Katie Reviews~ The Elven cookbook

A wonderful new addition to our bookshelves this month is The Elven Cookbook by Robert Tuesley Anderson, based and inspired by the Elves of J. R. R Tolkien. This cookbook contains some wonderful recipes based on the different description of cities and characters living in Middle Earth. Each recipe is given a short essay (a paragraph or two) informing the reader of the connection the food has with middle earth, going as far to tell you which book, character or fictional race the recipe originates from. A description of the food itself is provided explaining the appearance of the food, how it smells and provides some tips on the cooking process. Then comes the recipe, split into easy to read steps and clear ingredient lists most recipes contained in this cookbook only use 3 to 4 steps.

The cookbook is separated into different areas of food covering: breakfast, light meals, main meal, feasting & sharing, desserts & sweet things and finally drinks. my favourite recipes from each section are: Potato Rosti's from the breakfast section (p.14) with the connection to Sam throughout the Lord of the Rings, Legolas's Duck in Lettuce Boats from light meals (p. 56) with the connect to the elves and the journey by boat in the Fellowship of the Ring, Greenwood Pheasant with Blackberries for the main meal section (p.84) with reference to the Elven Kings Halls and the Greenwood of Great, The Blue Mountains Vegetable Skewers from the feasting & sharing section (p.119) which is based of the Elves journey to Belegaer the great western ocean, Goldberry's Honeycomb stack from the desserts & sweet things section (p.131) which connects to Tom Bombadil and Goldberry in the Fellowship of the Rings and finally Gildor's Elderflower Cordial from the drinks section (p.148) with the reference to Gildor as he assists Frodo, Pippin and Sam.

This is a wonderful cookbook full of a variety of different recipes covering a variety of dietary needs.

This cookbook is unofficial and is not authorised by the Tolkien Estate or Harper Collins Publishers