A hobbit's New Year's Eve...
Jan. 3rd, 2022 07:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennaria...which means cooking! (And watching Fellowship and Two Towers, because dear lord how has it been twenty years.)
So we spent New Year's Eve with Wife's best friend from forever, and she had picked up a book from Costco entitled RECIPES FROM THE WORLD OF TOLKIEN, INSPIRED BY THE LEGENDS (by Robert Tuesley Anderson, who apparently has also done a Brothers Grimm cookbook and a Jane Austen cookbook). So naturally we decided to do a cook-test, because we are all giant dorks and also Best Friend lives way the fuck away from anywhere, so hitting up the clubs was a non-starter even if we'd been the clubbing type.
(Maybe if someone did a geek-themed club, I could be persuaded? But the reality is that I am middle-aged and wasn't much of a clubbing type even when I was in more of the clubbing age bracket, so.)
First thing - well, no, first thing we did was sit down with the recipes and chop all the things we needed to chop, because 'twenty minutes to prep' HA HA HA. (Three small pears, peeled, cored and diced. Three cloves of garlic, smashed, and two more, minced. Two and a half cups of sweet potatoes, peeled and cut up. And so on.)
Then we started cooking.
First two recipes: Lembas (that thing on the left) and The Prancing Pony's Potato And Garlic Soup. "But Thia," I hear you say, "That looks like cornbread, not lembas," to which I say, why yes! Mr. Anderson decided that since lembas is supposed to be a traveling bread, cornbread is definitely a modern real-world equivalent. Spoilers: it was not. As cornbread, it wasn't terrible? But it sure as hell was no lembas.
The Potato and Garlic soup was likewise...not terrible? But it was missing something. Cooked, crumbled bacon, maybe, or cheese, or something. As it stood, it was comfortable, but not outstanding, and nothing I'd make again.
Spiced Pear and Cranberry Muffins - arguably the one true, complete success of the day. Not particularly Tolkien-ish - if I remember, Mr. Anderson argued that the cranberries are studded through the muffin like jewels in Dwarfish mines - but still tasty.
Spinach and Sweet Potato Cakes - supposed to be mixed together, then gently fried. Unfortunately, our first attempt used too much oil, and also exposed the complete lack of binding agent - even with less oil, the cakes fell apart. Needed an egg or something to hold it together.
Beet Tarte Tatin with Goat Cheese - which confused Best Friend. I knew what the hell a Tarte Tatin is from having watched vast quantities of Great British Baking Show, so it worked out...sorta. You're supposed to cook a sticky sauce in an oven-safe pan, arrange fruit or vegetable in a beautiful pattern in the sticky sauce, then spread puff pastry on top and bake. Then flip it so the pastry remains intact and the fruit or vegetable remains in the beautiful pattern. ....after first loosening the pastry around the edges of the pan, which is a critical step that we neglected to do. As you can see, our flip did not remain intact. Whoops.
...still intact enough to eat, though! And we actually really enjoyed it, even if we failed the flip.
Laketown Beef Pot Roast - why is this connected to Laketown? Probably best not to ask. Would have been better if we'd left it in the crock pot for longer. (And possibly added the horseradish to the dumplings, but allergies are a harsh mistress.) Also, I like onions! But I am not here for whole onions added to things, sorry. However, at the end of the day, was rich and warm and honestly, on a cold New Year's Eve, absolutely hit the spot.
(If any of y'all want the recipes, I will post them in comments, because I took photos. Mwa ha ha.)
So we spent New Year's Eve with Wife's best friend from forever, and she had picked up a book from Costco entitled RECIPES FROM THE WORLD OF TOLKIEN, INSPIRED BY THE LEGENDS (by Robert Tuesley Anderson, who apparently has also done a Brothers Grimm cookbook and a Jane Austen cookbook). So naturally we decided to do a cook-test, because we are all giant dorks and also Best Friend lives way the fuck away from anywhere, so hitting up the clubs was a non-starter even if we'd been the clubbing type.
(Maybe if someone did a geek-themed club, I could be persuaded? But the reality is that I am middle-aged and wasn't much of a clubbing type even when I was in more of the clubbing age bracket, so.)
First thing - well, no, first thing we did was sit down with the recipes and chop all the things we needed to chop, because 'twenty minutes to prep' HA HA HA. (Three small pears, peeled, cored and diced. Three cloves of garlic, smashed, and two more, minced. Two and a half cups of sweet potatoes, peeled and cut up. And so on.)
Then we started cooking.
First two recipes: Lembas (that thing on the left) and The Prancing Pony's Potato And Garlic Soup. "But Thia," I hear you say, "That looks like cornbread, not lembas," to which I say, why yes! Mr. Anderson decided that since lembas is supposed to be a traveling bread, cornbread is definitely a modern real-world equivalent. Spoilers: it was not. As cornbread, it wasn't terrible? But it sure as hell was no lembas.
The Potato and Garlic soup was likewise...not terrible? But it was missing something. Cooked, crumbled bacon, maybe, or cheese, or something. As it stood, it was comfortable, but not outstanding, and nothing I'd make again.
Spiced Pear and Cranberry Muffins - arguably the one true, complete success of the day. Not particularly Tolkien-ish - if I remember, Mr. Anderson argued that the cranberries are studded through the muffin like jewels in Dwarfish mines - but still tasty.
Spinach and Sweet Potato Cakes - supposed to be mixed together, then gently fried. Unfortunately, our first attempt used too much oil, and also exposed the complete lack of binding agent - even with less oil, the cakes fell apart. Needed an egg or something to hold it together.
Beet Tarte Tatin with Goat Cheese - which confused Best Friend. I knew what the hell a Tarte Tatin is from having watched vast quantities of Great British Baking Show, so it worked out...sorta. You're supposed to cook a sticky sauce in an oven-safe pan, arrange fruit or vegetable in a beautiful pattern in the sticky sauce, then spread puff pastry on top and bake. Then flip it so the pastry remains intact and the fruit or vegetable remains in the beautiful pattern. ....after first loosening the pastry around the edges of the pan, which is a critical step that we neglected to do. As you can see, our flip did not remain intact. Whoops.
...still intact enough to eat, though! And we actually really enjoyed it, even if we failed the flip.
Laketown Beef Pot Roast - why is this connected to Laketown? Probably best not to ask. Would have been better if we'd left it in the crock pot for longer. (And possibly added the horseradish to the dumplings, but allergies are a harsh mistress.) Also, I like onions! But I am not here for whole onions added to things, sorry. However, at the end of the day, was rich and warm and honestly, on a cold New Year's Eve, absolutely hit the spot.
(If any of y'all want the recipes, I will post them in comments, because I took photos. Mwa ha ha.)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-04 03:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-17 03:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-07 08:06 pm (UTC)GBBO comes to the rescue. I actually started last year's series, but was too busy to finish it. (I am on lunch break right now.)
It sounds like a fun New Year's even if the food ended up a mixed bag.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-17 03:49 pm (UTC)