A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook (A Song of Ice and Fire) (20 page)

Read A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook (A Song of Ice and Fire) Online

Authors: Chelsea Monroe-Cassel,Sariann Lehrer

Pairs well with
Crusty White Bread
,
Medieval
Poached Pears
, red wine
This dish is one of our favorites. While many of the soups and stews in Westeros rely on one or two simple, hearty flavors, this one is a distinct and sophisticated medley,
both rich and delicate at the same time. The rabbit takes on a sweetness from the wine and onions that blends divinely with the saltiness of the olives and is rounded out by the rosemary.
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 rabbit, cut into pieces, keeping the legs whole
Salt and ground black pepper
1 cup dry red wine
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 rosemary sprigs, tied into 2 bundles with kitchen string
3 cups chicken stock
½ pound Niçoise olives (1½ cups)
In a large, deep skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season the rabbit with salt and pepper. Brown the rabbit over medium-high heat, turning it occasionally, until it is crusty all over, about 10 minutes. Transfer the rabbit to a large plate.
Add the wine to the skillet and continue cooking, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Pour the wine into a cup and reserve, then wipe out the skillet.
Add the remaining ¼ cup olive oil to the skillet and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and rosemary bundles and cook, stirring, until the tomato paste begins to brown, about 5 minutes.
Add the rabbit and any accumulated juices along with the reserved wine to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until sizzling, about 3 minutes. Add 2 cups of the stock, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover partially and cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Add the olives and the remaining 1 cup stock and cook until the sauce is slightly reduced and the rabbit is tender, about 20 minutes longer. Discard the rosemary bundles. Serve the rabbit in shallow bowls.
Cook’s Note:
Be mindful of the olive pits!

Trout Wrapped in Bacon

She stared at the supper set before her: trout wrapped in bacon, salad of turnip greens and red fennel and sweetgrass, pease and onions and hot bread
.
—A CLASH OF KINGS

Serves 2
Prep: 10 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
The fattiness of the bacon melts just perfectly into the trout in this dish, and the rosemary adds a subtle flavor from the inside of the fish, while the Medieval Fish Sauce provides a tangy sweetness to the outside.
1 whole trout (10 to 12 ounces), cleaned and gutted
Salt and ground black pepper
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
3 to 5 slices bacon
3 lemon slices
Preheat the broiler.
Put the fish in a shallow baking pan or a large, heavy, ovenproof skillet, then pat it dry and season the cavity with salt and pepper. Put the rosemary inside the cavity and season the outside of the fish with salt and pepper, then wrap the bacon slices around the fish.
Broil the fish 5 to 7 inches from the heat until the fish skin and the bacon are crisp, about 5 minutes. Turn the fish over gently with a spatula and broil for 2 minutes longer. Add the lemon slices to the pan in a single layer alongside the fish and continue to broil until fish is just cooked through and the rest of the bacon is crisp, 2½ to 3 minutes longer.
Transfer the fish to a platter and serve.

Arya’s Snitched Tarts

She filched one anyway, and ate it on her way out. It was stuffed with chopped nuts and fruit and cheese, the crust flaky and still warm from the oven. Eating Ser Amory’s tart made Arya feel daring
. Barefoot sure-foot lightfoot,
she sang under her breath. I am the ghost in Harrenhal
.

—A CLASH OF KINGS

Medieval Arya Tart

Take Wyn, & putte in a potte, an clarifyd hony, an Saunderys, pepir, Safroun, Clowes, Maces, & Quybibys, & mynced Datys, Pynys and Roysonys of Corauns, & a lytil Vynegre, & sethe it on þe fyre; an sethe fygys in Wyne, & grynde hem, & draw hem þorw a straynoure, & caste þer-to, an lete hem boyle alle to-gederys … þan kytte hem y lyke lechyngys, an caste hem in fayre Oyle, and fry hem a lytil whyle; þanne take hem owt of þe panne, an caste in-to a vesselle with þe Syrippe, & so serue hem forth, þe bryndonys an þe Sirippe, in a dysshe; & let þe Sirippe þe rennyng, & not to styf
.

—TWO FIFTEENTH-CENTURY COOKERY-BOOKS

Prep: 15 minutes
Frying pastry: 20 minutes
Topping: 45 minutes
Yields: 50 tarts
These tarts take a while to make, but they are worth every minute. The pastries look like one could easily overindulge, but each small shortbread cookie is a commitment. The fruit syrup is heavy and chewy; our British readers may recognize this dessert as the medieval ancestor of the Jammie Dodger.
1 bottle inexpensive sweet red wine, such as a Shiraz
1½ cups honey
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon
Poudre Forte
½ cup chopped dates or prunes
½ cup currants
1 cup fresh or dried figs, if available (if not, substitute your favorite berries), diced
Crumbled candied nuts (optional, but delicious)
Vegetable oil for frying
Bring the wine and honey to a boil, then reduce the heat and skim off the foam until the liquid is clear. Add the vinegar, poudre forte, and fruits; return the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Keep an eye on the fruit as you proceed—do not overreduce it! The syrup should lightly coat the back of a spoon and reduce by about a third to a half.
Roll the sweet dough to about ¼-inch thickness on a floured board, then use a circular cutter or drinking glass to cut out circles about 2 inches in diameter.
Pour a shallow layer of oil into a skillet or pan and place it over medium-high heat until hot. Working a few at a time, gently slip dough circles into the oil and fry until they are lightly browned and very crisp. Transfer the fried circles to paper towels to drain. Arrange the cakes on a serving platter, then spoon on just enough of the fruit mixture to cover each disk. Sprinkle with candied nuts. The yellowish cakes and the red topping make an interesting contrast in colors, and the wine will soften the cakes.

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