TLC Forum

I've made gooseberry fools! Twice, I think; we always have just enough gooseberries for doing it once, and it's very labour-intensive and uses up a lot of dishes - but it's really, really worth it! And I've already used them in a story. The recipe I have involves whipped cream and yoghurt and gelatine and folding it all together and I can't even remember it all, because the last time I did it, I was short on one of the ingredients. But, I have to stress again, worth it - they're also wonderfully filling, so it's not like the cup each person gets out of the trouble is gone that quickly, you can really savour it. And, well, you can apply the same principle to other berries as well, although I haven't tried that yet...
Gooseberries (those I'm familiar with, anyway) are actually quite large - some can be as big as 3 cm in length. They're more oval-shaped than round, you see. A little bit like tiny kiwi - the two are somehow related, I believe.

Headcanon:
Dwarfs like eggs and mushrooms, especially in combinations. They're foragers' foods, because they're so busy making other things, they don't have time to grow stuff!
And Moles and Hedgehogs make insect-pastry most other people avoid (especially because Moles aren't that good at making it look nice, what with them not having much of eyesight), although those who dare to eat it claim it's actually good.

Cool, Marmota! I've wanted to try making gooseberry fool since I read the Chronicles. I really should make more Narnian foodstuff, since I have a cookbook full of all the awesome recipes. I tried making the sugar-topped cake that Tumnus had with Lucy in LWW a while back, and everybody liked it a lot Except... the recipe it had for the topping didn't quite turn out that great, so we just went with butter icing. It was awesome... and I've done Turkish delight a few times, (I think everybody who reads LWW eventually wants to try making that ) and a chocolate wardrobe... but the wardrobe isn't exactly Narnian food. Just chocolate built up in a really cool way.

I also remember the cold chicken Caspian got for his flight, and the wine that keeps being mentioned. And the meat pasty and green cheese Shasta found in Bree's saddle bags - I've imagined it as the thing actually called blue cheese in English, though... And radishes. I like both EDIT blue cheese and radishes...
Hard-boiled egg sandwiches.
Hazelnuts from Squirrels and honey.

Although what I might have remembered more than any of this were the roasted apples wrapped in bear meat. That's not something you easily forget.

Oh? I've never tried blue cheese. Or green cheese. Or raw radishes.
It's kind of funny, random dishes in our house get dubbed as "Narnian", because it seems like something they might have in Narnia. Like these chicken-herb meatballs we made once, they were sooooooo good and soooooo like something that would be Calormene, that we pretty much refer to them as Calormene meatballs now
In some places in the Chronicles during the times that the Narnians start partying around some, it mentions 'ices'. Soooooo... we kind of brought out the blender and crushed up ice and put fruit juice in, and pronounced it Narnian. Ooh... we should do that tonight. Heheeheheheheheheh...

On a random note, you oughta try blue cheese, Nia! It's marvelous!

Hrrm... two votes saying it's good... I guess that means I have grounds for getting some, eh?

I think I've had bits of blue cheese on crackers or something before. Good, but I think I'd only be able to eat so much of it.

I have a Middle-eastern cookbook that's got stuff that sounds quite Calormene friendly (though I think some things could be pretty well universal), but I haven't had the chance to try much yet.

Blue cheese (I meant I like that, not green - never seen green before I googled it last night!) is delicious for some, and disgusting for others, so I wouldn't go as far as to recommend it - the taste is quite strong and if you don't have a thing for cheese in general and stronger cheeses in particular, it won't be your cup of tea.

So recently I've tried two recipes from my Unofficial Narnia Cookbook. First, homemade hot chocolate, which was really yummy and chocolatey. Secondly, Heavenly Honey Cake, which was simple, yet tasty, sponge-like & with a hint of lemon. (The recipe called for the zest and juice of an orange, but I didn't have one so I used lemon.) Both were a success on the first try!

Homemade hot chocolate made with chocolate, I hope! I occasionally treat myself to that, with good high cocoa percentage chocolate... It wouldn't occur to me to call that Narnian, though. Is hot chocolate mentioned anywhere in the books? I can't remember now.