The Redwall Feast

**Again, sorry for the lack of pictures. My hubby's camera was in his vehicle and not available, so that wasn't even an option.


My oldest son planned and prepared a Redwall Feast on Saturday. Well, the planning began earlier in the week, but the meal's preparation, cooking & sampling was on Saturday.


To give a little bit of background . . . Redwall, written by Brian Jacques, is the title of the first book in a series about animals. It's an exciting world where Martin the Warrior, a small mouse with an ancient sword and a brave heart, fights for all that is good and noble. Redwall is an Abby where the peaceful animals (such as mice, hedgehogs, hares, & moles ) live together in the forest. The Redwallers always try to win with peace, but when that doesn't work against the rats, cats & other vermin, they do take to arms to defend themselves and the Abby. My husband has been reading this series to our kids for quite a few years. They all enjoy it immensly. So, whenever I see a book related to Redwall, it usually becomes a gift for one of our kids. My oldest received 'The Redwall Cookbook' as a gift about a year ago and has wanted to try the recipes since. Here is what he prepared:


Drink: October Ale
Soup/Appetiser: Shrimp 'n' Hotroot Soup
Main Dishes/SavorySides: Brockhall Badger Carrot Cakes
Desserts/Afternoon Treats: Loamhedge Legacy Nutbread and Hare's Haversack Crumble


October Ale is similar to sparkling grape juice. That was, of course, a hit with the kids.


The Shrimp 'n' Hotroot Soup was good, as well. It was made with leeks, which I hadn't even purchased before. I had to look up the preparation technique in one of my cooking reference books. They look like a very large green onion, but the tops are quite a bit tougher. The top, coarser greens are removed & the rest is chopped for this soup. Both ds and I weren't too sure about this soup because it looked like we would be eating mainly chopped leeks! However, the flavor of the vegetable stock, potatoes and shrimp really evened the taste. This is not a soup we'd prepare often, but it was fun to try.


The Brockhall Badger Carrot Cakes were VERY good. I would definitely encourage ds to make these again. They are similar to fried potato cakes, but with extra ingredients. We haven't tried it yet, but I think they would reheat well in the oven.


Made with pecans, the Loamhedge Legacy Nutbread is free-formed on a cookie sheet. This was good plain, but I believe it would be even better with a bit of berry jam or honey. This time around, the bread was a little too browned on the edges. I'd encourage ds to cut the baking time a little.


The very best was saved for last . . . the Hare's Haversack Crumble. Frozen blueberries, raspberries & blackberries formed the bottom layer. The crumble top of cinnamon and brown sugar was the perfect amount of sweet. Although the recipe recommended custard or ice cream, I wouldn't have added anything! It was so tasty; we all wanted more.

It's fun to see my ds enjoy cooking and baking. I hope he'll plan another feast with as much success. Here's the link to the cookbook: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Redwall-Cookbook/Brian-Jacques/e/9780399237911/?itm=1 If you live close by and would like to use the cookbook to create your own feast, let me know. I'm sure ds wouldn't mind giving it up for a few weeks!