Tag: Entree

Helena’s Jägerschnitzel

Posted January 18, 2024 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

 

 

Today we’re continuing our international menu of dishes inspired by MY FINE FELLOW with Helena’s jägerschnitzel recipe!

In the beginning of the book, Helena asks Penelope to taste test three different versions of jägerschnitzel to guess which is the most authentic. One version uses venison, the second uses boar, and the third (the authentic one) uses pork. Every version sounded delicious, but since things like venison and boar are harder to source, I decided to make the authentic version as the entrée for my MY FINE FELLOW menu.

I don’t have a go-to recipe for jägerschnitzel (especially not one I would consider super authentic), so I went internet hunting. I really like this recipe from All Tastes German because it uses all the ingredients referenced in Helena’s recipe (including the red wine), and the post offers lots of details about the dish’s background and regional variations.

The final dish turned out AMAZING. I was actually a little nervous, since I’d never eaten jägerschnitzel before and the recipe calls for coating the pork cutlet in a mustard/paprika mix before breading it (mustard and I have a tenuous relationship). After the schnitzel and mushroom sauce were plated, I took a small taste just to make sure the recipe turned out . . . then plopped myself down at the table and ate a whole serving! The fried pork and mushroom sauce complement each other so well—a savory, salty, satisfying combo—and I was pleasantly surprised by the mustard. It’s not super strong, instead lending a subtle complexity to the pork. It wound up being my favorite part of the whole dish!

I will DEFINITELY be making this again soon! 🙂

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Tristan’s Mini Shepherd’s Pie

Posted November 16, 2023 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

 

 

Today’s recipe from ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL is inspired by my favorite character—Tristan! In the show, Tristan is the younger brother of local veterinarian Siegfried Farnon. He is first presented as a potential rival for fellow vet Jim, but the two soon become friends and frequently get each other into (and, thankfully, out of) mischief. Tristan’s character arc is so heartwarming. Watching him grow from an impish flirt into a responsible, empathetic young man (all while maintaining his signature sense of humor) is one of the highlights of the show.

Today we’re making individual shepherd’s pie, which Tristan makes for the housekeeper, Mrs. Hall, to welcome her home after she’s had an emotionally exhausting day. Since this episode was Tristan’s first time cooking, I kept my recipe simple: ground beef and mixed vegetables simmered in beef stock with onions and herbs, topped with mashed potatoes. I made my favorite mashed potatoes for the top: red potatoes coarsely mashed and mixed with garlic and cream cheese. Divine!

This is such a comforting, satisfying dish, exactly what Mrs. Hall would need after a hard day. I hope you enjoy it too!

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Ulfar’s Norwegian Stew

Posted September 21, 2023 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

 

 

“Oh, WOW! This broth is unreal!” These are the words that flew out of my mouth after tasting this stew for the first time—a rich, hearty Norwegian stew inspired by EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAERIES.

In the story, an innkeeper named Ulfar is best known for his dark, meaty stew, which Emily Wilde eats throughout the story. The book doesn’t describe the ingredients of Ulfar’s stew in detail, so I had lots of room to get creative.

Since the story is set in Norway, I made a stew inspired by fårikål, Norwegian lamb and cabbage stew. However, what we’re making today isn’t true fårikål, which consists almost exclusively of lamb, cabbage, and seasoning. For one thing, my stew uses beef, since none of my local grocery stores have lamb on hand at the moment. I also added some extra ingredients, drawing inspiration from the groceries Emily picks up at the supply shop: carrots, leeks, and cabbage.

I browned the beef, cooked the leeks until soft in the remaining beef fat, and threw everything together to simmer until the veggies grew tender. As is my habit with soups and stews, the broth was my favorite part. I couldn’t believe how rich it was! I’ve already made it a second time, and I think a third batch is in my near future. 😀

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Roasted Leg of Lamb

Posted August 3, 2023 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 2 Comments

 

 

In the book RONIA THE ROBBER’S DAUGHTER, there are plenty of hearty meat dishes, but the one that stood out to me most was the leg of lamb. . . maybe because Matt the robber chief flings it across the room in a fit of fury when he learns Ronia has made friends with his arch enemy’s son! 😆 At the time when I read RONIA, I only knew one lamb recipe (lamb stew with dried plums from THE HUNGER GAMES), so I relished the idea of adding something so impressive as leg of lamb to my repertoire. Plus, Father’s Day was coming up, and I knew there was nothing my husband would love more than a giant roast as a present.

Today’s dish is a combination of two recipes I found online. The first is from Damn Delicious, which I chose because I liked the simplicity of the method and the shorter cook time (lots of recipes I saw called for cooking the meat for hours and hours). I also drew from a Norwegian method I found on Nordic Provisions, which calls for inserting garlic slices into the meat. I liked the idea of including some Scandinavian influence, since RONIA THE ROBBER’S DAUGHTER is set in a fantasy version of Scandinavia.

This is the biggest piece o’ meat I’ve cooked in a LONG time, and boy was it impressive when it came out of the oven! It was also ultra juicy and fragrant, with just the right amount of garlic and rosemary. Of course, a roast like this isn’t something you’d make every day, but I could 100% see myself making it Easter or Christmas to serve a crowd . . . or if I need to feed a fort full of robbers! 😉

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Cottage Loaf with Homemade Ricotta, Honey Roasted Hazelnuts, and Macerated Blackberries

Posted May 25, 2023 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

 

 

The next dish in my Brambly Hedge menu is inspired by the bountiful harvest in AUTUMN STORY. I couldn’t decide on just one recipe, so I brought a bunch of them together into one delicious entree!

Bread is a Brambly Hedge staple, so I started with a traditional English cottage loaf (using this version of Paul Hollywood’s recipe that provides American measurements). To top the bread, I made Attainable Sustainable’s homemade ricotta cheese. This was my first time making ricotta, which was a lot of fun. It’s very similar to farmer’s cheese, which I made for my SARAH PLAIN AND TALL menu a few years ago. I highly suggest ricotta or farmer’s cheese if you’re new to making homemade cheeses. They’re super easy, and the only special tool they require is a cheesecloth.

Blackberries are all over AUTUMN STORY (including the illustration on the cover!), so for a touch of sweetness I macerated some blackberries in elderflower liqueur. Finally, I tweaked my roasted hazelnut recipe from MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN to make honey roasted hazelnuts, the perfect complement to the blackberries.

Top it off with fresh sage for a bit of herbal earthiness, and you’re ready to celebrate harvest time with the woodland creatures of Brambly Hedge.

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Sesame Soy Tuna Steaks

Posted March 16, 2023 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

 

 

A fantastic fish recipe, just in time for Lent! Naturally, the characters in TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA eat loads of different kinds of fish—tuna, red mullet, angelfish, bonito, and so much more. I decided to go with tuna so I could try my hand at tuna steaks for the first time.

I went with a marinated version as an easy way to pack lots of flavor, looking at 5-6 different recipes for inspiration. The ones I wound up drawing from the most were by Sweet C’s Designs, Skinnytaste, and Bowl of Delicious. As a tie-in to my last recipe–Mock Turtle Soup–I added some lemon to my marinade.

These tuna steaks turned out amazing and were so easy to make. Delicate yet meaty, with complexity granted by the soy sauce/toasted sesame oil/honey marinade. And I loved the crunch of the sesame-crusted edges. Enjoy!

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Spicy Eel

Posted December 1, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

 

 

I don’t like fish, but I LOVE eel. I had it for the first time last year on sushi, and it blew my mind. If the idea of eating eel makes you squeamish, I’m begging you—please please PLEASE give it a try! It’s truly lovely. It has a delicacy similar to fish, but it has a meatier, heartier flavor that reminds me of chicken.

Spicy Eel is my favorite food from the game STARDEW VALLEY. When eaten in-game, it adds buffs to speed and luck, making it perfect for when you plan to spend the day racing all over the map collecting foragables or delving deep in the Mines.

Apart from eel, hot pepper is the only other ingredient listed in the in-game recipe for Spicy Eel. Judging by the dish’s thumbnail, it looks like the eel is brushed with a red sauce. I decided to make my sauce with gochujang (spicy chili paste) for my hot pepper element, taking my inspiration from tteokbokki. Basically I just played with the ingredients and consistency of the sauce until I was happy with it. It’s important to make sure eel is fully cooked (see the note in the Instructions below), so I consulted the cook temp/time in a Serious Eats recipe for whole eel and tweaked it to suit the size of my fillets.

As a self-professed spice wimp, this dish was a little too hot for me, but it was ultra flavorful. I’ll definitely make a milder version for myself in the future, but if you like your food to bring the heat, Spicy Eel is the dish for you! 🙂

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Pie of Honeyed Hummingbirds: Honeyed Cornish Hen Pot Pie

Posted September 15, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

 

 

In JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL by Susanna Clarke, there is a scene in which the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair orders an array of fantastical dishes from a restaurant: roasted wyvern, salamander with pomegranate relish, a pie of honeyed hummingbirds, and more! I wanted to be sure to include one of these amazing dishes in my menu, so I chose the pie of honeyed hummingbirds.

There’s no description of the pie in the book beyond the name, though it was obviously a savory poultry pie, so I had lots of room to get creative! I decided to use Cornish hens as my “hummingbirds” (partridge or grouse would be even smaller, but I decided to stick with what people can easily find in a grocery store). I roasted the hens in honey-lemon glaze and used mead (honey wine) in the filling’s creamy broth. Since this is an autumn menu, I added seasonal flavors like pumpkin, leek, and sage to create a delicious, rich, just-slightly-sweet poultry pie. Garnish the crust with a sage leaf hummingbird for that added touch of whimsy, and you’re all set to feast with the malevolent Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair. . . if you dare! 😉

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Campfire Fish Wrapped in Grape Leaves

Posted July 21, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

 

 

My Fire Roasted Foolbird recipe from last year was my first time cooking anything other than marshmallows on a fire, and it was SO fun! I knew I had to do some open fire cooking again. What better time than with a menu inspired by MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, the tale of a young boy who lives alone off the land in the Catskill Mountains?

The main character, Sam Gribley, cooks loads of meals on an open fire. It was tough to choose which one, but remembering how long it took to cook the foolbirds, I decided to go with something that would cook a lot faster: fish. I was intrigued by Sam’s method of cooking trout wrapped in grape leaves. Since I couldn’t get trout, I chose snapper, which he eats earlier in the book.

This was SO easy to make, and the flavor was amazing—salty, garlicky, and acidic in all the best ways. The only hard part was the weather! I made this in mid-June and OH MAN THE RAIN. We just couldn’t seem to get any dry weather. My husband, who’s enough of a camping wizard that he can still start a fire with damp wood, just couldn’t get it going in a way he was happy with. It took us over a week (I had to go out and buy more ingredients—the first set had to be cooked on the stove before they went bad), but It was worth it. Considering it only takes about 15 minutes, this is going on my list of go-to vegetarian recipes. Enjoy!

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Seared Salmon with Pineapple Mango Chutney

Posted May 26, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 2 Comments

 

 

Are you ready to get tropical??? 😀 Since Swiss Family Robinson mentions LOADS of tropical ingredients, I wanted to use as many as possible in this menu. I don’t get many chances to make island-inspired dishes here on the blog, so this has been lots of fun for me. Let’s begin!

As the canvas for my island flavors, I chose the salmon Ernest catches in chapter four. I love that it’s such a personal triumph for Ernest. He’s one of my favorite characters, maybe because I think his father is too hard on him (Astronomy is a worthy pursuit, Mr. Robinson! 😉). Plus, salmon pairs well with so many of the fruits mentioned in the book, so it’s a great choice from a culinary perspective too!

For my fruit, I chose to make pineapple mango chutney. Since this was my first time making chutney, I looked to two recipes for guidance: a pineapple chutney recipe from Garlic & Zest and a mango version from Tastes Better from Scratch. Mango isn’t expressly mentioned in Swiss Family Robinson, but I felt it would bridge the gap well between the sweet pineapple and other savory flavors of the chutney. It’s also great at carrying spice, and although this chutney isn’t flaming hot, I wanted the heat that IS there to shine through.

Everything came together so beautifully. The salmon was tender and delicate, melding perfectly with the juicy fruit, bright bell pepper, and sharp onion. The spicy kick from the pepper flakes and sweet Thai chili sauce (one of my favorite condiments!) added just the right level of complexity. What an easy way to make a memorable dish!

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