The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook - Dinah Bucholz [32]
Sprinkle the flour over the onion and celery and stir until it is dissolved. Add the broth while stirring. Add the tomato paste, mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly and bring the casserole to a boil. Turn off the heat.
Cover the skillet and transfer it to the oven. Bake the casserole for 2 hours. Stir the casserole every 30 minutes to make sure the bottom doesn't burn, and add water as necessary. Serve over mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta.
Serves 4
A talon might not be easy to find to add to this casserole, but if you have a dragon for a pet and you've just clipped its claws, you can add the clippings.
Chapter Five
The Favorite Cook's Dishes
Mrs. Weasley is the mother of Harry's best friend, Ron. Plump, kind, and motherly, she can nevertheless be quite terrifying if her kids — and also her husband, Mr. Weasley — misbehave. Mrs. Weasley is almost like the mother Harry never had, and his favorite place to be after Hogwarts is the Burrow, the Weasleys' untidy house, which looks like it's about to fall down. There Harry gets to hang out with Ron and his brothers and his sister, Ginny, while eating home-cooked meals and being treated like a member of the family. The best cook Harry ever knew is Mrs. Weasley, and what a cook she is! She cooks everything from scratch, using fresh ingredients, and skillfully produces dishes that are beyond the ordinary home cook. Of course, a wand helps. But we'll have to do without one to replicate her wonderful food.
Homemade Fudge
Harry is astonished to find a pile of presents at his bedside on Christmas morning. Ron asks him if he expected turnips. But Harry hasn't ever seen a pile of gifts for him for any occasion — not for holidays, not for birthdays — and so he's delighted with the fudge and hand-knitted (or wand-knitted) sweater that Mrs. Weasley sent him for Christmas (see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 12).
Great fudge should have a slightly grainy but also smooth and creamy texture. It may take some practice to get right. Although we Americans associate fudge with the chocolate variety, in England it often means non-chocolate fudge, also called opera fudge. And it tastes absolutely amazing.
If the mixture gets too hot, the fudge will seize up into a hard, grainy clump when you try to stir it. If it doesn't get hot enough, the fudge will not thicken and will remain a gloopy mess. You can then try to save it by putting it back in the pot with some water (don't worry; the water will evaporate) and reheating it to the correct temperature.
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons golden syrup or light or dark corn syrup
¼ stick (2 tablespoons) butter
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Grease an 8-inch square pan. Line it with parchment paper, allowing the paper to come up two of the sides. This will make it easy to remove the fudge and slice it.
Combine the sugar, milk, golden syrup or corn syrup, butter, heavy cream, salt, and cream of tartar in a large saucepan. (As you cook, the mixture will expand like crazy, so be sure the pot is large enough; it should be at least 4 quarts.) Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the butter is melted and the ingredients are combined. Wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in hot water to get rid of sugar crystals. A few crystals on the sides can cause the fudge to recrystallize.
Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pot and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches 220°F. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 238°F. This whole process may take more than 30 minutes, so be patient. Don't worry if the mixture looks curdled; it will smooth out as it thickens during the beating process.
Remove the pan from the heat and wait until the mixture cools to 115°F. Remove