Game Of Thrones season threeis out on DVD this week – obviously you're going to watch it again. But why not make a thing out of it? Geekery does love company after all. Here's how to have the best GOT viewing party the world has ever seen.
The Food
Right, amazing discovery of the day: there’s an entire blog dedicated to Game Of Thrones food. Seriously. It’s insane. Chelsea Monroe-Cassel has painstakingly gone through the books and recreated loads of the dishes featured. She’s even got a cookbook. We’re obsessed with the Dothraki Blood Pie that Daenerys Targaryen eats. 'Food was brought to her, steaming joints of meat and thick black sausages and Dothraki blood pies, and later fruits and sweetgrass stews and delicate pastries from the kitchens of Pentos…' Get the recipe here.
Modern Blood Sausage Tart Recipe
Prep: 10 minutes, prebake: 15 minutes, final bake: 25 minutes
Makes one 10-inch round tart, or one rectangular tart
Crust:
• 75g unsalted pistachios, finely ground or very finely chopped
• 90g all-purpose flour
• 60g chickpea or almond flour, or a combination
• A pinch of salt
• 6tbsp unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 egg
• 2-3tsp ice water, if needed
Filling:
• 225g blood sausage, cut into 1/4in slices (black pudding, boudin and morcilla all work great)
• 1tsp olive oil
• 1 leek, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 160ml thick cream
• 115g soft goat's cheese (chèvre or feta)
• 2tbsp chopped pistachios to garnish (optional)
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Combine the ground pistachios, almonds, and flours in a large bowl, along with a pinch of salt. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Depending on the size of your egg, you may or may not need to add a splash of cold water to bring the mixture together. Press the dough into a flat disc between cling film, and chill for 30 minutes.
Press the chilled dough into your tart pan, making sure to spread it evenly at a depth of about 1/4in. Prick the bottom of the pan all over with a fork to keep the dough from bubbling up. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edge starts to pull away from the pan, and is just shy of browning.
While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the leeks for about 3 minutes, or until they are tender. Add the garlic and stir for another minute. Set aside and allow this mixture to cool. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and cream with the goat's cheese.
When the crust is finished, sprinkle the garlic-leek mixture over the bottom of the crust. Follow this with the sliced blood sausage, then the cheese mixture, making sure to distribute evenly.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling has set. Allow to cool slightly before serving. Best eaten warm.
The Drink
We don’t massively fancy raising a glass to Joffrey. Still, better to err on the side of caution to avoid the fate of Ned Stark. Ensure your head stays firmly attached to your neck by toasting the boy king – this Royal Gin Fizz ought to do it.
Ingredients
1½ part Bombay Sapphire gin
1 egg
¼ part sugar syrup
Juice of half a lemon
Soda water
Instructions
Get your hands on…
A shaker
Some cubed ice
A strainer
Follow these steps…
You can either buy pre-mixed sugar syrup or, if you want to make your own, you can find instructions in the Masterclass section
Put all of the ingredients into a shaker without ice. Shake hard do help the egg white foam up
Put ice into the shaker
Then shake hard for about 20 seconds to chill the liquid really well
Strain the mix into a glass filled with ice
Top up your glass with soda water
The Film
Erm, Game Of Thrones might be a good place to start? #Justsaying. There’s a casual 530 minutes of footage to get through AND if you pay an extra £40 (total bargain) your DVD comes in this limited edition dragon case.
What To Wear
Games Of Thrones is all over this season – hello did you see Valentino’s spring/summer 14 collection?
Basically you could do much worse than pick yourself up a medieval-style maxi dress in time for summer anyways – try this one.
Follow Jess on Twitter @jess_commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.