Stardew Valley Cookbook Achievement Pictures

[Umbra of Emberspike]

how many more cookbook dishes do you still have left? we dont want this thread to end yet

Below is my progress as of last weekend, which I will post more about in a moment.

In my world, no rice pudding (arroz con leche in Mexican/Spanish culture) is complete without cinnamon

I love that idea! I'll be sure to try it in the future.

 

[Umbra of Emberspike]

My second crack at Fruit Salad, this time with apricots for the salad and pits for the syrup.

Recap of the ingredients: Watermelon, honeydew melon, blueberries, apricots, a vanilla syrup with apricot pits infused in it, and a garnish of mint leaves.

For the occasion, last weekend, I had a birthday shindig that a number of visiting relatives came for. My actual birthday is tomorrow, but for the convenience of relatives who drive way out of town to visit, we always try to have those on weekends regardless of when the actual date is. (Side note: since I got laid off my first job on a previous birthday that doubled as a Friday the 13th like this one tomorrow will be, I'm mildly apprehensive about it since it's the only classic superstition I have practical reason to believe in)

I'd say this was a step up from my previous Fruit Salad since I was actually able to locate and acquire apricots this time. The ingredients themselves are not that cheap these days, but for a single person's use, this will last about a week and a half to a full week. In the book, every recipe has an NPC blurb who gives praise to the recipe, often people whom said recipes are Loved Items in the game proper. This one has one from Haley about this being much better than the "overpriced" ones in Zuzu City and easy to make too. I agree this is easy enough to make, but to make it even easier, next time I make this, I will try to get a melon scooper to make actual balls out of the watermelon and honeydew.

 

[Umbra of Emberspike]

Decided to revisit the Winter section and try something year-round: Spaghetti.

This recipe calls for butternut squash pasta and a mushroom bolognese, and a topping of parmesean and some basil.

Traditionally, spaghetti is as simple as getting a box of pasta, a jar of sauce, a can of parmesean, boiling the pasta, and heating the sauce. Plain and simple. Not in the Stardew kitchen, though!

To start, we had to carve out the squash and roast it. Then we had to make it into a dough and chill it for at least 2 hours and up to overnight, causing this to be a 2-day process. Then we had to do something we never did before: use the dough to make the pasta from scratch.

This was a process that took us almost an hour by itself. First, we had to divide the dough and thin it out enough to make the pasta the right size. All the time, we had to keep dusting the work area and dough with flour. Lesson learned: be liberal with flour as that prevents the pasta from sticking together, which did happen a lot; some did come out properly, though.

When that was done, we moved on to the bolognese, which called for garlic, white button and cremini mushrooms, celery, carrots, yellow onion, red pepper flakes, oregano, tomato paste, pureed tomatoes, dry red wine, and some butter. This was a very rich and hearty sauce that is quite unlike any spaghetti topping I've ever had before.

Finally, we boiled the noodles when it was time to serve everything together and topped them with the bolognese, parmesean, and basil.

 

[Umbra of Emberspike]

Since I still had some leftover Thai Sweet Rice from last year and it was still good for eating, my mom and I decided to revisit this recipe.

Last year, I had only myself to do it, but she was there to help me speed things along this time. It turned out great. She had the idea to broil the sesame seeds to give a little punch, and we somehow made slightly underripe mangos work out for the best.

I will advise anyone who tries something like this in the future not to save any of the sticky rice for leftovers. The taste and texture absolutely do not hold up together with time. Eat it all immediately after you're done making it.

I also got a visit from my dad and one of my brothers to try it and they enjoyed it too.

I was really hoping to get into the Fiddlehead Risotto, but the shipper I found vanished without a trace, so now it looks like I'll have to substitute the fiddlehead ferns with asparagus when I get time.

And rest assured, for those who tuned into my submissions for the dishes I used for last year's Thanksgiving feast, I will be sure to include them again.

 

[nicodeux]

These three last ones (I haven't post since) look so great and tasty! Especially the mango sticky rice. I'm a big fan of this one. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

 

[Umbra of Emberspike]

Fiddlehead* Risotto

Why the asterisk? Because I was unfortunately unable to acquire actual fiddlehead ferns and had to use the most viable substitute the cook book had to offer: asparagus.

Still, this turned out great. Risotto is a kind of rice dish stirred in a broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. For this, we had to use plenty of salt in a lot of stages, from boiling the asparagus to cooling it, to the rice itself. The broth was a mixture of olive oil, white wine, vegetable stock, pecorino cheese, shallots, and garlic.

Then we sauteed the asparagus in butter, olive oil, parsley, and lemon zest. Once everything was ready to serve, the rice went in the bowls first, topped with the greens, and optionally garnished with more pecorino, oil, and chervil leaves. The latter we could not find anywhere before realizing it was an unnecessary search due to it being just garnish.

This is supposed to be a springtime dish, but we really wanted to come back to it, and hopefully next year, I'll have better odds of securing a gross of actual fiddlehead ferns.

 

[Umbra of Emberspike]

Banana Pudding.

A southern classic and practically a rite of passage if you want to be a dessert chef around my parts. Only we're not settling for a little pudding mix and condensed milk like a lot of the easier recipes call for.

Oh no, this recipe calls for the good stuff: fresh bananas, vanilla wafers, whipped cream, whole milk, vanilla extract, granulated and confectioner' sugar, and something called "creme de banana" with up to a 30% alcohol concentration.

The process is pretty delicate. First you have to warm the milk and throw in other ingredients and slowly heat it until it reaches that pudding consistency, but you cannot rush the process. Otherwise, the mixture will scorch. The entire time, the mixture has to be whisked constantly, so my mom and I took turns every few minutes. Then after mixing in the creme de banana and getting the pudding prepared, it has to essentially chill for a few hours. Finally for assembly: pudding, chopped bananas, mini wafers, and some fresh whipped cream, in layers, then chilled overnight.

When ready to serve, have some more whipped cream and some wafers crumbled on top, then the once-scary part that turned out to be super fun: caramelizing pieces of bananas with a butane cooking torch. To do this, you have to layer the banana bits with granulated sugar and light it up. It had a slight learning curve, but I got used to it pretty quick. Alternatively, we could have used an oven broiler, but after experimenting, we found it could not do the job as well, so we sprung for the blow torch, which was unexpectedly cheap.

In the end, it turned out so good, that I am ashamed we ever had reservations about the blow torch last year.

 

[Slimeglasses]

Looks delicious! I'll need to get a blowtorch...

 

[nicodeux]

Those look tasty, especially the risotto. I'd love to taste it. Thanks again for sharing.

 

[Umbra of Emberspike]

Blueberry Tart. "It's Subtle and refreshing."

They ain't wrong. I never thought I would ever say this, but this is my new favorite dessert of the season, and possibly ever. Sorry, Banana Pudding, but you've been edged in my taste bud tier list. This includes a cornmeal crust with blueberry curd and a blueberry garnish. And the process was full of surprises for me and my mom who helped me a lot with this, and most of the previous dishes.

First off, the crust: it's got cornmeal mixed with the flour, so it's a little more crumbly than standard crust. We also got it a little too thick, but nothing we couldn't work around when serving it. For equipment, we had to special order a tart pan with a removable bottom. Luckily, Amazon is good for a lot of marketable things. Nothing local had what i was looking for.

Good news, we were able to finish the whole crust last night. Bad news, when we were working on the curd, there was a step that specifically said to put the mixture into a "glass bowl" and put said bowl over a pot of simmering water, like a double-boiler. But we didn't realize what would happen if you use the wrong type of glass, and the bowl cracked! I will admit, it wasn't even a glass bowl designed for the purpose and we didn't have one that was described as stove-safe. The one we did use was something that's normally for mixing batters and frostings and whatnot. We thought we could improvise and adapt based on instructions and supplies; we were so wrong. Luckily, no shards flew out and no one was hurt. The bowl just cracked in numerous spaced out lines and we started the curd from scratch today, but I have never been more angry at myself in the process of making any dish than last night! Our ultimate solution was simply to use a bunch of pots in double-boiler fashion and it worked out for the best.

Anyways, the curd, consisting of stewed blueberries, lemon juice, sugar, and cornstarch had to be whisked constantly, like the Banana Pudding mixture. Then once it thickened into a milkshake-like substance, we added a bunch of butter, which made it really rich.

Finally, we put the curd in the crust and baked it, then it needed several hours to cool off, 1 in the open, 2 in the fridge.

Then came the garnish of leftover blueberries and an optional slice of vanilla ice cream. It was a difficult battle with the temptation to scarf down the tart early for me and my mom. But we survived and served it. True to its name, the Blueberry Tart is... tart, thanks to all that lemon juice, but also rich and sweet from the sugar and butter. I'm officially retracting an earlier statement: This dessert is the new southern rite of passage to be a dessert chef around my parts. lol. Sorry again, Banana Pudding!

 

[Jayamos]

My mouth is literally watering.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Someone gifted me the cookbook for my birthday! I'll absolutely be making some of the recipes and sharing them, I'm super excited just looking through it

 

[Slimeglasses]

This looks the best out all of the recipes you've done so far!

 

[Roaming Spirit]

There are plenty of inspiring chefs around these parts! I feel motivated to try my hand at some of these cozy recipes myself. Christmas is just around the corner, perhaps one of Santa's elves will stuff The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook in my stocking this year...
Even if not, sometimes it is good to long for something.
Thank you to all of these amazing cooks and bakers for giving this old spirit something to look forward to!

 

[Umbra of Emberspike]

There are plenty of inspiring chefs around these parts! I feel motivated to try my hand at some of these cozy recipes myself. Christmas is just around the corner, perhaps one of Santa's elves will stuff The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook in my stocking this year...
Even if not, sometimes it is good to long for something.
Thank you to all of these amazing cooks and bakers for giving this old spirit something to look forward to!

Always a pleasure to share the experience of all this cooking. Thanks for the feedback and support, all.

For the holidays, I'd recommend trying your hand at the cookies and/or the poppyseed muffins if you get the chance.

Really, though, I'd encourage everyone here to give this book a whirl. TBH, I feel like I've monopolized this initially-communal thread over time.

 

[Umbra of Emberspike]

Tropical Curry, with some process images leading up to the big one.

This was a fun but surprisingly expensive recipe to complete. It consists of pineapples, Jamaican curry powder and hot sauce, and, depending on your spice tolerance of which mine is quite low: scotch bonnet peppers or jalapenos, gold and sweet potatoes, bell pepper, coconut oil/milk, ginger, onion, all on a bed of rice.

Step 1: cut some pineapples in half, hollow out their insides, and fashion the halves into "bowls". This was the most intriguing part and this is where I give a shout out to YouTube Channel "Dude Perfect" clip: OT 28 for inspiring in me the idea to get a "pineapple corer" to make the job much easier. It cuts the pineapple insides like a spiral and avoids the hard core in the center.

From there, it's a matter of cooking everything into one big pot until it's stewed right and ready to pour on the rice in the bowls and topping with a little cilantro.

Even with the reduced spiciness of jalapenos instead of scotch bonnet peppers and a minimal use of the hot sauce, it felt just spicy enough for me and now I have a newfound liking for curry.