I have been wanting to make a Dornish meal for some time, and now that I have had a long weekend home to help Kelly as she recovers from her surgery I have had some time to make it. So here is my traditional Dornish meal of dates, cheese, olives, chickpea paste, and flatbread. And wine, of course.
First, I wanted to do something a little different. Just picking olives out of a jar or hummus out of a plastic container didn’t feel right to me. If you don’t have time or inclination, sure. But I had time, and I wanted to do something a little special. So after my discussion of Dornish culture the other day, I thought consulting Lilia Zaouali’s Medieval Cuisine in the Islamic World as well as A Feast of Ice and Fire (duh) would be a great choice.
So I started with olives. As much as I love me some Kalamatas, just digging those out of a jar didn’t seem right, so instead I figured I would make my own jar of Dornish-style olives. First I picked my olives – black and green like the recipe says. And three guesses where the olives came from, but odds are you will only need one.
These were already brined, so I knew right away I was going to take it easy on the salt. Then I just needed to pick out some olive oil, and again, didn’t take too long to reach over and grab this off the shelf. This is one of my favorite brands.
Actually, my other favorite I have talked about on this blog before (in regards to Cylons loving that brand too). Anyway, then I went out to the herb garden and selected a few choice sprigs of thyme. I put everything together in the jar and let it sit a while. Then I thought, what does it need to be really Dornish? Some wine, perhaps? So I added a little vinho tinto to give the mix a dash of color, and that is all it needed.
This is one of those times I wish I had gone ahead and gotten some of those beautiful European canning jars with the glass lids but all I had were my very 19th century American Ball canning jars with the metal lids. Oh well.
So since I heavily favored the land of my father’s family for the olives and wine, I borrowed from a lot of other places to get the rest: dates from Tunisia; flat bread from a Lebanese bakery; sheep’s milk cheese from an Armenian grocery; chickepea paste that I made from the Zaouali book; and figs from an exotic land far to the west, known as Khal-eefornyah.
I thought that little bell was a cool addition to the photo. It’s a little brass and enamel bell from India, and it just looked like something a Dornish noblewoman (or a Northern one like Kelly) would use to summon her servants (or husband when she is somewhat bedridden). So it was a nice lunch to us to snack on as she recuperates and I do some work around the house.
And only a few more hours to go until Season Four, Episode Nine – “The Watchers on the Wall”. Hold on to your direwolves, kiddies, because we are going for a hell of a ride. It’s going to be epic.
-Geoff
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