The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook - Dinah Bucholz [24]
Makes 6 pies
Do not attempt this recipe if you are absent-minded. If the water boils out, the can will explode. You need to keep an eye on the water level in the pot.
Roast Pheasant
Malfoy is feeling left out, but Harry would rather hang out with his friends, thank you very much, than accept the invitation to dine with Professor Slughorn aboard the Hogwarts Express, where Slughorn passes around pheasant to the select members of the “Slug Club” (see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 7).
“Pheasant, peasant? What a pleasant present!” This famous line from William Steig's Shrek is terrific because “pheasant” is a hard word to rhyme. The Romans, of course, are the ones who introduced this pleasant present to England. But not for the peasants. In feudal times, the lord of the manor kept busy with hunting and falconry, but peasants also trapped birds, and on a lucky day, they might find a pheasant or a partridge in the traps.
1 onion, sliced into ¼-inch-thick slices
2 celery ribs, cut into chunks
2 carrots, cut into chunks
4 cloves garlic
1 pheasant
Olive oil for brushing on the pheasant
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup water
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lay the onion slices in a roasting pan and scatter the celery, carrots, and garlic cloves on top.
Rinse the pheasant in cold water and pat it dry with paper towels. Place the pheasant in the roasting pan, breast side up, wings tucked under. Brush the olive oil over the pheasant and sprinkle it with the salt and pepper. Pour the water into the roasting pan.
Put the pan in the oven and roast for 45 minutes, or until the juices run clear.
Remove the pheasant from the oven and let it rest for 20 minutes before carving.
Serves 4
Chapter Four
Recipes from a Giant and an Elf
Hagrid is the bravest person Harry ever knew, and even if he's an awful cook, you have to admire his adventurous spirit in the kitchen. Foods that even experienced cooks leave to the professionals don't daunt him. He's not afraid to try his hand at treacle fudge (true, it will glue your teeth together) or even twice-raised Bath buns.
Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, lives in a small one-room wooden hut near the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. He is enormously proud of the two important tasks he's been entrusted with: delivering Harry to the Dursleys after his parents are killed and returning him to Hogwarts when he reaches school age. Hagrid takes a special interest in Harry, and a friendship springs up between them (see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone).
Harry and his friends often visit Hagrid for tea, where they learn that experience in cooking does not guarantee good results. They pretend to enjoy Hagrid's rock cakes, which break your teeth, or beef casserole with a talon mixed in. Have no fear: the recipes that follow, unlike Hagrid's, do yield excellent results, but if you have real Harry Potter spirit, follow the special instructions to make them turn out like Hagrid's.
Rock Cakes
This treat, if the word may be applied to something Hagrid made, is often found in his pantry, as it's mentioned no less than three times in the Harry Potter series in relation to Hagrid. Although Hagrid's rock cakes were nothing to write home about, you'll find these to be quite tasty (see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 8; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 3; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 11).
Rock cakes, standard with tea, look like but don't taste like rocks, unless of course you leave them out for several days, which is probably what Hagrid did. Rock cakes have a short history and seem to have been invented by the Victorians.
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking