There is one recipe in TALES OF THE SHIRE that stands out more than all others: the Bywater Dish! In the game, the hobbits of Bywater must come up with a village dish, something that sums up the “flavours and heart” of their village. After talking to lots of villagers to determine what should be in the dish, it’s decided that you should make something with Mr. Sandyman’s flour, Young Tom Cotton’s cream, mushrooms, fish, and hearty vegetables. Since there are loads of different mushrooms, fish, and vegetables in the game, you can make the dish a little differently each time, depending on what the villagers are craving and what you have in your pantry.
For the mushrooms in my Bywater Dish, I decided to go with shimeji and hen of the woods mushrooms. Hen of the woods has a similar profile to the in-game mushrooms called wild beef, and the shimeji reminded me of the field ring mushrooms you can find in the fields around Bywater. In the future, I’d love to try it with morels or chanterelles when they’re in season!
For my fish, I went with catfish, since all the fish in-game are freshwater fish, and there’s an in-game fish called a “little beard” that has catfish-like whiskers. For my hearty vegetable, you know I had to go with taters—namely baby red potatoes, or “ruby taters” as they’re known in TALES OF THE SHIRE. I also threw in some rosemary and lemon, since those are available seasonings in-game.
If you look closely at the top of the pie’s thumbnail photo from the game, you can see see the design of a tree on top, so I made a little puff pastry tree to adorn the top of my Bywater Dish (though I think next time I’ll make it smaller—the branches kind of disappear into each other at the top of the pie!).
This savory, creamy, hearty dish is truly a taste of Bywater, a village surrounded by fish-filled rivers, mushroom-studded woods, and the most welcoming of hobbits. Pull up a chair, grab a fork, and dig in with the citizens of Bywater!
