Skyrim Themed Dinner

My family is in town this weekend because we have plans to head over to Orlando to iFly to do some indoor skydiving!   As such, I thought I would prepare a special dinner.  Now this dinner isn't special because it is extra fancy. (I wasn't even sure it would be all that great tasting). This dinner is special because it is based on the foods of Skyrim.  Now I totally hooked on the game, but my brother is SERIOUSLY hooked on the game and I thought he would get a kick out of the plan.  If you aren't familiar with the game, it is Nordic themed and you do cook dishes that help restore your life more than the raw ingredients do.   Now many of the dishes are either totally impossible ( like 'horker stew' with a horker being something like a walrus) or just sounded totally gross like apple cabbage stew, but I found a few that could be prepared.   On the menu tonight: "seared slaughter fish" (talapia), tomato soup, "eider cheese wedge" (in this case cheddar), grilled leeks, bread and red apples. I had to make a sauce for the fish.(not in the game at all)  Plain grilled fish wasn't working for me, so I made a take on my sage cream sauce but made it with dill instead. (It's more in theme)  This post isn't so much about the recipes as it is about engaging your family in the food.  My kids are pretty good about eating almost anything I set down in front of them.  The 3 yr old is still a little picky but the 11 yr old is an adventurous eater that even will eat things that make me a little leery.   (like kangaroo jerky)  My nephew is an extremely picky eater, and when he visits I really want to serve meals that make everyone happy.  I knew he liked the game just as much as his father, and I knew that he liked talapia, so when talapia became slaughterfish the rest was easy.  Normally when it comes to trying something new, my nephew pitches a fit, but he happily tried grilled leeks and the sauce both totally out of his comfort zone.  We did our best to keep the dining experience in theme with candlelight only and eating out side to feel more "primitive"  You can apply this to any of your family's favorite games or books, even ones that don't have food in them.  I was thinking of making MREs for a "Black Ops" themed one.  I haven't played it but sounds about right:).  So, tonight, I am not just advocating cooking and eating together, but every once in a while, make it an occasion!  Happily the food turned out to be really good!  The dill sauce was wonderful and with the leeks chopped up on top of the fish with the sauce, we were all making the "yummy" sounds;).  I almost forgot!  My brother brought a bottle of mead based one a 300 year old recipe, there was "alto wine" and ale too:).


Seared Slaughterfish

We just threw some foil down on the grill we were cooking the leeks on and cooked out there.  We flipped them once.

Grilled Leeks

We sliced some leeks lengthwise and soaked them in a large bowl of water, (with a toothpick for each leek half soaking at the same time)  gently fanning out the layers to clean them of any dirt.  If any came apart we put them back together and before the grill we held the leek half together with a toothpick.  Before grilling, we brushed them with some olive oil and cooked them for a few minutes on each side.

Tomato Soup

We have made before. Click link to recipe

Dill Sauce

We made it like the sage sauce I made but substituting dill for the dried sage