The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook - Dinah Bucholz [19]
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.
Chapter Three
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).
Pumpkin Pasties
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
Pumpkin Juice
What could be worse than missing