Fire in the Hole! [Solo]
Posted: Thu Feb 29, 2024 10:50 pm
8 Ash, Year 123
[Closed - Solo]
Hilana hummed as she bustled around the kitchen at the Citadel. The servii were well-used to her, and if Hilana wanted to cook, they let her cook so long as they weren't busy. She generally timed her schedule in there to make sure that she wasn't underfoot. Some of it she might do at her apartment in the Luxium and bring back to finish off here; other times, she took full advantage of the big kitchen and enjoyed it. Today was one of those times. She'd gotten a whole bunch of chickens from the village below the Citadel, and they were on the menu for dinner. But first, she wanted to make a fresh batch of harissa paste, and that meant knuckling down and working on the chilis that she had grown some time back and had dried out. All of these were native to the Solunarian kingdom, and she had picked a few that had different flavour profiles - some packed heat, while others were more of a smoky flavour to them.
But she also had those that were not flaming hot - trays of roasted red peppers were cooling on the counters, and she had scraped the skins off of them and put in a bowl for Hayima'el. Those had been quartered and seeded, the seeds in their own jar to go back to Solunarium with her in order to plant them and grow more. It may have seemed like a lot of food that she was making, but once she blended that paste down... amounts were deceiving. The spell of spice was filling the kitchen, and the girl hummed to herself, all but dancing in place. The dried chilis had been soaking in a pot of water to reconstitute them, though they wouldn't be in there for much longer. That process allowed the flavours to deepen and strengthen, and it would give just that much more punch to the paste.
She used a wire scoop to pull the hydrated peppers from the large pot of water, transferring them to a large tray. If they heaped, it didn't matter; she just needed to get them out. Ladle after ladle followed until the tray was heaping high with peppers, gathered from one pot and then the second. They were different sizes and colours; but the ratio here would be the same as if it was being made for a much smaller batch. The fire under the pots was deactivated, and Hilana carried her tray of peppers, along with her bowls for the seeds and stems, to the large preparation table. She had a number of other ingredients already out - lemons, spices, oil, tomato paste that she had made previously, and garlic, all waiting their turn to be added to the mixture. The roasted peppers were cooling, but those quarters would now go into large mortar, one she had damn well had to Enmesh just to lift it, and haul it to the table. This was the Pulverizer, and while her steaming hot chilis were cooling down enough to work with, the Vastiana would start mashing the roasted pepper quarters, a few at a time to make sure that she achieve the right consistency. Throwing all of them in would just mean that it wouldn't be equal, and that meant substandard quality, and that would not do.
She developed the rhythm as she worked, quietly singing the song she had heard Finn play some time back. It was a good song to remind one to keep on going, and as tedious as this process would be, she couldn't quit. Peppers that were mashed were scooped and scraped out of the mortar and put into a massive metal mixing bowl, and she would keep on going until the large tray of them was empty. There was still some steam rising up from the peppers as she worked, though her fingertips were used to the heat enough that she didn't need to use some utensil to grab the peppers from the tray.
By the time she had finished with the roasted pepper quarters, she shifted down the table to start taking her attention to the heaped tray of the reconstituted peppers, and a wickedly sharp knife was selected as her new tool. There was no need to skin these ones, but she halved them, putting the seeds in one bowl, and the stems in the other for her beloved Hayima'el. Once they were seeded, she quartered the halves and threw a few at a time into the mortar of the Pulverizer, and turned her attention there. It would allow the next exposed layer of peppers to cool, and she would go back and forth. This was probably the largest batch of harissa she had ever made, but it would be worth it. It kept well, after all, and who knew when she would have the time to do this again?
Slice the peppers, seed the peppers, mash the peppers, scoop the mashed peppers into the mixing bowl, and repeat it again and again and again. By the time she finished the peppers, she was working up a good sweat, and she stretched, rotating her arms and shoulders before washing her hands and pausing to take a break. That whole process had taken quite a bit of time to do, which might have been easier with some other hands, but Hilana was stubborn that way, and part of her being allowed to use this kitchen was not dragging servii into her own efforts if it wasn't for the denizens of the Citadel. But after she had a drink of some hibiscus iced tea and eaten a few figs, she was back to it.
The mashed peppers were stirred and mixed together, and she weighed out scoops of the tomato paste from the heavy jar before adding that to the mixing bowl. The heads of garlic were smashed and shaken in another bowl to loosen the skins, which went into Hayima'el's dish, and the peeled cloves went into the mortar. They would take their turn and meet their ends within, getting mashed down and releasing the incredibly pungent scent into the kitchen. There was something to be said for raw garlic, but at least it didn't make one's eyes water the way raw onion did. Then it was time for the lemons - they were rolled to help soften the fruit before she cut them in half and squished them on the rather phallic-shaped juicer, straining the seeds from the mouth-puckering liquid that went into a measuring cup. It took a fair few lemons to get the quantity that she wanted, and Hilana took the opportunity to set a few bites of lemon aside for her. Hayima'el did not like these, but she could candy the peels later and the rest would be excellent for composting. Citrus fruits were fantastic at keeping pests out of the compost pile, broke down quickly due to their oils, and were fantastic at releasing more nutrients in it. Waste not, want not, as far as Hilana was concerned. If you used something, it was best to use all of it - either eaten or recycled somehow. Nothing she was using today would go to waste.
The olive oil was measured out next, and quite a bit of it, and set aside before she got the measuring spoons and her jars of spices. Powdered cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, and even more dried chili was added in, along with a generous helping of salt to start it off with. More could be added once she had mixed the lot of this, and she would adjust for how the batch tasted. Taste was king, and salt was the enhancer to help with that. Now came the fun part. She took up the aerolyth shard from its drawer, and by influencing the air, she kept the contents of the mixing bowl inside of it, all while using the dragonshard to blend up all of the ingredients in the recipe. Her control was steady, reassured, and that meant that everything stayed inside the bowl while the aerolyth could be used to whirl and blend the contents together at a stronger velocity and without anything to impede the mixing process. After a few minutes, she stopped, taking a spoon and testing the paste. That hit nicely, but it did need more salt, so another large spoonful was sprinkled on before she started to blend the paste up once more. Once she was satisfied, she gave it another taste test, and shimmied her hips and shoulders with satisfaction. Perfect.
The dragonshard went back in its drawer, and Hilana began to portion the harissa paste into jars. She could have Lykos negate the lids against spoilage when she caught him later, and that way they would stay good and fresh until she was ready to use them. That was one benefit of the Rune, she supposed, and while it was decidedly handy... she hadn't wanted it for herself out of pride and pigheadedness with her father... With each of them filled and stacked, she could wash up and tidy up, peel the lemons to take those skins home for candying, and got the seeds ready for planting.
Not to mention, she had a bunch of harissa-spiced roasted chickens to make...
[Closed - Solo]
Hilana hummed as she bustled around the kitchen at the Citadel. The servii were well-used to her, and if Hilana wanted to cook, they let her cook so long as they weren't busy. She generally timed her schedule in there to make sure that she wasn't underfoot. Some of it she might do at her apartment in the Luxium and bring back to finish off here; other times, she took full advantage of the big kitchen and enjoyed it. Today was one of those times. She'd gotten a whole bunch of chickens from the village below the Citadel, and they were on the menu for dinner. But first, she wanted to make a fresh batch of harissa paste, and that meant knuckling down and working on the chilis that she had grown some time back and had dried out. All of these were native to the Solunarian kingdom, and she had picked a few that had different flavour profiles - some packed heat, while others were more of a smoky flavour to them.
But she also had those that were not flaming hot - trays of roasted red peppers were cooling on the counters, and she had scraped the skins off of them and put in a bowl for Hayima'el. Those had been quartered and seeded, the seeds in their own jar to go back to Solunarium with her in order to plant them and grow more. It may have seemed like a lot of food that she was making, but once she blended that paste down... amounts were deceiving. The spell of spice was filling the kitchen, and the girl hummed to herself, all but dancing in place. The dried chilis had been soaking in a pot of water to reconstitute them, though they wouldn't be in there for much longer. That process allowed the flavours to deepen and strengthen, and it would give just that much more punch to the paste.
She used a wire scoop to pull the hydrated peppers from the large pot of water, transferring them to a large tray. If they heaped, it didn't matter; she just needed to get them out. Ladle after ladle followed until the tray was heaping high with peppers, gathered from one pot and then the second. They were different sizes and colours; but the ratio here would be the same as if it was being made for a much smaller batch. The fire under the pots was deactivated, and Hilana carried her tray of peppers, along with her bowls for the seeds and stems, to the large preparation table. She had a number of other ingredients already out - lemons, spices, oil, tomato paste that she had made previously, and garlic, all waiting their turn to be added to the mixture. The roasted peppers were cooling, but those quarters would now go into large mortar, one she had damn well had to Enmesh just to lift it, and haul it to the table. This was the Pulverizer, and while her steaming hot chilis were cooling down enough to work with, the Vastiana would start mashing the roasted pepper quarters, a few at a time to make sure that she achieve the right consistency. Throwing all of them in would just mean that it wouldn't be equal, and that meant substandard quality, and that would not do.
She developed the rhythm as she worked, quietly singing the song she had heard Finn play some time back. It was a good song to remind one to keep on going, and as tedious as this process would be, she couldn't quit. Peppers that were mashed were scooped and scraped out of the mortar and put into a massive metal mixing bowl, and she would keep on going until the large tray of them was empty. There was still some steam rising up from the peppers as she worked, though her fingertips were used to the heat enough that she didn't need to use some utensil to grab the peppers from the tray.
By the time she had finished with the roasted pepper quarters, she shifted down the table to start taking her attention to the heaped tray of the reconstituted peppers, and a wickedly sharp knife was selected as her new tool. There was no need to skin these ones, but she halved them, putting the seeds in one bowl, and the stems in the other for her beloved Hayima'el. Once they were seeded, she quartered the halves and threw a few at a time into the mortar of the Pulverizer, and turned her attention there. It would allow the next exposed layer of peppers to cool, and she would go back and forth. This was probably the largest batch of harissa she had ever made, but it would be worth it. It kept well, after all, and who knew when she would have the time to do this again?
Slice the peppers, seed the peppers, mash the peppers, scoop the mashed peppers into the mixing bowl, and repeat it again and again and again. By the time she finished the peppers, she was working up a good sweat, and she stretched, rotating her arms and shoulders before washing her hands and pausing to take a break. That whole process had taken quite a bit of time to do, which might have been easier with some other hands, but Hilana was stubborn that way, and part of her being allowed to use this kitchen was not dragging servii into her own efforts if it wasn't for the denizens of the Citadel. But after she had a drink of some hibiscus iced tea and eaten a few figs, she was back to it.
The mashed peppers were stirred and mixed together, and she weighed out scoops of the tomato paste from the heavy jar before adding that to the mixing bowl. The heads of garlic were smashed and shaken in another bowl to loosen the skins, which went into Hayima'el's dish, and the peeled cloves went into the mortar. They would take their turn and meet their ends within, getting mashed down and releasing the incredibly pungent scent into the kitchen. There was something to be said for raw garlic, but at least it didn't make one's eyes water the way raw onion did. Then it was time for the lemons - they were rolled to help soften the fruit before she cut them in half and squished them on the rather phallic-shaped juicer, straining the seeds from the mouth-puckering liquid that went into a measuring cup. It took a fair few lemons to get the quantity that she wanted, and Hilana took the opportunity to set a few bites of lemon aside for her. Hayima'el did not like these, but she could candy the peels later and the rest would be excellent for composting. Citrus fruits were fantastic at keeping pests out of the compost pile, broke down quickly due to their oils, and were fantastic at releasing more nutrients in it. Waste not, want not, as far as Hilana was concerned. If you used something, it was best to use all of it - either eaten or recycled somehow. Nothing she was using today would go to waste.
The olive oil was measured out next, and quite a bit of it, and set aside before she got the measuring spoons and her jars of spices. Powdered cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, and even more dried chili was added in, along with a generous helping of salt to start it off with. More could be added once she had mixed the lot of this, and she would adjust for how the batch tasted. Taste was king, and salt was the enhancer to help with that. Now came the fun part. She took up the aerolyth shard from its drawer, and by influencing the air, she kept the contents of the mixing bowl inside of it, all while using the dragonshard to blend up all of the ingredients in the recipe. Her control was steady, reassured, and that meant that everything stayed inside the bowl while the aerolyth could be used to whirl and blend the contents together at a stronger velocity and without anything to impede the mixing process. After a few minutes, she stopped, taking a spoon and testing the paste. That hit nicely, but it did need more salt, so another large spoonful was sprinkled on before she started to blend the paste up once more. Once she was satisfied, she gave it another taste test, and shimmied her hips and shoulders with satisfaction. Perfect.
The dragonshard went back in its drawer, and Hilana began to portion the harissa paste into jars. She could have Lykos negate the lids against spoilage when she caught him later, and that way they would stay good and fresh until she was ready to use them. That was one benefit of the Rune, she supposed, and while it was decidedly handy... she hadn't wanted it for herself out of pride and pigheadedness with her father... With each of them filled and stacked, she could wash up and tidy up, peel the lemons to take those skins home for candying, and got the seeds ready for planting.
Not to mention, she had a bunch of harissa-spiced roasted chickens to make...
