Harry Potter's Hogwarts Feast

Coming up with the Harry Potter menu was very fun! The dessert ideas are endless since they talk about so many different desserts in the books.  It was a little harder to come up with vegetable side dishes, so some of them I simply made up! (Like Professor Sprout’s Super Salad) I can’t remember them ever eating salad at Hogwart’s, but I felt that this salad looked like something Professor Sprout would have cultivated in her Herbology class.  Please let me know what fun ideas you invent!

 

Hogwarts Feast:

Butterbeer:  Gingerale, Butterscotch Syrup, Cream Soda, Sparkling Mineral Water (Pour all ingredients into a large container-I used a large drink dispenser that has a spigot- and gently stir together with a whisk.  Note that you will need to stir about every 30-45 minutes as the butterscotch syrup will tend to settle to the bottom.  For glasses I had brightly colored red paper cups with red and white paper straws.)

Polyjuice Potion:  Mango, Nectarine, Mint, Lemon Juice and Agave Syrup (Puree fruit in a high powered blender like a Vita Mix with water until smooth. I wanted to add fresh kiwi to this drink to give it an even greener hue, but I didn’t have a ripe one.  I served this in a large pitcher)

 

Putrified Party Platter:

-Morbid Morbier (Morbier Cheese),

-Headless Huntsman Cheese (Huntsmen Striped Cheddar and Blue Cheese),

-Compressed Goblin Guts (Dried Fig and Almond Cake-you can find this in the cheese department of Whole Foods)

-Blood Stained Gouda (Red Wine Soaked Gouda)

-Crackers and Baguettes

-Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (I tossed them with a little Roasted Garlic Olive Oil, Canola Oil, Cayenne Pepper & Kosher Salt and then roasted them at 350 for about 10-15 minutes)

-Dehydrated Womping Willow Leaves (Kale Chips sold at Whole Foods and other Natural Markets)

Main:

-Cornish Pasties: Beef Tenderloin, Potatoes, Carrots, Leeks in a Flaky Pastry

Pie Crust (For these I made a filling by first boiling baby white potatoes in a heavily salted pot of water until tender.  Then I roughly cut/mashed them and stirred in a little butter and salt.  Next sautée the carrots and leeks with a little salt over low heat, for about an hour.  Dump that mixture in a large bowl with the potatoes and in the same skillet brown your chunks of meat.  I ended up chopping them pretty fine in a food processor once cooled.  Into the skillet add some brown gravy mix, water and chicken stock, bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and stir all ingredients together.  Make a basic pastry using about 2 cups all purpose flour, generous 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup cold butter, 1 cup shortening, 1 Tbsp. kosher salt, 1 tsp. paprika, 2 Tbsp. sugar and about 5 Tbsp. ice water. Make the pastry in a food processor  and chill until ready.  Roll out and cut with a large round cookie cutter or any large round thing you have that will cut the dough.  Place a small amount of filling in the center of the dough and crimp edges together like you would for a turnover.  Bake at 400 for about 30-40 minutes until nicely browned.)

-Fried Bangers: I braised the sausages in a pot filled with beer, beef stock, onions and garlic then pan fried them in a little butter

-Buttered Peas

-Professor Sprouts Super Salad: Butter Lettuce, Baby Red Leaf Lettuce, Mixed Microgreens, Alfalfa Sprouts,

Julienned Zucchini, Red Quinoa, Wheat Berries, Fresh Figs with a Balsamic

Vinaigrette

-Hagrid's Rock Cakes: Seeded Farmers Bread

-Fresh Cherries and Watermelon

Desserts:

-Tentacula Seeds: Truffle Covered Corn Nuts (purchased from Whole Foods-they have a Spanish name that I can’t recall…something like Piedras de Cocoa or something along those lines.  For displaying these I used a votive candle holder)

-Mandrake Seeds: Chocolate Pearls (purchased from Whole Foods)

-Wormtails: Gummy Worms (I had a very cool vial/vase for displaying these)

-Ton Tonks Toffee: Lula's of Monterey Handmade Toffee with Nuts (I can’t speak highly enough of this company! They make an absolutely fabulous English Toffee)

-Olivander's Licorice Wands: Multicolor Twizzlers Dipped in White Chocolate with

Sprinkles (In my opinion these overly processed food coloring and sugar bombs are gross, but they looked so cute.)

-Kreture's Cockroach Clusters: Chocolate and Crunchy Peanut Butter Covered Chow Mein Noodles(Melted dark chocolate chunks and then stirred in crunchy peanut butter and tossed in the chow mein noodles.  I did use Jiff peanut butter because I thought the all natural kind might separate.  I displayed these in a very tall cone shaped vase.  To do this I put wadded up paper towels in the bottom 2/3 of the vase and piled the clusters on top

-Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean: Assorted Jelly Belly's displayed in short and tall clear glasses

My cousin, Montana getting in the spirit!

 

Honey Pecan Tart with Red Wine Fig Jam

This dessert is possibly the best dessert I have ever eaten!!! It kind of tastes like a fig newton, but about a million times better.  One person I served it to, said it was the best thing they had ever put in their mouth!! They were not kidding.  People please make this dessert-you won’t be disappointed.  I am so sorry I did not take more pictures of the process and finished product, but I was in a hurry when I made it and did not realize at the time that I would love it as much as I did! Next time I make it (which will be soon) I will try to take more pictures and add them to the blog. I adapted the recipe from a recipe I got from Ellerbe’s Restaurant of Fort Worth, Texas.  I did make a few small tweaks and changes. 

Honey Pecan Tart with Red Wine Fig Jam

Tart Shell:

-3/4 cup Ground Pecans (I ground mine in the bowl of a food processor)

-1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs

-1 stick Butter, melted

-pinch of Kosher Salt

-2 Tbsp. Sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  In a medium bowl, combine the ground pecans, graham cracker crumbs, salt and sugar.  Pour the melted butter over the mixture and stir to incorporate.  Gently press the crust into a 9-11 inch tart shell with a removable bottom.  Place tart shell on baking sheet that has been covered with aluminum foil and bake for 15-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool completely. (Let cool for about 5 minutes then press the crust down with the back of a spoon)

Filling:

-1/2 cup Butter

-1/2 cup Brown Sugar

-1/2 cup Honey

-4 Egg Yolks

-1/4 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

-2 Tbsp. All Purpose Flour

-pinch Kosher Salt

-1 cup Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Cream the butter, honey and sugar together with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer.  Add the egg yolks one at a time until incorporated.  Mix in the flour, salt and cinnamon.  Stir in the heavy cream.  Pour the filling into the tart shell and bake for 30-50 minutes until the middle of the tart is puffed up and set. (I realize this is a very wide time frame, but the original directions said 30 minutes, when I baked mine, it took nearly an hour.) Cool completely in the refrigerator.  It puffs way up when baking, but then once it cools, it sinks back down allowing room for the fig jam layer.

Red Wine Fig Jam:

-2 cups Dried Figs (not tightly packed)

-1 cup water

-1 and ½ cups Red Wine

-1/4-1/2 cup Sugar (depending on your tastes)

-Pinch of Kosher Salt

Place all ingredients into a small sauce pot.  Cook over medium heat until about ¾ cup liquid is remaining.  Let cool slightly and then transfer to the bowl of a food processor.  Process until smooth.  If your mixture is too thick add a small amount of water.  Spread ¾ cup to 1 cup of the jam over the top of the chilled tart so that there is about a ¼ inch layer of jam on the top. 

To serve: 

-6-8 ripe Mission Figs

Cut figs into quarters and place quarters around outer perimeter of tart and serve!

Banana, Chocolate & Caramel Layer Cake

I came up with this cake yesterday when someone told me their favorite desserts would be anything with bananas, chocolate or caramel.  I decided to combine all three into a towering birthday cake! I wasn’t sure if I myself would be a huge fan of the results, but after one bite I was in love!  I don’t really consider myself to be much of a baker, so when I’m doing a big dinner party and have a lot to do, I often rely on box cake mixes and then doctor them up.  The results are always dependably delicious, but of course you are welcome to make your own cake from scratch if you prefer.  The chopped maraschino cherries are not really detectable in the final chocolate cake, but they do help make it extra moist.  I’m generally opposed to things so artificial like maraschino cherries, but I do like using them in chocolate cakes and figure eating a few of these little red dye #40 bombs a year, probably won’t kill me.  The banana in the yellow cake helped give it a banana flavor as well as making the cake nice and moist. I recommend making the vanilla pudding and caramel while you are baking the cakes.  I apologize for not having more pictures of the process, but I really wasn't planning to blog it until I tasted the final result!

Banana, Chocolate & Caramel Layer Cake

For Cakes:

-1 box Chocolate Cake Mix (plus ingredients called for i.e. eggs, oil, water)

-1/4 Maraschino Cherries, chopped (optional)

-1 box Yellow Cake Mix (plus ingredients called for)

-1 large banana, sliced into rounds

Cake Directions: Make chocolate cakes according to package instructions, adding in the chopped maraschino cherries.  Bake in two 9 inch rounds and cool on racks.  Make the yellow cake according to the package instructions, adding the banana with the other ingredients.  Bake in two 9 inch rounds and cool on racks.

For Vanilla Pudding:

-2 ½ cups half and half

-1 Vanilla Bean, split down the center or 1 Tbsp. Vanilla Bean Paste

-pinch of kosher salt

-1/3 cup sugar

-2 Tbsp. Cornstarch

-6 large Egg Yolks at room temperature

-6 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, cold and cut into 6 pats

Vanilla Pudding Directions:

Bring half and half, vanilla bean or paste(scrape seeds into half and half and then throw in the whole bean), salt and 3 Tbsp sugar to simmer in a medium saucepan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally.  In a bowl stir together remaining sugar and cornstarch, then sprinkle over yolks and whisk together about 2 minutes.  When half and half reaches a simmer, drizzle about ½ cup of hot half and half over the yolks, whisking constantly; then whisk the egg yolk mixture into the simmering half and half.  The mixture will thicken in about 30 seconds.  Simmer, whisking constantly, until a few bubbles burst on the surface and the mixture is thickened and glossy, about 15 seconds longer.  Remove from heat and whisk in the cold butter until incorporated. Pour the pudding into a shallow pan and place in the refrigerator to chill. 

Caramel Sauce:

-1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

-1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar

-1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar

-1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Directions for Caramel Sauce: Combine brown sugar and butter in sauce pan over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved.  Add in heavy cream and continue to stir occasionally at a low simmer for about ten minutes, until sauce is a rich, deep golden brown.   Set aside to cool.

For  Cake Assembly:

-2 rounds Yellow Banana Cake

-2 rounds Chocolate Cake

-Vanilla Pudding, chilled

-about 3 bananas, thinly sliced into rounds

-2 or 3 cups of Heavy Whipping Cream

-Caramel Sauce at room temperature, or chilled

-4 wooden skewers

-Chocolate Sauce (nice quality, store bought)

-Crème Anglaise (optional for plating)

Cake Assembly: Place four strips of parchment paper around the edges of your cake plate. (This is to keep the plate clean while you are assembling and frosting.) Place one round of the yellow banana cake on your platter on top of the strips.  Cover with a thin layer of vanilla pudding and then cover that with the banana rounds.  Place a chocolate cake round on top and repeat with all remaining layers.  Holding the skewer up to your 4 stacked layers, trim all of them so that they are the same height as your cake.  Place the 4 skewers through the layers to prevent the layers from slipping once your cake is done.  Whip the heavy cream until you have medium peaks.  Fold in about ½ cup to 1 cup of the caramel, just enough so that you have the delicious caramel flavor.   Frost the entire cake with caramel whipped cream and then drizzle in one direction with the chocolate sauce and then in another direction with the caramel sauce.  (I put the sauces into squeeze bottles for easy drizzling and plating.)  After all of the frosting and drizzling is done, gently remove the parchment strips.  If you will be serving the cake immediately, garnish the top with some sliced banana rounds.  Once this beauty has been presented I like to place some crème anglaise on each dessert plate, sqeeze some chocolate sauce on top and then a squeeze of caramel sauce on the side.  Make sure you keep this cake in the refrigerator if you are making it ahead of time. 

Crème Anglaise:

-1/2 cup whole milk

-1/2 cup whipping cream

-1 tsp. vanilla bean paste

-3 large egg yolks

-3 Tbsp. Sugar

Directions: Combine milk, cream and vanilla bean paste in a medium saucepan.  Bring mixture to a simmer.  Remove from heat.  Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl to blend.  Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into yolk mixture.  Return custard to saucepan and stir over low heat until custard thickens and leaves a path on the back of a spoon when you draw your finger across it.  Don’t boil. Transfer to a bowl and cover, by placing a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface and then another piece over the top of the bowl.  This can be made two days in advance.