As you may recall, we made roasted turkey legs for our Christmas Carol menu this time last year. However, the Marchs’ Christmas turkey features so prominently in Little Women that I decided to pay turkey another visit. This elegant turkey breast roulade (a variation on one I found at The Cozy Apron) is very different from last year’s simplistic recipe. The bread, apples, nuts, and sage are ingredients that the impoverished Marchs could have grown or gathered themselves. When paired with a small amount of luxurious dried cranberries and cider glaze, the dish is elevated to something truly special…and it stretches a simple turkey breast a long way, something a large family like the Marchs would have no doubt appreciated!
Tag: Entree
The Dauntless Burger: Whiskey BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger with Fried Egg and Onion Strings (an AWR Original Recipe © )
I love how shocked the other Dauntless faction members are when they realize Tris has never even seen a hamburger before. I can only imagine what it must have been like for her to taste one after a lifetime of plain, flavorless food. Today, we’re recreating Tris’ first meal in her new faction with a monster-sized burger that’s nothing if not epic.
Pocket Full of Rye Sandwiches: Miss Marple’s Tea Sandwiches
Our first Agatha Christie recipe was dedicated to Poirot, but we’d be doing the famous mystery writer a disservice if we ignored her other beloved sleuth: Miss Marple. As much as I love Poirot, I’m a Miss Marple fan too, because her style differs from Poirot’s while still being masterful in its own right. One of her most famous cases is Pocket Full of Rye
Tom’s Fried Catfish
In so many ways, Tom Sawyer reminds me of Peter Pan. He’s not just a child; he’s childhood. He’s all the good and bad of that stage of life, given shape. He’s Instinct, Whim, Innocence…and more than a little Mischief. Never is this more evident than when he convinces his friends Joe and Huck to run away with him to an island in the middle of the river to become pirates. Smitten with the adventure of such a life, they spend their days eating catfish and searching for buried treasure, thinking little of home.
Simple Seared Salmon
Naturally, a book that’s written mostly from a wolf’s point of view isn’t going to have much human-friendly meat in it, but salmon is a notable exception. In White Fang, both wolves and humans regularly feast on fresh Alaskan salmon. And since it’s a dish that can be prepared on the trail, it’s a perfect entree for our menu.
Poison-Tipped Daggers: Chicken Kabobs with Pesto Dip (An AWR Original Recipe © )
When I first decided to make a Romeo and Juliet menu, I knew I wanted to include the fateful dagger and poison, but finding a way to do it was tricky. Then I took my cue from our Robber Stakes from last year’s Dracula menu and decided to make dagger kabobs. The preparation is super simple, and the “poison” dipping sauce adds a fun punch of color and flavor. It’s reminiscent of two classic Italian recipes (Caprese salad and Margherita pizza), but I swapped out the tomatoes for red peppers, which are more grill-friendly.
Thanksgiving Throwback
As a holiday based entirely around food, Thanksgiving holds a special place in my heart. Yet as much as I love it, deciding what to cook can be a little intimidating. If you have a potluck-style dinner like my family, pretty much every relative has their “thing” that they make every year. Finding something traditional and festive that someone else isn’t already making can be a challenge. However, a great way to circumvent this problem is to make a dish that uses iconic Thanksgiving flavors in a new way. I’m making Deeper ‘n Ever Turnip ‘n Tater ‘n Beetroot Pie for Thanksgiving this year, since it’s one of my favorite AWR recipes (and TOTALLY tastes like stuffing). In fact, after looking through the archives, I realized we have loads of Thanksgiving-appropriate recipes…
The Capitol’s Lamb Stew with Dried Plums
In The Hunger Games, the Capitol offers some great dishes—chicken with creamy orange sauce, fluffy dinner rolls, and even pumpkin soup. These all sound delicious, but I knew the best entree for our menu would be lamb stew with dried plums, since it’s Katniss’ favorite Capitol dish…and Cesar Flickerman’s too!
Robber “Stakes”: An Alison’s Wonderland Original Recipe ©
Sometimes, it’s easy to feel like an author has you in mind when you read a passage in a book. For me, those passages usually involve food. 😉
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a common Transylvanian dish is robber steak: grilled beef kabobs with bacon, red pepper, and onions. How could I pass up a dish so perfectly tailored for someone like me, looking to include stakes in a vampire-themed Halloween menu? It’s also the perfect entree to accompany our spider chips and salsa!
Deeper ‘n Ever Turnip ‘n Tater ‘n Beetroot Pie
Today, we continue our menu with a Redwall Abbey staple. Mossflower Wood has loads of great entrees to choose from, but this wouldn’t be a Redwall menu without the abbey’s famous Deeper ‘n Ever Turnip ‘n Tater ‘n Beetroot Pie! The ultimate in root veg goodness, this savory pie boasts buttery herb crust and hearty diced vegetable filling, with a flavor reminiscent of Thanksgiving stuffing. And like all recipes eaten by the mice and moles of Redwall, it’s naturally vegetarian…but I won’t fault you if you add some diced chicken to the mix! 😉