Literary Noms: A Song of Ice and Fire

Literary Noms is a feature where we make a recipe based off a book, from a book, or a recipe that makes us think of the book and then we review it.

I'm super excited because this week's literary noms is from my new geeky cookbook I got for Christmas, that I haven't been able to cook from yet. 

These recipes are both from A Song of Ice and Fire. I have yet to read any of this series and honestly I've seen two episodes of Game of Thrones and it just wasn't for me. However, both these recipes looked amazing, so I thought why not?

The Recipe: Bowl O' Brown

What's in it: 

2 Lbs meat

Salt and Pepper

6 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 large onion peeled and chopped

6 cloves of garlic, chopped

6 medium mushrooms, sliced

2 turnips peeled and chopped

1 Lg potato peeled and chopped

32 oz beef broth

2 cups of ale
2 large carrots, chopped

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley

2 Tbsp flour

Serves: 5-6

What we thought:
Jenn:
This was a very interesting dish. While cooking it had the best aroma. I am a big person of stews and was so very excited for the Bowl of Brown even though it sounds very strange. I wasn't sure about the ale but I did try it and I enjoyed it. 

Ash:

Definitely interesting. I wasn't sure what kind of ale to use. So I picked just a "regular" ale from HEB. This one was a really fun dish to make. John cooked the meat, while I cut everything and then sauteed the veggies. We started it at 12 and let it cook until about 6:15 when I tried just a little.

I did try it mid way through cooking and it tasted waaaay too much like ale. It was spicy which was weird. Like hot spicy. But it had very little flavor. 

So John added some more seasonings and it definitely helped. The smell while it was cooking was to die for.

We cooked this one Friday and John and I went on a date so we didn't eat a full meal, just enough to try it.

Now it's Sunday and I just warmed it up and ate it and it was AMAZING. The ale flavor is still there but it's not over bearing. And it was amazing warmed up. 

Overall really fun to make and very delicious, even as leftovers. 

The Recipe: Lemon Cakes

What's in it: 

2 Lemons, thinly sliced and seeded

1 cup water

Butter or nonstick spray 

2 1/2 Cup Flour

1/2 Tsp baking powder

1/2 Tsp baking soda

1 Tsp salt

1 Cup butter- softened

2 Eggs

2 Tbsp lemon zest

3/4 fresh lemon juice

1 Cup Buttermilk

Serves: Makes 20 cakes

What we thought:

Jenn:

The lemon cakes... oh the lemon cakes. I am not much of a lemon person like Ash is. I like lemon but I don't love lemon. I loved these lemon cakes. Ash did a wonderful job on baking them and I did a great job on eating them. I had one fresh out of the oven and I had one the very next day. I do prefer them warm... as most cakes... but it was wonderful both days. The perfect lemony taste and consistency of the cake was spot on. It was so Yummy in my Tummy!

Ash:

Oh my goodness I swear I have never in my life been proud of something like this. I made them perfectly.
Something y'all should know about me, I'm not a baker. I love to cook but I've never been one for baking. Too many steps, too many ingredients, you have to follow it to a T or it could come out just... wrong.

So I was really nervous that this would come out bad. I am OBSESSED with anything lemon. ANYTHING. And so when I saw this and I had decided on the bowl o' brown first, I thought this would be perfect. And it was.

These lemon cakes smelled amazing and then they were moist and delicious. If you want to eat them a few days later make sure to pop them in the microwave for like 20 seconds. It warms them and moistens them again. 

We only made 12 cakes, because we only had one pan. So we do have leftover batter I'm thinking about turning into a cheesecake. So we'll see.