CHAPTER SIX

Blossoms in Shangri-La

Dear Miss P,

Well, we reached the summit at last! Lady Hardy had all the professor’s gadgets ready, and we soon set up Kintup’s equipment. The snow was thick on the ground, and there was a bit of a hairy moment with a rambunctious Yeti, but Mr. Woppit and Isaac kept it distracted while we made a rainbow from a profusion of bubbles.

Looking through the colors, we could see that, indeed, there did appear to be a city in the valley which had, until that point, been hidden from our eyes. Passing through one by one, we had soon attracted a crowd of enthusiastic and welcoming residents, who straightaway started to prepare a feast in our honor.

Despite the icy crags that surround it, the Valley is almost tropical, with hot springs that flow past banks full of flowers and new creatures. I have a whole host of things drawn in my sketchbook to share with you! I shall be returning with Dr. Livingstone, who claims he’s not been lost at all, merely resting.

Lots of love,

Emilly

You are bid most welcome to the Adventurers Club, Shangri-La.

We would be most honored if you would partake of tea with us this afternoon at the clubhouse to celebrate Lady Hardy’s ascent of Mount Kailash. We look forward to welcoming all the new visitors and hearing their stories and news.

The clubhouse can be found above the second waterfall, being the third building on the right, with an ornate golden roof.

Come when you can and stay as long as you desire.

RSVP

Blossoms in Shangri-La Tea Menu

Adventurer’s Breakfast Muffins

Tea Eggs

Oriental Gooseberry and Blackcurrant Fruit Cheese

Time Traveler’s Tart

Pasha’s Chai

Sherpa’s Chestnuts

Pear, Parsnip and Rose Loaf Cake

— Also consider serving —

Cream Cheese and Crystallized Ginger Sandwiches

Cucumber and Brinjal Pickle Sandwiches

Cheeseboard with Manchego, Monterey Jack and Feta

Russian Caravan Tea

Adventurer’s Breakfast Muffins

The lovely princess Victoria, upon hearing there was a new palace chef whose speciality was fresh baked muffins so light they could float away, famously commented, “They had better be good.”

Judging by the waistlines of many court members in later years, they jolly well were! The chef, however, having handed on his secret recipes to another generation of kitchen skivvies, craved adventure and, one night, hid aboard an airship bound for India.

The ship never arrived at its destination, but a few months later, adventurers emerging from the Himalayas told tall and improbable tales of a kingdom of milk and muffins, nestled between the inhospitable peaks. In the kitchen of the Adventurers Club, the former royal cook spins yarns of life at court that are every bit as exciting as the adventurer’s shaggy Yeti stories.

INGREDIENTS

450g (1 lb.) white bread flour

Pinch of salt

10g (2 tsp.) dried yeast or 30g (6 tsp.) fresh yeast, nicely crumbled

5g (1 tsp.) caster sugar

225ml (8 fl. oz.) warm milk (hand temperature) in a jug

SPECIAL SUPPLIES

3" (7.5cm) round cutter

Oil for greasing

Parchment or grease-proof paper

*Makes 8 muffins

Pantry Perfections

There is an etiquette to observe when serving the Adventurer’s Breakfast Muffins. Ideally, they should be served warm off the griddle, but they can also be kept warm by judicious use of a muffin warmer. This is a covered dish with an extra hollow under the plate that can be filled with hot water, keeping your muffins fresh all through breakfast.

Likewise, muffins should never be sliced open with a knife; this would destroy the delicate nature of the dough. They should instead be gently split by means of inserting two forks to tear open a slit. Insert butter inside of the slit, then close it up and cut the muffin neatly into two semicircular halves, allowing the butter to ooze out.

If you really cannot eat them immediately, it is permissible to leave them until cold (unsplit). Then, at a more convenient moment, slice the muffin in two with a knife and toast just the cut halves under a grill or in front of a fire. Serve with butter and jam, or a poached egg and hollandaise sauce.

TO MAKE THE MUFFINS

  1. Grease 12 circles of baking paper slightly larger than your cutter. Place them oiled side up on a baking tray (or two if necessary).
  2. Mix the bread flour and salt together in a large bowl.
  3. Place the yeast and sugar in the warm milk and stir until dissolved. Leave for 15 minutes in a warm place, until a froth has formed on the top.
  4. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the liquid. Mix well with a fork first, then lightly by hand. It will be very sticky, but don’t worry; just keep scraping it off your fingers and kneading until everything is well mixed and smooth. Leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
  5. Dust your hands with flour and knead dough on a lightly floured board for 5 minutes. Be sure to keep your hands moving so they don’t stick to the dough.
  6. Roll the dough out on a floured board to 1⁄2" (1.3cm) thickness. Cut out rounds and place each round on a baking parchment circle. Leave to rise again for at least an hour but no more than 3 hours.
  7. Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet or griddle over the lowest heat possible and brush lightly with oil. Place the muffins very gently on the skillet, lifting each one under the baking parchment with a spatula and flipping at the last minute so the dough side is against the heated metal. After a minute, peel the paper backing off the top.
  8. Turn the muffins just once, when the underside is brown, after about 1 minute. All muffins should be fully cooked in the center. Place on the outer part of the griddle to continue if they are still raw.

TEA EGGS

This is an unusual and delicious savory addition to afternoon tea. The spices impart a delicate flavor and beautiful pattern similar to that of marble. The spice mixture may also be saved after the steeping, frozen and used again once or twice.

Hard boil 6 eggs for 10 minutes. Immdiately rinse in cold water until cool enough to touch, then tap them very gently against a hard surface until they are cracked all over, but the membrain is intact.

Boil 600ml (1 pt.) of water with the following ingredients:

30ml (2 tbsp.) black tea

3 star anise

100ml (31⁄2 fl. oz.) soy sauce

5g (1 tsp.) fennel seeds

5g (1 tsp.) cloves

1 stick cinnamon

5g (1 tsp.) pepper

5g (1 tsp.) salt

Steep the cracked eggs in the mixture for 3–6 hours, then peel and serve.

Housekeeper’s Perks

To make a cog shaped butter slice, you will need a 2" (5cm) round cutter and a 1⁄2" (1.3cm) round cutter.

Cut a slice of butter about 1⁄4" (6mm) thick and place in the freezer between two pieces of deli or greaseproof paper for about an hour.

Remove from the freezer and take away the top piece of paper only. Cut several 2" (5cm) rounds, then cut a small middle hole in each round with the 1⁄2" (6mm) cutter.

Finally use the 1⁄2" (1.3cm) cutter to take out notches all the way around the edge, start at the top, then do a notch opposite.

Take out equal numbers of notches at equal spaces each side to make a gearwheel shape. You can use different sized and shaped cutters for different designs.

Oriental Gooseberry and Blackcurrant Fruit Cheese

Amid the snow and ice of the mountains surrounding the hidden valley, who would have guessed that all manner of exquisite and exotic fruits were but a few yards away? Ripening in the rich sunlight and warmed by the hot springs, nothing can compare to their size and flavor.

This solid, sweet and sharp heart is perfect for slicing thinly and serving with cheese and biscuits whenever expeditions need a pause to admire the view. Lord Kershaw’s famous forty peaks attempt was notorious for stopping every mile or so just so the party could enjoy its rations. They returned after conquering only one mountain, as they had run out of Roquefort.

INGREDIENTS

For the Fruit Cheese

450g (1 lb.) blackcurrants

450g (1 lb.) gooseberries

150ml (1⁄4 pt.) water

Around 750g (11⁄2 lb.) sugar

For Decoration

Edible gold powder

SPECIAL SUPPLIES

Heart-shaped ramekin dishes or molds

Cog-shaped stencils

Brush for applying gold powder

Pantry Perfections

If you don’t have gooseberries or blackcurrants, you can use all sorts of different fruits to make equally delicious fruit cheeses; however, you do need to make sure that your fruit always has sufficient pectin in it to set.

Fruits high in pectin include cooking and crabapples, red and blackcurrants, quince, cranberries, gooseberries and damsons.

Fruits with a moderate amount of pectin include raspberries, apricots, greengages and early blackberries.

Cherries, pears, rhubarb, strawberries, peaches, blueberries, late blackberries and elderberries are all low in pectin.

For the best combinations, use half high pectin fruit and half low or moderate pectin fruit. Good examples include strawberry and redcurrant, crabapple and rhubarb, and even quince and apricot.

TO MAKE THE CHEESE

  1. Place whole fruits—not skinned or topped and tailed—into a large pan. Cover with the water and stew slowly until tender and pulpy.
  2. Pour through a sieve into a jug to siphon off any excess juice. Depending on the type of fruit used, there might be a lot or only a little.
  3. Place the sieve with the slushy fruit back over the pan and use a wooden spoon to press pulp through the sieve, leaving behind the skins and seeds. Occasionally scrape the underside of the sieve with a spoon to unclog if need be. When no more pulp is coming through, discard the hard mass of skin and seeds.
  4. Pour up to 225ml (8 fl. oz.) of the siphoned off juice back into the pan and mix with the pulp. Set the rest aside for use in cocktails, jellies or cordials.
  5. Measure the pulp mixture in a jug and place 450g (1 lb.) of sugar for every 600ml (1 pt.) of pulp in the pan. Heat gently until the sugar is dissolved, stirring all the while with a wooden spoon.
  6. Simmer until the fruit is very thick, about 15–30 minutes. When the mixture doesn’t rush back to cover the line your spoon makes on the bottom of the pan, it’s ready.
  7. Pour into heart-shaped ramekin dishes and cover with a heart shape of wax paper. When cool, add a tight cellophane cover and leave in a cool, dark place until needed.
  8. To serve, turn out molds like a blancmange on a small plate. Lightly oil one side of your stencil so it won’t stick. Place the stencil on the cheese and lightly dust through the design with edible gold powder on a large, soft brush. Remove stencil carefully.

Pantry Perfections

These tips may assist in your fruit cheese making endeavours!

Time Traveler’s Tart

The longevity of the inhabitants of Shangri-La has been a matter of debate among the Natural Philosophical Society for many years. It has been suggested that it might be the fresh mountain air, that the glacial stream running through the area is, in fact, the fountain of youth, or that a chronology re-location device allows the populace to hop back and forth so frequently that the universe has gotten confused and given up on trying to age them.

This sweet tart filling is softened by the addition of cream and fruit, and it’s guaranteed to lure the most hardened temporal adventurer home to tea.

INGREDIENTS

For the Pastry

100g (31⁄2 oz.) butter

175g (6 oz.) plain flour

10ml (2 tsp.) of water

For the Filling

175g (6 oz.) tin of evaporated milk

55g (2 oz.) dark brown sugar

100g (31⁄2 oz.) light brown sugar

1 egg

5ml (1 tsp.) vanilla extract

For Decoration

Small tub double cream (whipped until it holds its shape)

Blueberries

Pantry Perfections

If time is of the essence, you could make this tart using a shop-bought pastry case.

For pretty individual portions, create tiny tarts using a jam tart tin and bake for 10 minutes. However, you need a fairly deep pastry case or the proportion of filling to tart isn’t quite right.

The fruit really does add the finishing touch of both flavor and color to this tart, if you can’t find blueberries, try mulberries or blackberries instead.

TO MAKE THE PASTRY

  1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 (350° F/180° C) and grease a deep 7" (18cm) loose-bottomed flan tin.
  2. Rub the fat into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs. Keep rubbing until it just starts to clump together.
  3. Add a few drops of water and mix until the mixture holds together and forms a ball of dough. The less water you can get away with adding, the tastier the pastry will be!
  4. Leave the pastry to rest for roughly 10 minutes, then roll out to approximately 1⁄8" (3mm) thickness on a floured board. Place the pastry in the greased tin and trim neatly. Prick all over with a fork.
  5. Line the pastry with parchment or grease-proof paper, then fill with baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes. Allow to cool.

FOR THE FILLING

  1. Turn the oven up to gas mark 5 (375° F/190° C). Sift the sugars together to get rid of any lumps and set aside.
  2. Next, mix the evaporated milk with an electric whisk for 3–4 minutes until thick and fluffy. Your mixture should resemble double cream.
  3. Add the sugar to your mixture and whisk again for 3–4 minutes until blended. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract to finish the filling.
  4. Pour the filling into the pastry case. Bake for 15–20 minutes, or just until the middle doesn’t wobble when you shake the tin.
  5. Allow the tart to cool in the tin.

TO DECORATE

  1. Remove the fully cooled tart from the pan and place on a serving plate.
  2. Smooth the whipped cream across the top of the tart and add a whirling vortex of blueberries as a finishing touch.

The Pasha’s Chai

INGREDIENTS

300ml (1⁄2 pt.) water

225ml (8 fl. oz.) milk

5 cardamom pods

10 black peppercorns

1 stick cinnamon

5 cloves

10g (2 tsp.) loose black tea

5g (1 tsp.) grated fresh ginger

5–15g (1–3 tsp.) sugar, depending on taste.

TO MAKE THE CHAI

  1. Crack the cloves, peppercorns and cardamoms in a pestle and mortar, just enough to release the flavor.
  2. Bring the cinnamon, ginger and tea to a boil in the water for just one minute.
  3. Add the milk and bring to a boil, then remove from heat, strain through a fine sieve and add sugar to taste. (You can retain the spice mix and tea to create a second serving later).

Sherpa’s Chestnuts

The French mountaineer Marguerite Mont-Blanc once survived two weeks in a Yeti’s cave during a blizzard. On her public speaking tour, she explained how she had kept the ferocious beasts at bay by sharing her favorite Marrons Glacé and entertaining them with shadow shows.

More reminiscent of soft and chewy candied fruits than crunchy nut brittle, this fragrant treat was soon adopted by the local mountain guides and rangers, who added their own spices to the mix. The resulting sweets are delicious with strong Turkish coffee, while the three days they take to make has turned into a public holiday of storytelling, where outrageous tales of derring-do are bandied back and forth.

INGREDIENTS

225g (8 oz.) cooked and shelled marron quality chestnuts (or a small tin of cooked ones)

225g (8 oz.) sugar

225ml (8 fl. oz.) water

Cinnamon stick

5 cardamom pods

For Decoration

Gold leaf or edible gold glitter

SPECIAL SUPPLIES

Paper cases

Sugar thermometer

Pantry Perfections

You’ll need a sugar thermometer to get the temperature just right for these. I use a spoon that has a thermometer set into the handle, making things very easy.

You may find that the sugar crystallizes while the chestnuts are soaking. It’s a good idea to put everything in a heatproof bowl and microwave the crystallized mixture for 30 seconds to 1 minute before transferring to the pan again, just so the sugar can melt and you don’t have to chip it out of the bowl!

TO MAKE THE CHESTNUTS

  1. Place water in a pan. Melt the sugar in the water, stirring until it reaches 212° F (100° C). Add cinnamon and cardamom and simmer for 5 minutes.
  2. Add chestnuts and simmer for another 10 minutes between 212–225° F (100–110° C). Allow to cool a little, then transfer to a small bowl and leave to soak for 12–18 hours.
  3. Return everything (chestnuts and syrup) to a clean pan. Heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Cool a little, then return to a bowl to soak for another 12 hours.
  4. Repeat the heating, simmering and soaking for a third time, then remove the cinnamon stick and cardamom seeds.
  5. Heat for a fourth time, then lift the chestnuts out with a fork one by one, lightly draining each chestnut before placing it on an oiled baking tray.
  6. Place the tray in a very cool oven for around 30 minutes or until the chestnuts are dry to the touch.
  7. Decorate with gold leaf and place in paper cases to serve.

Housekeeper’s Perks

Marron quality is a larger type of chestnut. Of course, you can make these treats with any kind of chestnut you have available, but using the larger marron quality makes for easier peeling.

To cook the chestnuts for this recipe, you need to boil them. Make a slit in the skins and drop them into a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes. Transfer the chestnuts to a pan of cold water. When cool enough to touch, carefully peel the chestnuts, removing the hard outer case and the soft, papery inner membrane. Set each golden nut aside. Note that chestnuts are easier to peel while still a little warm.

To roast your own chestnuts, cut a 1⁄2" (1.3cm) slit in each shell so they will not burst when heated. Place on the edge of an open fire, on a small fire-proof shovel or in a special chestnut roaster tin. Cook over the fire, shaking or turning frequently for about 10 minutes or until the skin is nearly black. Cool for a few minutes, peel and eat.

If open flames are not readily available, you can also place them in a single layer in a shallow tin and bake at gas mark 6 (400° F/200° C) for 30 minutes.

Pear Parsnip and Rose Loaf Cake

The fruit and vegetables are wonderfully abundant in Shangri-La … sometimes a little too abundant, leading to a glut of one type or another. Many inventions have been created to run on the surplus, including a carrot-propelled ornithopter and a peach-propelled bicycle. Much experimentation takes place as travelers arrive from the outside world with new and exciting seeds or spices.

Some are more willing to experiment than others, of course. When the ingredients of this healthful pudding were pointed out, Mr. Rivet was heard to mutter, “It barely deserves the name cake!” He then managed to devour three slices and looked disappointed that there was none left for breakfast.

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake

2 large pears

90ml (6 tbsp.) rosewater

10ml (2 tsp.) apple cider vinegar

85ml (3 fl. oz.) unsweetened soya milk

140g (5 oz.) self-rising gluten-free flour (I use Doves Farm rice/potato/tapioca/buckwheat blend)

60g (2 oz.) dried polenta

10g (2 tsp.) baking powder

15g (1 tbsp.) granulated stevia

115g (4 oz.) grated raw parsnip

30ml (1 fl. oz.) oil

2.5g (1⁄2 tsp.) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

For Decoration

Edible gold leaf

Rose-flavored butter icing (optional)

Pantry Perfections

This vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free, low-fat cake is quite different in texture and taste compared to an ordinary sponge cake; it’s almost more like a subtly sweet and dense pudding cake. Feel free to substitute wheat flour for the gluten-free variety if you prefer a spongier texture. You can also use sugar rather than stevia if you’re not fussed about that, either!

TO MAKE THE CAKE

  1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 (400° F/200° C). Cut the pears in half and remove the cores. Place cut side down in a shallow baking dish and cover with rosewater. Bake for 30 minutes.
  2. Remove the pears from the oven and allow to cool until you can handle them without burning yourself. In the meantime, lower the oven temperature to gas mark 5 (375° F/190° C) and line a loaf tin with grease-proof paper.
  3. Once the pears are cool enough to handle, gently remove the skin. Cut one entire pear and half of the other into 1⁄4"–1⁄2" (6mm–1.3cm) cubes and set aside. The remaining half of a pear can be thinly sliced and served alongside the cake.
  4. Add the vinegar to the soya milk and leave to curdle for a few minutes.
  5. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, polenta, baking powder and stevia together.
  6. Add the grated parsnip to the cubed pears and mix well, being careful not to mash the pears.
  7. Add the oil and bicarbonate of soda to the curdled soya milk and mix well. Pour the oil/milk mixture and the parsnip/pear mixture into the dry ingredients, folding together gently. Blend until all the ingredients are incorporated, once again being careful not to squash the pear pieces.
  8. Pour the batter into the lined tin and bake for about 45 minutes or until the cake is golden and springs back when pressed in the center.
  9. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.
  10. When cold, press edible gold leaf all over the cake and decorate with rose-flavored butter icing flowers if you like. Serve in chunky slices.

Housekeeper’s Perks

For the luscious rose-flavored icing, you will need the following:

Beat the butter until light and fluffy.

Add the pink coloring and flavoring to the icing sugar one drop at a time, then beat this mixture into the butter.

Put in a piping bag and swirl roses on the cake. Follow my YouTube instructions to learn how to pipe roses!

Obviously, butter icing isn’t vegan. You can use margarine as a substitute, but the flavor won’t be as rich. As such, if you want a quick vegan icing, I’d suggest simply adding a 15ml (1 tbsp.) of rosewater to 40g (11⁄2 oz.) of icing sugar and drizzling it over the top of the cake instead.