April 2023 Supper Club - Harry Potter Foods

Katharina hosted a Harry Potter Foods dinner. 

For starters, we had Sorting Hat appetizers (Lauren):

We also had Bezoars (Susanna):

For the main course, we had Shepherd's Pie (Katharina):

For a side dish, we had sauteed bok choi (Sara):

And we had two types of pumpkin pasties (savoury and sweet) (Kim).  

When I was reading the books, I always imagined the pumpkin pasties to be a savoury treat.  It wasn't until I started looking for a recipe online that I realized that nearly everyone had sweet versions, like American-style pumpkin pie but as a hand pie.  I decided to make both versions for our dinner, the kind I imagined and the kind almost everyone else had.  While both version were good, my personal favourite was the savoury version.

For the savoury version, I made Erin Jeanne McDowell's Rough Puff Pastry (posted on Food52.com)

(makes 1 1/2 lbs pastry)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups (302g) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon (2g) fine sea salt

8 ounces (226g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 3/4-inch (19mm) cubes

1/3 cup (75g) ice water, plus more as needed

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, stir the flour and salt together to combine. Add the cubes of butter, tossing them through the flour until each individual piece is well coated. Cut the butter into the flour by pressing the pieces between your fingers, flattening them into big shards. As you work, continue to toss the butter through the flour, recoating the shingled pieces. The goal is to flatten each piece of butter only once, leaving the pieces very large (they will get smaller/more dispersed through the process of folding the dough).
2. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add the ice water to the well and, using your hands, toss the flour with the water to start to mix the two together (this begins to combine them without creating too much gluten). As the flour begins to hydrate, you can switch to more of a kneading motion—but don’t overdo it, or the dough will be tough. Then add more water, about 1 tablespoon (15 grams) at a time, until the dough is properly hydrated. It should be uniformly combined and hold together easily, but it shouldn’t look totally smooth. Divide the dough in half and form each piece into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. On a lightly floured surface, working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch thick (the exact size/shape of the dough doesn’t matter here, just the thickness). Brush off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush, then fold the dough in half. Fold the dough in half again into quarters. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill for 15 to 30 minutes, until firm.
4. Repeat the previous step three more times: rolling out the dough, folding it, and chilling it each time before continuing. If you work quickly, you can sometimes do two rounds of folds back to back, but if the dough is soft or sticky, don’t rush it.
5. Once the final fold is completed, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and preferably 1 to 2 hours before using.

For the filling for the savoury version, I liked the flavors in the recipe on this website https://www.lovemysalad.com/recipes/savoury-pumpkin-pie-red-onion-and-feta-cheese

Ingredients:

1 pumpkin, peeled and cut into small cubes

Olive oil

1 red onion, sliced into rings

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons thyme, chopped (I used dried so cut the amount by 2/3)

75g crumbled feta cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place onion and cubed pumpkin (or any winter squash) on a sheet pan, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper.

3. Roast in oven for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until squash is softened and onion is starting to brown.  When you remove the sheet pan from the oven, stir in the minced garlic and thyme.  As long as the sheet pan is still hot while you do this, the garlic will cook, but not burn.  

Assembly:

Roll out puff pastry, cut into rectangular shapes with a sharp knife.  Fill with 1 tablespoon of filling, moisten edges of puff pastry and crimp edges.  Beat 1 egg with a splash of water, brush tops of pastry with egg wash.  Slash top (or poke holes) to give pies a place for steam to escape.

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove from oven when pastry is nicely golden brown.  Allow to cool a bit before enjoying.

Sweet Pumpkin Pasties:

I used store bought Israeli puff pastry, cutting small circles into the dough.

I used canned pumpkin and mixed pumpkin pie spice + a little cardamom & vanilla sugar into the pumpkin pie mix (no measurements, just estimating and tasting as I went).

Assembled by filling the circles with about 1 tbsp of pumpkin pie filling, moistening the edges with water, and crimping.  Used remaining egg wash from the savoury pasties, and slashed the tops to allow steam to escape.  Baked for 20-30 minutes in 400 degree oven.

For dessert, we had tea and rock cakes (Christiane):

We also had butter beer (Lauren):