Young wife and video game enthusiast Lis Mentyka, in her infinite ambition, took on an immense project: To recreate/design dishes based on every recipe available in The Elder Scrolls Online. To facilitate this bold endeavor, she established the Agartha Supper Club, a group of culinary adventurers who gather once a month to eat strange new dishes and play games together. This is their story.

It was an unseasonably warm day in early September when the first meeting of the Agartha Supper Club was set to occur at the Mentyka Residence, affectionately known as the Agartha (a name drawn from Lis’ other favorite MMO, The Secret World). Rob worked tirelessly throughout the day to tidy the modest home, a task complicated by the latest artistic endeavor of Brynjolf, the couple’s large, brown Maine Coon mix. His canvas? The living room floor. His medium? Bile.

While Rob censored Brynjolf’s art, Lis was fast at work in the kitchen, preparing the courses for the first meeting of their club. She had prepared several ingredients the night before, which greatly sped up the process. By the time the first guests arrived, the home was clean and the food was just about ready to be served.

Guests were offered a variety of beverages, ranging from diluted ginger mead to mocktails made with the last of the sparkling water from the couple’s nuptials. (For those seeking to make their own diluted mead, Lis recommends 3 fingers of mead to a standard-size nalgene bottle, which is about 32oz.)

As guests arrived, they were offered the first course of the evening: Deshaan Honeydew Hors D’Ouerve, a Dunmer delicacy.The original recipe in the game had only two ingredients listed, melon and saltrice (a grain from Morrowind that doesn’t actually exist). Lis interpreted this as a sushi-like snack of red and black rice topped with golden honeydew and wrapped in prosciutto, which she created to mixed results. The longer, heartier grains of rice did not behave like sushi rice, which left the dish crumbly. To remedy this, Lis mixed pieces of melon and prosciutto into the remainder of the rice to create a cold salad, which served the same function but was less portable. Below is the recipe for that version of the dish.

Deshaan Honeydew Hors D’Ouerve

• Golden Honeydew, sliced into small chunks
• 2 cups Fancy Rice Blend
• 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1-2 tbl Za’atar (Zahtar) spice blend, to taste
• Salt and Pepper
• Package Prosciutto, chopped

1. Cook rice according to directions on package, but adding Salt, Pepper, and Za’atar to the boiling water. This gives the rice a unique flavor.
2. Mix cooked rice with vinegar and sugar. Actual quantities needed may vary. The goal is to make the rice a little sticky.
3. Let cool for at least 2 hours in the fridge or overnight.
4. Mix honeydew and prosciutto into the rice.
5. Serve in small cups or on tasting spoons if you want to get fancy.

   The Verdict: “This tastes just like Morrowind!”
   

The festivities continued in the dining room, where guests were served the remainder of the feast. Flavorful curried Tenmar Millet-Carrot Couscous from southern Elsweyr accompanied delicate and juicy Tarragon Chicken thighs. (Late-Summer Corn Slaw came along for the ride, but did not work as a dish and thus a recipe will not be provided for it just yet. Lis will retool it and try again at some point.) Both the chicken and the couscous were smash hits, and have entered Lis’ permanent recipe repertoire.

Tarragon Chicken

• Large Package Chicken Thighs with skin on
• 1 tbl each Lemon and Lime Juice
• 2 tbl fresh Tarragon, chopped
• 1 tbl dried Tarragon
• 2 cloves roasted Garlic, pasted
• 2 cloves fresh Garlic, minced fine
• 1.5 sticks Butter, softened
• Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Oil baking sheet lightly or use non-stick foil.
2. Pat chicken dry, salting and peppering both sides
3. Place chicken on baking sheet, skin-side up.
4. Mix together garlics, tarragons, butter, and citrus juice to make a paste.
5. Carefully peel back the chicken skin and stuff with butter mixture. Replace skin. This keeps the meat moist and flavorful.
6. Melt the remaining mixture and brush over the top of each chicken. This makes the skin crispy.
7. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until cooked through.

The Verdict: “It’s so good it doesn’t even taste like dark meat!”

Tenmar Millet-Carrot Couscous

• 2-3 large Carrots, diced
• 1 box plain Couscous
• 1 package Mixed Grains (this was the only way I could find millet. If you can find plain millet, use that instead.)
• 1 cup Dates, diced
• 1/3 cup Dried Cherries, diced
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 Shallot, minced
• 2 tsp Yellow Curry Paste
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil

1. Add curry paste to water for couscous. Cook couscous and grains according to directions (probably will need to be cooked separately).
2. In a large skillet, heat a small quantity of olive oil. Add garlic and shallot, and cook until fragrant.
3. Add carrot to skillet. Cook until softened.
4. Add fruits to skillet. Cook 1-2 minutes.
5. Combine all ingredients in pot until well-blended.

The Verdict: “That is ridiculously good.”

Finally, dessert was served, a Khajiiti favorite, Banana Surprise. Now, the recipe in ESO has one ingredient: bananas. So where would the surprise come from? Lis’ two favorite treats came to mind: bananas foster and crystallized ginger. The resulting treat, sweet pastries filled with gingered bananas foster, was so popular that there were none left at the end of the night. Lis did have filling left over, so she and Rob poured it over ice cream.

Banana Suprise

• 1 package Puff Pastry, thawed
• 5 Bananas, cut into rounds
• 4-5 large pieces Crystallized Ginger, chopped into tiny bits (see comment below)
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1 1/3 cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/4-1/3 cup Dark Rum
• 2 tsp Vanilla

1. Melt butter in pot. Add ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, and rum.
2. Cook until bubbling. Add bananas.
3. You might have to light it on fire at this point if you used a lot of rum.
4. Let mixture cool. Once cooled, preheat oven to 350F.
5. Cut puff pastry into 12 squares, stretching each to fit a muffin tin with enough left over to cover the top.
6. Fill each puff with filling and seal on top.
7. Bake for 15-20 min or until crust is cooked through.

The Verdict: “These were awesome, but would be even better if the ginger pieces were smaller to better incorporate the flavor. Also, maybe dust them with powdered sugar.”

After their feasting was concluded, the members of the Agartha Supper Club chatted and played Star Trek Catan late into the evening. Much laughter was shared, and the troop of culinary explorers agreed to reconvene the next month for another journey into video game cuisine. Rob and Lis fell into bed, content to tidy up in the morning.