An Unexpected Cookbook (2017)

I’ve never reviewed a cookbook before – truth be told, I’ve never owned a cookbook before – but this is a good one to start with.  In addition to being delightfully nerdy and filled with delicious recipes, it’s a wonderfully well-put-together volume that shows a lot of love toward its subject.

Written by Chris-Rachael Oseland, An Unexpected Cookbook boasts a fine collection of Hobbit-inspired recipes.  Ever since getting back into Tolkien last year, rewatching the movies and then rereading the books, I’ve rekindled my love for all things Hobbit and have since dipped my toes into the water with finding Middle-Earthy recipes available online (this site is a favorite source of mine.)  When I saw this lovely-looking book on Amazon, though, I couldn’t pass it up.  Obviously, the photos on the cover look scrumptious, and beyond that, I loved that the book divided its recipes according to the seven Hobbit meals – yes, breakfast and second breakfast are completely-separate categories.

It may seem odd to say this, but this book is genuinely a nice read.  Lots of care has gone into selecting dishes with the rural Victorian air of the Shire, using only ingredients Tolkien would have approved of.  Each section is prefaced by a short introduction to that meal – elevenses, dinner, etc. – and each recipe begins with a short description of the dish, providing a little real-world historical context or bringing it back to the series.  Additionally, the recipes themselves are written personably, with handy tips for those of us whose adventurousness as cooks sometimes outweighs our kitchen prowess, as well as a range of other bits of advice:  vegan/gluten-free modifications, what to pair with a dish, how to use the leftovers, and more.

I’ve unofficially decided to start a yearly tradition of rewatching the films – over three consecutive days (I don’t have it in me to do three in one) – and it naturally follows that I should feast like a Hobbit on said days.  I made my first go of it this summer, and it was really a fun challenge.  I selected one dish for each meal; granted a real Hobbit would probably have several, but a) they’d already have a decent amount of leftovers in the pantry/larder, so they wouldn’t be cooking all of it in one day, and b) I don’t have the stomach of a Hobbit.  So, I had one cooking-filled day capped with The Fellowship of the Ring, followed by two days of leftovers and the subsequent films (with enough food leftover to have here and there for the rest of the week!)

The recipes I picked for my maiden voyage, by the way, were as follows:

Breakfast:  Morning Oat Porridge – a whole new oatmeal experience for me

Second Breakfast:  Pork Hand Pies – I was really pleased with how well these turned out

Elevenses:  Honey Cakes – I had a tricky time getting these out of the muffin pan, but they still tasted great

Luncheon:  Mushroom Soup – really flavorful

Afternoon Tea:  Hot Buttered Scones – tasty, buttery goodness

Supper:  Rosemary Skillet Peas – the dish adds some great flavor to what I tend to think of as a fairly basic vegetable

Dinner:  Wine Braised Oxtails – I had to hunt all over town to find oxtails, but they were worth the search