Challenge 1 wrote:
We always like to include a challenge that honors our Flight, given that it’s the entire point of the Jamboree after all! This year we’ve decided to knock that off the list right at the start, and have decided to assemble some of our clan’s favorite green colored ingredients. I won’t lie…there was some heated debate amongst some of our numbers on whether some options were more Nature-green vs Wind-green.
Use at least THREE of the following ingredients in your entry:
Glass Vole / Coral Dweller / Fragrant Orchid / Leaf Insect
Bones was very excited to compete with her team at the Mistral Meals Cooking Competition again. She really hoped that a good showing here would redeem her culinary reputation with the clan as they believed her good showing last year was merely a fluke.
She felt that the old recipe book she “borrowed” from PocketMayhem’s collection of historical “Dirt” recipes by the semi-mythical cryptid Whoz (a weird half-centaur mixed race --the upper half is a centaur while the lower half is ape-like) would surely impress the judges again. The only things they brought from home for the competition was Bones set of chef knives and a transmutation cauldron, MagmaFlawer’s (pastry chef) favorite rolling pin, and Garnet’s (spice /herb and magic consultant) collection of dried and fresh herbs and spices, vinegars and flavored oils, her magic cauldron and cauldron spoon.
One they received the first challenge, Bones consulted with her team. They paged through the ancient tome looking for something that was both green and “windy” as they were not exactly sure of the theme of the event so they decided to cover both. After some discussion, they decided on the following recipe to “recreate”: Vegetable Gateau. They would make it better tasting by adding in the required competition ingredients. However, they k new that not all the historical ingredients were available in Sornieth, so they would need to make some additional recipe substitutions.
They then turned their minds to how to celebrate wind flight and the mistral jamboree. They threw around a lot of ideas but decided to make the dish in the shape of a green Kite decorated with wind symbols on it that would be magicked by Garnet to float. They decided that the ingredients they would use in the gateau itself would be Coral Dweller and the Fragrant Orchid. They would use the Leaf Insect as decoration on top of the gateau for tree leaves and the glass vole for added crunch as a topping and their tails as the tail of the kite.
“Springtime Windswept Plateau Gateau” a molded mountain of crepes in a kite shape, layered with whole glass voles, scallops of corral dweller, green vegetables, fragrant orchid plants and cheese and garnished with leaf insects and fragrant orchid petals set into wind flight symbols with a kite tail of glass vole tails and mustache moths
Original Ingredients with substitutions in parentheses
Crepe Batter
• 1 cup flour (sub: acorn flour)*
• 2/3 cup milk (Herdbeast millk/cream)
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 eggs (Hooded Hen Eggs)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons melted butter (from Herdbeast milk/cream)
Acorn Flour
• 6 pounds/2.7kilograms). acorns
• Water for soaking
Vegetables, Coral Dweller Scallops and Cheese for Filling
• 450 grams carrots (sub: green plantain)
• 8 to 8 tablespoons butter (from Herdbeast milk/cream)
• salt
• pepper (sub: chopped golden peppers)
• 450 grams fresh mushrooms (sub: Cindershrooms)
• 4 tablespoons shallots (sub: wild onion)
• 500 grams fresh broccoli (sub: spinach)
• 2 cups shredded grated Swiss cheese* (see separate recipe for cheese below)
• 4 tablespoons chopped Fragrant Orchid (flower, stems, leaves and roots)
• 450 grams Coral Dweller chopped into scallops
• 450 grams Glass Vole (whole skinned with feet and tail removed)
**Cheese (Soft Mozzarella) (30 minutes)
• 9 liter full cream unhomogenised milk (Herdbeast millk/cream)
• 1.5 cup vinegar (made from sour green apples)
• 3 tbsp salt
Custard Mixture for Filling
• 1 cup (225 grams cream cheese at room temperature)*** (see separate recipe for cream cheese below)
• 6 large eggs (Hooded Hen Eggs)
• 1 cup heavy cream (Herdbeast millk/cream)
• salt
• pepper (minced golden peppers
• a pinch of fresh nutmeg to taste (sub: cinnamon)
***Cream Cheese (20 min.)
• 4 cups (32oz /1000ml) whole full fat milk (Herdbeast millk/cream)
• 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice (lime juice or white vinegar) (sub: sour strawberries juice and vinegar)
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt (read notes)
• Herbs
Garnish
• Leaf Insect
• Fragrant Orchid
• Glass Mole Tails
• Mustache Moth
• Honey from honeycomb
• Green food coloring.
Making Acorn Flour
After Magmaflawer and Bones decided on how to adapt the recipe, Magmaflawer and her familiar, a Coarsefur Yeti named, Bob AreUDoneYeti, started on grinding the necessary flour. The recipe called for about 2 cups (256 grams) of instant-blending flour. . Magmaflawer’s research knew that this meant flour from “wheat” an ancient grain that was extinct. However, acorn would be an acceptable substitute, one that she had used quite often in her cookies and breads. This was a time consuming process with multiple steps so Magmaflawer knew she and Bob would be spending all of the first day and part of the second making acorn flour.
The first step to making acorn flour after you obtain enough acorns (at least 6 pounds/2.7kilograms) requires the acorns to be cracked open (which task she assigned to her familiar Bob, who loved to break things with its big fists). Then the acorns needed to be soaked for 12 hours since they are tough to crush before they can be chopped -- another great task for Bob. The chopped nuts need to be repeatedly soaked in cheesecloth in thirty minute increments for several hours to get rid of the bitter tannins. After that they need to dry for at least 6 hours by air or by the judicious use of fire magic so that they stay damp but not soaking wet. It is only after this that the nuts can be ground into flour with rocks, once again a job for Bob. While Bob was making the flour, Magmaflawer spent the day researching wind flight symbols and a wind-blown tree for decorating the kite afterwards.
Making Cheese
Meanwhile Bones made the soft cheese for the filling. It was supposed to only take 30 minutes to make but it took Bones about an hour and half because of trial and error. First she took the full cream raw milk and poured it into a heavy bottom pot over medium high heat, stirring continuously while until the milk became lukewarm (the temperature of the milk should be approximately 45º Celsius/113º Fahrenheit). She removed the warm milk from the flame and added ½ cup sour green apple vinegar. She stirred it for exactly 25 seconds because she found out to her chagrin that over-stirring caused the curd to break. It took her 3 tries to get this right. She then removed the pot from the heat, covered it and let it rest for 20 minutes until the curds formed and the whey separated completely. She then drained of the curds over a colander lined with a cheese cloth set upon a separate pot. She squeezed the curds gently so that whey water left. She set the curd bundle aside to continue dripping out whey. Into the saved whey water she added the salt, stirring well. She heated the pot with whey water salt mixture until the water reached the temperature of approximately 80º Celsius/176º Fahrenheit. She then turned off the flame and dropped in the squeezed curds in a cheese cloth, dipping them 5 times. She removed the curds squeezed gently to removing the excess water. She again dipped them in hot water 5 times. She continued this step until the curds turned cheesy and smooth. She had to be careful not to over stretch as the cheese can turns rubbery. (She found this out the hard way by having to do this step multiple times until she got it right). When it was finally the correct consistency, she dipped the cheese in ice-cold water and let it rest for 2 minutes to set the cheese completely. She then wrapped the cheese in cling wrap and refrigerated it for 2 hours before using.
Making Cream Cheese
After a short break munching on some Glass Voles, Bones began making the cream cheese. It should only take about 20 minutes but it took about an hour with trial and error. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, she heated the milk on med-high, stirring it constantly until it started a rolling boil. She immediately reduced the heat to medium simmer. She added the sour strawberry juice and vinegar 1 tablespoon at a time in 1-minute intervals while stirring constantly. She continued stirring at a medium simmer until the mixture curdled. She continued stirring constantly until the mixture separated completely, this should take just a few minutes. There was a peculiar green liquid on the bottom and thick curdles on the top. Since the recipe said this was normal, she ignored it. She removed the mixture from the heat. She them laid a sieve with cheesecloth over a large bowl, whereupon she poured the curd mixture into the sieve. She let it strain and cool for about 15 minutes. After this, she transferred the curds to a food processor and processed the mix until the curds came together and were totally smooth and creamy. It was supposed to take around 3-4 minutes. Since her cream cheese was still grainy, she kept processing it. Finally it was smooth. She added salt and herbs. She molded the cream cheese into a ball and wrapped it up and placed it in the fridge.
Making The Crepes
Once the acorn flour was ready, Magmaflawer was ready to make the crepes. She melted the butter in a small dish using fire magic. She then poured the acorn flour into a bowl and stirred in the salt. She blended the milk and water into the flour, beating with a whip until smooth, then she beat in the eggs one at a time. Lastly she added in the salted butter. She then let the mixture rest for an hour or two so that the flour granules could absorb the liquid – making a more tender crepe.
She cooked the crepes by heating a frying pan until a drop of water sizzled on the surface. She then brushed the pan surface lightly with a little butter (usually only necessary for the first crepe), and poured 2 to 3 tablespoons of the batter into the center of the pan, turning the pan in all directions as she did so to spread the batter over the bottom surface. She cooked it for 30 seconds or so, until she saw, when she lifted an edge, that it was nicely browned. She then turned it and cooked it for 15 more seconds. She cooled each crepes on a cake rack for approximately 5 minutes. Once they were dry, she stack them together, wrapped in foil and placed them in a plastic bag. She made some extra thicker crepes for cutting into decorations for the top of the kite. Once the thicker crepes had cooled and hardened she cut out the shape of a large tree with limbs for the top of the cake. For the sides of the cake she cut out the whirlwind emblem, wind flight emblem, bamboo, wind chimes, balloons, wind gusts.
Preparing the Meat, Seafood & Vegetable Filling
While MagmaFlawer was making the crepes. Bones cut the plantains (peel and all) into julienne matchsticks and chopped the golden peppers (with seeds). She sautéed them in 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in a large frying pan, swirling and tossing frequently until they were tender, being careful not to brown them. She seasoned them with salt and set them aside.
She finely minced the cindershrooms and wild onion. She sautéed them in the same large frying pan until the liquid from the cindershrooms evaporated (around 10 minutes). She season with salt and set aside in another bowl.
She chopped the spinach and fragrant orchid (whole plant). She sautéed them in the same large frying pan with a little butter until wilted and set aside in another bowl.
She chopped off the tails and feet of the glass voles and quickly skinned them. She did not remove the bones. After melting some butter in a large frying pan, she seared the meat (but did not cook it through). She set the seared meat in another bowl.
Bones took the whole Coral Dweller and using a round cutting tool, cut 1 inch circles from its fins so that they looked like scallops. She seared the scallops in butter for about 30 seconds a side and placed in the bowl with the vole meat.
To prepare the custard mixture, Bones blended the cream cheese with the rest of the custard ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.
She then grated the cheese into fine crumbs.
Assembling the Gateau
• Preheat the over to 180c./350ºF. In a large 8 C./2 liter square baking pan at least 4 inches deep, she greased the sides with butter and lined the bottom of the dish with buttered wax paper. She fit 1 crepe (good side down) in the bottom center of the dish and spaced 4-6 around the sides. She then spread 1/4 of the grated cheese in the bottom of the dish, covered it with the plantains and golden peppersc pressing them into place. She topped them with 1/3 of the remaining cheese. Then she ladled in enough custard mixture to come just to the level of the plantains, peppers and cheese.
Bones arranged more crepes on top, and spread over it the mushrooms, voles and scalloped coral dweller and another ladleful of custard. She then arranged more crepes over the mushrooms and spread 1/2 of the remaining cheese, then spinach and orchid mixture and the final bit of cheese.
Finally she poured on the last of the custard mixture and folded the first layer of overhanging crepes up over the filling; covered with a crepe and folded the first layer of overhanging crepes up over the filling; covered with a crepe and fold the outside layer of overhang up over it, and covered with 1 or more crepes. She placed a round of buttered wax paper over the dish, and covered it all with a sheet of foil. She knew not to overfill her pan because the first time she did it, it came out a mess.
She immediately placed the he gateau on the middle rack of a pre-heated oven (with foil beneath the pan to catch drips) and baked for 1 hour at 180c./350ºF. After 1 hours, when the when the gateau started to rise, she turned the oven up to 205C/400ºF. It eventually rose an inch or more and was done when a meat thermometor read 71c/165ºF. Bones removed it from the oven and let it rest at room temperature for around 20 to 30 minutes to allow the custard to set and settle. She then ran a thin wet bladed knife carefully around the inside of the dish, and unmolded the dish onto a platter.
Magmaflawer decorated the top with a tree trunk and limbs made of toasted crepes painted green with food coloring. The leaves were made of leaf insects. She attached the tree and leaves with a little honey. She placed around the sides of the kite, wind flight symbols carved from toasted crepes and painted green with food coloring. She attached a tail to the kite from braided glass vole tails decorated with mustache moth “bows.”
As a final touch Bones sprinkled some green pixie dust over the gateau just before it was presented to the judges that caused the cake to levitate and gently swoop around like a kite in a gentle breeze. At least that was what was supposed to happen, instead it shot straight up, almost hit the ceiling and swooped around the room until it landed hard on the table in front of the judges, luckily only a little worse for wear.
Adapted from: Julia Child & More Company Cookbook at
https://trissalicious.com/2009/08/23/spring-on-a-plate-vegetable-gateau-of-julia-child/
cheese recipe from:
https://hebbarskitchen.com/hot-to-make-homemade-cheese-recipe/#recipe_card_for_how_to_make_mozzarella_cheese_at_home_recipe
cream cheese recipe from:
https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/how-to-make-cream-cheese/
“How to Make Acorn Flour” at
https://www.cupcakeproject.com/how-to-make-acorn-flour-pre-thanksving/#:~:text=Acorns%20are%20edible.&text=Once%20the%20tannins%20are%20removed,sweet%2C%20subtle%2C%20and%20earthy
Image: https://i.
pinimg.com/564x/05/e5/7f/05e57ff73c84e926e2d86fa60fc0e010.jpg
salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
1 lemon, 1/2 for its juice and half for wedges
Crispy Glass Vole, Orchid Sauce! 
