Meals by Kristi: 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