Cooking Adventures: From Lamb Stew to Butterbeer

This past weekend me and my friend Cristian got together again for another cooking day! Last time we got together and cooked up the Hunger Games meal of citrus chicken. This time we decided to go all out and cook up not just one book inspired dish but four! Here was the lineup:

1. Apple and Goat Cheese Tarts (The Hunger Games)
2. Peeta's Raisin and Nut Bread (The Hunger Games)
3. Butterbeer (Harry Potter)
4. Lamb Stew with Dried Plums (The Hunger Games) 

So we started out the day with the Apple and Goat Cheese Tarts. These aren't exactly a prominent element of The Hunger Games but Peeta does mention once that he makes them at the bakery. The prep for these guys took FOREVER but they turned out really cute!

Unfortunately the we added too much salt to the pastry dough so they tasted well... really salty. :P In the words of my mother: "These are practically inedible!" Yeah it was bad... She took it upon herself to make a brand new batch of pastry dough and we did it all over again. They tasted MUCH better this the second time around!

Right before we cooked up Peeta's bread there was a little fire fiasco in the oven. Lets just say that I almost burned my house down.... I kid, I kid it wasn't that bad! Cristian and I did sort of freak out though. Our conversation went something like this:

*opens oven door*

 (we took a picture for posterities sake)

Julia: Ummm Cristian. The ovens on fire.
Cristian: WHAT?!?!
Julia: What do I do?!
Cristian: Do you have a fire extinguisher?
Julia: No! Not that I know of. Should we throw water on it?
Cristian: I don't think that's a good idea. You do realize that your smoke alarm is gonna start going off?
Julia: We don't have a smoke alarm.
Cristian: Seriously?

Hahahaha so maybe my house isn't the best when it comes to fire safety.... >.< Turns out we do have a fire extinguisher but its actually not pressurized correctly so we wouldn't have been able to use it anyway. Here's a picture of me after we put the fire out:

As you can see I was VERY happy about this. Hehehe.

So after we put the fire out we were able to put Peeta's bread in the oven. It ended up turning out super good! SO DELICIOUS! I got the recipe from Fictional Food and I really encourage you guys to try it!

Next we made butterbeer! I got the recipe from the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (I downloaded it for free from iBooks!). This was basically a syrup that we cooked up and then mixed with club soda. I would have liked it to have a bit more of a butterscotch flavor but overall it was really tasty!

We put some whipped cream on top for a foam effect! After trying this I'm really curious to know what the butterbeer at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter tastes like.

And last but not least we made Katniss' favorite dish Lamb Stew with Dried Plums! I didn't really know what to expect from this dish (especially after the last Hunger Games meal we cooked) but I shouldn't have been too worried since the recipe was derived from a Julia Child recipe and everyone knows that Julia Child can do no wrong! Again, I got the recipe from Fictional Food. This dish turned out AMAZING. I can definitely see why it was Katniss' favorite capitol dish. I didn't know what the addition of the plums was going to be like but it turned out to be my favorite part. They add a nice sweetness to the sauce and when eaten with the rest of the stew they really add a richness to the flavors. My whole family loved it and we'll definitely be cooking it again!

Here's a sort of crappy picture of what the stew turned out like:

Believe me that its much tastier than it looks. :P

So despite a pastry mishap and a little fire fiasco all the dishes turned out pretty swell! I don't know what we'll be cooking next (maybe the Hunger Games fish stew?) so if you guys have any book inspired recipes you think I should try let me know!

Julia :)