A Hobbit's Feast

Retrieved from: If more of us valued food and cheer

In memory of good times and better company, I am posting a fantasy styled banquet which I cooked in honor of the opening night of "The Hobbit".

"Hobbits love their food and enjoy simple, home country food and drink like home-brewed beer and wine, soups, stews, roasted meats, lots of fruits like apples and blackberries which they grow and pick." Bilbo Baggins

In 'The Hobbit' where the dwarves come to tea unexpectedly, Bilbo serves them seed cakes, beer, ale, porter, coffee, cakes, buttered scones, tea, red wine, raspberry jam, apple tart, mince pies, cheese, pork pies, salad, cold chicken, pickles, hard-boiled eggs and biscuits!

Thankfully for Bilbo, the Dwarves did the washing up!

A Shire Pie

"P'raps there are more like him round about, and we might make a pie," said Bert. ~ a Troll

2 deep dish pie crusts **
1 pound mushrooms, quartered
1 onion diced
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery diced
1 carrot diced
1 pound sausage **(I used a half pound of ground venison and a half pound sage sausage)
2 tbsp. flour
1 1/2 cups broth (I used beef)**
2 tbsp. butter**
Several sprigs fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste

This recipe is very loosely based on "Rosie's Shire Pie". I have noted where I made substitutes.  Saute carrots, onions, garlic, mushrooms and celery in butter or oil until golden brown and tender. Add sausage and cook till no longer pink.  Prebake pie dish for approximately ten minutes.  Add meat and vegetables.  Close the pie with the second crust, and make a slit in the top. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until crust is brown.

Meanwhile, pan gravy can be made by making slurry with the flour and the broth and using it to deglaze the pan the vegetables and meat were cooked in.  Serve on the side.


Roasted Roots

Merry: I don't know why he's so worked up. It's only a bundle of carrots.
Pip: And cabbages. And the sack of potatoes we lifted last week. And then the mushrooms the week before! And--
Merry: Yes, pip!!! The point is he's completely overreacting.

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 sweet potato
2 Yukon gold potatoes
1 bunch of beets, scrubbed tops trimmed
2 large parsnips
1 onion
1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and separated
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the vegetables into 1" cubes, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables in a 425 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until vegetables become tender and golden brown.

Note:  You can cook the vegetables with the Shire Pie, but it will take longer for them to become tender.


Braised Cabbage with Bacon 

Pippin: "Can I have some bacon"

1 head red cabbage
1 onion, chopped
1 tart apple (granny smith), peeled, seeded and chopped
2 slices of bacon, diced
1 cup water
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Handful of golden raisins

In a large pot or dutch oven, cook the bacon in your pan and remove it.  Saute onion and apple in the drippings until tender.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for approximately 30 minutes or until tender.  In the last five minutes of cooking, add the bacon back into the pot.

Apple and Blackberry Tartlets

"I hope I never smell the smell of apples again!" said Fili. "My tub was full of it. To smell apples everlastingly when you can scarcely move and are cold and sick with hunger us maddening. I could eat anything in the wide world now, for hours on end - but not an apple!" ~ Fili

Pie or tart crust
1 pound of mixed apples (granny smith, golden delicious and gala is what I used)
8 ounces blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. blackberry jam
1 tbsp. cornstarch

To make the filling peel, core and slice the apples, toss with the blackberries.  Mix the cornstarch and sugar together and then toss into the fruit. Spread jam on the bottom of the pie or tart crusts. Fill with the fruit.

Bake at 400 degrees 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden and fruit is bubbling.  Cool at least ten minutes before serving.

We served with homemade whipped cream...mmmmsss.

 Elven Lembas 

“The lembas had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down to die. It did not satisfy desire, and at times Sam’s mind was filled with the memories of food, and the longing for simple bread and meats. And yet, this way bread of the elves had potency that increased as travelers relied upon it alone and did not mingle it with other foods. It fed the will, and it gave strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb beyond the measure of mor
tal kind.

6 tbsp. butter
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
4 tbsp. heavy cream
Optional: handful of raisins

Blend butter and flower in bowl until it resembles sand.  Add sugar and raisins.  In a small bowl, beat the egg and milk together until mixed.  Add the wet ingredients to the flour and mix until it forms a stiff dough.  Knead the dough on a floured surface and roll out to approximately 3/4" thickness.

Note: At this point the kids were given cookie cutters and told to enjoy themselves! There was not a clean cookie cutter in sight, but the kids were very pleased with themselves and their efforts.

Place the cookies on a lightly greased baking sheet, leaving about an inch between them.  Brush the tops of the cookies with milk or a mixture of milk and egg, sprinkle with sugar if desired and bake in a 400 degree oven approximately 12 minutes.  You want them to be light in color when you remove them from the oven.

  I hope you enjoy!

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." ~ Thorin

Many of the recipes for this feast can be found here: Middle-earth Recipes compiled by MithrandirCQ and Primula with additions .