A Hogwarts Dinner for Harry Potter's 34th Birthday!

Today, July 31st, marks a very special occasion - it's Harry Potter's 34th birthday! He's just returned from Patagonia, where he cheered on old friend Viktor Krum as Bulgaria beat Brazil in this year's Quidditch World Cup (seriously, if you haven't checked your Pottermore account recently, or if for some strange reason you don't have a Pottermore account, log in right now and get reading!), so suffice it to say it's been a good month for the Boy Who Lived!

In honor of his birthday and the fact that I have an arguably unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter (I threw myself a 25th birthday party that was completely Harry Potter themed), I prepared a meal featuring items mentioned during the course of the books. With the help of Dinah Bucholz' Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, which really is a great addition to your library (even if Harry Potter isn't your cup of tea, there are a lot of quintessentially British foods included), we had roast beef, roasted carrots, and vegetable pies, followed by a rhubarb crisp with warm custard. Sadly, I couldn't use my wand to clean up the dishes afterwards, but the meal was worth scrubbing a few pots!

Slughorn passed around a plate of pies . . .

The cookbook has recipes for British pies, two savory and two sweet. The savory pies both sounded great - chicken and mushroom and meat and potato - but since I was already cooking a roast and didn't want to go to the trouble of preparing more meat, I combined the two recipes to create a vegetable pie. Just follow the directions for the crust, and then lightly saute a medium onion, a medium zucchini, a handful of new potatoes (or one medium potato, depending on what's in your pantry), and mushrooms, all finely diced. Fill and bake as directed, and voila! They lifted easily out of the pie tin. And don't be fooled by their size - each one is surprisingly filling.

Roast beef, carrots. potatoes . . .

As you can see, my roast was a bit over-done, but still yummy. I added a herb crust because I like herbs and because I'm trying to clean out our cabinets. Combine two teaspoons each of basil, thyme, oregano, and mustard, then rub all over and bake as directed.

Harry looked up from his rhubarb crisp and custard . . .

I love tart tastes, so this dessert was right up my alley. If you don't want to do all rhubarb, you can always substitute half of the fruit for strawberries, which will sweeten the palate.