#da cooking club
Sorry for the lack of updates, I’ve been a little preoccupied with starting a new job. But the cooking must go on! Heat wave recipes part deux!
Check out the Master Post to see what this wacky project is all about and get the cookbook to join in the fun!
First up is a Spring SaladfromNevarra
Difficulty: 1/5. Guys, it’s a salad. Like, a super basic one. I mean yes you do have to turn on the stove to boil the eggs, but honestly hard boiling eggs is like the easiest cooking task ever.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 1/5. It’s got 5 ingredients.
Taste: 2.5/5. Meh, it’s a super basic salad. Non-offensive as long as you like tomato and egg (which I do). I would have preferred a creamy dressing like blue cheese, but the oil and lemon dressing was fine.
Suggested pairing: Something more exciting.
Suggestedpairing: Guys, it’s a salad.
Nevarran Cold Tomato Soup
Difficulty: 2/5. Point added for the straining. There’s a lot of pulp to strain out and my arm got tired holding the strainer full of soup as it sloooowly separated.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 2/5. You really want to splurge on nice fancy tomatoes, like at the fancy grocery store, or the farmer’s market. I used the orange sweet cherry tomatoes (recommendation from youtube which I highly recommend) and some sort of heirloom tomato. The quality of the tomatoes will make or break this dish.
Taste: 4/5. I didn’t have high hopes for this, and as you know I HATE bell pepper, but this was actually really good. I can’t shake the feeling that I just in essence made V8 juice, but it’s some damn tasty V8 juice!
Suggested pairing: Maybe the salad above. It’s surprisingly intensely flavored, so it will jazz it up.
Suggestedpairing: Cassandra/Cullen? Is that a thing? Either way this is very bracing and healthy, so I can see both of them knocking this back before a busy day of training the recruits and reciting love poetry and shit.
Rum and Coconut WaterfromRivain
Difficulty: 1/5. I basically made half a cocktail because they wanted this in a tall glass, and I didn’t foresee liking this enough for that. So I used only 1oz of rum and a rocks glass. I took the picture before stirring in the bitters because I think it’s pretty.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 2/5. I’m just gonna assume you have rum by now if you’ve been following along XD
Taste: 2/5. It’s weird, I like coconut, but I’ve always found coconut water really off-putting. I feel like it has a weird aftertaste or something? So yeah, this was not my favorite. It’s drinkable, but it’s not sweet enough for my tastes.
Suggestedpairing: It’s pretty boring, so Nathaniel? Buuuuurn!!!
Another 100+ degree heat wave is upon my area (37.8+ C for all my non-American friends), so it’s time for some more dishes that require no oven/stove!
Check out the Master Post to see what this wacky project is all about and get the cookbook to join in the fun!
ColeslawfromRivain
Difficulty: 1/5. No cooking required! I was even super lazy and just got a bag of pre chopped/grated green cabbage and carrot so I didn’t have to bother with it. Also full disclosure, I just eyeballed the measurements on everything, as the recipe was for such a large quantity and I wanted to make like a handful, and it would have gotten ludicrous trying to measure like a 1/16 teaspoon or something.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 1/5. Produce based meals tend to be the cheapest. Full disclosure, I didn’t see the celery salt in the recipe until I got home, and I wasn’t willing to go out and get some (one of the few spices I don’t have), but I doubt it would have made a monumental difference or been expensive. I also didn’t put raw red onions because I hate them so much I wouldn’t have wanted to eat the dish at all.
Taste: 2/5. Meh. I don’t like coleslaw as a general rule, and this didn’t change my mind, though I will say the mango and pineapple certainly make it a bit more exciting than your run of the mill deli counter coleslaw. I used the tiniest amount of hot pepper imaginable, but I did use some damn it! I guess if I HAD to make coleslaw for a potluck I would make this, but I hope to never find myself in a mandatory coleslaw situation to begin with
Suggested pairing: Coleslaw is such a BBQ/picnic food to me, so anything you’d drink there. Pop, beer, etc.
Suggestedpairing: Oghren, and only in pulled nug sliders, as is the only acceptable use for coleslaw.
Now for some dessert. Plums au SucrefromOrlais
Difficulty: 1/5. Very easy, just takes a bit of time to soak the plums, so not the ideal dessert for the impatient.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 1/5. Literally 4 ingredients, none of them expensive.
Taste: 4/5. It’s very good. Sweet but still a little tart, refreshing. I’m also digging the sour cream, though I don’t know what cookies are meant to be served with this. I have oreos, but something tells me that’s not the traditional Orlesian way.
Suggestedpairing: Vivienne. It’s sophisticated and just a little bit decadent. The perfect treat after a long day/night of playing the Grand Game.
And lastly lets get drunk! Pride of AfsaanafromRivain
Difficulty: 1/5. Just pouring over ice, easy peasy.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 2/5. Dark rum and amaretto in this one, not too uncommon, so some might already them in their liquor cabinet.
Taste: 2.5/5. Right in the middle. It’s not bad at all, but it’s nothing to write home about. There’s only 1.5 oz of alcohol and a shit ton of orange juice, so it mostly just tastes like orange juice.
Suggestedpairing: Sebanders, so little alcohol in it that Sebastian wouldn’t feel that Chantry guilt and Justice probably wouldn’t notice, so if Anders knocked back like a dozen* he might get tipsy.
*No matter how little alcohol, I wouldn’t recommend drinking a dozen of these in short succession. Anders has that warden constitution, you however do not. Drink responsibly ;)
