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What adventurer doesn't need a hearty breakfast to carry them on their journey? Well, how about something hearty and a bit fancy? I present to you: steaks & eggs benedict!

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RECIPE:

For the steak:

4oz filet mignon (if you're using a primal cut, please use the trimming ends)
2oz olive oil (or blend)
Salt + Pepper TT

Directions: Coat the steak in a healthy amount of your salt and pepper then lather well in the oil. Bring grill up to temp and cook 2-3 minutes either side. You want a nice pink middle. It tastes better and looks better!

For the sauteed spinach and mushrooms:

1 cup spinach
1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin
2oz olive oil
Salt + Pepper TT

Directions: Put oil and mushrooms in pan together and sautee until tender. Add spinach and stir for 1-2 minutes. S+P TT and remove from heat. Can be done in advance and reheated later!

For the potato pancake:

1 whole russet potato
1/4 cup onion
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup AP flower
1 egg

Directions: Grate a potato directly into cold water, followed by onion and then garlic. Let soak for 5 or so minutes, then remove and pat dry. Mix with whisked egg and flower. Using a RING MOLD, bring oil in a pan up to temp and spoon mixture into the mold. Cook 5 or so minutes on one side then the other. You're looking for a nice crispy exterior; this will tell you the inside is nice and tender.

For the hollandaise:

HOLLANDAISE IS A PAIN. A real, rea pain. OK:

4oz egg yolk
8oz melted butter, warm but not hot
Salt + Pepper TT
Tabasco

Whisk your egg yolks together in a stainless steel bowl. Bring water in a pot to a rolling boil then reduce to a simmer. While continously whisking, place the bottom of the bowl into the hot water and then pull back out. You're cooking the eggs without scrambling them. They should be a lightish yellow color when you're finished. Add a few dashes of tabasco and then, with your melted butter, begin ladling in 2-4oz at a time. The sauce should double in quantity and have a creamy texture.

You did it! Stack all of this on a delicious english muffin, garnish with some chives or parsley and chow on down!
So, thanks to working five jobs in May and being out of state for the past several weekends, I couldn't pull off actually making my dessert creation, so I don't think it actually qualifies. But I still wanted to share my idea, because I love it a lot and maybe you guys could have fun with it in the future :D

The Birthday Tablet
Ingredients:
Box brownie mix (or make your own, depending on your skill level) and necessary ingredients
White pipeable icing
Piping icing pouch
Your adoration for RPR

Step 1: Make the brownies. Simple, yeah? Follow the instructions on the box and you're good!
Step 2: Remove the brownies from the pan IN ONE SOLID FORM. Do not cut it yet!!
Step 3: Fill your piping bag with the white icing and use this to guide you in your special birthday message! (Hint; "Happy birthday" will look something like this)
Step 4: Cut and enjoy your mystery language birthday tablet! :D
(Note; this is also a fun way to give special messages to friends for special occasions!)
Dragonfire Moderator

These are all sounding super tasty so far!

Meanwhile, it looks like the heat wave we've been having here has finally decided to subside (either that, or a kindly wizard cast Endure Elements on me and I didn't notice). Time to get a-cooking!

Dragonfire Moderator

Sometimes, when they're out for a late afternoon mountain-top climb, or after finishing plumbing the depths of a newly-discovered shrine just after sunrise, a hero needs a little bit of nosh. Something to perk 'em up. Get 'em going. Keep 'em feasted - and full of hearts.

Roll on up to your cooking pots and light those fires, heroes. In honour of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I've got a recipe or two for what ails you!

XpifC06.png Fish Pie!

It's a fish! It's a pie! It's a pie that contains fish! :D

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In Hyrule, to make a Fish Pie you need any kind of fish or seafood, along with Goat Butter, Rock Salt, and Tabantha Wheat. In our world, you need some things that are sort of like that, but maybe also some other things to jazz it up a bit and give you a real energy boost.

To make my fishy little buddy, I combined cooked rice (1 c), sautéed chopped leeks (2) and sliced mushrooms (1 c), and a filet of steamed salmon that I flaked. (You could use any kind of fish you like, so long as it has pretty firm flesh!) With all of this, I threw in a bit of ground sea salt, pepper, a handful of chopped dill weed, and 3/4 c sour cream to hold it all together.

I let my fish mixture cool off in the fridge for a while, while I prepared the all-important crust. For this sort of presentation, puff pastry is really the best thing to use. (If you want, you can make it, but it's honestly much easier and almost as good to get some from your local grocer's freezer. :) ) Make sure the puff pastry is thawed and rolled out nice and thin, and then carefully cut two fish shapes per pie out from your dough.

Lay your bottom fish out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Carefully arrange your filling on the bottom fish, and pack it down a bit (you don't want it too tall, or else your top fishie won't fit on properly). Make sure there's about a quarter inch of room of bare dough around the filling, and top it off with your other dough-fish. Pinch well all around the seams of your fish to meld them together. Decorate your fishies with scrap puff pastry dough for fins, eyes, mouths, and other details, or by making lines with the back side of a knife.

Give the fishes a brushing of egg wash (whisk up an egg with a bit of milk), and pop them in a 400F/200C oven for about 20-25 minutes.

wKBbl4o.png Creamy Heart Soup!

If you find it's more a touch of sweetness that you're craving - or maybe something to share with that special voe or vai in your life - you may find this recipe hearty and delicious!

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The Hyrulian version is made using a Hydromelon, a Voltfruit, a Hearty Radish (big or small), and Fresh Milk. We don't exactly have those fruits in our lands, but if you make a couple of substitutions, you get something reasonably close in a tasty chilled-soup form, perfect for hot desert travel.

This fruit soup is really versatile - you can easily serve it as an appetizer or as a dessert, depending on how much sugar you put in, and the sorts of fruits you toss in there can be completely different depending on what's in season or on hand. I started off with a watermelon (for the hydromelon) and added in some frozen blueberries, mango, and cherries. If you want your voltfruit in there, try adding a dragonfruit to the mix! (Sadly, I couldn't find one that wasn't overripe and mushy.)

But, all told, you need 4 cups of fruit. Chop your fruit up into bite-size pieces and throw it into a pot, along with 2 cups of water and a strip of orange peel. Let that come to a boil, and simmer for five minutes. Add 1/2 cup of sugar*, and stir in until the sugar has dissolved, another few minutes.
(*You can adjust the amount of sugar used as you like. If you've got really sweet fruit or are serving the soup as an appetizer, you can lower the sugar down to about a 1/4 cup easily, or if you've got tart fruit or are doing a dessert, you can increase appropriately, too.)

Take the soup off the heat, and ladle out a few scoops of the liquid into a bowl. Let the liquid cool off a bit, and add 1-1/2 tsp of cornstarch. Mix really well, and then add the liquid back into your soup and stir to combine. Chill until cold.

Just before you serve your soup, add 1/4 cup of light cream (or half-and-half) to the soup, and stir until well combined. For that extra hearty goodness, float scoops of melon, dragonfruit, or kiwi on the top, along with half of a poached pear*, cut into the shape of a heart. <3

(*To poach pears: bring 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of red wine or port, two strips of orange peel, and 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of sugar to a simmer, until the sugar is dissolved. Peel two pears and cut off a 1/4" section from the bottom of each pear to allow them to stand flat. Carefully place your pears into the simmering liquid, cover, and let simmer gently for 50-60 minutes. I found cutting them vertically down the middle to work the best for the hearts - the stem end becomes the bottom, and you should have plenty of room to carve out the top of the heart from the broad base end.)

Just a little simple cookery, and you've got yourself a veritable Feast of the Wild.

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Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go see how on earth that Monster Extract is burning a hole through my mixing bowls, my apologies-
Okay, here we go (and I'm very much hoping it's still the 17th somewhere relevant) :)

Raspberry-banana ice-cream
that looks somewhat like what may have been left of a red goblin pirate after it got hit by a portable cannon and a handgrenade


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You'll need:
  • a freezer
  • a blender
  • no portable canons required

And as for the ingredients, this is actually a vegan recipe - no goblin required, either!
  • two ripe bananas, cut into pieces and put into a freezer for at least 4 hours
  • frozen raspberries - about 2/3 cup
  • about 3-4 tablespoons of water
  • optional - 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • optional - 1 tbsp honey for additional sweetness

Process

  1. Put your bananas and raspberries in the blender and then wait for 10 to 20 minutes until they've thawed a little. The recipe does not work very well when the ingredients are at -20 degrees Celsius straight from the freezer.
  2. Blend. You'll see that the fruits are breaking into chunks but not really blending. This is where we add a bit of water. Start slow. I ended up adding about 4 tablespoons, but you don't want this to end up too watery, we're just trying to achieve an ice-cream-like consistency
  3. You may need to manually mix things up so that the top layer gets blended in as well. I used a spoon for this, just stir things up a little.
  4. Once you're approaching ice-cream consistency, you can add the vanilla extract and the honey.
  5. Blend until totally smooth or choose to leave in some fruit chunks like I did :)
  6. Serve and enjoy!

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What is a birthday without a cake or a pirate without his rum?!

here we go... a Rum Sponge 8th Birthday Cake RPR Style


INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs

1 yoghurt or lemon flavoured yoghurt (I personally prefer the latter)

750 grs of flour (measure it by filling the empty yoghurt pot thrice)

500 grs of sugar (measure it by filling the empty yoghurt pot twice)

250 mls of oil (measure it by filling the empty yoghurt pot once) vegetable or olive (works well with either)

1 sachet of yeast (royal or similar)

Dark Rum

Walnuts

( I am lucky to have a walnut tree in my garden so these are home grown for extra flavour 100% organic, you can use dried walnuts from the shop though, works well too. Be sure to crush them to smaller pieces for better mixing )

flour and butter to line the cake tin with

whipped cream + sprinkles


STEPS:

PREPARATION STEPS:

Turn oven on to 180 degrees to warm it up

Pour the yoghurt into a dish/bowl

Clean up and dry the pot of yoghurt

Grab a dish/bowl and put 3 yoghurt pot measures of flour (set aside)

Grab a dish/bowl and put 2 yoghurt pot measures of sugar (set aside)

Fill up the empty yoghurt pot with oil (set aside)

COOKING STEPS:

In a large mixing bowl, break the 3 eggs

Pour in the sugar

Use a hand whisk to mix it well

Add the yoghurt and add the oil and mix the batter

At this point you can add the fillings

- chopped walnuts
- 2-4 spoonfuls of dark rum

Mix the batter well.

Grab a sifter (or a thin mesh colander)

Add the flour and the yeast into the sifter (or colander) and sift into the batter

Mix it well until uniform. It will be thicker at this point.

Grab the cake tin and line the sides and base with a coat of butter and flour, tossing the excess flour out.

Pour in the mixture.

Bake in the over for 40 minutes at 180 degrees or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean

Take the cake out of the oven and tin and set aside to cool on a cooling rack.

Slice the top of the cake to achieve a flat surface

(so the decorations don´t roll away with these rough sea waves! .... all hands on deck now!)

PRESENTATION:

Place the sponge cake ready to serve

To make it more worthy of sea lovers.... Decorate it with a blue sea theme... Ahoy!

Surround the top and bottom edges of the cake with whipped cream (using a pipping bag) and sprinkle blue coloured pearls

Now for a unique touch of The Epic Week 2018!

Write RPR logo letters using our newly discovered alien oceanic language

(I know... I know... all that code breaking and clue finding got stuck in our minds... some of the riddles were really challenging after all!)

Add a nice number 8 to celebrate RPR site 8th Birthday

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Recomendation: For a better experience, serve with a nice English cup of tea

For step - by - step pictures visit my Chef's profile
rat

These are all beautiful! But I think they may have missed the deadline?
They were all entered before the end of May 17th. Some just by the nose!
rat wrote:
These are all beautiful! But I think they may have missed the deadline?

I was relying on the site using the PDT timezone, of which I was 95% certain :) And all entries happened before midnight PDT.
Dragonfire Moderator

I'm pretty sure PDT is the usual for the contest deadlines! (I submitted one at 11:50pm PDT one year, hahah.)
Kim Topic Starter Site Admin

We're all okay on deadlines! :D
Kim Topic Starter Site Admin

Good morning everyone! After a mouth-watering deliberation period, I'm pleased as pirate-rum punch to be able to announce the winners of the cooking contest! :D

In first place, rat! Rat's walrus cupcakes were well conceived, managed to be both Epic Week themed and RPR-themed in general, included a detailed recipe as well as photos of assembly and the finished product. But one of the things I liked the most about this entry was the room for creativity, alterations and variants. Allergic to egg? No problem, rat has got you covered. Prefer a cake to a cupcake? Rat's got ideas for that too. The balance of specificity, so it was easy to follow along, with room for wide variant and go-your-own-way creativity felt just as much in line with the spirit of the RPR as the final product that rat presented.

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Our second place is claimed handily by Dragonfire, who gave us TWO recreations of foods from Legend of Zelda that were originally created in the game using ingredients that don't even exist in the real world! It's easy to see how skilled Dragonfire is at kitchen arts, especially in the use of puff pastry to craft a replica of the very unlikely "fish pie" shape seen in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, an environment where the game designers had no need to pay attention to realism! Dragonfire provides us with both the recipes, detailed instructions, and clear explanations for each decision she made for this kitchen masterpiece, so it's easy to follow along at home.

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In third place, we have Tusitala2017, with their rum sponge RPR birthday cake. Tusitala took the contest's question, what's a birthday without a birthday cake quite literally, and brings us a cake whose flavor and aesthetic are both delightfully attuned to this Epic Week's theme, right down to the oceanic language!

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In fourth place, TickTockz, with her twist on the ultimate baking classic: Elven Lembas bread! I've seen a lot of lembas recipes before, and they often focus on being especially dense in order to aim at the mythical "a single bite fills you for an entire day" properties ascribed to this magical bread in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But I appreciated that this ingredient list focused on making the bread taste, well, a little bit fae -- like something of elven origin that would melt on your tongue and fill your heart with warmth. I will definitely be making this recipe at home!

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In our final place, Claine! Claine boldly offers a recipe based on Shadowrun's Soykaf, where in a dystopian future coffee is too expensive to drink. Even Claine admits she expected this to taste horrible when she set out to re-create it, but was surprised to discover that it has kind of a nutty flavor. Perhaps this is the start of a new business empire for Claine? ;)

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Congratulations to all of our winners, and thank you so much to everyone who participated in this year's cooking contest! :D
:D Congratulations!
Claine Moderator

Aaa thank you so much!

Congratulations to Rat and all the other winners! :D
Dragonfire Moderator

I always love the creativity in these contests. :D Great job, everyone!

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