verdant spheres [edamame falafels with jalapeño sauce]

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Selama Ashal’anore!

Everyone’s favorite vengeful Blood Elf mage, Kael’thas Sunstrider made his way into the Nexus a few months back. I’ve had a chance to play him several times in ranked, but honestly, I’m not super comfortable with his play style.

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I’m more of a Jaina kind of gal (awwwwkward). However, Kael’thas is still a super fun hero to play! I mean, c’mon, FREE living bombs?! YOU GET A LIVING BOMB. AND YOU GET A LIVING BOMB. EVERYONE GETS A LIVING BOMB!

And it’s all thanks to those magical Verdant Spheres. Those Verdant Spheres are his signature accessory. A powerful fashion statement only worn by most haute blood mages!

I’ve immortalized these iconic artifacts in food form: edamame falafels! These falafels are packed full of nutrients which will surely keep you fueled during your quest for vengeance.

UNIT COMPOSITION

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  1. salt
  2. pepper
  3. 1 cup of tahini sauce*
  4. 1 tablespoon of cumin
  5. 1 tablespoon of coriander
  6. 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  7. 5 – 7 cloves of garlic, diced
  8. 1/4 cup of cilantro, roughly chopped
  9. 1/2 cup of parsley, roughly chopped
  10. 1 1/2 cups of edamame, shelled
  11. 1 onion, roughly diced
  12. 2 jalapeños, diced

*To make homemade tahini sauce, combine: tahini paste, garlic, lemon juice, water and salt.

BUILD ORDER

Prep time for this recipe is roughly 15 minutes. Cook time is about 35 minutes. This makes about 3 servings (about 3 falafels each).

OPENING

  1. Put your onion, edamame, onion, cilantro, 1 jalapeño, and 1/4 cup of parsley in a food processor.blog_verdantspheres_mix
  2. Add in your salt, pepper, cumin, and coriander.
  3. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and pulse to combine.
  4. Continue until it forms a smooth paste.blog_verdantspheres_mix2
  5. Remove and set aside.

MID GAME

  1. Set your oven to 375° F.
  2. Line a pan or baking dish with parchment paper.
  3. Using a spoon, scoop out golf ball sized balls of the falafel dough. Roughly shape them into a sphere and drop them onto the parchment paper. Use a butter knife to smooth out the balls.blog_verdantspheres_balls
  4. Bake for 35 minutes or crispy. In order to keep them green, I decided not to flip them.

LATE GAME

  1. Place tahini sauce, jalapeño pepper, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and your remaining parsley in a food processor.
  2. Process until it’s a smooth paste.
  3. Dip a spoon in the sauce and place the back of the spoon against a plate. Drag the spoon up and lift carefully to create a smear affect (or the flame for the verdant spheres).
  4. Place one of the falafels on top of the sauce.
  5. OPTIONAL: Sprinkle parsley over the plate.
  6. Eat!

GG WP!

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Now you can embrace AND eat the power of Verdant Spheres! ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ノ GLORY TO THE SIN’DOREI! ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ノ

GUEST RECIPE: murloco’s tacos [baja-style fish tacos]

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Hi! My name is Homebrewed, some of you may know me from Twitter. I am a huge fan of Warcraft and more recently Hearthstone. My favorite amphibious humanoid is the Murloc, I am even quite fluent in Nerglish. So, my recipe I want to share with you today is Murlocos, Baja-style Mur…fish tacos.

https://twitter.com/HomebrewedDwarf/status/536372067592314881

The weeks after I came back from BlizzCon I received some news from the doctor, in other words, I need to start eating healthier. So in this venture, I have been cooking at home a lot more and finding different ways to make some of my favorite food to fuel up into between work and gaming. I was inspired by a dish I had one time at The Reservoir – Restaurant and Tap Room – Waterbury.

There are some things you can do ahead of ahead to cut on the actual time from cooking to eating when you go to fry your fish and assemble your tacos. I recommend making the pickled jalapeños and the cilantro onion salsa the day before as it keeps for at about a week. Also, I do want to recommend, that when you slice the jalapeños you buy some cheap plastic gloves, powder free, to protect your hands.

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Total prep time for this dish is about 1 hour. Cook time is 40 minutes. This recipe will make roughly about 16 tacos. You will end up with leftover condiments! 

OPENING HAND

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EARLY GAME

Ingredients

  1. 3/4 cup water
  2. 3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
  3. 3 tablespoons white sugar
  4. 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  5. 1 clove garlic, crushed
  6. 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  7. 10 large jalapeno peppers, sliced into rings

Directions (Pickled Jalapeño)

  1. Combine water, vinegar, sugar, kosher salt, garlic, and oregano in a saucepan over high heat. Bring mixture to a boil, stir in jalapeno peppers and remove from heat. Let mixture cool for 10 minutes.
  2. Pack peppers into jars using tongs, cover with vinegar mixture, cover, and refrigerate until needed.

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MID RANGE

Ingredients

  1. 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
  2. 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  3. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  4. 2 teaspoons olive oil
  5. 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  6. 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions (Cilantro Onion Salsa)

Chop everything, juice your lime, and place all the mixture into a mason jar and pop it in the fridge.

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Ingredients

  1. 3/4 cup cold seltzer water
  2. 1/2 large egg, beaten
  3. 1/4 cup cold vodka
  4. 2.5 ounces unbleached cake flour, by weight
  5. 2.5 ounces white rice flour, by weight
  6. 1 liter vegetable or sunflower oil
  7. 1 pound haddock or cod
  8. Red cabbage, sliced
  9. 16 corn tortillas
  10. Kosher salt

LATE GAME

Directions (Fish & Assemble)

  1. Slice up your cabbage and put asideblog_murlocostacos_cabbage
  2. Slice fish into pieces that are about two inchesin depthblog_murlocostacos_fish
  3. Heat oil in a cast iron Dutch oven to 375 degrees
  4. Combine seltzer, egg, and vodka in a bowl
  5. Combine rice flour and cake flour in a separate bowl
  6. When your oil reaches temperature, add the wet to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine and surround that bowl with ice on the outside to keep the batter coldblog_murlocostacos_batter
  7. Dip your fish into your batter, shaken off excess, and slowly place into the oil about four pieces at a time
  8. Cook for about two minutes until golden brown and remove from heat
  9. Place cooked fish on a paper towel and season with saltblog_murlocostacos_frying
  10. Heat your corn tortillas directly over the burner if you have a gas stovetop turning with tongs to heat them through or in a pan with a very slight mist of water
  11. Put everything together and enjoy!blog_murlocostacos_macro

Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!

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Special guest recipe by Homebrewed. He’s a  writer, a Hearthstone aficionado, and a Murloc whisperer! You can follow his adventures on his Twitter: @HomebrewedDwarf