Tag Archives: Westeros

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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Salladhor Saan’s Hot Wine

“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!” -A Storm of Swords

Salladhor Saan’s Hot Wine

Thoughts:

While spiced red wine is perfectly suited to winter in the frozen North, this recipe uses more summery, exotic ingredients that one might find in the holds of a pirate captain’s ship: vanilla, lime, and expensive spices. 

This is a unique twist on a usual mulled wine recipe, resulting in something vaguely like a hot sangria. Each of the flavors takes its turn on the palate, from the initial burst of citrus to the semi-sting of cloves and pepper, while the bay leaves impart just a slight hint of earthiness. The vanilla and honey combine to sweeten out the tartness of the lime, rounding out the full taste experience of this drink.

A must try for those who like hot wine!

Salladhor Saan’s Hot Wine Recipe

Cook’s Note: I chose to use a white wine, even though the wine in the book is a red.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lime, keep the peel and half the juice
  • 700 ml white fruity wine (that is 1 normal bottle)
  • 1-2 vanilla pods (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
  • 3 bay leaves
  • ~10 whole cloves
  • pinch of ground cloves
  • pinch of white pepper
  • 3 -4 tablespoons honey
  • 6 tablespoons white port (optional, but fortifying)
Peel the lime, cut into small pieces, and juice half of it. Pour the wine in a pan, add the lime peel, lime juice, vanilla pods, cloves, pepper, and bay leaves. Bring to just under a simmer. Lower the heat, cover the pan and leave to warm through for at least 15 minutes. Try to just keep it hot and not let it boil. Add 3 tablespoons of honey and the port, if using, then taste to see or you want to add more honey. Remove the vanilla pods, cloves, lime peel and the bay leaves. Serve in a heatproof glass.

Hen stuffed w/carrots, chestnuts, and prunes

“I never eat prunes myself.  Well, there was one time when Hobb chopped them up with chestnuts and carrots and hid them in a hen.  Never trust a cook, my lord.  They’ll prune you when you least expect it.” (DwD)

Black Hen, carved, w/carrot-chestnut-prune stuffing

Our Thoughts

So, as soon as we learned about black chickens, we knew we had to try one.  However, we didn’t realize that ours came with a head. Or with giant dinosaur feet. This made the preparation of the meal something of an adventure, and we mean the kind where it’s sort of unpleasant. We rolled up our sleeves, though, and soldiered on. The only solution was to cut that bird up until it looked like the sort of chicken we know and love, and so it stopped staring at us.

Eating this chicken is a strange experience. Your tastebuds say “chicken!”, while your brain can’t quite get over the color. The texture of the meat is somehow reminiscent of turkey, with a richer flavor than one gets with regular chicken. There isn’t a great deal of meat on one of these birds, but what you do find is tasty. Thankfully, the stuffing is absolutely YUM. Each flavor gets its own sort of showcase in your mouth, and each provides a nice, different texture from the others.

Bottom Line? A nice recipe, but next time we’ll put the stuffing in a normal chicken.

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Medieval Fruit Tarts- blueberry, strawberry, apricot, cherry

“A man was pushing a load of tarts by on a two-wheeled cart; the smells sang of blueberries and lemons and apricots. Her stomach made a hollow rumbly noise. ‘Could I have one?’ she heard herself say.” -A Game of Thrones

Medieval Fruit Tarts

Thoughts:

These are a wonderful treat that really showcase the fresh fruits of summer. We went all out and made all the varieties mentioned in the books: blueberry, strawberry, ambiguous berry, and apricot. We also added a cherry version because we found a tasty recipe for it, and cherry pie is a Father’s Day favorite.

Of all these tarts, our favorite was probably the apricot one. It had the most complex assortment of flavors, followed by the cherry tart. What all of these tart recipes have going for them, though, is that after eating several slices of each, you won’t feel bogged down by sugar, because there isn’t all that much in any of the recipes. The real focus of each tart is the fruit, and the flavors of the berries in particular comes across beautifully. In short, these are the perfectest herald of summer.

Basic Medieval Pastry Dough Recipe

Take fine floure and a curtesy of faire water and a disshe of swete butter and a litle saffron and the yolkes of two egges and make it thin and tender as ye maie. –A Propre new booke of Cokery, 1545

Ingredients

  • 3 cups Flour
  • 1/2 cup Water
  • 1-2 sticks Butter (we used one, could do with more!)
  • pinch of saffron
  • 1 Egg yolk, slightly beaten
Dissolve the saffron in your 1/2 cup water. While that is going, rub in the butter to the flour, then add the egg yolk and saffroned water. Stir until entirely incorporated, adding more water very gradually until everything just sticks together.
To pre-bake a shell, line a pan with dough, rolled very thin. Using a fork, poke holes all over the bottom of the pan, or use a pie weight. Bake for around 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Don’t let it start to brown! Remove from oven and fill as per the recipe.

Makes enough for 8-4 inch tart pans and one 9 inch pan.

Medieval Cherry Tart Recipe

To make a close Tarte of Cherries. Take out the stones and laye them as whole as you can in a Charger and put in synamon and ginger to them and laye them in a tart whole and close them and let them stand three quarters of an hour in the oven, then take a sirrope of Muscadine and damaske water and sugar and serve it. –Thomas Dawson, The Good Huswifes Jewell, 1596

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lb. whole cherries
  • dash of rose water (optional)
  • 1/4 cup sweet red wine
  • 1/4 cup honey or sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. ginger
  • dash of red wine vinegar (to taste)
  • pastry dough for 1-9 inch pan, or 8-4 inch tart pans

Combine cherries, wine, and vinegar in a saucepan. Cover and simmer for around 1/2 hour, or until the pits can be easily removed by squishing the cherries through a colander. Put cherry puree in a bowl and add the sugar and spices. Allow to cool. Line your tart pan with pastry dough (recipe above), and trim the edges. If you like, you can make decorative shapes with the dough remainders to place on top of your filled tarts.

Add rosewater and port to cherries. Add enough sugar to sweeten, but not make it cloy, plus the ginger. Add a little vinegar or lemon juice to sharpen. Cook for 45 minutes or until flavors are mingled. If needed, you may thicken with bread crumbs. Let cool. Fill shells, close, bake at 375º F for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serves 4-6

Apricot Tart Recipe

Leche frys in lentoun. Drawe a thik almaunde mylke wiþ water. Take dates and pyke hem clene with apples and peeres, & mynce hem with prunes damysyns; take out þe stones out of þe prunes, & kerue the prunes a two. Do þerto raisouns, coraunce, sugur, flour of canel, hoole macys and clowes, gode powdours & salt; colour hem vp with saundres. Meng þise with oile. Make a coffyn as þou didest bifore & do þis fars þerin, & bake it wel, and serue it forth. -Forme of Cury, 14th Century

Our Changes: The original recipe for this is sort of a hodgepodge of fruit. We took out the apples, pears, and dates, replacing them with fresh apricots and dried ones. The yellow-orange of the apricots is beautiful against the red of the almond milk filling.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups extra thick Almond Milk
  • 1/2 cup dried apricots, sliced lengthwise
  • 3-5 fresh apricots, diced
  • 1/2 cup pitted prunes, sliced lengthwise
  • 1/2 cup currants
  • 2 Tbs sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. each cinnamon, mace & cloves
  • 1/4 tsp. each ginger, nutmeg, white pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • few drops red food coloring (in substitute of sandalwood)
  • 2 Tbs. olive oil
  • one 9-inch pre-baked pie shell, or 8-4 inch pre-baked tart shells

Mix together well the almond milk, sugar, spices, oil, and food coloring. The color should be a brilliant red; the mixture should be thick but runny. In a separate bowl, mix together the fruits. Add the almond milk mixture and thoroughly blend. Place this filling in the pie shell. You may find that you have to put the fruit in the shell first, then spoon the almond milk over that. Bake at 375° F for 45 minutes, or until the filling is set and the top has slightly browned. Remove from oven; allow to completely cool before serving. Serves 4-6.

Medieval Berry Tart Recipe

Daryoles. Take wine & Fresh broth, Cloves, Maces & Marrow, & poweder of Ginger & Saffron & let all boil together & put thereto cream (& if it is clotted, draw it through a strainer) & yolks of Eggs, & mix them together, & pour the liquor that the Marrows was seethed in thereto; then make fair coffins of fair paste, & put the Marrow therein, & mince dates & strawberries in time of year, & put the coffins in the oven, & let them harden a little; then take them out & put the liquor thereto, & let them bake, & serve forth. -Two Fifteenth Century Cookbooks

Our Changes: We took out the marrow. Yeah. Not needed here. We also used this recipe for the blueberry and ambiguous berry tarts.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 c. cream
  • 1/4 c. wine (we used a sweet red, like that for the cherry tarts)
  • 1/4 c. milk
  • 5 egg yolks + 1 egg
  • 1 pint strawberries, or other berries of your choice, or a mix
  • 1/2 c. chopped dates
  • 1/2 c. honey
  • 1/4 tsp each saffron & ginger
  • 1/8 tsp each mace & ground cloves
  • 2 pre-baked pie shells, or 8-4 inch pre-baked tart shells

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, wine, saffron and other spices, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. In a separate container, beat egg yolks and honey together. While beating, add a bit of the hot milk mixture. Pour this back into the pot with the hot liquid while whisking furiously. Place the cut strawberries and dates in baked pie shells and spoon the cream mixture over fruit and into the shells. Bake at 375° F for 45 minutes, or until the filling has set. Serves 4-6.

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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Shrimp-and-Persimmon Soup

“She was breaking her fast on a bowl of cold shrimp-and-persimmon soup when Irri brought her a Qartheen gown, an airy confection of ivory samite patterned with seed pearls.” (II:637)

Shrimp and Persimmon Soup

Our Thoughts:

This cold soup was a surprising mixture of flavors. An interesting choice for a breakfast, but once you think about it, a rather healthy one: fruit and protein. The combination of the persimmon and shrimp made us feel like we were dining in a Mediterranean seaport. Lime juice adds a lovely freshness to the soup, while the shallots create a decidedly savory flavor.

Although different from our normal fare, this soup is going in the personal cookbook. Also, the persimmon soup, sans shrimp, would be a wonderful base for a variety of other soups and stews, whether served hot or cold.

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Starting a Pear Brandy

Pear Brandy starting to age

Although there are several pear brandies available commercially, we opted to try making our own. This beautiful beverage will have to age around two months before we can let you know how it has turned out. If you like, you can make some too, and watch it mature along with us! We anticipate it will be delicious, with all of the flavor of pears, but none of that sometimes off-putting texture.

**Update**

We tried our brandy every month after bottling it. After the first month, it was very harsh and unpleasant. At month two, it had mellowed considerably, and now, at the third month, it is wonderfully drinkable, full of all the best flavors of both brandy and pears.

Make it at Home!

Thick Stew of Mussels, Crabs, and 3 kinds of Fish

“The food was plain, but very good; there were loaves of crusty bread still warm from the ovens, crocks of fresh-churned butter, honey from the septry’s hives, and a thick stew of crabs, mussels, and at least three different kinds of fish.  Septon Meribald and Ser Hyle drank the mead the brothers made, and pronounced it excellent, whilst she and Podrick contented themselves with more sweet cider.” -A Feast for Crows


Modern Fish Chowder

Thoughts

For this dish I opted for a hearty New England style fish chowder.  I threw together a couple of different recipes, tweaked them to suit, and this is the incredibly tasty result!

One bite of this modern stew will make you forget the effort that went into creating it. This is the earthly realization of platonic fish chowder. We asked the guests at our dinner table to give their thoughts, but only received grunts of approval and moaned delight.  Imagine yourself eating this meal in a tranquil sept on an island, savoring the hearty broth in peace while chaos rages around you. Imagine that, because eating this stew can transport you out of your everyday life.  

Part of the challenge of food blogging is making the photos show just how delicious the dish is, and that’s often done with atmosphere. The building in the photo is a perfect stand-in for the Sept from the books. In reality, it’s a gutted and abandoned church near where my parents used to live, in West Boyleston, MA. I drove by the place once, and immediately knew I would have to use it for a photo. I must have been quite a sight as I made my way down the embankment, folding table, dishware, food, and camera all teetering precariously. But the photo made it all worth it, and I got a great picnic lunch, to boot! 

Modern Fish Stew Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1.5 oz salt pork or thick cut bacon, diced
  • 1 lb potatoes (about 2 medium), chopped into 1/2″ cubes
  • 1 yellow onion, finely diced
  • 1.5 lb fish (we used salmon, haddock, and cod), about 2 fish or 4 fillets, cut into 1″ chunks
  • 2 c water
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 12 oz can evaporated milk
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • ~1/2-1 cup crab meat (imitation is fine, and cheaper!)
  • around a dozen mussels (ours were precooked)

Place 1/2 lb fish (about 1 fillet) in a pot with 2 c cold water. Bring to boil and boil 10 minutes.

While that is cooking, fry up the salt pork over medium heat. Once the bits are beginning to turn crispy and brown, add the diced potato. Cook 5 minutes over medium-high, stirring frequently. By now the fish broth should be done, so add it and the fish to the potato, then spread the remaining cubed fish atop this mess. Let this burble for about 10 minutes on medium-high.

At this point, if your pan won’t hold an additional 3 cups of liquid, transfer everything to a larger pot. Add heavy cream, evaporated milk, salt & pepper, crab meat, and whole mussels still in the shell. Bring to just under a boil, then reduce to medium-low, cover, and simmer about an hour.

To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with additional pepper. To really round out the meal, serve it with the other original components from the book: crusty fresh bread with butter and honey, mead, and cider. 

Trout Baked in Clay

“Then came trout fresh from the river, baked in clay; her prince helped her crack open the hard casing to expose the flaky white flesh within.” (I:251)

Trout Baked in Clay

Our Thoughts:

Creating these fish was tons of fun! True to our belief in the importance of utilizing local agricultural resources, we baked rainbow trout and brook trout that were caught locally by a friend. They were absolutely phenomenal.

The clay acts as kind of a dutch oven for the food, keeping the moisture inside the fish. When the first clay fish finally cracked, we were surprised and delighted to find the flesh perfectly cooked and flaking off the bones. It was creamy and tender, with a wonderful, clean taste.

Half of the fun in this recipe is molding the clay around the fish. We chose to make them look like actual fish (many thanks to  Aidan’s artistic “talent”), which would be an impressive addition to any dinner table. Cracking the clay fish open on the table certainly adds a level of drama to the meal.

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Tyroshi Honeyfingers

“…we seldom had enough coin to buy anything…well, except for a sausage now and again, or honeyfingers…do they have honeyfingers in the Seven Kingdoms, the kind they bake in Tyrosh?”

-A Game of Thrones

Our Thoughts

The Roman recipe is a curiosity. They fried to a crispily crunchy on the outside while still leaving a bit of chew on the inside.  The pieces were easy to cut into shapes, and could probably even be rolled into logs. The flavor is really all about the honey, but the pinch of pepper and cinnamon on top adds a slight level of complexity.

The Modern recipe knocked our socks off.  These fritters are like Winnie-the-Pooh-gasms.  Between the spiced sauce and the incredibly luscious texture, we ended up gobbling them and shamelessly licking our fingers.

The winner?  We had imagined Tyroshi Honeyfingers to be sort of a tasty sweet street food.  The Roman variety is fun because of its historical significance and ease of shaping, but wouldn’t be easy to make in a dusty alleyway.  The modern version is SO good and is made basically like carnival fried dough, so fits our loose criteria for a great honeyfinger.  Modern Wins!

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