Stuffed Grapeleaves

“The kid had been roasted with lemon and honey. With it were grape leaves stuffed with a melange of raisins, onions, mushrooms, and fiery dragon peppers. ’I am not hungry,’ Arianne said…After a while, hunger weakened her resolve, so she sat and ate.” -A Feast for Crows

Stuffed Grape leaves

Our Thoughts:

These beauties brought rave reviews even from those of our taste testers who claim to dislike grape leaves. The filling is tender and flavorful, with each taste taking a turn on your palate. The savoriness of the lamb vies with the sweetness of the raisins, while still allowing the heat of the peppers out to play.

Get the recipe in The Cookbook!

Simple Dornish fare

When the sun set the air grew cool and the children went inside in search of supper, still the prince remained beneath his orange trees, looking out over the still pools and the sea beyond. A serving man brought him a bowl of purple olives with flatbread, cheese, and chickpea paste. He ate a bit of it, and drank a cup of the sweet, heavy strongwine that he loved. -A Feast for Crows

Simple Dornish Fare

Thoughts:

Mmmm…hummus. It’s really tough to go wrong with simple, basic, quality ingredients, and this spread is no exception. While you can certainly substitute pre-made pita or naan, nothing quite beats fresh flatbread, warm and straight from the oven. It’s so good that I have twice eaten it all before being able to photograph it.

Add to that some nice olives, a bit of tangy feta cheese, and a glass of strongwine, and this is a simple, easy, light meal perfect for the heat of Dorne, or the heat of summer.

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Summer Greens w/grapes and pecans

“This evening they had supped on oxtail soup, summer greens tossed with pecans, grapes, red fennel, and crumbled cheese, hot crab pie, spiced squash, and quails drowned in butter. Lord Janos allowed that he had never eaten half so well.” -A Clash of Kings

Summer Greens Salad w/grapes, pecans, and cheese

Our Thoughts:

There are so many flavors and textures in this salad that it takes one’s brain a while to sort through. The sweetness of grapes and apricot counters the tang of the arugula, while the bite of the fennel gives a flavor that lingers on the tongue. The texture combination of nuts, crunchy fennel, gooey jam, and the pop of grapes will give your palate a great deal to experience.

Recipe available in the Cookbook.

Scotch Eggs

“Although I cannot lay an egg, I am a very good judge of omelettes.” -George Bernard Shaw

Scotch Eggs

Our Thoughts

Being great fans of British food, we absolutely love Scotch Eggs. I mean, hardboiled egg, wrapped in sausage, and fried? YES. And when you can use any size egg for these, the options widen considerably. We made bite-sized versions with quail eggs, and nearly ate them all before we got the photographs taken. For an amazing variation, try using white or black pudding instead of regular sausage meat.

Why it should be in the Next Book:

Because it’s decadent, delicious, and entirely in keeping with the food aesthetic in A Song of Ice and Fire. They would be best suited to one of the Northern regions, although now that winter really is coming, they could be tasty anywhere in Westeros.

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Snacking with Davos Seaworth

“Fetch him some hot wine with cloves, I am misliking the sound of that cough. Squeeze some lime in it as well. And bring white cheese and a bowl of those cracked green olives we counted earlier! Davos, I will join you soon, once I have bespoken our good captain. You will be forgiving me, I know. Do not eat all the olives, or I will be cross with you!” (III: 136)

Snacks for Davos

Our Thoughts:

Feta and olives are a classic Mediterranean pairing, and are very nice when combined with the hot white wine. If you like pepper, just a touch sprinkled on top of both olives and cheese can be lovely. Try finding a windswept spit of rock, or a tallship to eat your snack on.

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Blackberry Preserves

“There was much more than she’d asked for: hot bread, butter and honey and blackberry preserves, a rasher of bacon and a soft-boiled egg, a wedge of cheese, a pot of mint tea. And with it came Maester Luwin.” (I: 113)

Blackberry Preserves

Our Thoughts:

These preserves are bursting with the intensity and vibrancy of spring! Slathered over a buttered scone, the tanginess of the blackberries is balanced wonderfully by the relatively meager sugar content (as compared to commercial jams). A perfect destination for berries that are either fresh off the plant, or at the end of their life, this recipe can be followed using other berries as well, or even mixing berries. If pectin is added and proper canning technique used, these preserves could be saved to brighten up a dreary winter morning.

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Fiddlehead Ferns

Dance to the beat of the rain, little Fern,
And spread out your palms again,
And say, Tho’ the sun
Hath my vesture spun,
He had labored, alas, in vain,
But for the shade
That the Cloud hath made,
And the gift of the Dew and the Rain.
Then laugh and upturn
All your fronds, little Fern,
And rejoice in the beat of the rain!

-John Banister Tabb, “Fern Song”, 1894

Our Thoughts:

Fiddleheads are a sure sign of spring here in the North East, and the fact that they are edible make them doubly exciting! They are an excellent foraging food, as they can be eaten raw or cooked. If you plan on harvesting these baby ferns on your lonesome, be sure that you are trimming from the correct variety, usually Ostrich Fern, and that you harvest no more than three fronds per plant. The ferns only shoot up 5 to 7 new fronds a year, and you sure want to have some for next spring as well!

As for the taste, everything is better when browned in butter, and the same goes for fiddleheads. They are reminiscent of asparagus in taste, slightly bitter. The butter gets trapped in its unfurled leaves, tempting you to play with your food and uncurl the fronds to reach the best parts.

Why it should be in the Next Book:

There are several cases where characters in the books have to forage desperately for something to eat. They resort to eating all sorts of dreadful things, but if they had some fiddleheads, they would be all set. Well, maybe not quite. But less likely to die of scurvy! Make them at Home!

Salladhor Saan’s shipboard Dinner

“Salladhor Saan got to his feet. ‘My pardons. These grapes have given me a hunger, and dinner awaits on my Valyrian. Minced lamb with pepper and roasted gull stuffed with mushrooms and fennel and onion.” (II: 115)

Medieval Lamb Meatballs and Modern Roasted “Gull”

Our Thoughts:

This is a really nice, comparatively easy meal. The lamb meatballs are simply made, soft and spicy. Because they only have pepper in them, the delicious flavor unique to lamb really comes through. The eggplant puree only adds to the experience of the meatballs. In the “gull” corner, the stuffing is what really makes it special. The fennel stays a little crunchy, providing a nice textural counterpoint to the flavor combo of the other ingredients. Pop a few grapes for dessert, and you’ll be feasting like a pirate king.

Make it at Home!

Salad in Castle Black

“‘From the Lord Commander’s own table,’ Bowen Marsh told them. There were salads of spinach and chickpeas and turnip greens, and afterward bowls of iced blueberries and sweet cream.” (I: 372)

Medieval-ish Salad

Our thoughts:

This salad is earthy and quite tasty. The different greens provide a wide variety of flavors; the splash of lemon from the sorrel, the refreshing crispness of the mint, and the classic tangy pairing of oil and vinegar. That said, we weren’t crazy about the oniony greens in the mix. Our big change? Swap out the mushy chickpeas for the crunchy Middle Eastern snack kind. Yum!

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Sansa Salad

“All the while the courses came and went. A thick soup of barley and venison. Salads of sweetgrass, spinach, and plums, sprinkled with crushed nuts.” -A Game of Thrones

Medieval-ish Salad

Our Thoughts:

This was a tasty, tasty salad. All the elements of it work beautifully with one another both texturally and aesthetically. Pack this for a lunch, or have as a light afternoon meal, and you won’t be disappointed.

Make it at Home!

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