The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (8 page)
This most British of all drinks arrived in the 1600s from China and quickly replaced ale as the national drink. Tradition credits the Duchess of Bedford (1800s) with starting the tradition of afternoon tea. She got very hungry waiting from her noon dinner to her nine o'clock supper. So at around four in the afternoon, she would sneak some food and tea. Later on she came out in the open and invited some ladies for tea and sweet delicacies and gossip. This caught on quickly among the higher class, who began to have tea with scones and jam or with pastries and delicate sandwiches, such as the famous cucumber sandwiches.
First, boil water in a kettle.
After the water finishes boiling, warm the teapot by swirling some hot water inside and then pouring it out; this will ensure that the tea will stay boiling hot when you serve it.
Fill the teapot with as many cups of hot water as you have guests and put in 1 heaping teaspoon of tea for each cup, plus 1 more.
Let the tea steep for 3 or 4 minutes; then bring the teapot to the table. Make sure a sugar bowl is handy, as well as a pitcher of milk or cream.
Serve the tea with cookies or little cakes.
Treats from the Train
Harry Potter is very worried. His ticket says he must board the eleven o'clock train to Hogwarts from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at King's Cross Station, but as his Uncle Vernon sneeringly points out before stomping away and leaving Harry alone, there is no such thing as Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Imagine Harry's surprise when he discovers that the platform is something you do: you lean against the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten and fall through to see the shiny red steam engine called the Hogwarts Express belching smoke into the morning air.
Harry is one lucky chap to get to travel to school in a steam engine. The shiny red steam engines of the past had beautiful cars with carved wooden seats and handsome wooden paneling on the walls. But this particular one had something even better: a food cart that sold unusual sweets such as Cauldron Cakes and Pumpkin Pasties. Harry enjoys buying stacks of the Cauldron Cakes, piles of the Pumpkin Pasties, and mountains of the Chocolate Frogs to share with his friends (see
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
, Chapter 6).
To Harry's surprise, the snacks witch on the Hogwarts Express isn't selling Heath Bars or Doritos. For the first time in his life, Harry pulls out some money and buys as many treats as he wants, which include Pumpkin Pasties (see
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
, Chapter 6).
Imagine biting into a pasty only to discover you've just chomped down on a whole bird, skin and bones and all. Yuck! But in the Middle Ages, huge too-tough-to-eat pasties enclosed whole birds or whole beef roasts. Today the most common pasty is the Cornish pasty, but in Cyprus a pasty filled with pumpkin and crushed wheat is a popular treat.
Pasty Crust
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into chunks
4–6 tablespoons ice water
Filling
1 cup canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
¼ cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the butter and shortening over the flour mixture. Pulse about 15 times until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal, with no white powdery bits remaining.
Transfer the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of cold water over the mixture. Toss the mixture together with a spatula until it starts clumping together. If it's too dry, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time (better too wet than too dry). Gather the dough into a ball and pat it into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.
Combine the pumpkin, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Roll out the dough 1/8-inch thick. Use a saucer to cut out 6-inch circles.
Put 2 to 3 tablespoons of filling in the center of each circle of dough. Moisten the edges with water, fold the dough over the filling, and crimp with a fork to seal the edges. Cut slits to make vents. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 30 minutes or until browned.
Makes 6 pasties
What could be worse than missing the train and having to fly your father's car to school? Eating sweets for hours and then realizing you have nothing with which to wash it down, although crashing into a murderous tree probably ranks up there as well. After finishing the bag of toffees Harry and Ron find in the car, Harry is so thirsty he starts fantasizing about the pumpkin juice he could buy if he were on the Hogwarts Express (see
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
, Chapter 5).
It's unsurprising that witches — or wizards, in this case — would drink pumpkin juice. During the fall harvest, the Celts used to carve vegetable lanterns out of turnips and rutabagas to scare away evil spirits. Later, Americans started using pumpkins in the same tradition. The pumpkin lanterns eventually became associated with Halloween perhaps because of its connection with witches (and demons and vampires and such like).
1 small pumpkin, known as sugar pumpkin or pie pumpkin
2 cups apple juice
1 cup white grape juice
1 cup pineapple juice
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Slice the pumpkin in half pole to pole and scoop out the seeds. Don't worry about the stringy fibers; they are hard to remove and won't affect the results. Place the pumpkin halves face down on a baking sheet and roast 45 minutes to 1 hour until soft. Remove from the oven.
When the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and discard the skin. Place the cooked pumpkin in a large finemesh sieve set over a bowl and push the pumpkin through using a rubber spatula. Scrape and mash as you push; it will take several minutes. Discard the pulpy mass left in the sieve. Stir the sieved pumpkin in the bowl to evenly distribute the juices, and then measure out 1 cup.
Place the cup of sieved pumpkin in a pitcher along with the apple juice, grape juice, and pineapple juice. Stir vigorously until the pumpkin is completely dispersed. Chill the juice until it's very cold.
Before serving, stir the juice well, as the pumpkin will settle to the bottom. Fill crystal goblets with ice cubes and pour the juice over the ice.
Makes 5 cups
Although this recipe was tested using freshly roasted pumpkin, it would probably work if you use canned pumpkin instead to save the bother of making it from scratch.
In the wizarding world this dish is called Cauldron Cakes. Harry sees them for the first time on the witch's trolley on board the Hogwarts Express in
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
. He generously shares with Ron, who finds his dry corned beef sandwich unappealing (Chapter 6).
The humble pancake had an exciting birth. Frantically trying to use up all their butter, milk, and cream by Lent, housewives fried stacks and stacks of the stuff. One legend has a housewife flipping pancakes while running to church to be shriven (receive penance for her sins). So Shrove Tuesday became known as Pancake Day, a day when pancake-eating contests are still held. Women in some towns race to church while carrying frying pans filled with pancakes. The prize? A prayer book.
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature 2/3 cup granulated sugar Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), melted
2½ cups whole milk mixed with juice of 1 lemon, left to sit at room temperature until thickened or microwaved for 30 seconds to 1 minute until thickened Confectioners' sugar, for dusting Marmalade, for serving
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest together until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Drizzle in the melted butter while whisking vigorously. Whisk in the milk.
Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture. Whisk the two mixtures together briefly until just combined. The batter may be lumpy. Take care not to overmix or the pancakes will come out tough.
Spray an 8-inch skillet with cooking spray. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat. Pour ½ cup of batter into the skillet and cook until the surface bubbles and the bottom is golden brown (check by lifting gently with a fork). Cook on the other side for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden. Remove the cake from the pan and repeat until all the batter is used up, spraying the pan with cooking spray between each pancake.
Dust the pancakes with confectioners' sugar or serve with a dab of marmalade.
Makes about 11 large pancakes
Professor Slughorn likes his food. At his “Slug Club” gathering onboard the Hogwarts Express, he passes around a platter of assorted pies (see
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
, Chapter 7). Assuming some were savory and some were sweet, recipes for both types are included. The following four pie recipes are classically British.
Medieval pies were filled with all sorts of food thrown together, like a magpie's collection, hence the name pie. Today we try to stick to a theme, so we have “chicken and mushroom pie” and not “chicken and mushroom and apples and whipped cream and oats and raisins and cinnamon and black pepper pie.”
Pie Crust
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, chilled and cut into pieces
½ cup (8 tablespoons) vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into pieces
½ to ¾ cup cold water
Chicken and Mushroom Filling
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
5 ounces (half a package) white mushrooms, finely chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1¼ cups chicken broth
8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into ¼-inch pieces
¼ teaspoon thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for brushing the tops of the pies
Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter and shortening over the flour mixture. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal without any white powdery bits remaining, about 15 pulses. Turn the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle ½ cup water over the mixture and toss with a rubber spatula until the dough sticks together. Add more water 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough is dry (better too wet than too dry). Divide the dough in half, form into disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 2 hours or up to 3 days.
To make the Chicken and Mushroom Filling, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and mushrooms and sauté until well browned. Sprinkle the flour over and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Slowly pour in the chicken broth while stirring. Cook until the mixture thickens. Add the chopped chicken breast, thyme, and salt and pepper. Stir until well combined. Bring back to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, transfer to another bowl, and cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. On a generously floured surface, roll out one of the disks very thin. Use a 6-inch saucer to cut out six circles. Fit the circles into a 6-cup muffin pan, leaving the overhang. Fill generously with the chicken and mushroom filling.
Roll out the second disk of dough. Use a 4-inch cookie cutter to cut out six circles. Brush the overhanging dough with water and lay the circles over the filling. For each pie, fold the over-hang over the top circle of dough and press with your fingers to seal. Cut slits in the top of each pie to form vents, and brush the tops with the beaten egg. Bake for 1 hour until golden brown, rotating the pan midway through baking.
