Quizzle House Sigil

This is going a tiny bit outside the purpose of this blog, but I have no regrets. Allow me to tell you the story of the Quizzle House. Its sigil displays an orange cat sinister, sejant erect, holding a black staff, upon a field of green. More elaborate versions are adorned with a black-and-gold helmet and a flower. The Quizzle words are: “In soil we trust.”

The Quizzles of Greenfield trace their roots a thousand years back to Kvisle, founder of the House. He came from the far East, though no one knows exactly where. He was apparently fair of skin and hair. His transportation of choice was walking – and so he walked, walked and walked, the thousands of miles from the East to Westeros, where he found his home to the north of White Harbor. According to legend Kvisle also walked across the Narrow Sea – or rather, under it. He was a short man, and for a walking stick he used a staff meant for the old Eastern measuring unit alen – around 24 inches. Our blessed father used to joke that he must have gone mighty wet.

The Quizzles are bannermen to House Manderly of White Harbor, who are in turn sworn to the Starks. Quizzle family traits are said to be a certain strategic cunning and calm sarcasm. Rather than choosing conventional ideas of honor over wealth, the House has upheld a tradition of marrying rich merchants and merchants’ daughters every now and then, thereby acquiring substantial amounts of gold as dowry – but also contributing to the somewhat lesser awareness of House Quizzle in the Seven Kingdoms. Ofttimes called the “Highgarden of the North”, Greenfield is seated in a fertile and prosperous land on the banks of the White Knife; its proximity to White Harbor enabling the maintenance a network of trading contacts throughout Essos, regularly bringing exotic fruit, spices, nuts, fabric, olive oil, weapons, armor and other Eastern novelties up the White Knife. Greenfield, in turn; exports vegetables to Essos (mainly Braavos).

Despite their occasional deviations from the customs of Westeros, the Quizzles keep a good relationship with the Manderlys (mainly because, according to rumour; the Manderlys enjoy generous loans with favorable interests from the Quizzles). The current Lady Quizzle is married to a younger son of Lord Wyman Manderly.

The cat is there because Greenfield is, well; full of cats. Cats everywhere. Cats of every color, shape and size – though a line of distinctly orange cats has been preserved for a long time. It is said that when the cats are gone from Greenfield, or when they are treated badly, all our luck in trade will turn, and bring about the ruin of our House. Few of the Quizzle family admit to adhere to this superstition, but nevertheless, whenever he was travelling Westeros, a member of the House would bring back a cat with him – from Winterfell, Oldtown, King’s Landing or Lannisport, some from across the Narrow Sea, and even from beyond the Wall. There must always be a cat in Greenfield.

The most prized artifact contained in Greenfield is a black-and-gold helmet that once belonged to Ser Lyonel Baratheon, the Laughing Storm. Although our family could never really boast great jousters, some hundred years ago our great-great grandfather Olaf Quizzle won a tilt against the famous knight as part of a bet, earning him the nickname Olaf Last Laugh (and quite a bit of gold). However he was soon forgotten, as lesser foes of greater knights often are. Despite his alleged prowess with sword, shield and mace, Olaf has been known to sigh with relief at the notion, commenting: “All the better. They bother famous knights with all sorts of important matters, and I have no desire to be involved in important matters.”

Sigil design and artwork: Turi Rust Kvisle.

Just Spreading the Meme

Yes.

And a flower.

Anticipating our Feast …

… finally! A week from now my sis and I will be hosting a Game of Thrones night – or a “Feast of Ice and Fire” as it’s been popularly called. Inspired by the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, it will feature the following:

• a viewing of season 3 this far. I have – you won’t believe it – actually been saving myself and … I. can’t. wait.
• a medieval atmosphere most splendid! We’ll have furs, tapestries, music and lots’n'lots of candles, and most importantly …
• … food! Which I am perhaps even more excited about than season 3. OK, maybe equally excited. But it’s gonna be great – appetizers, several courses, and of course: plenty of mulled wine!

Also, good company. My sister has even designed a family House Sigil. This is geek level 100. I will be posting it (and the story behind it) next week, along with pictures and the glorious menu – stay updated.

My Breakfast Today

Several types of ham, salad, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, sour cream, strawberries & freshly ground coffee – looks good? Well, almost as good as consuming it. Have a wonderful day!

More Edible Wild Plants: Weed Omelet

… or crustless pie if you would. I’ve done some baking with almond flour (finely ground almonds) lately, and the results have been gooorgeous. I would argue that an almond flour pie crust is even tastier than one with regular flour … but the problem is: an almond overload isn’t healthy either. They contain a lot of polyunsaturated fats (I won’t go into the details, but this article gives a reasonable explanation on the dangers of a high, I repeat: high PUFA consumption). They also contain tiny amounts of the toxic hydrogen cyanide, which of course becomes a substantial amount with an excessive intake. One cup of almond flour contains about 90 almonds. That’s a lot of almonds, and imagine using three cups per cookie dough!

But enough with the almonds, which are only really a part of this recipe through their absence. What is present though, is more weeds! I picked a nice batch of stinging nettle and goutweed; added them directly (after a gentle cleanse) to about 8 whisked eggs along with some ham, cheese, a chopped onion, cherry tomatoes and pepper; put some more cheese on top and baked in the oven for about 20 min. Serve with some mixed salad, and you have a great supper. Ummm yeah.

Keep calm and love weed, er, weeds!

Nettle Tea

The first feeble sprouts of stinging nettle are bursting out of their perennial root system in my garden. After attending a course last year about using wild plants for cooking, I’ve realized the boundaries between “weed” and “herb” are conventions. In nature there are thousands of delicious edible wild plants, and most of them just as nutritious, maybe even more so, than our cultivated plants. Stinging nettle is one of them. Its taste reminds of spinach, and it’s crammed with nutrients like iron, vitamins and other important trace elements. My dad often made nettle soup when I was little, so cooking with nettle holds quite some nostalgia for me.

You can pick the sprouts in spring, or harvest the tips off the bigger plants throughout summer. Use them as you would spinach – how ’bout sautéed, in a pie, in salad, in pesto or a stew? Yummy. This simple brew (though it’s not quite right to call it “tea” when there’s no actual tea involved, but meh. Blame the networking effect) is prepared by soaking newly picked or dried nettles in hot water for 5 – 15 minutes, depending on taste. Though I gotta say this drink gives you the most when it’s quite strong. It has an umami feel (at least I think so), flawless health benefits, and it’s great in the morning.

Another perk when viewing wild plants this way is that suddenly they’re not your enemies anymore! You welcome them rather than feeling resentful for not using all you might to get rid of them. Plenty of nettle, dandelion and goutweed (all delicacies) grow in my garden, and they’re my friends now. I feel privileged to be able to feast off of nature’s pantry in abundance.

I also made this delectable egg salad with today’s loot of nettle and goutweed:

So … not much of it left now. The salad, I mean. Looking forward to experiment more with the edibles of the local flora this summer – there will very probably be more posts on the subject.

Pesto Special

Pesto was one of my first culinary romances. I guess I was about thirteen when I started making it regularly, and it has a special place in my heart. It’s one of the most versatile condiments you can make – goes with fish, chicken, red meat, seafood, vegetables, in soup, as flavoring in mayo or other sauces, on stews and stir fries … on anything really. I’ve wanted to do a pesto special for a long time, so let’s get to it and take a look at the essential ingredients!

Herbs. Traditionally basil, but you can use any herb. Basil-only pesto is great, and very aromatic. Some basil types have an almost clove-like taste and smell. But from the wonderful world of herbs you can take your pick; use one, all of them or a select few. Experiment. Find out what you like. I use what’s at hand. That’s usually basil and flat leaf parsley (I buy it in large bundles at markets) but occasionally a few sprigs of thyme (though I never liked too much of this one in pesto) make it into the mortar. If you really want quirky you can go collect some edible weeds in your area. No kidding! There are a lot of aromatic and nutritious weeds out there, for example dandelion, nettles or goutweed. Consult an expert, and make sure you don’t pick anything too close to traffic!

Garlic. The only variational possibility here is really the amount, and for that I have this simple rule: If the pesto is to be eaten immediately, I use less (about two bulbs to a full mortar); and if it is to rest overnight, I use more (4 – 5 bulbs).

Nuts. Most recipes call for pine nuts, and they are delicious – but expensieve, and not unique. At first I exclusively used pine nuts, and though they are certainly suitable because of their high oil content; so are walnuts. I now mostly use walnuts and pistachios in an about 50/50 ratio, and find this works very well. If you desire variation in texture, try almonds. You’ll get a much thicker paste with less nuts, and the taste and feel reminds (not surprisingly) of marzipan.

Oil. The ingredient with which I have been the most consistent through the years, I have kept to olive oil (although I did cheat once with coconut oil and liked it). Olive oil is one of my favorite ingredients whatsoever, I simply love the taste. Strangely enough I’ve used it less after I discovered the paleo diet. Must be remedied.

Cheese. This is actually the one ingredient one can do without – if you do a strict paleo your pesto will be just fine with the four previous ingredients. But cheese does make everything better, of course! The traditional pesto cheese is Parmesan, which is great. I like the Swiss Gruyère, and since it frequently occupies my fridge, it goes in the pesto all the time. For a time I was hooked on cream cheese, which gives a soft, smooth and rounded result.

As for equipment a food processor or hand mixer works fine – and is of course ideal if you need to upscale. But truly fine pesto is made in a mortar. Sounds a bit old-fashioned? Try it for yourself – you’ll be surprised at the revelation of flavors and how they blend in a considerably subtler way when the ingredients are ground, not cut. The word “pesto” itself comes from the Italian pestare, which means to crush or grind. So be a geek and get yourself a nice big mortar, fill it up and pound away. Mine (the picture above) is granite and I’ve come to love it as it’s decorative, too. I suspect I will acquire several others in my life.

The technique will come to you. It’s really easy. A tip though: crush the garlic first, so it’l be evenly spread. And don’t add too much oil in the beginning – it’ll be all over you! You’ll work out the scale too, just add ingredients little by little while grinding. Season to taste with sea salt and plack pepper. But be careful! When I do this, there’s a rear danger that I “taste” half of the pesto …

Hope you enjoyed this pesto special, and most of all I hope you’ll enjoy making it! It feels really good to bash and beat and see the pesto taking shape. Also for me just working oil into things is soul nurturing. But I’m a little weird. In a good way.

Spring Musings

The older I get, the more I seem to long for spring every year. When I said this to my aunt she replied: “Well – imagine how I feel!” If at 23 this is how much I enjoy spring when it’s finally sprung, then I’m in for some happy times in my life. Aaaah yeah.

These are some random glimpses of my garden right now. I’ve kept myself busy sowing indoors, and now I’m putting my sprouts out for hardening by day. I’m a total noob when it comes to gardening, but they all seem to thrive. My interest in plants comes from deep down inside, I can feel it. It’s been growing (pun intended) for the last couple of years. Both my father and grandfather are/were accomplished hobby gardeners. Connection?

I’m planning a nice little crop of herbs, vegetables and edible flowers this summer. Stay tuned for updates!

Quail in Raspberry Vinegar

A couple of years ago I attended a five-day cooking class in Provence. The chef’s name was Patrick and he was eccentric as fuck. He’d lived all over the world with his own restaurants, knew many celebrities (including Ridley Scott and Claudia Cardinale), loved young blond women (slowed down the car once to have a look at one) and spoke with the perfect cliché French accent. He is now retired from the restaurant business and lives in a beautiful rich man’s villa on the top of a hill with a breathtaking view of the Luberon Valley and runs a cooking school with his wife. Pretty nice life.

The other attendees were a middle-aged brother and likewise sister from Australia. And 21-year-old me. It was fun. By day we were on a mission somewhere in Luberon – plenty of stunning villages there, I mean, real beauties. Stone houses and steep, paved streets. Olive and almond trees everywhere. Flowers poking out of every crack. I want to live in one of those one day.

In the evening we cooked and the rest of the night was spent dining on what we cooked. A four course meal every night with plenty of rosé wine both during and after cooking (and for lunch, and apéritif) – how about that? Anyway, I learnt a lot and recreate dishes from the classes from time to time. This is my version of “Quail in Raspberry Vinegar”.

You’ll need one quail per person – two if they are small. Wrap them in bacon and place in a baking dish. Dab some raspberry vinegar on top, and add a little water to the bottom of the dish. Bake at 200°C for about 25 min. When done use the liquid from the dish to make the sauce. I added some heavy cream, the rest of the raspberry vinegar (I had a small bottle), some fresh herbs, salt and pepper. Serve with asparagus and raspberries.

Damn fancy fine meal.

See also: http://www.famous-provence.com/

Green Spring Soup with Asparagus and Bacon

For this I fried up a pack of bacon, put the bacon aside, minced some garlic and chopped some spring onions, and let them sizzle in the bacon fat. Then I added a nice handful of asparagus, stirred a little, and prepared a broth (chicken bouillon cubes + a decoction of the waste from the garlic and spring onions). The vegetables were added to the broth, and the mixture simmered for about 20 min. The soup was blended with a hand mixer, and a last touch of pepper and lemon juice added to taste. Garnish with crispy bacon strips. Enjoy!

You can add other green vegetables with the garlic and spring onion – regular onions, celery, fennel, leeks etc. And do add some herbs! Flat leaf parsley is a good choice.