In The Secret Garden, the cook at Misselthwaite Manor creates some darn tasty dishes, but she admits to pulling out all the stops when she makes this young fowl with bread sauce. We recreated the dish here by pairing thyme-seasoned roasted chicken with traditional English bread sauce (adapted from this recipe). An entree fit for a true English manor!
This time last year, we were just starting our Anne of Green Gables menu. In a way, we’ve come full circle. We’re greeting July with a the story of a displaced young orphan girl who breathes vibrancy and life into her new home: The Secret Garden! But this time the home (Misselthwaite Manor) is breathing life into the heroine too. While Anne Shirley was flighty and dreamy, Mary Lennox is serious and grim.
Nothing says “desert planet” like dry rub bbq, and since banthas are common fare on Tatooine, I figured dry rub bbq bantha steaks would be a fitting entree for our Star Wars menu. This juicy, tender grilled rib eye features a Chicago dry rub blend, guaranteed to take the monotony out of any day of moisture farming.
Leave it to Anne Shirley to turn an egg salad sandwich into a feast for the imagination. As I recreated the sandwiches she served to her friends during their “golden picnic,” I resolved to make them as Anne would: with as much extra flair as possible. I started with my own personal egg salad recipe (a close cousin to my deviled egg recipe) and spiced it up from there. After whipping up some croissants (no boring bread here!), I cut the croissants in half, added a layer of watercress for an elegant touch, and sneaked a special surprise into the egg salad. The result: a feast for kings, no imagination necessary! 🙂
When I decided to do a Harry Potter menu, I knew I wanted to feature at least one recipe from the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. It has the most iconic Harry Potter foods (pumpkin juice, cauldron cakes, etc.), but it also has some lesser-known Potter recipes. I’ve spent ages drooling over the recipes in this book, and now is the perfect time to break one out! The scotch collops (aka pan-seared steak with mushrooms and onions) stood out to me from the rest. This is the dish that Harry, Hermione, and Ron are eating at the start-of-term feast when they find out all the food is made by Hogwarts house-elves. As you may recall, Hermione stops eating in protest, but the boys have no problem finishing their steak. After tasting it myself, I have to say, I’m on Harry and Ron’s side. 😉
