UPDATE: You can find a new version of this recipe in my cookbook, A LITERARY HOLIDAY COOKBOOK.
You knew it was coming. How could a Narnia menu end with anything else? I can’t be the only person who immediately thinks of the White Witch when I hear the words “Turkish delight.”
Finding a suitable entree for our Narnia menu was surprisingly difficult. Sure, Lucy had three kinds of toast with Tumnus, but that’s not really an entree, is it? The Pevensies ate marmalade roll with the Beavers, but that’s almost a dessert (or at best a breakfast). I was starting to feel like I’d exhausted my options when I finally remembered the ham sandwiches the Pevensies eat after meeting Father Christmas. Sure, it’s simple fare, but this is Narnia—everything’s a bit more special here. Plus, Father Christmas can do magic, so I like to think they settled for more than cold meat on bread. These Fancy Ham Sandwiches are my own recipe—authentic Italian prosciutto with two kinds of bread, sweet cream cheese, and colorful pesto!
Happy New Year, Wonderlanders! And welcome to our very first 2015 Book of the Month…the Chronicles of Narnia! Yes, it’s technically a series, but each book in the series offers so much that I didn’t want to focus on just one.
Given the classic Victorian theme of our menu thus far, you might have been expecting Christmas pudding for dessert, and I’ll admit I considered it. However, I couldn’t get Scrooge’s favorite exclamation off my mind. I knew I’d probably have many opportunities to make Christmas pudding on the site, but how many books can claim a connection to humbug candies?
I love a lot of things about Mrs. Cratchit: her energy, her spunk, and the obvious love and respect she has for her husband. However, more than anything, I love how Mrs. Cratchit sees her family’s financial status not as a burden but as a challenge to be met. Scrooge notes that the Cratchit meal is quite modest in its size and components, almost inadequate for a family of that size. However, to Mrs. Cratchit, this simply means that the quality of the meal is that much more important. She spares no effort in infusing the basic fair—goose, potatoes, and applesauce—with every bit of deliciousness her repertoire of cooking techniques has to offer.
The roast goose or turkey is an icon of Victorian Christmas, and it’s clear that Mrs. Cratchit has a deft hand when it comes to its preparation. A full-size bird would have made a great entrée for our menu, but I could hardly justify roasting 10 pounds of turkey for just the Mister and myself. These roasted turkey legs were a nice compromise. I got the preparation technique from The Pioneer Woman, but I used my own blend of spices to match Mrs. Cratchit’s sage and onion goose. The end result was a set of juicy drumsticks with heartwarmingly homey flavor and crispy skin.
Thanksgiving is over and December is here, which means it’s officially acceptable to start thinking about Christmas! As you may have guessed, our new Book of the Month is A Christmas Carol. Seasonally appropriate, yes?
When I first decided to make a Hunger Games menu, I knew I wanted to go all-out on dessert. Cupcakes immediately came to mind, but I wanted more than just Hunger Games decorations. I wanted each cupcake to exemplify a key story element. After tossing around dozens of ideas, I created three kinds of cupcakes…
Buns are a great side dish to accompany a hearty stew, like our Lamb Stew with Dried Plums from last week. Plus, bread in general plays a huge role in The Hunger Games, so it wouldn’t be right to have a Hunger Games menu without it. It was hard to choose between all the great bread recipes featured in the books, but I finally settled on these cheese buns for two reasons: