23 Sep 2020, 01:58
Sweet&Savory for a Hungry Gargott
Santario’s brow arch as an owl clicked its beak against the French style doors that lead to the balcony of her bedroom. It was earlier in the day, and she had been lying on her bed reading one of the books in the series that she had started a year ago. She quickly placed her bookmark into the book and crossed the room, opening the door for the owl to flutter in. It landed on her bed dropped the letter as it did so. Santario grabbed some owl treats that she kept on her desk for her friend’s owls and set a few down in front of the owl. “Thank you. Feel free to stick around as long as you want, but you don’t need to wait for a reply.”
Santario would slide a letter opener under the seal before reading the contents within. “Gargott Dunaid? Oh, yes! He was hired on as the new groundskeeper right at the end of the year. He wants us to… Bake for him? The poor man must miss the elves cooking at the school. Well, why not? I had nothing better to do today.” She grabbed a small wooden box off of her desk and promptly left her room, leaving the door open so that the owl may go whenever it was ready.
Santario headed down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen, where she was greeted by Kodbey, one of their house elves who mainly handled their food and her grandfather. “Little Finch, what are you getting up to? I see your mother’s recipe box.” Santario smiled brightly at him as she set the box on the counter. “A professor at school has owled students to send in a baked good of some sort. So I wanted to make mom’s Pear Rosemary Pie.” Santario opened the box and started to flip through the lovingly handwritten cards looking for the correct one. “The one with the cheddar crust?” Santario nodded and giggled as her grandfather made an over-exaggerated Mmmmmm noise. “I will make two so you can have some too!” Santario then zoomed into the pantry to start collecting ingredients, not seeing her grandfather wipe away a tear as he watched the little girl who was a small clone of her mother with just enough of her father in her to balance her out.
Santario reemerged from the pantry with her arms full on ingredients making her way back to the counter; her grandfather helped her set down the flour, salt, sugar, brown sugar, and cornstarch. “Let me get the rest for you, and then I’ll leave you to work little finch.” Santario gave him a nod as she pulled her hair back into a low ponytail and walked over to the sink washing her hands and arms up to her elbows. While she did that, her grandfather laid out the cheddar cheese, butter, heavy cream, Bartlett pears, a lemon, a vanilla bean, rosemary, and some eggs.
“Thank you, Grand-Papa!” With that, Santario tied her apron on and started to get to work. The first thing she would do is grate the cheddar cheese into a fine shred and set that aside. Santario was lucky that their kitchen had muggle appliances because they occasionally hired a muggle caterer when muggle politicians were visiting. Santario grabbed a food processor and added the flour and the salt hitting the pulse button until they were well combined. She would then add the cold butter and the cheese and continue to pulse further until it resembled a coarse meal. Santario then drizzled cream and water over the mixture and pulsed a few more times just until moist clumps formed.
She then removed the dough and divided it into quarters, flattening them all into disks and wrapping in a plastic wrap before placing them into the fridge to chill. As the dough chilled, Santario, under the careful supervision from both her grandfather and Kodbey, peeled and thinly sliced the pears. Dividing them between 2 large mixing bowls. She then added to each bowl brown sugar, cornstarch, some fresh lemon juice, half of the vanilla bean, freshly chopped rosemary, and 1 egg. As she finished with each ingredient, Kodbey would put them away for her something she thanked him for every time he did so.
He tried to help more, and Santario stopped him at every turn; this was something she wanted to do herself because she knew she could do it herself. Cooking and baking when her parents were still alive was something she did all the time. This was the first time she had allowed herself to do so since. She mixed the bowls of pears until they were well coated in their ingredients. Setting them aside, she set the oven to preheat to 200 degrees Celsius.
After lightly flouring the countertop, she set two of her dough disks down and rolled them into thirty-two-centimeter circles. Draping the crust over her rolling pin, she used it to help place the circles into their own pie plates. After gently pressing the crusts into the dishes, she would fold under the edges and crimp them. Next was to fill them with the rosemary and pear filling before rolling out the second two disks of dough. Once at the proper sizes, she cut them each into fifteen strips and started making braids for her pies' tops. Each pie would be topped with five of the braids before brushing the tops with an egg wash to help them brown better in the oven. She would then tent aluminum foil over the pies and place them both into the oven with Kodbey’s help, less the poor elf have a heart attack.
While they waited, Kodbey made them some lunch. After thirty minutes had passed, Kodbey removed the foil tops, and they left the pies to continue to bake for another thirty-five minutes. They stayed in the kitchen, eating their lunch and conversing with one another as the pies baked. Once they were done, they were moved to cooing racks for an hour to cool down. While she waited, Santario prepared a pastry box, a green ribbon, and a letter to go with the pie in her usually emerald-green ink.
Santario would slide a letter opener under the seal before reading the contents within. “Gargott Dunaid? Oh, yes! He was hired on as the new groundskeeper right at the end of the year. He wants us to… Bake for him? The poor man must miss the elves cooking at the school. Well, why not? I had nothing better to do today.” She grabbed a small wooden box off of her desk and promptly left her room, leaving the door open so that the owl may go whenever it was ready.
Santario headed down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen, where she was greeted by Kodbey, one of their house elves who mainly handled their food and her grandfather. “Little Finch, what are you getting up to? I see your mother’s recipe box.” Santario smiled brightly at him as she set the box on the counter. “A professor at school has owled students to send in a baked good of some sort. So I wanted to make mom’s Pear Rosemary Pie.” Santario opened the box and started to flip through the lovingly handwritten cards looking for the correct one. “The one with the cheddar crust?” Santario nodded and giggled as her grandfather made an over-exaggerated Mmmmmm noise. “I will make two so you can have some too!” Santario then zoomed into the pantry to start collecting ingredients, not seeing her grandfather wipe away a tear as he watched the little girl who was a small clone of her mother with just enough of her father in her to balance her out.
Santario reemerged from the pantry with her arms full on ingredients making her way back to the counter; her grandfather helped her set down the flour, salt, sugar, brown sugar, and cornstarch. “Let me get the rest for you, and then I’ll leave you to work little finch.” Santario gave him a nod as she pulled her hair back into a low ponytail and walked over to the sink washing her hands and arms up to her elbows. While she did that, her grandfather laid out the cheddar cheese, butter, heavy cream, Bartlett pears, a lemon, a vanilla bean, rosemary, and some eggs.
“Thank you, Grand-Papa!” With that, Santario tied her apron on and started to get to work. The first thing she would do is grate the cheddar cheese into a fine shred and set that aside. Santario was lucky that their kitchen had muggle appliances because they occasionally hired a muggle caterer when muggle politicians were visiting. Santario grabbed a food processor and added the flour and the salt hitting the pulse button until they were well combined. She would then add the cold butter and the cheese and continue to pulse further until it resembled a coarse meal. Santario then drizzled cream and water over the mixture and pulsed a few more times just until moist clumps formed.
She then removed the dough and divided it into quarters, flattening them all into disks and wrapping in a plastic wrap before placing them into the fridge to chill. As the dough chilled, Santario, under the careful supervision from both her grandfather and Kodbey, peeled and thinly sliced the pears. Dividing them between 2 large mixing bowls. She then added to each bowl brown sugar, cornstarch, some fresh lemon juice, half of the vanilla bean, freshly chopped rosemary, and 1 egg. As she finished with each ingredient, Kodbey would put them away for her something she thanked him for every time he did so.
He tried to help more, and Santario stopped him at every turn; this was something she wanted to do herself because she knew she could do it herself. Cooking and baking when her parents were still alive was something she did all the time. This was the first time she had allowed herself to do so since. She mixed the bowls of pears until they were well coated in their ingredients. Setting them aside, she set the oven to preheat to 200 degrees Celsius.
After lightly flouring the countertop, she set two of her dough disks down and rolled them into thirty-two-centimeter circles. Draping the crust over her rolling pin, she used it to help place the circles into their own pie plates. After gently pressing the crusts into the dishes, she would fold under the edges and crimp them. Next was to fill them with the rosemary and pear filling before rolling out the second two disks of dough. Once at the proper sizes, she cut them each into fifteen strips and started making braids for her pies' tops. Each pie would be topped with five of the braids before brushing the tops with an egg wash to help them brown better in the oven. She would then tent aluminum foil over the pies and place them both into the oven with Kodbey’s help, less the poor elf have a heart attack.
While they waited, Kodbey made them some lunch. After thirty minutes had passed, Kodbey removed the foil tops, and they left the pies to continue to bake for another thirty-five minutes. They stayed in the kitchen, eating their lunch and conversing with one another as the pies baked. Once they were done, they were moved to cooing racks for an hour to cool down. While she waited, Santario prepared a pastry box, a green ribbon, and a letter to go with the pie in her usually emerald-green ink.
Once everything was set, she transferred his pie to the pastry box and carefully but tightly tied it shut with the green ribbon and tucked in her letter before sending it on its way.Greetings Professor Dunaid,
I hope this pie reaches you in one piece. It is a Pear-Rosemary Pie with a cheddar cheese crust. I know not many people have a palate that would appreciate such a sweet and savory combination, but it is one of my favorites, and I hope you like it. I’ve included a card with some reheating instructions, but it has been prebaked and can be eaten without being reheated if you would prefer.
Enjoy!
Santario Martin
Healing Sage: +30% healing | Prodigal Charms | Impartial | Fearless
Stamina : 10 | Evasion : 7 | Strength : 3 | Wisdom : 12 | Arcane Power : 10 | Accuracy : 15
Stamina : 10 | Evasion : 7 | Strength : 3 | Wisdom : 12 | Arcane Power : 10 | Accuracy : 15