Yep, I just started Game of Thrones. And to commemorate the occasion, I had a friend over for two back-to-back episodes of lusty, crusty, surely syphillitic scandalousness, and a suitable meal drawn from the stories of George R. R. Martin.
A few other versions of these meals are floating around online already. These interpretations are very much my own, however, and so medievally easy to make!
For the main course, stew! The books speak often of venison, stewed with barley, beer and carrots. Sounds easy enough. Only, I really don't care for venison, and we have lamb nowadays in this realm, in abundance. So, that.
Chop into small pieces:
2 ribs celery
2 large carrots
1 red onion
Add these, a box of sliced mushrooms, and about a cup of pearled barley to a pot, with two cups water. And then... BEER! About 2 cups. For now. More as you go along.
Two pours for you, one for me. Two for you, one for me. Two for me, one for me,
Separately, brown half a pound of ground lamb, separating it into fine mince. You can do this first in the same pot to which you then add the veggies. I did mine separately so we could have some vegetarian stew alongside the lamb, for Handsome Consort.
When the lamb is browned, deglaze the pan with... guess what, BEER! Turn down to a low simmer and cover to soften.
When the stew carrots and barley are soft, add half a cup of meal. If you have barley grits on hand, fabulous, Altonate Brown. I didn't, so I just used cornmeal. Now is a good time to salt and peper the stew too. Plenty of black pepper and a scant teaspoon of salt. Be sure the stew is kept at a bubble so the cornmeal gelatinizes, or whatever, fully. Gets gluey-good. If too thick, beer.
Once the cornmeal has thickened the stew to a less-than-porridgey consistency, add a big dollop of bacon fat and the lamb. Simmer and add beer or water until ready to serve. Garnish with minced herbs. Marjoram, Thyme and Parsley are ideal.
This turned out exactly as I wanted. Incredibly savory and filling. It was definitely bordering on a savory porridge, but without a starch to accompany it, that was just fine. By the next morning, it was breakfast congee for sure!
Wellllllll.... there are actually hardly any edible grasses, you know. Corn, bamboo shoots... lemongrass if you don't actually eat it... so I decided none of those sounded very tasty with plums, nuts and spinach. I improvised.
This is a toss of finely julienned spinach and sorrel, tossed with lemon juice and olive oil.
Add to your "grass" some thinly sliced plums. After that, with the sorrel, plums and lemon, it was quite tart. So I added a generous helping of currants and some honey to the dressing. Perfect! Sweet, tart and fresh. Top with a load of chopped pecans. Now we feast!
Obviously, the accompanying media was Game of Thrones. Here's a favorite still which should chill you to the bone and make the stew all the more needed to warm you, sirrah:
*dribble dribble* mmmmm stew's good.
