Recently, I found a Twitter bot called @RedwallFeasts that is dedicated to tweeting blurbs from the childrens book series Redwall. Redwall is such a nostalgic book series for me; I used to always check out the books from the elementary school library and pore over descriptions of the woodland creatures, landscapes, battles and feasts of the Redwall Abbey universe. @RedwallFeasts tweets four different descriptions of food or drink from the Redwall series every day and it really made me think, if we’re not sitting in front of a fire feasting on acorns and warming our paws, what truly are we doing?
I was inspired to make a cozy meal inspired by Redwall the other day, when this video from Food52 coincidentally popped into my Youtube subscription feed. In it, Samantha Seneviratne cooks an autumn vegetable tian. I knew immediately that’s what I would make for my Redwall feast night.
I gathered my finest root vegetables: parsnips, Yukon Golds, sweet potatoes, beets, and carrots, and then arranged them in a ceramic pie plate in a spiral shape (kind of like a ratatouille!) I drowned the veggies in thyme butter, topped them with thickly shredded sharp cheddar, and popped the whole thing in the oven for 40 minutes. The whole kitchen smelled like potatoes and herbs (the Official Scent of Autumn). I served a steaming pile of tian with a hunk of rotisserie chicken and a chalice (ok, a glass) of apricot cider. Tweet about THAT, @RedwallFeasts.
What are you ghouls and rats noshing on this fall?