House Tyrell Artichoke Bud Salad

Near all the chivalry of the south had come to Renly's call, it seemed. The golden rose of Highgarden was seen everywhere: sewn on the right breast of armsmen and servants, flapping and fluttering from the green silk banners that adorned lance and pike, painted upon the shields hung outside the pavilions of the sons and brothers and cousins and uncles of House Tyrell.

- Catelyn II, A Clash of Kings

This salad was served at my Game of Thrones Season 7 party. At this dinner, I served 9 courses, each designed to look like the heraldry for one of the Westerosi Great Houses. House Tyrell, with their golden rose on a field of green was an obvious choice for the salad course.

I thought about a few ways to make a rose shape. I'd previously made apple roses pastries, however there is an unfortunate dearth of Westeros sigils that honor vegetables and I wanted to at least attempt to create a balanced meal. Vegetables cut in the shape of flowers seemed either too cutesy or too finicky. In the end, I went with an edible flower - the artichoke.

Although closer to green than to the desired golden hue to begin with, the yellow tones become stronger once roasted. I flavored the artichokes with lemon, olive oil and garlic, and kept the "field of green" field greens simple. 

Ingredients

House Greyjoy Squid in its Ink

"Above the Sea Tower snapped his father's banner. The Myraham was too far off for Theon to see more than the cloth itself, but he knew the device it bore: the golden kraken of House Greyjoy, arms writhing and reaching against a black field. The banner streamed from an iron mast, shivering and twisting as the wind gusted, like a bird struggling to take flight."

 - Theon I, A Clash of Kings

This Iron Island appetizer was conceived for my Game of Thrones Season 7 Party. For this menu, I served nine courses, each inspired by one of the Great Houses. This course was one of the first that I finalized; when something so obviously edible as the Greyjoy's squid (well, Kraken...) is on the banner, the choice is easy!

The Greyjoy colors are black and gold, which also translate straightforwardly into a squid-based dish. Raw squid like you might encounter is sushi is an off-white color, but in its deep-fried state - perhaps more commonly known as calamari - the breading lends the squid the golden hue I desired. While black food is not particularly common, one of the blackest foods just happens to be perfectly thematic: squid ink!

Squid ink has a salty and faintly marine flavor without being strongly fishy. I was able to find it at my local grocery store in the frozen fish section, but it is also available on Amazon and at specialty fish shops. The color is powerful - I bought more than I needed to color the sauce appropriately.

For the rest of the sauce, I chose to keep it simple. I added lemon juice, which I really like with calamari. I shied away from using a roux to thicken the squid sauce; I didn't want to wind up with a grey sauce. Instead, I used gelatin to thicken the sauce. Gelatin is easy to work with, won't alter the color of the sauce, and adds a rich mouthfeel.

The presentation of the dish is very striking, and certainly evocative of the Greyjoy banners flying in the iron isles.

Ingredients

Easy Belt and Shoulder Accessories for Daenerys Qarth Dress Costume

Once upon a time, a young woman went to a ball, danced her heart out, and dirtied the bottom of her dress. She took it to a dry cleaner, who did their best, but the beautiful gown was ruined. And thus, I inherited from my sister a gorgeous gold and turquoise dress, which looked surprisingly like a certain outfit worn by Game of Thrones' Daenerys in Qarth.

(I'm the one on the right.)

I'm a big fan of using what you have and supplementing it with things that are cheap, easy and effective. So, I topped off this rescued dress with a $12 wig from Amazon. To complete the look, I crafted two long strings of beads, a cape and these intricate gold belt and shoulder pad pieces. Read below to see how to make your own Khaleesi accessories!

Game of Thrones Venison, Beer & Barley Stew

“The war had not touched the fabled bounty of Highgarden. While singers sang & tumblers tumbled, they began with pears poached in wine, and went onto tiny savory fish rolled in salt and cooked crisp, and capons stuffed with onions and mushrooms. There were great loaves of brown bread, mounds of turnips and sweetcorn and pease, immense hams and roast geese and trenchers dripping full of venison stewed with beer and barley.”

– A Clash of Kings

The venison stew was one of the dishes I was most looking forward to making for my Highgarden-themed Game of Thrones season 6 finale dinner, which was based on the above passage from A Clash of Kings. I haven’t had a good excuse to cook venison before, and incorporating trenchers seemed fun and memorable.

Game of Thrones Season 6 Finale Party: A Feast at Highgarden

“The war had not touched the fabled bounty of Highgarden. While singers sang & tumblers tumbled, they began with pears poached in wine, and went onto tiny savory fish rolled in salt and cooked crisp, and capons stuffed with onions and mushrooms. There were great loaves of brown bread, mounds of turnips and sweetcorn and pease, immense hams and roast geese and trenchers dripping full of venison stewed with beer and barley. For the sweet, servants brought down trays of pastries from the castle kitchens, cream swans, spun-sugar unicorns, lemon cakes in the shape of roses, spiced honey biscuits and blackberry tarts, apple crisps & wheels of buttery cheese.”

– A Clash of Kings

This elaborate feast greets Catelyn Stark as she meets with Renly Baratheon on behalf of Robb Stark (The King in the North!) at Bitterbridge. It also served as my source material for my third annual Game of Thrones season finale dinner party.