Canned Soup

On chilly nights filled with anxiety, sometimes the best medicine is a steaming bowl of delicious  homemade vegetable soup. Unfortunately, the only thing chilly about Harry's anxious nights at the Dursley's was the soup. And it certainly was not delicious:

"The cat-flap rattled and Aunt Petunia's hand appeared, pushing a bowl of canned soup into the room. Harry, whose insides were aching with hunger, jumped off his bed and seized it. The soup was stone cold, but he drank half of it in one gulp. Then he crossed the room to Hedwig's cage and tipped the soggy vegetables at the bottom of the bowl into her empty food tray" (Chamber of Secrets 22).

It would be easy to tell you to simply open up a can of veggie soup. That would certainly recreate the effect of Aunt Petunia's catering to Harry! But today we will attempt a recipe for Jamie Oliver's "Cup of Garden" Soup that I found in a Better Homes and Gardens Magazine while sitting at a car dealership earlier this year. I've been meaning to try it out for months, so this is the perfect opportunity!

You Will Need:

1 Tbs olive oil

2 stripes bacon, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

1 zucchini, finely chopped

1 small leek, finely chopped

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 bay leaf

2 14oz cans chopped plum tomatoes

1 large potato, diced (I skipped the potato)

1 cup cauliflower florets

1 15.5oz can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)

4 cups vegetable broth

large handful kale, chopped

1/2 cup small pasta

salt and pepper

small bunch fresh basil

5 Tbs parmesan

1. Heat the oil in a large pot and fry the bacon (I forgot to buy veggie bacon... so there's no bacon in my soup).

2. Add the garlic, onion, carrots, celery, zucchini, leeks, oregano, and bay leaf. Slowly cook for 15 minutes until softened.

3. Add the cans of tomato, the potato, cauliflower, chickpeas, and broth.

4. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer about 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

5. Add 2 cups of water and return to a boil.

6. Once boiling, and the kale and pasta, and cook for 10 minutes until the pasta is al dente.

7. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with the basil and cheese.

Makes 8 servings (which, according to the magazine, each have 245 calories, in case you care)

Yummy!!! This soup is super delicious! And nutritious! Even without the bacon or potato, it is excellent. I highly recommend making it at your earliest convenience!

Cheese

The next new item is a favorite comfort food of people the world over. Though something tells me Harry didn't quite feel that way about the dinner offered to him by Aunt Petunia:

"'Eat quickly! The Masons will be here soon!' snapped Aunt Petunia, pointing to two slices of bread and a lump of cheese on the kitchen table" (Chamber of Secrets 10).

I personally prefer the later mention of cheese in this particular book, when it is noted in the title of one of Mrs. Weasley's cookbooks, Charm Your Own Cheese. I did find a website with instructions on how to make cheese, and it is relatively easy. Unfortunately, two of the ingredients, rennet and citric acid, have proved impossible for me to locate in any stores in my area. If you have the same problem, I recommend purchasing a Cheese-Making Kit. So alas, we will not be making cheese today. Hopefully you have better luck with ingredients than I did, and you can charm some of your own cheese!

Roast Pork

Aunt Petunia's specialty is apparently roast pork, since she would surely prepare nothing less than her best for the Masons. Maybe she's inspired by her porker of a son?

"A loin of roast pork was sizzling in the oven" (Chamber of Secrets 10).

Unfortunately, we have reached an everyday sort of meat that I am unable to find a vegetarian substitute for. I know one exists, but the only way I can get ahold of the recipe is to purchase a set of vegan cooking dvds. Sorry friends, but that won't be happening. So enjoy your other-white-meat, my carnivorous friends. I'll be serving tofu to my metaphorical Masons.

Aunt Petunia's Pudding

Who could ever forget the glorious pudding Dobby sends crashing down on the head of Mrs. Mason, resulting in Harry's first letter from Mafalda Hopkirk:

"On top of the fridge stood tonight's pudding: a huge mound of whipped cream and sugared violets" (Chamber of Secrets 10).

In her cookbook, Dinah Bucholz decided that Aunt Petunia's pudding was an English Strawberry Trifle. That is the recipe we shall use. But be advised, it's rather involved, and must chill overnight before it is completed. I might suggest waiting until the weather warms up again before you enjoy this one, as ripe strawberries are a little difficult to find (and quite pricey) in November.

For English Strawberry Trifle, You Will Need:
1 loaf yellow cake, sliced into 1/2" thick slices
1/2 cup strawberry jam
custard
1 pound fresh strawberries, washed, dried, and sliced into 1/8" thick slices
Whipped cream
1 Tbs toasted almonds or sugared violets

For Yellow Loaf Cake, You Will Need:
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick  (8Tbs) butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1.5 tsp vanilla
1.2 cup whole milk, at room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour an 8.5 X 4.5 loaf pan.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the sides as necessary.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until combined.
5. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.

6. Add the flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour, and using the slowest speed on your mixture, scarping down the sides as necesary. Take care to not over mix. The batter will be very wet.

7. Scrape the batter unto the prepared pan and bake about 1 hour, or until the cake feels firm when touched lightly in the center, or a toothpick comes out clean. Note: these two indicators don't equal the same cooking time. I ended up cooking my loaf probably around 75 minutes, and it was still a little squishy in the center. It's possible that I over mixed the batter or something, because my final product was super dense and wet in the middle.

8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan. Then slice it up!

For the Custard, You Will Need:
1.5 cups whole milk, plus 1/2 cup heavy cream (or 2 cups whole milk)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (divided)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
4 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 stick butter, BUT ONLY if not using any heavy cream

1. Combine the milk and heavy cream, 1/4 cup of the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a small saucepan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until smooth.

3. Heat the milk mixture over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until hot but not bubbling. Reduce the heat to low.
4. Pour 1 cup of the hot milk mixture in a slow stream unto the egg yolk mixture while whisking quickly, to temper the yolks.

5. Pour the yolk mixture slowly back into the saucepan while stirring constantly.

6. Return to medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to boil. Handle gently, as too-vigorous stirring will destroy the thickening power of the cornstarch.
7. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla (and the butter, if using). If you'd like smooth custard, strain through a sieve into a bowl (I like lumpy custard). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.

To Create "Aunt Petunia's English Strawberry Trifle":
1. Place the cake slices on a cutting board and trim off the crusts (I left mine on...)
2. Spread half the slices with the jam and top with the remaining slices. I recommend really slathering it on there!

3. Cut the jam sandwiches into 2" squares and layer the sandwiches in the bottom of a round glass serving dish. Cut the remaining sandwiches into small pieces to fill any gaps.

4. Spread the custard over the cake layer.

5. Line the dish around the perimeter with strawberry slices, then pile the remaining slices in the center.

6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 8 hours to allow the flavors to meld.
7. Remove the plastic wrap and spread the whipped cream on top of the trifle, completely covering all the strawberries. As you can see, I used "Fat Free Whipped Cream." I was intrigued. It was a failure and melts almost instantly. Suck it up and use the full-fat version. Or even better, make it yourself!

8. Decorate with almonds or sugared violets if you have them.
Serves 8 to 10.

This pudding is pretty delicious. Sort of like Strawberry Shortcake on crack... I think if I were to make it again, I would start with a store-bought loaf of pound cake... and obviously real whipped cream. However you choose to make it, enjoy!

Coffee

Our next new food item is one that many Americans simply cannot function without. Coffee appears eight times throughout the Harry Potter series-- the first while Mr. Dursley is dealing with the Masons (who may or may not be very influential on his drill sales):

"When dinner's over, you take Mrs. Mason back to the lounge for coffee, Petunia, and I'll bring the subject around to drills" (Chamber of Secrets 7).

Coffee is such a matter of personal preference that I'll just present a few of the ways it can be prepared instead of prescribing an actual recipe.

Drip Coffee is the most popular for home-brewing coffee. As you probably know, hot water drips through a filter filled with coffee grounds, resulting in a smooth and easy cup of coffee. Many people prefer this method simply because of its simplicity: set up the coffee maker, flip the switch, and go!

French Press Coffee is an option that comes in and out of style (probably based on what Starbucks says is hot right now... stupid Starbucks). Prepared in a special pot, the coffee grounds are infused into the water and then (mostly) pressed out of the beverage with the plunger. The result is a rich and dense coffee many folks enjoy.

Another very popular coffee preparation is espresso, made popular in America by coffee shops, who likely began using it because a complete brew should take less than 30 seconds (though I'm sure they would say it's because Italian Espresso is the best kind of coffee). In this process, almost boiling water is injected through the tamped down coffee grounds by steam- or piston-power, resulting in a strong cup of coffee topped with a golden foam.

There are lots of other ways to prepare coffee, and I'm sure there are people who disapprove of the three methods I've chosen to share. But since I'm about the furthest thing there is from a coffee snob, and I know about these three methods, I would venture to say that they are the three best known ways to prepare coffee. 

So whether it's black, au lait, latte, or mocha, go grab yourself a cuppa and start your day!

Cake

And so we begin Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with a food only mentioned briefly in passing on Harry's twelfth birthday:

"Of course, his hopes hadn't been high; they'd never given him a real present, let alone a cake-- but to ignore it completely..." (Chamber of Secrets 5).

Since this mention of cake is super vague and non-specific (and is the only time in the entire series when Ms. Rowling doesn't tell us what kind of cake her characters are enjoying!), I get to choose what kind of cake we'll make! So we'll be trying a recipe for Hungarian Flourless Hazelnut Cake I found on allrecipes.com. 

You Will Need:

12 oz hazelnuts

2 tsp baking powder

6 egg yolks

5/8 cup granulated sugar

6 egg whites

1 pint heavy cream

1/8 cup chopped hazelnuts for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour (I thought this was flourless?) a 9" springform pan.

2. Grind hazelnuts until very fine. Place in a bowl and mix in the baking powder.

3. In a large bowl, whip the egg yolks with the sugar until a pale yellow color. Beat in the hazelnut mixture.

4. In a separate CLEAN bowl, with CLEAN beaters, whip the egg whites until stiff.

5. Quickly fold 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture, then add the remaining whites and fold in until no white streaks remain.

6. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 60-75 minutes (mine was done after 60), until the cake springs back when lightly tapped.

7. When the baked cake has cooled completely, slice it horizontally into 3 (or just 2) layers.

8. Whip the cream until stiff, and spread generously between the layers, and on the top and sides. Sprinkle the top with chopped hazelnuts.

This cake is really delicious! Not too sweet, super easy to make, and such a pleasant hazelnut flavor. Yummy! I hope you enjoy it!

Stoat Sandwiches

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Now that that's out of the way, we can move on to a very significant food item! We have reached the last new food to appear in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!

"Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused" (Sorcerer's Stone 231).

The Internet is filled with posts from people who, like me, had no idea what "stoat" is. Ready for this?

 Hagrid eats these little cuties?! It turns out that stoats are that same animal who eats toast in the nursery rhyme song, "Mares eat oats and stoats eat toast" (apparently they changed it to "does eat oats" later... that's the version I always knew anyway). And Hagrid eats them!!! I am horrified. 

Sandwiches filled with these weasel/ermine-like rodents used to be super popular in Britain. Cant's imagine why they fell out of favor with the masses. Apparently people nowadays sometimes call steak sandwiches with very specific ingredients "stoat sandwiches," but the secret ingredients seem to be rather inconsistent. Regardless, we will certainly not be making stoat sandwiches, because I have no desire to discover what these cute little guys taste like in order to find a vegetarian substitute. 

But Happy Halloween anyway!