A Feast of Ice and Fire, a Cookbook Review

 Authors Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer have done a marvelous job with this Official Companion Cookbook. More than 200 glossy pages, including gorgeous photography of each dish and easy to follow recipes, this cookbook is a treat for fans of the books. just plain old cooks, and those interested in medieval cookery alike.

Each recipe comes with two preparations, a medieval version and a modern version.  Also included are recipes for sauces, doughs, and spice blends that will be used throughout the cookbook, each with historical notes and other interesting facts.

The organization of the recipes is very on brand, as we go to each location.  There is The Wall and also The North, both with very rustic and hearty meals.  Then we move on to the south, where we get a bit of seafood such as trout wrapped in bacon and broth of seaweed and clams, but also some real treats like poached pears. Next is Kings Landing where we get royals dishes such as almond crusted trout or Quail drowned in Butter, to the simple fare of the common folk in the city, including bowls of brown and oatbread. Lastly we get the exotic location of Dorne and Across the Narrow Sea, which include such exotic recipes as Honey Spiced Locusts and Dornish snake with Fiery Sauce.

Although there are a few truly exotic recipes that may be more for show than anything else for most cooks, the majority of the recipes are very approachable dishes.

Overall, this is a wonderful cookbook.  I have tried and loved many of the recipes, and look forward to trying many more.

White Beans and Bacon

White Beans and Bacon

 From A Feast of Ice and Fire comes the recipe for White Beans and Bacon..

This is a very simple recipe, particularly if you use canned beans.  It will take a little planning ahead and cook time if  you use dried beans.

We had a very late night where my dinner plans went out the window, so I decided to try this recipe using canned navy beans, and a beautiful thick shoulder cut bacon I had recently purchased. I did have the endive called for in the modern version, but as I'm the only one who enjoys the slightly bitter veggies, I decided to try out the Medieval version for my family instead.

Very simple, fast and declivous, this is going to be my own personal go to when I want a quick savory lunch at home.  I was the biggest fan, giving it a 5/5, both hubby and daughter had issues with either the beans or the bacon portion, giving it a 3/5, but still good, above average.  Personally, I'm a fan of the medieval spice blend Poudre Douce used in this recipe, as I think the sweet and lightly spicy nature give it something like an old world baked beans flavor.

I served it with a very simple salad topped with scallions and some local sourdough.  

I will save this for other weeknight emergencies, but mostly I suppose I'll be making this for myself when I have a bit of craving for something hearty and meaty that doesn't take forever to cook up.

Red Bean Buns

From the World of WarCraft Cookbook comes this lightly sweet and absolutely delicious recipe for Red Bean Buns.

 

This recipe is rated skill level: Master, and takes a while to prepare as it uses a yeast dough that requires more than one rise time.  It is not a simple recipe, but it honestly isn't too hard to make either, just work intensive.  Particularly if you are, like me, unlucky enough to have no Asian grocer near you.  

I had no easy access to the red bean paste called for, nor could I even find the Azuki beans needed to make it from scratch, and I didn't want to order online for a single item, so after a bit of research I discovered that White Bean Paste is an acceptable substitute for sweet bean buns, and that white beans I had access to (I chose navy beans) were suitable. I took one can of low sodium navy beans, rinsed them well, and then put them into a food processor with 1/4 cup sugar (which I worked out was 2/3 the weight of what 15oz of cooked beans would have been when dried). After processing until smooth, I cooked on the stovetop for 15 minutes until the mixture became thick and stiff.  Then I spent quite a while pushing this product through a fine mesh strainer to get a very smooth, lustrous white bean paste.

I followed the rest of the Bean Bun recipe closely, and the dough came together very nicely.  I only had white sesame seeds on hand, so those ended up decorating the buns before baking. 

These came out perfectly.  Crusty on the outside and tender inside with a perfect amount of filling. Everyone rated these a 5 out of 5, which made all that work very worth it. They do take more than 2 hours or so to make, as they require a total of 1.5 hours of rising, but wow, what a treat!  We paired these with Spiced Blossom Soup, a very good pairing. I look forward to making these Bean Buns again!  Maybe next time I can get my hands on the red bean paste....

Spiced Blossom Soup

From the World of WarCraft cookbook, page 103, comes this lightly sweet and spicy vegetable soup.

This recipe is rated skill level: Apprentice, and indeed it was a very simple recipe that comes together very quickly.  Could easily be made vegan by subbing in veggie broth for the chicken broth.

I wasn't sure how well this unusual soup would go over with the family, but really wanted a new and different way to prepare cabbage in the winter months.  Surprisingly, everyone loved it!  My daughter put together the Ancient Pandaren Spices, and we decided to leave out the anise and fennel, and sub in coriander instead.  I'm personally a fan of anise flavor, but everyone else in my household not so much. Other than that small substitution, I followed the recipe exactly, including the chamomile tea broth, and this soup is both subtle and bursting with flavor.  There is a touch of heat at the end from the peppercorns, but all of the flavors meld together beautifully. Daughter rated it "yummy", and hubby gave it a 4 out of 5, which is very high for a simple veggie soup from him.  

The broth and cabbage are more pink than the vibrant purple shown in the book, but I cooked it a few minutes longer as well, as my family wanted the veggies a tad softer than what 5 minutes suggested in the recipe produced.  

This is a very good staple for winter and spring to use up a head of purple cabbage, and warm your insides!

Herbed Boiled Potatoes, Surprisingly Good!

 This certainly isn't the flashiest, most magical, or most exciting recipe in The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, but it is a solid one.  This recipe can be found in chapter seven, Lunch and Dinner in the Dining Hall, and does seem like something Ron would have wolfed down while Hermione watched with concern.

It reminds me a lot of my grandmothers German potato salad.  It uses an oil and vinegar dressing instead of mayo, as most American potato salads do, and it is served warm, instead of cold.  It relies heavily on the vinegar and herbs for flavor, and is a tasty, simple side dish suitable for a weeknight meal.

I served this side with a main of Ogri'La's Chicken Fingers, from the Official World of WarCraft Cookbook.  A very nice pairing, as this potato salad is very bright and herby, a good contrast to the richer chicken.   I have actually made this dish a second time with fresh mint and thyme instead of dill, and it was fantastic. I think it will work well with a variety of herbs, depending on your tastes.  I don't happen to have Tarragon vinegar, which seems very specific, abut again I think a variety of vinegars will work.  I've tried both a simple cider vinegar, and a much more complicated raspberry and lime balsamic, and both made a wonderful dressing, so this recipe is very suitable to substitutions and working with what you have in your fridge, pantry, or garden

The only thing I would change when making this in the future is I might add salt to the water when boiling the potatoes.  Otherwise it is good as written, but also very easy to change to suite your needs.  This will certainly go into our regular dinner rotation!

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook: Review

Full disclosure, I've had this cookbook for years and made a number of recipes from it before I decided to start this blog. I received this lovely book from my husband as a birthday gift some years ago.  We immediately tried a number of recipes for the holiday season.  I didn't review any of them at the time, but all of them were interesting enough to make more than once.  I particularly want to make Aunt Petunia's pudding again, as it was a big hit the first time we made it!

This book has no pictures or illustrations of the finished recipes, and the pages are all rough cut, I presume to sort of imitate the feeling of a hand written spell book. I rather like the look and feel of the book, but it isn't the highly polished presentation that some of the other fantasy cookbooks aim for. The paper itself is good quality, and the individual recipes are easy to read and the directions are well written.  I enjoy the little historical and Harry Potter related notes included with each recipe. My only beef with this cookbook is the organization of the recipes themselves.  There is no real rhyme or reason to it that I can make out. Each section is related to a part of Harry's journey through the magical realm, or characters there-in.  There are sections for the Dursley's, the Train, Diagon Alley, Giant's and Elves, the Great Hall, and so forth.  It's very whimsical, and I do think it captures the feeling of the Wizarding World in it's layout, but it makes it more difficult to navigate when looking for main dishes or desserts, for instance.  It does have a very nice Index, something I have noticed most fantasy cookbooks lack, so that can help if you know the main ingredient or the name of the recipe you are looking for.

This cookbook is really a love letter to classic British cuisine, which I think shows through in the Wizarding World as well.  There's all the fun things foreigners might like to try, like Spotted Dick and Toad in the Hole, as well as more Wizarding World specific treats that fire the imagination, like Pumpkin Pasties and a wide variety of Honeydukes treats.  Mostly it's very common British fare. Stews, roasts, meat pies and classic puddings, the sort of things that are very suitable for regular meals.  I like the mixture of the magical and the mundane, it fits the world of Harry Potter very well.

Here are some of the recipes my family has tried from this cookbook.

Boiled Potatoes with Herb Vinaigrette.

Ogri'La Chicken Fingers

 From the World of WarCraft Official Cookbook, our family recently tried the Ogri'La Chicken Fingers.

This is a very straightforward recipe, skill level: apprentice, and total prep and cook time at around 30 minutes.

I actually had our 14 year old daughter, who has gotten a little selective about food in recent years, help me select recipes she'd be willing to try from all of these fantasy cookbooks.  My husband is a big fan of chicken, but our daughter not so much.  She was, however, willing to try these.

Daughter rates the finished product a full 5 stars out of 5.  I agree.  Husband rates them as a 4 out of 5 and said he'd like a bit more seasoning in the batter.  Your milage may vary.  I don't think they need any additional salt, but I may try some smoked paprika or a pinch of cayenne in the batter next time.

We used local chicken breast, and served with homemade honey mustard sauce, a simple caesar salad, and the herbed boiled potatoes from the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook.

I was a bit skeptical about browning the breadcrumbs ahead of time, as directed in the recipe.  I was afraid they would become overdone, maybe even burnt, but that was not at all the case.  These came out a perfect crunchy golden brown, and the chicken inside was surprisingly tender and moist. Far better than anything you can get at your local drive-through, these are well worth the effort.

I think the batter under the breadcrumbs, as opposed the normal routine I've done in the past of egg wash, seasoned flour, then breadcrumbs, make these extra tender and delicious. Honestly, the best breaded baked chicken recipe I've ever tried. I will 100% be adding this recipe to a monthly rotation. And because they are baked and not fried, I don't even feel guilty for serving my family chicken fingers for dinner!