Harry Potter-Themed Anniversary Dinner

So, as I said in my last post, Saturday was mine and my boyfriends six-year anniversary. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One coming out on Friday, we decided to start re-watching all the movies. So I decided it would be a good night to make a Harry Potter-themed anniversary dinner! I didn’t want party-style food, so cupcakes and cookies and all the really “fun” Harry Potter foods were out. I wanted a real meal for our anniversary. So, this is what I came up with:

Butterbeer
Herbology Salad with Liquid Luck Vinaigrette
Shepherd’s Pie
Sauteed Gillyweed
Golden Galleon Beets
Pumpkin Pasties

Butterbeer, which is a drink that regularly shows up in the books and movies, can be served either hot or cold. It is described as having a sort of butterscotch flavor to it. You can read more about it here. I wanted to actually make some Butterbeer, using cream soda and butterscotch flavoring, but I could find any 😦 We ended up just drinking cream soda, which I normally can’t stand. Amazing how calling it Butterbeer made it taste good 😀

Shepherd’s Pie is one of the many dishes served to the students at Howarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is a traditional British food. I made mine with homemade seitan, peas, and carrots. The seitan was a beef-style seitan: 1 1/3 C vital wheat gluten + 1 C no-beef broth. I sliced it fairly thin before adding it to the cold broth and bringing it to a simmer. The simmering liquid was no-beef broth, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, and whole black peppercorns. I simmered the seitan for about an hour and a half and allowed it to cool before cutting it into bite-sized pieces. I used one bag of frozen peas and carrots, and mixed everything together with 2 C of homemade gravy (2 C water, no-chicken and no-beef boullion, 2-3 TBSP cornstarch). The potato topping was Yukon gold potatoes boiled in salted water until soft and mashed with soymilk, margarine, and garlic powder. I then piped the mashed potatoes onto the pie the same way you would pipe icing onto a cake. The pie was baked for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees until everything was heated through.

It was bloody brilliant!

 

Herbology Salad with Liquid Luck Vinegarette

The Herbology Salad was inspired by the Herbology class at Hogwarts, taught by Professor Sprout. It had various greens, including spinach, arugula, and some pretty lettuce I bought at the harvest market that morning. I included red and yellow bell peppers, an orange tomato, and sliced cucumber. The Liquid Luck Vinegarette was inspired by the Felix Felicis potion, aka “Liquid Luck”. It was a agave-dijon vinegarette.

 

Gillyweed and Golden Galleon Beets

The Gillyweed (a magical plant that allows wizards to grow gills and webbed hands and feet) was sauteed kale. I sauteed it with salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes + a little sugar. The Golden Galleon Beets were named after galleons, a golden coin used in wizard currency. These were golden beets, peeled and sliced, then roasted at 425 degrees with olive oil, salt, and pepper, for about 10-15 minutes, turning every now and then.

 

Pumpkin Pasties

The Pumpkin Pasties are a popular dessert/snack in the world of Harry Potter. And I freakin’ love it when Cho Chang says, “Two pumpkin pasties, please.” SO CUTE. Anyway. I made the basic pie crust out of The Joy of Vegan Baking and made a filling with half a can of pumpkin puree, 2 TBSP flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and vanilla. I rolled the dough really thin, cut it into circles, added about 1-2 tsp of filling, and closed it up, using a fork to seal the edges and poking holes in to the top of the pastries. I chilled the pies before baking and added an “egg wash” that I made out of agave nectar and water. They were baked at 350 until the bottoms began to brown. Definitely best served warm!

 

Harry Potter Hot Cocoa

I also made us some hot cocoa to drink while we watched the movie and finished off the Pumpkin Pasties. Hot chocolate is mentioned quite a few times throughout the books, so I thought it was fitting. And I love Soyatoo whipped cream. It was a dollar off at Whole Foods last time I went, so I picked up two cans in preparation for the holidays! 😀

I so wanted to make Chocolate Frogs but I just didn’t have the time. I plan on making them sometime this week, though! I have the absolute most awesome chocolate mold for them! I can’t wait to make them!

I’d say it was very successful meal. We ended up only watching The Sorcerer’s Stone on Saturday. I watched The Chamber of Secrets last night. I just finished re-reading The Deathly Hallows, and me and my boyfriend plan on watching The Prisoner of Azkaban tomorrow! We’re on a Potter-frenzy, I tell you!

I am so excited for Thursday night! Long live Harry Potter!

– Andrea

Tags: 2010, Harry Potter, pumpkin, vegan, veganmofo, veganmofo 2010