Recipes

One of the great things about LOTRO-inspired recipes is they're always fresh and simple (until you get to Westfold tier, anyway). I love food that's basic, with vibrant flavors, but that also doesn't take too much time to make -- leaves more time for LOTRO! Here are a collection of recipes inspired by the game. Some of them I "created" myself, meaning I didn't follow a recipe and experimented until I found something that worked, while others are just great recipes I'd like to share.

Don't forget to send your own recipes by comment or e-mail, and please provide your name or handle so I can credit you appropriately. And check back often! I'll be adding many more recipes over time.

A Shortcut to (Fried) Mushrooms

Enough to send any red-blooded hobbit into a frenzy, this was the first-ever LOTRO-inspired dish I attempted, and boy! Is it tasty!

This LOTRO-inspired side dish makes an excellent compliment to a full Hobbit breakfast.

Eight to 12 oz. of fresh mushrooms (whole or sliced, your preference)
Apprx. 1 tbsp. butter (or substitute olive oil)
Seasonings (your preference)

Melt butter (or heat olive oil) in a skillet on medium-low heat (apprx. 4 out of 10). Add mushrooms. Season to taste. Suggestions: salt and black pepper, sea salt and cracked peppercorn, salt and rubbed sage (my personal favorite), salt and thyme. Sautee until the mushrooms are brown and tender. Serve immediately.

Hard Biscuits

One of the first cooked foods LOTRO cooks can make is Hard Biscuits. These are actually sour-cream biscuits and they're not hard at all -- neither in texture nor in the effort needed to whip up a batch!

Add butter or honey to these easy-to-make biscuits for a wonderful LOTRO-esque snack.

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tbsp. water
3/4 cup of sour cream

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix until you have a soft dough. You can either grab small fistfuls and toss them onto a non-greased baking sheet or roll out an apprx. 1 1/2 in. thick sheet of dough and use a biscuit cutter. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. You can add any kind of supplement to these as well: butter, honey, honey-butter, etc.

Marinated Chicken Cutlets
Every time I have to make this ingredient in LOTRO my mouth starts watering because I'm thinking about this recipe. Like most of my recipes, it's super-simple with bold flavors.


1 lb. of thin-sliced chicken breast or tenders (you can also use bone-in chicken, if you prefer)
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tbsp. thyme
1 tbsp. basil
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 cup red cooking wine

2 tbsp. lemon juice
8 oz. sliced mushrooms (fresh or canned will work)

Pour wine into slow cooker. Place chicken into slow cooker. Add spices and lemon juice. Add mushrooms. Cook for 6 hours. Serve over rice.

Notes: You can brown the chicken in a frying pan before placing it into the slow cooker. This gives the meat a nice appearance and texture, but isn't necessary. You can also add virtually any combination of vegetables to this recipe: carrots, potatoes, celery, etc.

Padhric's Peculiar Pasta and Poultry

Padhric's Peculiar Pasta and Poultry

I dreamed up this delicious pasta dish today out of random ingredients I had laying around. I was supposed to make Sloppy Joes tonight, but I forgot to get the beef out so it could thaw. Instead, I whipped this up, and it was a big hit with Mrs. Pad!

• You will need a 26 oz. bag of grilled frozen chicken strips. You could also go natural and cut some chicken breast into strips, as if you were going to make fajitas. Pan fry the chicken thoroughly in a bit of olive oil. Season with some freshly crushed rosemary.

• At the same time, boil 1 pound of frozen broccoli heads. You want to smash the bag up some so the heads are smaller than usual. It's ok if you get a lot of tiny florets... They do very well for texture.

• Also boil one pound of penne pasta al dente. Nothing special about this step.

• Once all three ingredients are done, combine them in a large bowl or serving dish. Then, liberally blanket in a garlic Italian salad dressing. Use as much or as little as you want, to taste. You can also use garlic Italian, zesty Italian, etc. I also added a sprinkling of oregano. Parsley or sage might be good too. Finally, you might try capers on the finished dish, if you like capers. I do, and they complemented the meal quite well.

Serve hot! This makes about six servings.

Enjoy!

Padhric
Master of Toons

Padhric's Peculiar Pork and Poultry

This is a spin-off of the pasta and poultry dish, above.

• Grab one pound of ground sausage. Cook it thoroughly in a skillet. 

• At the same time, boil one pound of penne or other pasta of your preference. Elbow macaroni works fine, or some of the smaller "pasta salad" noodle varieties are good too.

• When the sausage and pasta are both ready, combine them.

• Next open and drain one 15-oz. can of chopped spinach. I highly recommend getting the kind with  NO SALT ADDED. If your spinach doesn't specifically say NO SALT ADDED, it probably has had salt added. This matters because the sausage may already have salt in it too, so you could end up with a very salty mouthful if you're not careful. Drain the spinach and stir it into the pasta and sausage.

•  Finally, stir in one or two (to taste) cans of alfredo sauce. Because the sausage and spinach already bring a lot of flavor, I find the super-cheapo store brands work really well for this, but feel free to experiment.

That's it! This recipe makes about eight servings.

Padhric
Master of Toons