The Zelda Gourmet

It's August in Northern Minnesota. Today is 90 degrees F which means there is no way I am going to heat up my kitchen. So, today's quest is appropriately freezer based. Also, I have bananas that are starting to get ripe and I thought I could get a two for one deal on this one. Anyways, for those not familiar with Thwomps, these crazy one-eyed looking things lurk in caves mostly in the Game Boy versions of LoZ (Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages and Seasons). Similar to the two eyed blue versions you see looking to squish the Mario Bros. these work on the same premise with one difference: you can ride on top of these! A little creepy looking, but certainly delicious, I know you and your kids will enjoy making these pops, even on the hottest of days.

Gear for the Quest!
2-3 ripe bananas
lollipop sticks
a gallon freezer bag
A piece of wax paper 2x the size of the freezer bag
knife and cutting board
Chopped Nuts - I used Pecans! Note: if you are allergic to nuts, you can substitute sprinkles
Candy Eyes - Target sells them in the cake decorating aisle.
3 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1 T. Butter
Rubber Spatula

The Quest!

Fold your piece of waxed paper in half and place it inside the freezer bag.

Peel your bananas. With a sharp knife, cut your bananas into two inch pieces - they should be squarish in size.

Place your lollipop sticks into each banana piece.

Place the bananas into the freezer bag between the sheets of waxed paper. Place the bag in the freezer for about 2 hours.

Chop your nuts!

In a microwave safe bowl, place your 3 oz. of chocolate and 1 T of butter on high for 30 seconds. Stir and microwave for another 30 seconds.
Stir until smooth - you should not have to microwave further.

Working quickly, use a rubber spatula to coat the banana pops. Then immediately dip into your nuts. You have to work quickly because the chocolate will make a hard shell because the bananas are frozen, but I think you knew this already.

Attach a candy eye. You may have to dip the back of the eye in melted chocolate in order to get it to stick. You can additional embellishments like large chocolate sprinkles for the mouth. When you are done decorating enjoy right away or place them back into the freezer bag and into the freezer.

Enjoy!!

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Fishing can be fun - especially when actually catching fish. Fishing is a celebrated part of many games in the Zelda series. As the games have progressed, they have added lures, types of fish, more sophisticated rods and even a boat. Did you just catch a real Lunker in Ocarina of Time or Link's Awakening? Not sure what to do with it? Well today, I'll show you how you can transform that Lunker into Dinner that will feed a crew.

Gear . . .
a 1 1/2 to 2 pounds fillet of fish with the skin on - today we are using steel head trout but any delicious fish will do.
Spice Mix:
1 T. Course Salt
1 t.. Peppercorns, any color
1 t.Fennel Seed
1 t. Chili Powder
1 t. Parsley
1 t. Garlic Powder
1/4 c. Brown Sugar
Other:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Parchment paper
Sheet pan

The Quest . . .

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Make sure the fish is boned out by running your fingers up and down the fillet. Pull any stragglers out with clean needle-nose pliers. Why are we keeping the the skin on? Good question. We do this because it helps the fish retain moisture in a dry cooking setting like baking.
Pat the fish dry with paper towels. Place the fish skin side down on a sheet pan that is covered in parchment paper.

Combine all the spices and mix together with a mortar and pestle. Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Sprinkle the seasoning liberally onto the fish.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Check for flaking with a fork or about 140 degrees F. internal temperature with a instant read thermometer, which every you feel most comfortable with.

Well that was pretty painless and easy. Now you're asking, what should we have with it?

Okay, I'll give you a bonus recipe for a side. It is, after all, supposed to be a feast, right?

Subrosia is a lava world where the Subrosians dwell and consume lava. In Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, they put on quite a dance party in their land. We are going to cool things down for these cute little hooded beings by making my take on Ambrosia Salad: Subrosia Salad. Enjoy!

The Quest Continues . . .

1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
1 T. sugar
1 T. cherry juice
A few drops of red food coloring
12 oz. cottage cheese, drained
4 oz. sour cream
8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c. grated coconut
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped
1/2 c. Maracchino cherries, halved
1/2 c. seedless red grapes, halved
1/2 c. blueberries
1 t. ginger root, finely grated
1 t. orange zest
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. cardamon

Wow, what a list . . .

Strain your cottage cheese and crushed pineapple so that there is not excess moisture. There will be plenty of other moisture and we don't want it to get soupy.

In a bowl, add your cream and sugar and beat on high until stiff peaks form (not butter). If helps if your bowl and beaters have been refrigerated for at least 10 minutes. This will speed the process along.

This is what stiff peaks looks like.

Gently fold in sour cream. Add the red food coloring, cherry juice, ginger, orange zest, cinnamon and cardamon.

Add the rest of the fruit, cottage cheese, and walnuts

Mix together well. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Enjoy!

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This week is Geek Week! What a great way to celebrate than with cake. Tektites are among the enemies that appears in every single Legend of Zelda game with maybe the exception of Skyward Sword. Even though I don't particularly like spiders, these spider-like creatures are the first things I go for when playing the original LoZ - mostly because the blue ones often give 5 rupee coins - We have to save up for the ever expensive blue ring. With spring in their step and usually appearing in hoards, these little guys are best shown as cake pops. Our quest today will be delicious and a hit at any geek party this week.

Gear . . .
1 baked cake - I used a GF cake
1 can of frosting to make the cake balls
1 can of vanilla frosting for the outside
Blue or Orange oil-based food coloring
Raspberry candy flavoring
Eye candy pieces - found at Target
Blue or White Pearl Sprinkles and Blue or White Regular Sprinkles
Lollipop sticks
Chocolate Almond Bark
Styrofoam

The Quest . . .

Start with a cooled, baked cake. I made a King Arthur Chocolate Cake in a 9 x 13 pan. Divide the cake into small manageable pieces. Over a large bowl rub the two blocks of cake together to crumble the cake into small pieces.

Mix in your first can of frosting. For this, I am using a triple chocolate chocolate chip frosting because I like the texture of the chips in the balls. Mix the the frosting into the cake crumbs. You may want to use your hands - gloves help keep things a little cleaner. Place the cake balls onto wax paper and freeze for about 2 hours.

Insert lollipop sticks into each cake ball. In a double-boiler, heat the can of vanilla frosting until thinned. Add your choice of food coloring to the frosting. Also add 1/4 tsp. of Raspberry candy flavoring. Dip each cake ball into frosting and place stick into a chunk of Styrofoam. Place Styrofoam into the refrigerator to keep the balls cold.

Note: if you dip your lollipop sticks into the frosting first - you will have less slippage for the cake ball to fall off.

Add a single eye candy piece in the center of the ball. Add four pearl sprinkles on the top of the ball and add a little other sprinkles to add texture to the body. Place in refrigerator when not working with cake pops.

Melt 2 squares of chocolate bark in a double boiler. On a piece of wax paper, use the tip of a rubber scraper to dip in the chocolate and form 'V' shapes. When chocolate is solid, push into the four corners of the cake balls.

Lined up together they make a formidable army that makes me want to grab my Master Sword.

Enjoy!

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While questing along one day, I came across this creepy little man that sold masks (Ocarina of Time). I thought nothing of it until one of the masks came back to haunt me (Majora's Mask). With a little help from Tatl, we set things right. Now you too can enjoy the cheesy goodness that is Majora's Mask. Bread making may seem a little intimidating, but your patience will be rewarded.Sorry, this recipe is not GF yet!

Bread ingredients
2 tsp. dry yeast
1 1/4 c. Water (105 degrees F.)
3 1/2 c. unbleached flour
1/2 T. Salt
3 T. olive oil
Filling Ingredients
3 oz. goat cheese
4 oz. shredded white sharp cheddar
Basil leaves
Topping
2 T. olive oil
1 t. course salt

Soft and Sticky dough

Let the quest begin . . .
Sprinkle yeast into 1 cup of water in a bowl. Leave for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve. Mix the flour and salt together in your mixing bowl. Make a well and add the olive oil and dissolved yeast mixture.

Blooming yeast

While mixing, add the remaining 1/4 c. of water. Dough will form in a soft, sticky dough. Add additional water if needed 1 T. at a time.

Elastic-y

At this point, you can either use your heavy duty mixer with the dough hook attachment and knead your dough for 5 minutes, or you can do it the old fashioned way and turn your dough out on a floured surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes. I am going for the mixer option. Your dough should be nice and elastic-y when you are finished.

Doubled in Size!

Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a clean towel in a warm place and let it rise for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, until it doubles in size.

Squishy!

Punch down your down and divide into two larger ball of equal size and one smaller ball. Begin to chafe. Chaffing is creating balls of dough and kneading the ball out in your hand, essentially turning the dough inside itself to continue to make a ball. Do this to each ball for 5 minutes each. Set your balls aside (hehe) and let rest for 10 minutes, covered.

Shape your dough onto a half sheet pan covered in parchment paper. By hand, you should be able to smoosh (yes, technical term) out the dough while creating a heart shape for the two larger balls of dough. When you stretched out the dough to about 9 inches across in the biggest area, take the smaller ball and make 10 pointed pieces to use for the side of the mask. Add the points to the bottom layer of the bread - 4 on each side and horns on either side of the top.

You can begin to fill the first layer.
Crumble goat cheese on the surface of dough (not on the points).
Then layer basil leaves on top and finally the shredded white cheddar cheese.

Add the other layer of dough over the filling. Pinch the two layers together to seal in the cheesy goodness. Cover and proof the dough for 30 minutes.

Proofed!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Brush dough with olive oil.

Then with a small blunt object (I used chopsticks!) punch small holes into the dough to create your design.

When you are happy with the design, sprinkle with course salt and bake for 30-45 minutes.

What we are looking for is golden and delicious and hollow sounding when you tap the top. Hot or cold, you will like it!

Enjoy!

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Today's quest we will celebrate LOZ: Skyward Sword. Wouldn't it be great if we could go underwater and stay there indefinitely just by drinking air? Okay, I know what your thinking, "we already do". Yes, but I'm talking about ditching the face-mask and tank. Well today, we are going to make the air potion. Pretty blue in color and tasty to drink and not as loopy as the Great Fairies Tears. Just don't try drinking under water - it's not quite there yet. Makes this in front of your friends and they will think you are conducting a science experiment right in front of them.

Gear . . .
1/2 pkg. Berry-Blue Jell-O Gelatin

1/2 c. Boiling Water
1 1/2 c. Ginger Ale, divided
5 oz. Lime Margarita Concentrate
2 Scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream

Makes 2 Drinks

Let's Get Started . . .

In a blender, add your half package of blue Jell-O. Add to that 1/2 c. Boiling Water. Let it sit for about a minute.

Using the liquefy setting, pulse for about 5 seconds. Next, Add the 5 oz. Lime Margarita Frozen Concentrate. Pulse together until well mixed (about 10 seconds). Add in half (that's 3/4 c.) or ginger ale and pulse for 3-5 seconds.