63rd of Ash, 4622
Feeling a bit better after a couple of days of respite & visiting Bramble’s Respite to have the little old lady do some medicinal check-ups on his condition and making sure he was recovering reasonably. But unfortunately, the thief still couldn’t do much about feeling fatigued, so the best thing he could do was rest and make some meals for himself as time continued to lapse over.
Feeling his throat scratchy but slowly gaining back his usual gruff voice and stamina, he still needed more time to recover from his illness, but his Mageblight remained a stickler for his overall health. Either way, Jared needed well-deserved treats for his hardship for the past few months he has been living in Genteven.
“Feeling much better, but the good question is what I want to treat myself with… Crepes would be lovely; they are easy to make and can be filled with an assortment of items, from cream & sliced fruits to thin slices of meat & rich sauces. They are also quite light and easy on the stomach as well.”
Making his way to the kitchen, the thief takes his time setting up the kitchen as usual, as preparation is required. The production of Crepe batter was simple enough; the recipe consisted of flour, milk, salt, water, butter and eggs.
To start, the alistian thief begins by whisking the flour and eggs together into a thick pasty batter; once the pale batter is formed, the journeyman cook begins to add the milk & water slowly. They were next, thinning the batter until it reached a light, thin batter that the amber-eyed thief could quickly spread out into a pan.
At this point, the batter was completed and required some time to rest to allow the agitated batter to rest and prevent the batter from becoming thicker due to hydrating the flour & emulsification of the eggs.
In the meantime, some preparations were required for the accessories for the crepe. A crepe would be bland without its foil, whether making thin slices of meat, sauces, jams or other condiments. Taking a moment to rummage through the pantry, Jared takes, this time, checked which items he had made in the past were already open and what he could do with them.
“Let's see, I have some jam, marmalade & some fruit syrups, which would be nice to have; Fruit crepes sound refreshing for Ash.”
Something that Jared enjoyed was using mixed berries, thin slices of banana & a coulis made of various berries as well would add a nice touch of tartness & fruity flavours. Another set of fruit pairs would be blackcurrant, peach slices, plums & raspberries with mascarpone cream with hints of lemon zest & honey, which would also add a nice touch. There were so many flavour combinations that Jared had to sit down and ponder for quite some time as he was sifting through all the ideas he was generating from the top of his head, and it wasn’t easy trying to narrow it down.
“Eh… There are too many ideas to work with; I probably need to figure out a way to keep all these ideas and try playing with the various concepts in general.”
Taking a moment to look at the various cabinets & pantries; another idea that Jared was tossing with was possibly making a quiche, but there was a variety of recipes he could play with & also use for any possible items that might go off, such as various vegetables, meat & dairy products as well.
“Hmmm… Quiche Lorraine wouldn’t be too bad, makes use of cream, eggs & bacon; Quiche aux oignons & Quiche aux poireaux is also quite delicious since they use onions & leeks, respectively.”
Quiches tend to be a bit complex to make since it requires a pie crust dough which is mainly consisting of butter, flour & cold water, to be incorporated to the point that the dough is barely coming together & that it can rest for at least a few hours, overnight being optimal.
Once the crust had rested, a partial blind-bake was required to prevent the crust from becoming too soggy once the savoury custard filling was added in before completing the bake. This was something that Jared had learnt the hard way, as he could recall having a soggy bottom for his quiche the first time he made it & he only understood that the Amber-eyed cook created it after spying on some of the bakers back home at Alistian.
Preparing the filling was easy enough as well; all it took was a simple ratio of 4 eggs to 1 cup of milk to make the filling, followed by adding the various additions to the filling such as the bacon, leeks, onions or any other assortment of foodstuffs that could work well with a quiche.
Once the core concept was set, it was time to make up the quiche. The pie dough must be made first, dusting the countertop with a light layer of flour. The citrine-eyed cook starts by piling up some flour which forms a miniature mountain. From there, the thief would incorporate small cubes of butter by rubbing the small chunks into the flour, acting as the leavening agent for the baking process.
"Remember to work in the butter, just enough that only tiny pellets remain & then slowly add some water to start forming the dough."
The main issue that Jared was concerned about was the fact that if the nightfallen thief added too much water, the crust would come out too wet and cause the crust to become tough & chewy rather than flaky & dry.
Another detail to note when making pies is that less kneading is required since the wetter the dough is &, and the more kneading is incorporated, the more challenging the dough would form after resting.
After a couple of minutes of blending the flour, butter & slight hints of sugar, Jared takes a moment to shape the dough into a round disc before covering it in some linen cloth and setting it off to the side in a fantastic area to rest for a tender biting experience once the amber-eyed chef fully baked the pie crust.
He was taking a moment to clean up all the utensils he used throughout the baking process of creating the pie crust & crepe batter. The thief hums to himself as he takes a bit of time, trying his best to relax from a highly stressful situation that the Season of Ash has brought in.
In any case, the thief could not afford to bake now since most of his time has been spent training on his own or with a sparring partner to improve his skills concerning combat. He needed to get stronger on his own accord if he wanted to help his friend: Hugo, live from his kidnapping.
The image still haunts the thief today as the battle was all but a flash of memories seared into his mind. Then, with a loud sigh, Jared takes a moment to look outside the window. Gazing for a moment as the sun begins to set in the distance, his good old friend, the moon, takes its place in the dimming alabaster sky.
With his training session looming closer with each passing second as the moon’s phases slowly drift into the next stage, So too does the thief’s cook have to undergo a rapid style cooking method which he generally hates since he is more into the details than anything else. It would only take a moment to make up the filling for his quiche, which Jared decided to have bits of sliced mushrooms, leeks, cream & eggs, whisking them all together while the pie shell was cooling down from its blind bake.
Once Jared had blended all of the ingredients, it was time to pour in the savoury egg custard filling before setting it into an earthen oven, constantly keeping a close eye on the baked good as the stove wasn’t the most precise tool. Still, it was better than nothing & the thief had a bit of experience working these kinds of appliances.
While the Quiche was baking, it was time to finish making up the crepe since the batter had rested for just enough to work. Taking out a small pan, the Journeyman cook takes the time to heat the pan with a light layer of oil to obtain a uniform brown mark once the thief adds the batter to the heated pan.
Once the amber-eyed magus poured the batter & the mixture was evenly spread to make a skinny layer that would cook quickly & thoroughly enough that toppings could be added, in the thief’s case, some light spread of cream cheese & salmon with bits of chives & salt would make a nice savoury snack. In contrast, some peaches & dollops of whisked cream would be suitable for those that had a sweet tooth once the crepe has cooled down to prevent the cream from melting.
Nonetheless, the thief was constantly darting between checking the quiche & his crepes and before long, his two treats had been completed; despite wanting to enjoy his meal. Duty calls & his training session loom closer than he would like. Quickly making up his salmon & cream cheese crepe, the thief soon puts out the hearth before making his way out, thinking about the cleaning he would have to do once his training session was done, but at least there were a few treats to welcome him home, after a day of beating.
