Are you familiar with Hero Recipes, Dungeon Meshi Maniacs? No, I don't mean super powered foods that swoop in to save buses filled with orphaned nuns. No, a hero recipe is a simplistic recipe that looks like you've put in a ton of work! They are hero recipes because unless you tell your guests they think you are a super chef. And who doesn't want to look super human in the kitchen once in awhile? We have not one but TWO hero recipes this week, DMMs. Buckle up and join me for some deceptively difficult dishes with the "Whole Fifth Floor" Piccata & Sweet Dryad!
Yes, yes. Keen eyed DMMs will see a THIRD dish cropped out of this image. There's a good reason why I'm leaving it off. It's too similar to the next dish we'll be making in a few weeks! We do not repeat dishes, do we? So these two are what we are going to cook. Of course we are repeating ingredients with the Cockatrice and Dryads. How do we get to repeating ingredients? Oh ho ho, DMMs. It's a wild story. It starts in a blizzard!
Remember, DMMs. It's a MAGIC dungeon so running into snow isn't out of the question. I've only been in a blizzard once in my life and Laios is right to be worried. It's nearly impossible to hear over the din of the wind and you're visibility drops to zero quickly. You could easily miss someone standing two feet away from you!
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The party quickly becomes separated but push on. Quick point, DMMs. If you are lost in a blizzard finding shelter is the top priority! Which this group doesn't seemed concerned with at all. They're DOOMED! Well, not really. Luckily for our band of adventurers the blizzard stops as quickly as it started. Great, right? Well...only if you have enough food to serve a larger party.
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I'm pretty sure the party had less than 12 members but my memory isn't that great, DMMs. Illusion magic is afoot! I really don't want to get lost in the weeds on the story since it's very popular and the beats are pretty well known in fantasy/sci fi stories. It's up to the group to figure out who is the real deal and who is a mere copy.
What's going on? An unseen monster has created the copies using the mental images each party member has of the other! Not so much a copy, more of a "this is how I see you" which leads to two very big questions. Who has the hots for Marcille and Senshi?!
I get that both are very attractive but WOW! Too bad they are fakes, I think I'd get used to Sexy Senshi's full/pouting eyes. We never answer this question! It's okay to have crushes on your friends, DMMs. Nothing to be ashamed of. Long story short, Laios is the only one they quickly figure out the authentic version of so it's up to him to separate the rest. He does this through a cooking contest which is how we get to our dishes!
Nothing for us to worry about, DMMs. Remember, this is the hero recipe week! A Piccata and Sweet Dryad. Sounds tough but trust me, anyone can do this. Let's start with the main dish, the Piccata. What's that, exactly? Piccata literally means "cooked in a sauce of lemon, parsley and butter". Simple! To make things even simpler we won't be using parsley this time. A non-piccata Piccata! So we have the basic idea of a sauce, we just need something to cook in it. Since the base is a Cockatrice we'll use chicken. Chicken Piccata! The chicken is simple so let's focus on what we need for the sauce.
What a basic lineup! Lemon juice, salt, pepper, granulated garlic, chicken stock, heavy cream, and capers. Okay, okay. Capers aren't something you normally find in you average kitchen. They are a great thing to have on hand, however! Little pickled flower buds that add a bit if umami to any dish! If you don't have capers any tinned fish like anchovies or sardines would work. But this one calls for capers so we will caper away (that means to dance!). We will start with the chicken. You want thin chicken breast because this is a quick fry. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and the granulated garlic. Use as much as you like! Since this is a fry make sure to dredge the chicken in flour next.
This gives you a nice skin and holds the seasoning in place while you fry! Heat up two tablespoons of butter with a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Once that looks good and hot put the chicken in.
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Add ANOTHER two tablespoons of butter (look, this ain't health food), a fourth cup of chicken stock, a tablespoon of the lemon juice, and as many capers as you like. Do a quick stir and scrape to get any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Now add a half cup of the heavy cream and return the pan to the hot, hot, hot burner. Let this come up a quick bubble boil and return the chicken.
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They only need to be in there for another five minutes. This will finish cooking than and thicken the sauce. If the sauce is too thin, just add a little cornstarch. If the sauce is too think, add a little more chicken stock. Just don't get into a perfectionist mode where you keep adding cornstarch and stock! That way lies madness, DMMs! Once the five minutes are up serve over pasta, mashed potatoes or just by itself.
See! It looks and tastes like you worked all day on it but it probably took 25 minutes tops. As long as you don't let anyone know otherwise they'll think you're a master chef. Now that you've wowed everyone with dinner it's time to hit them with the second hero recipe. Sweet Dryad! Wait...I mean Baked Apples! Preheat the oven to 475 and grab some Pink Lady's. The apples, not the band.
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Brown sugar, rolled oatmeal, butter, nutmeg, and cinnamon. You'll want that butter at room temperature so use your spreading butter rather than your baking butter. Mix three tablespoons of the butter, 1/4th cup of the brown sugar and 1/4th cup of the oats, and about a half teaspoon of the cinnamon and as much nutmeg as you like. Combine!
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