Arya's Snitched Tart's from the South - TOMORROW

She filched one anyway, and ate it on her way out. It was stuffed with chopped nuts and fruit and cheese, the crust flaky and still warm from the oven. Eating Ser Amory's tart made Arya feel daring. Barefoot, sure-foot, lightfoot, she sang under her breath. I am the ghost in Harrenhal. - A Clash Of Kings

Valar Morghulis little dove's ! 

I know many American viewers will be tuning in tonight to see the long-awaited premiere, but sadly, I must wait until tomorrow for season 5  to air. I am buzzing, I know it is going to be fan-bloody-tastic (excuse the pun.)


When choosing a dish from The South chapter, I picked this dessert because although leek soup, honey biscuits and black bread all looked very tempting, I freaking love the chapter and passage that these were mentioned in, in A Clash Of King's. It's set after Tywin arrives so there is no more rat-based-bucket-torture going on and it's about Arya's time in Harrenhal and how she feels, as she says she is the ghost of harrenhal, strong, and swift and sly. It is at a point where she starts to regain her confidence, and I love how this was almost triggered by stealing one of the tarts that Hot Pie made. 

Recipe: Arya's snitched tarts
Time: Prep- 45 minutes Cooking- 20
Yields: about 25 little 2 inch tarts. 
Effort requires: very little, just time consuming
Rating: 9/10

Ingredients:

For the pastry- 

• 2 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1 cup caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp saffron strands
• 1/4-1/2 cup cold water
• vegetable oil for frying

For the Poudre Forte- (1 tsp each of)

• black pepper
• ground cinnamon
• ground mace
• ground ginger
• ground cloves

For the Candied nuts- 

• 1 1/4 cup pecan halves
• 1/2 cup each of brown and granulated sugar
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 egg white 
• 1 tsp salt

For the tart topping-

• 1/2 bottle inexpensive red wine
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Poudre Forte
• 1/4 cup chopped dates
• 1/4 cup currants
• 1/2 cup fresh or dried figs (alternatively use your favourite berry) diced

Method-

• For the candied nuts, whisk both sugars, the salt, and Cinnamon together.
• Whisk the water, egg white and vanilla until frothy.
• Toss the nuts in the egg white and then into the sugar bowl until fully coated. Place on a lined baking tray and into the oven for 3 lots of 15 minute bursts ad 150 degrees Celsius. Stirring after each interval. Once done, leave to cool and crush further in food processor to small-ish lumps.
• For the pastry combine all the dry ingredients apart from the saffron.
• Soak the strands in the cold water. Pour into the dry mix and use a wooden spoon or your hands to combine everything into a dough. You may need a little more water.
• Cling film and place in the fridge.
• For the Poudre Forte combine all ingredients in a small bowl.
• For the filling, bring the honey and wine to a boil and then reduce the heat and remove the foam. Add the vinegar, poudre forte, and fruits, simmer gently until it reduces and thickens. (about 25 minutes) remove from heat.
• Roll out the pastry to a 1/4 inch thickness and use a 2 inch diameter cookie cutter to cut out your circles. 
• Heat a shallow layer of oil in a frying pan and gently place the discs in the oil and fry until golden each side, place on a kitchen roll lined plate. 
• Once slightly cooled, place a teaspoon of the thick syrup onto the little circles and top with the crushed nuts.
• Enjoy.

Making these was a mission considering the amount of ingredients and stages but I must say they are fully worth it. These little delights are so delicious, the poudre forte gives the sweet sticky syrup such a warm depth and the nuts add a fabulous texture. They seemed very Christmassy to me too, due to the Cinnamon. As you can see, the book description said that the tarts were stuffed with cheese but the recipe did not call for any so I decided to serve them with cheese, a very very strong cheddar which adds a whole new dimension to these. It's like cheese and wine in a dessert form, what's not to love? 

They definitely got me in the mood for tomorrow's episode! 

I must depart now sweetlings, so as they say in Essos, Valar Dohaeris and enjoy season 5!

One of my favorite Arya kills. I hope to see many more...

Stuffed Grape Leaves from Dorne - GoT Countdown

"The kid had been roasted with lemon and honey. With it were grape leaves stuffed with a melange of raisins, onions, mushrooms and fiery dragon peppers. 'I am not hungry,' Arianne said... After a while, hunger weakened her resolve, so she sat and ate." - A Feast For Crows

Good Afternoon sweetlings,

Only a week to go! I am very very eager for the week to pass so the start of season 5 can begin.

When I first got this book I was excited to see a chapter on Dorne, it sounds like such a beautiful place and from the characters we have seen so far on the show (Oberyn and Ellaria) it also seems an open minded, and exotic place. I can just tell when we finally see it on screen it will be amazing.

The dishes in this chapter such as 'chick pea paste', 'flatbread' and 'lemonsweet' seem to be heavily influenced by Mediterranean foods, in particular Greek and Turkish based. All very aromatic and fresh tasting. I imagine they would taste even better in the sun, as opposed to curled up on a sofa while you hear crashing rain outside the window!

I thoroughly enjoyed making this dish because it was something very new to me, working with ingredients such as grape leaves was really fun but also very difficult. The hardest part of it all was getting the leaves out of the jar because they are so tightly packed, it took me a good 10 minutes!
Once you get the hang of the rolling process it really is quite easy and fun.

The recipe for these actually contains 1/4 pound of ground lamb but since I am a vegetarian I just used more rice instead. You can add any ground meat though or maybe try soya or quorn instead. Or you could try different rice's too, I think arborio would be lovely in these but I just didn't have any in the house, or even cous cous!

Recipe: Stuffed Grape Leaves
Time to make- 45 mins prep 1 hour cook
Level- Effort required
Rating: 8/10

Ingredients-

• 1 pint jar brined grape leaves, drained
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper, such as jalapeno, finely chopped
• ground black pepper
• sea salt
• 7-10 button mushrooms
• 320g cooked rice
• 1 handful chopped raisins
• 1/4 cup vegetable or chicken stock
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Method-

• Carefully remove the leaves from the jar, gently unroll them and prise them apart. Place them in a large bowl and cover with boiling water to soak for 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water. 
• In a pan, heat the oil and saute the onion until it slightly browns and then add the hot pepper, seasoning and mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are soft.
• Remove pan from heat and stir in the rice and raisins. (At this point I also added a 1/4 cup of chopped coriander)
• Chose a large leaf to fill, place shiny side up. Put 1tbsp of mixture near the stem of the leaf and take the end and fold over the mixture. Roll once and then fold over the sides into a neat package and continue rolling until you get a neat roll.
• Continue this action until no filling is left.
• Line a deep pan with the remaining leaves and layer your rolls snugly on top of them, if a whole layer is filled then repeat by lining more leaves on top of the rolls and placing the remaining on top,
• Pour over the stock and lemon and place a lid on the pan and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour until soft. (I needed more liquid in this process as the leaves began to burn, I added bout a 1/4 cup every 10 minutes) 
• Once done, cool them and serve at room temp,

Although time consuming, these little leaves are delicious and brilliant served with feta cheese, dates, lemon, and olives. They're mentioned in a passage of the books by one of Prince Oberyn's daughters; a sand snake. Characters I am very exited to see this season. So, enjoy a short video on them here and a little tutorial on how to roll these leaves. I found it very helpful. Until next week sweetlings!