Eldritch Christmas Dinner (Sides) - CONtingency 2017

Eldritch Christmas Dinner (Sides) - CONtingency 2017

Ia! Ia! Merry Cthulhu-mas!

Holidays were in abundance at the Elritch Lodge this year at CONtingency! With boughs sparkling, music driving the gamers crazy and Matt pouring drinks it was only fitting for us to serve up a holiday dinner to go along with our xmas themed shennigans!

Below you will find the sides served at the Cthulhu-mas and Thanksgiving dinner games.

Sweet Potato Casserole (Slow Cooker Recipe)

Ingredients:
4 pounds (2kg) sweet potato's, peeled and diced
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 cups miniature marshmallows

(Optional) Lightly spray slow cooker dish with non-stick spray. This isn't necessary if yours is already a non-stick dish.

Peel all of the sweet potato's and cut into small pieces, place into a 4-qt slow cooker. In a medium bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and allspice. Stir mixture into and over the potato's.

Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours, or until tender. Pour into an oven safe casserole dish. Top with marshmallows. Broil or bake at Gas Mark 4 until marshmallows start to brown on top (careful not to burn). Serve Immediately!

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Classic Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 dash black pepper
4 cups cooked cut green beans
1 1/3 cups Fried Onions

Stir the soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup fried onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole. Bake at 350°F/177°C/Gas Mark 4. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the bean mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining onions. Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

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Classic Roasted Potato's

1kg of potato's
100ml olive oil
2 tsp flour
fine sea salt, to serve

Place an empty roasting pan into a heated oven at 356°F/180°C/Gas Mark 6. This pan must be large enough to lay down the potato's into a single layer.

Peel potato's and cut into small 4 even sized pieces or 6 if using a large potato. Place into a pan on the cooker/stove top and parboil. While potato's are boiling for 2 minutes, pour olive oil into the hot roasting pan in the oven. Continue to heat.

Drain the potatoes in a colander. Now rough them up by shaking the colander back and forth a few times to fluff up the outsides. Sprinkle with the flour, and give another shake or two so they are evenly and thinly coated. Carefully put the potatoes into the hot fat as they will sizzle when they go in. Turn and roll them around so they are coated all over. Spread them in a single layer making sure they have plenty of room.

Roast the potatoes for 15 mins, then take them out of the oven and turn them over. Roast for another 15 mins and turn them over again. Put them back in the oven for another 10-20 mins, or however long it takes to get them really golden and crisp. The colouring will be uneven, which is what you want. Scatter with salt and serve straight away.

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Grandma Gena Leslie's Macaroni Casserole

Grandmas spaghetti macaroni family dish. Handed down by word of mouth.

Under no circumstances should you ever alter these ingredients with non-fat or low-fat, go all the way with this or you'll ruin it. You can alter the sugar to taste as the recipe was handed down by word of mouth and everyone has their favourite level of sweet/bitter.

Now you may ask… what is this? It is kind of like a casserole/quiche macaroni. We're not really sure where Grandma got it but it has been a staple at Leslie family holiday dinners since before I was born. Call it a Clan Leslie comfort food.

AMERICAN MEASUREMENTS
Pre-Heat Oven to 375F

8oz Thin Spaghetti
Hand Grate 2 packages of Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheddar (save a little to cover the top)
2 Tablespoons of Granulated Sugar
Half Cup Whole Milk
4 Eggs

UNITED KINGDOM MEASUREMENTS
Pre-Heat Oven to 190C (Gas Mark 5)

227G Spaghetti cooked al dente
Hand Grate 350G of Extra Mature Cathedral City Cheddar (save a little to cover the top)
2 Tablespoons of Granulated Sugar
120 ml of Whole (Full Fat) Milk
4 Large Eggs

Cook Spaghetti while you grate the cheese, mix all of the ingredients together. I like to mix the spaghetti while it is resting with the sugar to give the noodles some sweetness while the noodles are sticky. Do not overcook the noodles, I recommend al dente as hot noodles will continue to cook themselves.

Place mixture into a covered casserole dish and cover, bake for 45 minutes. Once finished you can take the lid off and put a little butter on top to put a brown or crispy top on the dish.

Enjoy!