted Historical Recipe for Butterbeer

Take three pintes of Beere, put five yolkes of Egges to it, straine them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fyre, and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar, one penniworth of Nutmegs beaten, one penniworth of Cloves beaten, and a halfepenniworth of Ginger beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and brewe them together, and set it to the fire againe, and when it is readie to boyle, take it from the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brewe them together out of one pot into an other. -The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin, 1588

Cook’s Notes: For an extra indulgence, try adding a bit of cream or whole milk to the finished butterbeer. Add no more than a 1:1 ratio, and serve the adulterated version chilled, rather than hot.

Ingredients:

3 bottles of ale
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 cup brown sugar
5 egg yolks (save the whites for something like meringue)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks

Heat the ale and spices in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. If it has a lot of foam, that should die down once it starts heating up.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and egg yolks. while whisking furiously, pour in a ladle-full of the hot ale. Whisk until it’s incorporated, then pour the whole mess back into the pot of ale, still whisking madly.

Keep the mixture just under a simmer, stirring until it thickens somewhat. Add the chunks of butter and stir until they’re melted. Whisk with a hand mixer (or a lot of arm strength), until a foam rises.

Serve hot, in heat-proof mugs.

Meatrolls – Dragonriders of Pern

“Menolly had detoured to the Lower Caverns and shared with him the handful of meatrolls she’d cadged from the cooks.”

–Dragonriders of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey

Thoughts:

These are terrible. A curse, in that, so-easy-to-make addictive sort of way.

I made a single batch, and they were gone in minutes. I couldn’t make out all the words around the mouthfuls, but from the wild gesticulations, and later exhortations to please make them again, they seemed to be a great success with the test subjects.

You can use whatever variety of sausage you like. I happened to have some wild boar sausages handy, and they suited the recipe admirably. If you can get game sausage of any kind, it’s definitely worth a try, as they help defamiliarize the experience. In any case, the resulting combination of puff pastry (how could you go wrong?) and juicy sausage is a long tried and much loved pairing. The outer pastry shell stays flaky, while the inside soaks up some of the flavorful juices from the meat.

This recipe also has the added appeal of making small enough meatrolls that they would be snitchable from the kitchens of castle, fortress, or cottage, as Menolly proved in the books. Double win!

Pernese Meatroll Recipe

Prep: 5 minutes Baking: 20 minutes

Makes 12 rolls (it won’t be enough!)

Ingredients

1 lb. package pork sausagemeat
1 (17.25 ounce) package frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed
1 beaten egg
poppy or sesame seeds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unfold the sheets of puff pastry, and cut lengthwise down the middle. Make five more cuts width-wise so you have 12 long pieces total. Divide the sausage meat evenly between the strips of dough, then seal the ends together with a swipe of egg.

Arrange the sausage rolls on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with egg, and sprinkle with seeds. Bake for around 20 minutes, or until they’re puffed up and a nice golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Marzipan Dragonflies – Gentlemen Bastards series

“Jean’s dinner, smoked rock eel in caramel brandy sauce, lay chopped into fragments and scattered like debris from a battle. He was making his way slowly through dessert, a cluster of marzipan dragonflies with crystallized sugar wings that glimmered by the steady glow of the booth’s candles.”

–Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch

Marzipan Dragonflies with sugar wings

Thoughts:

I will confess that I didn’t think I liked marzipan before this dish. However, it turns out that I really love this recipe!

The marzipan is just the right amount of sweet, with just a touch of crunchy texture from the sugar and almonds. The vanilla, I think, is what helps make it wonderful. Combine a bite of the marzipan with a bite of the sugar wings, and it’s a crunchy, almond-y experience. My wings had a slight lemon flavor, but I’d love to try making them with a variety of other flavors, such as orange, or ginger.

There is also something wonderfully decadent about casually devouring these exquisite deserts. It gives one the feel of an ancient Roman emperor, or a queen of legend. It was all I could do to keep from reclining as I munched my way through half the bowl.

Recipe for Marzipan Dragonflies

Wings: ~1 hour Marzipan: 20 minutes to make, 1 hour to chill Assembly: 1 hour plus

Cook’s Note: I have faith in you, brave adventurer!

Ingredients for Wings:

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. lemon juice
a candy thermometer
a silpat silicone baking sheet liner

Ingredients for Marzipan:

1 1/2 cups whole blanched almonds
1 1/2- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Coloring and Decoration:

food coloring
confectioner’s sugar
water
dragees for eyes
edible gold dust or paint

Make the Wings:

Prepare your work surface by covering a baking sheet with the silpat- you’ll be pouring sugar onto it, so place it near the stove.

Combine the water, sugar, corn syrup, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Clip in the candy thermometer and cook until the temperature reaches 300 F, which is the hard-crack stage. Remove from heat. Using a spoon, gently pour about 1/2 Tbs of the sugar onto the silpat in a wing shape; you can also pour the sugar into a little puddle, then drag the spoon through one side to elongate the shape. Repeat until all the sugar has been used, taking care to make both left and right side wings. It’s also important to taper the inside of the wings, so they can be attached to the marzipan. Allow the wings to cool, then dip in powdered sugar. Rub the powdered sugar into the wings to keep them from becoming sticky.

Make the Bodies:

Using a food processor, grind the almonds into a fine powder. Add in the confectioners sugar and blend well. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Using a wooden spoon blend in the egg whites and vanilla (if using) until the whole has taken on a smooth texture. Shape into a flat disc, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour.

To form the dragonflies, pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a chestnut. Roll this into a short rope about 2-3″ long. Pinch off another two pieces, each about the size of a hazelnut. Form one into a chunky diamond shape, and the other into a rough triangle. Smush these three shapes together, as in the diagram. Combine a bit of confectioner’s sugar with food coloring and water until you have a nice liquid consistency. Paint the bodies whatever colors you like with this color mixture, but leave any gold highlights until last.

Select two pairs of matching wings and lay them on top of the center of the marzipan body (the piece that used to be the diamond). Pinch off one last piece of marzipan, shape it into a flat diamond/disc, and place it over the assembled wings. Press gently, taking care not to break the sugar, but being sure to press the marzipan all around the wings to help hold them in place. Paint this top piece of marzipan to match the rest of the body.

To decorate, firmly press two dragees into the marzipan head where the eyes should go. Paint on highlights with edible gold dust (mixed with alcohol) or gold paint. Serve, and wow your friends!

Like this recipe? Check out the other recipes from the Gentlemen Bastards series!

Try Pots Clam Chowder – Moby Dick

“Queequeg,” said I, “do you think that we can make out a supper for us both on one clam?”

However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the apparently cheerless prospect before us. But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt.”

-Moby Dick, by Herman Melville

Thoughts:

Fabulous, if a little unconventional. The liquid reduces down, and the stewed potatoes begin to fall apart, such that the whole chowder becomes this dense concoction, much thicker than most chowders available at restaurants. Redolent with the goodness of spuds and onions, and just a hint of herbs, the chowder on the whole is flavorful and filling. Every so often a clam comes up in a spoonful, and is an extra treat.

All in all, this seems to me an ideal chowder for taking the chill off after a long spell at sea.

Try Pots Clam Chowder Recipe

Total prep time: 1 hour

Makes about 2-3 servings

Cook’s Notes: I didn’t need to add salt, as the salt pork provided exactly the right amount on its own, but a dash of pepper won’t go amiss. This recipe is adapted from one from Mrs. Rorer’s Philadelphia Cookbook, from the 1880s. This puts it just a few decades after the publication of Moby Dick, and on the right coast.

Ingredients:

25 clams, whole, in shells
1/4 lb salt pork, diced
2 cups water
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced large
1 onion, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. sweet marjoram
1/2 Tbs. parsley
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup milk
3 water crackers or 2 sea biscuits, crumbled
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour

Wash clams thoroughly. Into a largeish saucepan, pour 1 1/2 cups water, then add the whole clams. Put a lid on and simmer until the shells open. Take the opened clams out of the pot, reserving the liquid in a separate container. Any clams that do not open should be discarded.

Line the bottom of the saucepan with the diced salt pork. Now put a layer of potatoes on the salt pork, then a sprinkling of onion, thyme, sweet marjoram, parsley, salt & pepper, then a layer of clams, and continue until all the ingredients are used.

Add the water, which should be boiling and barely cover the whole. Cover and simmer for half an hour without stirring. Then add the milk and crackers, stir and cook ten minutes longer. Make a roux by melting the butter over medium heat, then stirring in the flour. Stir in a ladle or two of broth, then add the whole mix back into the chowder.

Serve hot, with extra biscuits on the side.

« Previous Page