Going back in time to dine with Outlander
Chef’s new cookbook channels time-jumping Outlander book series, Treve Ring writes.
In Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander book series, heroine Claire Randall travels through time, having been swept up in a Scottish stone circle time-travel portal. The series has been incredibly popular, propelled into greater stardom by the television adaptation of the book.
It’s fitting, then, that Outlander Kitchen: The Official Outlander Companion Cookbook, based on the series and penned by Pender Island author and chef Theresa Carle- Sanders, is also a time-travel portal of sorts, with historic recipes inspired by Gabaldon’s books.
A blog that grew into a cookbook published earlier this year, Outlander Kitchen creates recipes, real and imagined, from protagonist Randall’s travels through historic Scotland to France, the Caribbean and North American colonies, and back and forth between the 18th and 20th centuries, modernizing them for today’s home chef. We talked to Carle- Sanders about the book.
Q What was the inspiration for this book?
A I first read the books in 2001, but it wasn’t until 2010, while I was on a walk in the woods on Pender, that a dish from Voyager, the third book in the series, popped into my head. Just the thought of Pigeon Rolls with Truffles made my mouth water, and by the time I was home, I had the recipe (which uses chicken thighs and porcini mushrooms) written in my head, along with an idea for a food-related interview with Diana Gabaldon. I sent the email, including a request for permission to post a short excerpt from Voyager with the recipe on my first food blog, IslandVittles.com, to Diana’s Canadian publicist that very afternoon. Diana’s generous response the next day was the birth of Outlander Kitchen.
Q How was the transition from blog to cookbook?
A This project has taken much longer than I dreamed it would. Shortly after I posted my first couple of Outlander recipes in 2010, I asked Diana about the possibility of a cookbook. Unbeknownst to me at the time, she had begun negotiations with Sony to produce the television adaptation of Outlander, and was advised to wait until the series aired before considering a cookbook. The series launched in August 2014. TV, of course, has attracted millions more fans to the story, and made my dream of an Outlander Kitchen cookbook feasible in the eyes of literary agents and publishers.
Q When did you begin your culinary journey?
A I quit a corporate, career-path job in 2001, after deciding that the responsible, middle-manager life wasn’t for me. Shortly after that, my husband Howard and I moved from my birthplace of Vancouver to Pender Island. It was a spontaneous move, with no plan other than to try out semi-rural life at a slower speed, and so we spent the next few years working a number of menial jobs to build a life here.
After my dad died suddenly in 2007, I attended a silent retreat in Maine, where I didn’t speak or make eye contact with anyone for seven days. A lot of things come up when you live inside your own head for a few days, and what came up for me was food. I’ve loved food and cook- ing my whole life. My dad was a locavore, (a person who makes an attempt to eat food grown, raised, or produced locally, usually within 100 miles of home) 30 years before the book, Hundred-Mile Diet came out.
I always tagged along to pick up fresh-picked fruits and veggies, the catch of the day, or freshly baked bread from our neighbourhood bakery. A culinary career is the path I should have followed all along. And so, at the age of 38, I moved back to Vancouver to attend the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.
I graduated six months later at the top of my class and returned to Pender, where I worked in local restaurants for a couple of years, baked for the Farmers’ Market, and began my first food blog.
Q How did the ideas for the recipes come about? Were they all directly from the book? A Most of the recipes are taken from the descriptions of the food in the books. Diana sometimes describes a dish in great detail, which gives me a very specific starting point when creating a recipe. Other times, she merely mentions the food in passing, which allows more creative freedom. Other recipes in the cookbook are character-inspired, meaning that I created a dish based on the characteristics, or actions, of a specific character.
Q How did you adapt these historical recipes for modern palates?
A At the beginning, I was very concerned with maintaining historical accuracy in the recipes. But when you’re working with historical food, you discover quickly that 250-year old recipes are seldom palatable by 21st century standards.
Of course, there are a few exceptions, such as Cock-a-Leekie soup and Veal Patties in Wine Sauce; those recipes come, with minor adaptations, straight from 18th-century cookbooks.
The majority, however, require tweaking to make them palatable to today’s audiences.
That’s where the element of time travel actually freed me up creatively. I brought many of the dishes forward in time, incorporating modern techniques and ingredients, transforming them into recipes for family favourites that fans will serve again and again.
APPLE FRITTERS
“Roger was sweating from the exertion, his heart beating fast from the adrenalin of performance, and the air away from the fire and the crowd was cold on his flushed face. The baby’s swaddled weight felt good against him, warm and solid in the crook of his arm. He’d done well, and knew it. Let’s hope it was what Fraser wanted.
By the time Bree reappeared with a drink and a pewter plate heaped with sliced pork, apple fritters, and roast potatoes, Jamie had come into the circle of firelight, taking Roger’s place before the standing cross.
He stood tall and broad-shouldered in his best grey gentleman’s coat, kilted below in soft blue tartan, his hair loose and blazing on his shoulders, with a small warrior’s plait down one side, adorned with a single feather. Firelight glinted from the knurled gold hilt of his dirk and the brooch that held his looped plaid. He looked pleasant enough, but his manner overall was serious, intent. He made a good show — and knew it.” — The Fiery Cross (Chapter 24 — Playing with Fire)
Originally served as an accompaniment to savoury meat dishes, these whisky-marinated balls of fruit and dough pair well with pork, either beside it on the main plate, or as a sweet finish served with your favourite single malt.
Makes: 20 to 24 ¼ cup (60 mL) whisky or orange juice ¼ cup (60 mL) milk 2 tbsp (30 mL) fresh lemon juice Zest of 1 lemon, grated ¼ cup (60 mL) sugar, plus additional 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla ½ tsp (2.5 mL) ground ginger 1 pound (450 g) sweet, firm apples such as Granny Smith, Gala or Pink Lady (2 or 3 medium) 1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour 1½ tsp (7.5 mL) baking powder 1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon 1 tsp (5 mL) kosher salt 2 large eggs 1 tbsp (15 mL) melted butter Vegetable oil, for frying
1. In a medium bowl, mix together the whisky (or orange juice), milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, vanilla and ground ginger.
2. Peel and core the apples. Chop into ½-inch (1.3 cm) pieces and toss in the whisky mixture. Marinate for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Drain the apples, reserving the marinade. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk in the eggs, melted butter and ½ cup (125 mL) of the marinade juice to make a pancake-like batter. Stir the apples into the batter, mixing well to ensure good distribution.
4. In a large saucepan, heat 2 or 3-inches of vegetable oil to 350 F (120 C) over medium-high heat. Drop tablespoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil and fry until golden on both sides, about 5 minutes depending on the size. Do not crowd the pan. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle more sugar on top and serve warm.
Notes:
Do not use an expensive single malt whisky in the marinade — it’s a waste of your money and the distiller’s skill and labour, as all of the subtle aroma and flavour is lost in the deep-frying. Instead, choose a blended whisky, or whiskey.
SHEPHERDS’ PIE
“The house was empty when we returned, though Mrs. Bug had left a covered dish of shepherd’s pie on the table, the floor swept, and the fire neatly smoored. I took off my wet cloak and hung it on the peg, as though I stood in a stranger’s house, in a country where I did not know the custom. Jamie seemed to feel the same way — though after a moment, he stirred, fetched down the candlestick from the shelf over the hearth, and lit it with a spill from the fire. The wavering glow seemed only to emphasize the odd, echoing quality of the room, and he stood holding it for a minute, at a loss, before finally setting it down with a thump in the middle of the lake.” — A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Chapter 80 — The World Turned Upside Down)
Although the dish is much older, the name shepherds’ pie did not appear until the 19th century. Cottage pie was in use by the turn of the 18th Century, when the potato was being introduced as an affordable crop for the poor, many of whom lived in cottages. The two terms were used synonymously for a long time, but today it is generally agreed that a shepherds’ pie contains lamb, while a cottage pie contains beef. This updated version has a red wine base and crown of fluffy, cream-free, golden duchesse potatoes as an update on the Scottish classic.
Serves: 6 or more 2 pounds (900 grams) ground lamb 1 tbsp (15 mL) minced fresh rosemary 1 tbsp (15 mL) minced fresh thyme 2 tsp (10 mL) kosher salt, plus additional 1½ tsp (7.5 mL) freshly ground black pepper, plus additional 2 medium onions, grated 2 large carrots or 2 medium parsnips, grated 3 cloves garlic, grated or minced 6 large mushrooms, thinly sliced 2 tbsp (30 mL) tomato paste ½ cup (125 mL) red wine (optional) 1 cup (250 mL) brown beef or chicken stock 1 tbsp (15 mL) Worcestershire sauce 2½ pounds (1.13 kg or 4 to 5 medium) yellow potatoes, peeled, in 2-inch (5-cm) pieces 6 tbsp (90 mL) butter 3 large egg yolks 1 cup (250 mL) shredded Parmesan cheese
1. Move the rack to the middle rung and heat the oven to 425 F (220 C).
2. Heat an extra-large frying pan or saucepan over medium high. Add the lamb, rosemary, thyme, 2 tsp (10 mL) salt, and 1 tsp (5 mL) pepper. Cook, gently breaking up the lamb with the back of a wooden spoon and stirring occasionally. When the lamb is no longer pink, add the onions, carrots, garlic and mushrooms. Cook until the vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes, Drain off excess fat and return to the stove.
3. Add the tomato paste and stir constantly for about a minute. Deglaze with the red wine (if using) and reduce, stirring and scraping up the brown bits, until almost dry, about 2 minutes. Add the stock and Worcestershire sauce, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. While the meat is cooking, place the potatoes in a large pot with 2 inches (5 cm) of cold, salty water. Cover and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to medium and steam, covered, until tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain and allow them to steam dry in the saucepan, off the heat, for 2 minutes. Mash, add the butter and egg yolks, then mash again until smooth. Add half of the Parmesan and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Spoon the meat mixture into an ovenproof 2-quart (2 L) serving dish, spoon the potatoes over the meat, sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan, and bake 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden. Rest for 10 minutes before serving to allow the juices to settle. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes:
No lamb? Substitute regular ground beef, and enjoy a scrumptious cottage pie.
Recipe can be divided into two loaf-size pans. Freeze one for a future dinner.
Yellow potatoes result in a slightly creamier mash, but russets work well if that is what you have on hand.
ANTHONY GISMONDI’S WINE MATCH
A comfort food dish with big flavours calls for a rustic country red wine.
Verosso Primitivo Salento 2013, Salento, Puglia, Italy, $21.35
Ripe and full flavoured with a robust earthy, black fruit palate a perfect match for the bold meat pie flavours. Private wine stores only.
River Stone Cabernet Franc 2014, Okanagan Valley, $27.90
Black licorice mixed with juicy, red fruit, desert herbs and cocoa all come together. Winery direct.