Dear ArenaNet,
Looking at more than 10 of your recipes involving a combination of 1 head of garlic and 1 leaf of a herb or 1 seed/nut – my personal favorite being the hummus made from 1 head of garlic, 1 chickpea and 1 sesame seed – I get the feeling some of you might either be posessed by or famously obsessed with the humble bulb. Either way, to prevent me from giving myself a whiplash, shaking my head at these bizarre concoctions of yours, I decided to embrace the garlic and dedicate one of my top three crowd-pleasing condiments to you guys. Get ready to have lots of personal space around you in the office for a couple of days.
Xoxo,
Nahdala Darkwind
Tag: Vegetarian
Beetroot-Blackberry Carpaccio with Goat’s Cheese and Orange Vinaigrette
There’s something to be said for classic combinations. Goat’s Cheese and Beetroots is one of them – regrettably underrepresented on the big stages of the food circus for years, lately I’ve been delighted to see more and more beety things appearing on menus. While I’ve always loved beets, goat’s cheese was an acquired taste. One specific pivotal moment almost closed the lid on the whole goat’s cheese thing for me, but in the end, while it made me tread more carefully around that cheesy matter, it not only made me really like the stuff but also brought on the answer to the “why” of cheese being so often combined with fruity or sweet things.
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GW2 Avocado-Apple Salsa & Chilli Cigars
One thing stews from all over the world generally have in common is: they’re even better the next day. A Chilli Con Carne is no exception to that rule. After my inner vamp was satisfied with last weeks Chilli Con Carne however, I couldn’t stand the thought of actually warming it up again, so I tried – and succeded~! – to find a way to make a yummy, summery picknick or late-night snack out of the leftovers with as little stove time as possible.
Summery Zucchini Salad & Tomato-Ricotta “Pizza”
Usually I have a plan set up, or at least some hazy idea about what I’m looking for on our saturday stroll across the big farmer’s market in town. This time… nothing. Nada. Zilch. Blanks and some cobwebs in the food section of my head, but not much else. Trying to force an idea of what I wanted to eat out of my skull gave me a headache and the very non-helpful adjective „colorful“. Hubby added the similarily helpful word „vegetables“ to the fog. Well, the market sure is the best place to find inspiration in the neighborhood of „colorful vegetables“ and something to go right along with them.
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GW2 Strawberry-Spinach Salad
As promised last week, here’s the remedy for the stomachache inevitably following an overdose of sugar. To make the decline from a sugar rush to some sort of normal state a slow and steady one, rather than going cold turkey, I’ve given one of my favorite veggies a very-berry twist.
GW2 Cheese Triangle or: Gruyere Cheese Crackers
Well, at first glance, unceremoniously turning the GW2 version of a cheese platter (or roll? I’m actually not quite sure what the devs intend this to be…) into a bunch of cheese bisquits might not make a lot of sense, so I’ll give you guys the full scoop behind my choice. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t just cook my way up and down the Tyrian menu, sometimes I let the ingredients listed take me into a different direction, sometimes I somewhat stick to the general idea of the ingame recipe or, if it’s a classic, I try to wow you guys with my mad kitchen skills in the classics department… you get the picture, I think. In this case, it wasn’t the dish itself, or the ingredients that set me off, it was the name of the dish. The simple combination of the words „Cheese“ and „Triangle“ made a long forgotten childhood memory rise to the top when I spotted the ingame recipe in the list of snacks. My grandmother’s infamous cheese crackers. She used a triangular cookie cutter to shape them.
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Heart of Gold
„42!“ some of you might think at the mention of a „Heart of Gold“. And yes, you’re correct. For those of you who might jump to the conclusion that I’m loosing it, here’s a perfectly sane explanation.
The starship Heart of Gold is the hottest commodity in the universe, powered by a prototype of the faster-than-the-speed-of-light Infinite Improbability Drive, thanks to which the ship „passes through every conceivable point in every conceivable universe almost simultaneously”. The core of the Infinite Improbability Drive, which was invented „following research into finite improbability, which was often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess’ undergarments leap one foot simultaneously to the left, in accordance with the theory of indeterminacy“ turns out to be the Golden Ball of Prosperity, hence the name „Heart of Gold“. Oh, and 42 is the „ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything“, by the way.
GW2 Potato & Leek Soup
Like I’ve hinted at in last week’s stock-101, I’ve recently spent a lot of time in the kitchen, refining and educating my soup-skills. One of the soups off the Tyrian menu demanded my attention right away – first and foremost because I’ve always liked it but never actually made it myself and secondly because it fits into springtime perfectly, at least in my opinion: A light and creamy Potato & Leek Soup.
GW2 Delicious Rice Balls
When I saw the Delicious Rice Balls during the Tyrian Lunar New Year’s Festival, all kinds of rice ball recipes were instantly going through my mind, Mochis, Onigiris and other types of mostly japanese treats. Way too many options to decide right away which one would be the best “Delicious Rice Ball” to cook up for this tyrian dish. When I made the risotto for last week’s post a couple of days later, I decided to put an end to the lottery ball machine bouncing rice balls through my head, go with my gut and turn the leftovers of the risotto into one of my favorite types of rice balls: Arancini.
GW2 Wild Mushroom Risotto
On today’s trip to the store I really needed inspiration. It was one of those days where you look out of the window at 11 am thinking it couldn’t possibly be past 8 am yet judging by the light. This resulted in an almost irresistible pull towards the comfyness of my bed and in a complete lack of ideas for dinner (other than: It has to be warm. And comforting. Could it even cook itsself?) and a seriously unmotivated zombie-shuffle to the store.
Nahdala's Kitchen 