Request: Muramasa: The Demon Blade – Fish Udon (???)

People always send in requests for Muramasa: The Demon Blade, a game which I had never heard of, and that even after lengthy investigation remains completely enigmatic to me. There’s very little information available about this game, for example the Wikia only has 13 pages. Thirteen! If half the people who asked for Muramasa related food had taken the time to perhaps contribute to that Wikia then I might know what the hell I’m cooking. Truth be told here, the recipe below is based solely on the most common image used to represent the (apparently) wide variety of dishes available at noodle houses through the game – so in a sense it’s the purest Gourmet Gaming dish; it only has its in-game representation influencing it and nothing else. If you happen to know what this is, or could provide more information than the few people I passed the picture around, please let me know!

This recipe serves 2.

What you will need: A Large wok and a frying pan.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Oil

2 Tablespoons Chinese Five Spice

1 Medium White Onion (Sliced)

½ Medium Red Chilli (Sliced)

75g / 1 Cup Button Mushrooms (Quatered)

150g / 1 ½ Cup Pak Choi (Roughly Chopped)

500ml / 2 Cups Vegetable Stock

Dark Soy Sauce

150g / 1 Cup Udon Noodles

2 Seabass Fillets

2 Spring Onions/Scallions (Sliced)

Making the Fish Udon (???):

1. On a medium heat, warm a tablespoon of olive oil and sesame oil in a wok. Next add the Chinese five spice, white onion and red chilli and fry for about a minute.
2. Add the mushrooms and pak choi and cook until soft. Pour in the vegetable stock, add a dash of soy sauce and allow the liquid to simmer gently on a low heat.
3. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan on a low heat and warm through the udon noodles; once warm serve them in the bowls.
4. Turn the heat on the frying pan up high, add a little more oil if required then add the seabass fillets skin side down. Allow the fish to fry for about 2 minutes, then flip it over and cook for another 2.
5. Pour the broth and vegetables over the noodles, then layer with the seabass. Garnish the dish with sliced chillies and spring onions.

I’m not sure what I just made, but it was seriously delicious. The great thing about Asian style cuisine is how fast and simple it can be, and it leaves a wondering feelings of being well fed, almost cleansed. During my searching I discovered that food was actually a great influence in Muramasa and that recreating the “pleasure of eating” was an important aspect of its design. With an ethos like that, and after tasting this dish, I think it’s a game I would most definitely like to experience.

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Animal Crossing – Brewster’s Pigeon Blend

Here at Gourmet Gaming we’re big fans of Loading’s 9-Bit Mega Coffee, and have been looking for the perfect recipe so showcase it for some time. While coffee does feature quite often in games, it’s never been more charming as in Animal Crossing. Visit The Roost, and once a day Brewster will serve you his perfect blend, sometimes with a splash of pigeon milk – if you’re lucky. For a mere 200 bells you can enjoy this sweet and smooth treat. Just don’t wait for it to cool! Are you insane?!

This recipe serves 1.

What you will need: A Moka Express/Espresso Maker/Cafetiere etc., a small mug and a small pan.

Ingredients:

75ml / 2.5 fl oz. Fresh Espresso/Strong Coffee

25ml / 0.85 fl oz. Vanilla Coffee Syrup

50ml / 1.7 fl oz. Almond Milk

100ml / 3.5 fl oz. Whole Milk

Optional Garnish:

Double/Heavy Cream

Feathers

Making Brewster’s Pigeon Blend:

1. In a small pan, warm the whole milk and almond milk together - don’t let it boil! Have your cup ready with the vanilla syrup filling the bottom.
2. Prepare your coffee. Once the almond milk and milk is near boiling point, pour it into the mug on top of the vanilla syrup.
3. Next add the shot of espresso on top, then swirl through with a little cream. Garnish with a few Brewster feathers.

Turning on my DS was a stressful affair, I tried to avoid looking at all those weeds… It’s just as well I had this cup of java to pick me up. Though Brewster would rather you took your coffee black, his legendary Pigeon Blend is a beautiful homage in gaming, but could you expect anything less?! For the record, I did research the idea of actually using ‘pigeon milk’ and soon discovered ‘crop milk’. Something you definitely don’t want in your morning coffee.

You can buy Loading’s 9-Bit Mega Coffee from Firebox.com.

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Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door – Zess Frappe

There’s no denying how suspiciously like the Snow Cone from Paper Mario the Zess Frappe looks… But I got some stunning ice-cream bowls for Christmas by my favourite home-ware designers Alessi and I wanted an excuse to use them! With Christmas comes a lot of heavy, rich food and drink and Sambuca is often praised for its digestion benefits (at least in this household). I thought as a twist on the cocktail idea to serve one up as a frappe/granita inspired concoction for a light and refreshing distraction.

This recipe makes 1 drink.

Ingredients:

Ice-cubes

50g / ½ Cup Sugar

60ml / ¼ Cup Water

60ml / ¼ Cup Raspberry Sambuca

Raspberry Conserve / Jelly

Making the Zess Frappe:

1. Add the water and sugar to a pan and bring to the boil. Stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
2. Uncover then add the raspberry sambuca and stir, place in a pouring container and allow to cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge to chill.
3. When the syrup has chilled, using a blender with the appropriate setting, or a food processor, to grind up the ice until powdery. Scoop the ice into glasses, pour over the raspberry sambuca syrup, top with a little raspberry conserve and enjoy.

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Dead Rising - Golden Brown Pizza

I’ll happily be the first to admit how much I really didn’t enjoy Dead Rising. I wanted to enjoy it; zombies, open world, plethora of weapons, photography… what wasn’t to like?! It just didn’t come together for me. After the 50th novelty Servbot mask and the 4000th victim of my lawnmower, all while I ran around in a rather fetching red dress, it just became old. What didn’t get old though was taking lecherous yet hilarious photos down or up my young female victims respective clothing… It often accosts me from my shelf because I rarely leave a game unfinished even if I’m not enjoying it all that much. But there is a reason behind picking this game over one that I actually enjoy: pizza. I’ve been looking for an excuse to make pizza for about two months; I’d considered TMNT, Neo Kobe and even No More Heroes to name a few, but I couldn’t source enough information to justify making the pizza - UNTIL TODAY. 

This recipe makes 3 Golden Brown Pizzas.

What you will need: Large pizza stone or pizza tray, sieve, large mixing bowl, measuring jug, rolling pin, medium bowl.

For the Dough:

500g ‘00’ Flour

½ Teaspoon Salt

7g Sachet of Dried Yeast

½ Tablespoon Sugar

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

325ml Warm Water

For the Tomato Base:

300g Tinned Plum Tomatoes

4 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Fresh Basil

Dried Oregano

Salt & Pepper

Toppings:

Fresh Hard Mozzarella

Green Pepper

Pineapple Chunks

Black Olives

Pepperoni

Preparing the Dough:

1. In a jug filled with 325ml warm water, add the yeast sugar and olive oil and leave to stand for a few minutes.
2. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the middle then pour the water and yeast mixture into the hole.
3. Use a fork to slowly mix the flour and the water, once the dough comes together, turn it out onto a floured surface and kneed with floured hands.
4. Once the dough forms a smooth ball, place it in a bowl lightly oiled with olive oil, cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for about an hour.
5. While the dough is rising, you can prepare the tomato sauce base.

Preparing the Tomato Base:

1. Put the tomatoes in a bowl and break them up with a fork. 
2. Add the salt & pepper and herbs to taste, add the olive oil then mix. You do not need to cook this sauce.

Making the Golden Brown Pizza:

1. Preheat the oven to its highest setting with your pizza stone/tray inside.
2. Have all your toppings ready; peppers and olives sliced and mozzarella grated.
3. Once the dough has doubled in size, remove it from the bowl and place on a floured surface, knock back the dough with your fists to get the air out.
4. Separate a piece of the dough, enough to make a pizza the size of your stone/tray, and roll it out into a rough circle.
5. Take the preheated stone/tray out of the oven and place your base onto it - trim any edges with a sharp knife if you‘d like a perfect circle or fold them up to make a crust.
6. Spread just enough of the marinara sauce to cover the top - too much will make the base soggy, make sure to leave a little edge. Sprinkle the mozzarella on first, then the pepperoni, pineapple, olives and peppers and drizzle lightly with some olive oil.
7. Place in the middle of the preheated oven and cook until golden brown.

Despite being half Italian, I’ve not made many pizzas. As expected, pizza making usually falls to my mother who has always been quick to shoo me from the kitchen which is probably why I didn’t really learn to cook until I left home. I had attempted to make a complicated ‘marinara’ style sauce for this, but I failed and it ended up like chunky tomato soup (for shame). When my mother wouldn’t answer her phone to impart her saucy secrets, I happily turned to my copy of Two Greedy Italians (a birthday present) and what a surprise, the tomato sauce base recipe was identical to my moms. Sometimes I think Italians have a shared consciousness for recipes. While the Golden Brown Pizza is supposed to be cooked in a microwave (god forbid - I don’t even own one), I decided that I’d rather have it more rustic and traditional. The toppings were rather tricky to figure out, that picture isn’t the clearest, though through much squinting I thought there was most likely pineapple on that pizza and I allowed it as a faithful American twist, even though my Nonno is probably rolling in his grave at the thought of it. While I couldn’t eat this pizza, I certainly enjoyed smelling it and the pizza I made for myself was awesome, I can seriously recommend this recipe as the ultimate in pizza-making and zombie-surviving snacks and what the hell is better than that?

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You only have until the 30th of September to vote for the Gourmet Gaming Hallowe’en Special, so VOTE NOW!

The Sims - Mac and Cheese

I’d been wanting to do something from The Sims for a really long time. I’ve been a life long fan and have probably spent too much time with the virtual versions of my family than the real thing (I like them more, I can make them do whatever I want…). I love that there’s so much scope and as the series has gone on the amount of food you can cook just keeps increasing as does the relationship between food and the Sims in-game; you can have a vegetarian or someone who will only eat burnt hamburgers over a sink. So it was hard to pick an iconic food until someone mentioned that mac and cheese was, for them, the thing they remembered most about The Sims. It’s the one main meal you can cook from the very beginning and for most Sims will probably be their staple food until the Grim Reaper comes for them. It’s a well known fact that I’m completely addicted to mac and cheese, I probably eat it at least once a week (sometimes three) and I blame this addiction on the fact that I couldn’t eat cheese for years until finally some smart people figured out how to remove the lactose from the cheese (thank you, food scientists, I owe you my happiness). This is a family recipe that I’ve improved on over the years and it’s always perfect when you just want to gorge on something and get that ‘warm-fuzzies’ feeling.

This recipe serves 2-4.

What you will need:

A non-stick pot, a large pot and a deep tray or casserole dish, baking paper or tinfoil.

Ingredients: 

250g Macaroni

40g Butter

2 Tablespoons Flour

350ml - 500ml Milk

120g Cheese(s) - I use a mild cheddar

½ Teaspoon English Mustard

Salt & Pepper

Breadcrumbs

Making the Mac and Cheese:

1. Prep your tray or casserole dish by lining it with baking paper or tin foil - this will save you tears when it comes to washing up. 
2. Boil some water in a large pot and cook the macaroni for about 6-8 minutes. 
3. Once cooked, remove from the water, strain, pour into the prepared tray/dish and set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 200C.
5. Melt the butter in a non-stick pot on a high heat. Once melted add the flour a spoonful at a time and mix until the mixture comes together and it no longer sticks to the sides - the pot should look clean.
6. Slowly add the milk, about 25ml at a time, and stir continually so as not to burn the sauce. You might not need all the milk or you may need more - once it is runny but still a little thick it’s perfect.
7. Reduce the heat to medium and add the cheese (chop it into small pieces of grate it in and feel free to use as many cheeses as you like). Mix well until the cheese has melted.
8. Add the mustard, season well with the salt and pepper and stir once again.
9. Pour the mixture over the macaroni and mix until all the pasta is coated. Sprinkle on the breadcrumbs and put in the oven for around 20-25 minutes or until it is golden and crispy on top.

I like to demolish this dish with some home-made garlic bread so I recommend you do the same, seriously the only thing I can write is: NOMNOMNOM. Screw ambrosia, I’m sure it’s actually mac and cheese that’s the food of the Gods so getting your cooking skill to level 10 is such a waste of time. Spend it doing more constructive things like rooting in your neighbours trash can or playing a game (within a game - so meta).

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Animal Crossing: Wild World - Birthday Cake

Animal Crossing: Wild World holds a bit of a special place in my heart; it was the game I got with my Nintendo DS (after I traded in Metroid Prime: Echoes due to stupid frequency of respawning enemies - the only game I‘ve ever traded in to date) and I played it constantly for several months after I first moved to London while I was waiting for my Xbox to join me. I’d spend many nights lying awake in bed waiting for it to rain at a precise time so I could catch that missing bug or fish or charm my exotic neighbour for some rare item of furniture. Never seemed able to save enough Bells to reap to benefits of a bank account though; far too many tempting accessories. But a treat comes on you birthday, a reward for all your hard work almost - a wonderful birthday cake that gives you visible feelings of delight when you eat it! So since it’s my birthday on Friday, I thought I’d give myself an excuse to eat some pre-birthday cake and share it with you. But not really. It’s all mine. None for you.

This recipe serves 8-10.

What you will need:

2 mixing bowls, hand whisk, a sieve, three 8-inch cake tins, baking paper and an icing bag/pipe.

For the Cake:

4 Eggs (Separated and  at room temperature)

4 Teaspoons Baking Powder

400g Plain Flour

½ Teaspoon Salt

227g Butter (at room temperature)

450g Caster Sugar

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

200ml Milk

¼ Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

For the Pink Coconut Icing:

500g Cream Cheese

200g Butter

50ml Natural Yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

270g Icing Sugar (approx.)

Few Drops Red Food Colouring

To Garnish:

6 Strawberries

2 Tablespoons of Coconut Flakes

4 Green Candles

Preparing the Cake:

1. Grease your 3 cake pans and line them with baking paper, preheat the oven to 175C.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat together the butter and 350g of the sugar until it is pale and fluffy.
3. Add the 4 egg yolks one at a time, then add the vanilla extract.
4. Slowly sift in the flour, baking powder and salt , mix, and then slowly add the milk.
5. In a separate bowl add the egg whites and whisk them until fluffy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to whisk until peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 100g of sugar until the peaks stiffen.
6. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake mixture.
7. Pour the mixture evenly among the 3 prepared cake tins then bake in the oven for around 25 minutes.
8. Once cooked, leave to cool and then store in the fridge while you prepare the frosting.

Making the Pink Icing:

1. Beat the butter in a bowl until light, then add the natural yoghurt and vanilla.
2. Gently stir in the cream cheese, being careful not to over mix as this will thin the frosting making it runny.
3. Gradually add the icing sugar bit by bit, adding more as you need it - to thicken or sweeten the icing.
4. Add the red food colouring, then put the icing in the fridge to chill.

Constructing the Cake:

1. If needed, even out your cake layers carefully so they’re as flat and smooth as possible.
2. Ice the bottom layer, being careful not to go over the edges, place the next layer on top and continue the process until you have a stack of 3 cake layers.
3. Set aside about 3 tablespoons of icing and cover the cake in the remaining icing - this does not have to be neat.
4. Imagining the top of the cake as a clock, place the strawberries (with their stalks trimmed), pointed end up at 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.
5. Put the last bits of icing into an icing bag/pipe, using a large nozzle, pipe drops of icing between each of the strawberries around the cake.
6. Garnish with the green candles and a sprinkling of coconut.

Yum, yum, yum. What a glorious birthday treat for myself! My mom can’t bake and I can’t exactly pick cakes up in stores so having something to eat in celebration of my birthday is very rare! The sponge in this cake is heavenly. It’s sticky and sweet and moist but yet light and tastes of creamy vanilla - it’s like the ultimate birthday cake recipe. The icing however makes it a little heavy, I would probably swap it for something else next time, but I guess it’s normal for most people to only eat one piece of cake at a time, unlike my usual 2 or 3. I don’t know what gifts I’m getting this year though, so I guess I should take my golden slingshot outside and wait for a parcel on a balloon to float by…

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Request: Paper Mario - Koopasta

I got a request through to make some Koopasta and was rather envious that I hadn’t thought of this sooner - after all spaghetti is Mario and Luigi’s favourite food. Koopasta (I guess Koopaghetti didn‘t have the same ring to it) can be made by cooking a ‘Koopa Leaf’ with some ‘Dried Pasta’ in the original Paper Mario or with ‘Fresh Pasta’/’Spaghetti’ and a ‘Turtley Leaf’ in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. I had never played Paper Mario until I got Super Paper Mario for the Wii and I thought it was pretty damn awesome; though I think I became too obsessed with trying to collect things from some guy who, from what I can recall, would appear in some sewer system and try to sell me things that would only spawn on certain dates and times ultimately reminding me why this aspect of Japanese gaming is detrimental to my health. Anyway, there’s two versions of the dish that look rather different and since the requester never specified which Paper Mario I’ve gone with the one that looks slightly more iconic or at least more interesting to make. 

This recipe serves 2-4.

What you will need:

Large pot, frying pan, a bowl and a food blender or mortar and pestle.

Ingredients:

250g Fresh Spaghetti/Tagliatelle Verdi

1 Baby Gem Lettuce Leaf

1 Clove Garlic

60g Fresh Basil

20g Pine Nuts

5 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Parmesan Cheese

Salt

Pepper

Preparing the Pesto:

1. Lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry pan and set aside.
2. Put the garlic, basil and a pinch of salt into a food blender and pulse.
3. Add the pine nuts and blend again.
4. Pour the mixture into a bowl, add the parmesan and olive oil and stir.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add more parmesan if you want.

Making the Koopasta:

1. With the pesto prepared, boil some water in a deep pot then add the spaghetti verdi and cook as per the instructions on your pack.
2. Once cooked, strain the spaghetti, return it to the pot (not on the heat) and slowly add pesto to the spaghetti until there’s just enough to coat the spaghetti in the sauce.
3. Serve and garnish with a baby gem lettuce leaf.

I hate pesto. When I decided to make this my taste tester remarked “but we hate pesto, why would we eat this?”, then he realised that a few weeks ago he did eat a sandwich filled with turkey, jam and Cookie Crisp cereal so maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Whenever I think about pesto I just think of that episode of Seinfeld (The Busboy) where George says “Why do I get pesto? Why do I think I’ll like it? I keep trying to like it, like I have to like it. Everybody likes pesto. You walk into a restaurant, that’s all you hear - pesto, pesto, pesto.” But now I love pesto. As long as it’s my pesto and not some swamp juice from a jar.

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