The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook Presents: A Magical Christmas Menu (2 page)
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Authors: Dinah Bucholz
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Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
Ron is starving — as usual — at the start-of-term feast, where the Triwizard Tournament will be announced. He loads up on mashed potatoes, observed by a wistful Nearly Headless Nick (see
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
, Chapter 12).
There are a zillion and one ways to prepare potatoes, and it seems as though at least half of them are mentioned in the Harry Potter books. But this is one of the best ways to eat them. For mashing, use starchy potatoes, such as russet. Waxy potatoes like the red-skin variety don't lose their shape after a long cooking time and are best reserved for roasting and stewing. They don't make good mashed potatoes.
6 Idaho or russet potatoes (about 2½ pounds), peeled and quartered
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer about 25 minutes or until the potatoes break apart when pierced with a fork.
Drain the potatoes. Add the butter, milk, salt, and black pepper. Mash with a potato masher until the potatoes are light and fluffy.
Serves 4
You can have a lot of fun with mashed potatoes. Boil 2 peeled cloves of garlic along with the potatoes and mash them together with the potatoes, along with a dash of garlic powder, for garlicky mashed potatoes. Add a sautéed onion and 1 tablespoon onion powder for onion mashed potatoes. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top for cheesy mashed potatoes. Or mash in your favorite herbs, minced. And serve with lots of gravy.
Gravy is not really a food; it's something you put on your food. It's served at Harry's first Hogwarts feast and first Hogwarts Christmas dinner, probably to pour over all the many potato dishes (see
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
, Chapters 7 and 12).
It's amazing how sophisticated British cooks were in the 1200s and 1300s. They made gravy from a purée of ground almonds, broth, ginger, and sugar, to be poured over rabbit, chicken, eel, or oysters. The expression “fit for a king” certainly had great significance in those days. The peasants didn't get to dine on this kind of fare, to be sure!
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken, turkey, or beef stock
½ cup chicken, turkey, or beef drippings, after fat has been skimmed off the top (see note)
Salt to taste
Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Add the flour and stir until the flour turns brown and foams. Slowly pour in the stock, stirring constantly. Add the drippings.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the gravy is thickened and bubbling.
Taste, and adjust salt accordingly.
Makes about 2½ cups
This gravy is not truly classic. Technically, gravy contains no thick-eners, so the following recipe is really a sauce. This type of thick sauce, however, is associated with classic gravy by many.
If drippings are not available, you can use all stock.
While they prepare piles of sprouts to be used in a dish by Mrs. Weasley, Harry and Ron have a breathless discussion about Professor Snape and his sinister offer to help Draco Malfoy. To Ron's grumpy annoyance, he and Harry have to painstakingly prepare each sprout without using magic (see
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
, Chapter 16).
The Romans — no surprise there — brought the chestnut tree to Britain. Over the years and in many countries, chestnuts were ground up and mixed with flour, but these days we eat them roasted. They're also popular with Brussels sprouts at Christmas time.
1 pound frozen Brussels sprouts
1 cup water
½ teaspoon salt
¼ stick (2 tablespoons) butter
1 cup chopped canned chestnuts
2 tablespoons dark or light brown sugar
Pinch of nutmeg
Bring the sprouts, water, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce to a simmer and cook about 7 minutes, until sprouts are tender. Drain the sprouts and cut into quarters.
Heat the butter in a skillet until foaming. Add the sprouts, chestnuts, brown sugar, and nutmeg. Cook, stirring constantly, just until heated through. Serve immediately.
Serves 4 to 6
Carrots are yet another of the myriad dishes served at the feast in the Great Hall following Harry's sorting ceremony into Gryffindor House (see
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
, Chapter 7).
British fighter pilots, in an effort to keep radar technology from the Germans, claimed that their super night vision came from eating a lot of carrots. The Germans actually bought the story, hard though that may be to believe. Carrots really do improve your night vision, but you can't use them instead of radar. And you will still have to wear your glasses.
6 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into ¼-inch-thick slices on the bias
½ cup water
2 tablespoons golden syrup or maple syrup or corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Combine the carrots, water, golden syrup or maple or corn syrup, salt, and cinnamon in a skillet and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat and simmer the carrots, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, until the carrots are somewhat softened but not yet tender.
Raise the heat and boil until all the liquid evaporates. As the liquid starts to reduce, begin stirring more frequently. Keep cooking until the glaze starts to turn brown, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan. Turn off the heat and serve immediately.
Serves 4
Along with the one hundred roast turkeys, cranberry sauce is served at Harry's first Christmas dinner at Hogwarts (see
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
, Chapter 12).
Fenwort, marshwort, moss berries … they sound like they belong in a witch's brew, but in fact, those are all medieval words for cranberries. When cranberries are fresh, they bounce, so in the olden days people sorted cranberries by rolling them down the stairs: whatever bounced to the bottom got sold; whatever stayed on the stairs was discarded.
1 12-ounce package of cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
Generous pinch salt
Combine the cranberries, water, sugar, and salt in a small sauce-pan. Bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer until the cranberries burst open, about 10 minutes.
Cool the sauce completely before refrigerating.
Makes about 2 cups
Mrs. Weasley always seems prepared when it comes to food. Harry can burst in on her in the middle of the night and she'll still be able to serve him a nice meal. Fresh bread is part of it when Dumbledore brings Harry to the Burrow after taking him to Professor Slughorn's (see
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
, Chapter 5).
The Irish weren't very much into yeast breads (inadequate cooking utensils were the culprit), so they must have been very happy when baking soda arrived on the scene; they could quickly and easily make bread with it. And that's what they've been doing since the late 1800s. This is the bread to serve with soups and stews, and it makes awesome toast.
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter
1 large egg, beaten
1½ cups buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 425°F and grease and flour a 9-inch round baking dish.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it is completely rubbed in. The mixture will still be floury because of the much higher proportion of flour. With a wooden spoon stir or fold in the egg and buttermilk until a dough begins to form. Turn the dough onto a flour-dusted work surface and knead briefly just until the dough comes together. Form the dough into a round and dust the top with the extra flour. Place the dough into the prepared pan and score an X about ½-inch deep on the top of the dough.
Bake for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350°F and bake another 40 minutes until the bottom is dark golden brown.
Cool completely on a wire rack before serving. Irish soda bread tastes best the day it is made but makes the best toast ever after the first day. Serve with soup or stew.
Makes 1 loaf