NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24 - All About Potatoes
"Given how slow and easy life now seems to be, I'm starting to find that I have a lot of interest in other things that don't involve interfering with the divine, or killing them. Have to say, it's not all that bad." ~Shallies Mythernal
[Slow-Cook Cottage Pie Recipe - Test Version - Good for 8]
For the filling:
1.5 kg beef, minced or chunks
2 Onions, chopped or minced
1 Garlic, minced
1 Large carrot, chopped
1/2-1 cup of green peas
1 Celery, chopped
1 Cup of beef stock, preserved cubes as alternative
2-4 Tablespoons of Worrenshire Sauce
1-2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 Cup of red wine (optional)
Olive oil (optional)
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Thyme, Rosemary, Bay leaves
Water
Cornflour (or any available type of flour)
For the mash:
2 kg potatoes
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Nutmeg, to taste
200-250 ml milk
2 Tablespoons of butter
Grated cheese (optional)
"I have minced beef," Shallies began, taking a tray of the ingredient out of the freezer. She promptly placed it on her processing workstation, which included a function that thawed without cooking the meat. "Let me bring out the rest."
"Oh, good, that makes things easier, then," Phey'lan said. "I'll help you chop them up."
The two quickly worked together, slicing, dicing, cubing whichever ingredient depending on the recipe. Apple collected all the condiments in one place, while Valor'el cleaned the pots they needed to use.
All these were things that Shallies could handle on her own, but since the others were enthusiastic in helping, she didn't bother stopping them. Working together made every activity fun. It didn't matter whether it was shopping for adventuring supplies, clearing out dungeons, defeating raid bosses, setting up camp, or something as mundane as cooking safely in a kitchen. More people made everything lively.
"Put everything you have under the filling part in the pot," Phey'lan instructed. "Oh, except the green peas and cornflour. They're for later."
Easily enough, Shallies did as told. Putting the beef first, she filled the pot with the rest of the dry ingredients, including the condiments, before adding the liquids. Without even reading the steps, she had already figured that this would be the case for a slow-cook method. It was pretty straightforward, albeit lengthy.
"Let's leave it cooking in the oven," Phey'lan said. "Usually it should be 3 to 6 hours, but you said you can shorten it, right?"
"Yeah," Shallies said. "To a little under half the normal required time. Let's let it cook for three actual hours. That should be perfect just around dinner time. If Arun'dul wakes up earlier than expected, I have other meals I can offer him."
"Alright," Phey'lan said, reading through the next steps of her recipe. "We can do the mashed potato later, but I think it's better to do it now to give it enough time to steam up."
Peeling, cutting, and boiling up the potatoes wasn't an issue. Shallies now had five, different size stock pots. She wanted to use the largest one, but it was actually too large for just two kilograms of potatoes. The smallest one was good enough.
"Good, now we just let it steam for a while," Phey'lan said after they drained the pot. "Just let it smoke up and get all the moisture out before we mash it. Let me melt some butter."
"I see…" Shallies nodded in understanding. "Getting the extra moisture out makes for a thicker mash."
"Yep." Phey'lan turned to Valor'el. "Hun, could you warm up some milk, please?"
Shallies blinked, looking at both seraphim. "That didn't take long."
"Hmm?" Phey'lan tilted her head. "Oh, did he tell you we broke up?"
She nodded.
"He's just being overdramatic. We never really separated. We still stay in the same house, talk to each other almost every day. We're probably not just as intimate as before, sure, because we spend time doing other things. But that's mainly because he wanted some space."
Shallies dropped what she was doing, leaned back, and glared at the male seraph. Valor'el was giving it his all, focusing solely, wholeheartedly, on the task of stirring the milk in a saucepan as it warmed up so that it didn't reach the boiling point. He was desperately ignoring everything else, including her accusatory stares. Even Apple joined in and played with his hair, but he wouldn't budge.
"And here I was actually getting worried," the Chef sighed.
Phey'lan laughed. "Don't mind him, Shallies. Like I said, he's just being overdramatic."
"I'll go get the ricer out…"
After letting the potatoes steam, Shallies worked the ricer and pushed them through it into a large bowl. With all of them riced, she added flavor with some salt, pepper, nutmeg, and melted butter.
Valor'el was silently waiting with warm milk, timidly placing the sauce pan on the prep island. The Chef narrowed her eyes at him as she took the pan, and even pushed an overexaggerated accusatory look as she slowly poured the contents into the bowl without looking at it.
"Sorry…" the seraph whispered.
"Fine, whatever," Shallies said, stirring the mash with a bit more force than she intended. "I suppose I should be relieved that I don't have to walk on eggshells when you two are together."
She worked in a rhythm, opting to manually stir the bowl rather than using any of her new fancy machinery. There were some things that required a personal touch, and mashed potatoes was one of them. Once it was creamy and smooth, they covered the bowl with a kitchen towel. Now they had to wait for the filling to cook.
"Stachie, remind me in a couple of hours, please," Shallie said.
[No problem.]
"Right, what should we do?" Phey'lan asked. "We can visit the nearby town?"
"You two can go ahead," Shallies replied. "I don't want to be a third wheel."
"Oh, we're going on a date tomorrow, so we can just relax here instead." The female seraph turned to her partner. "What do you think, hun?"
"Yes," Valor'el replied, he was still. "I think you should rest for today. You've travelled quite the distance."
With that, the three of them settled on the nearest table. Apple joined them after cleaning up. Shallies made drinks for everyone, and they chatted away the hours.
Phey'lan commended Shallies' kitchen and the ingredients she had stocked up. The Chef gave all the credit to the people from Cinterbrim Town. Ben and Marisa, who helped her get all the ingredients and cooking essentials, and Danilo and Yor'ylin, who helped renovate the kitchen while keeping the homey feel.
"You even have Worrenshire Sauce," said the female seraph.
"Apparently, they import some of the really mainstream ones too." A thought came to mind. "Isn't Worrenshire near Avel Paradise?"
The two seraphim nodded.
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"It's under Berevrynn Kingdom, the country I helped out a few times," Phey'lan replied. "They don't exactly know it, but Avel Paradise is part of their jurisdiction, too. So we started building up goodwill a long while ago."
"How's everything over there?" Valor'el asked. "I've been gone for a while, lots of people are probably worried."
"I had to assure our elders that you were summoned by the Godkiller, and nothing bad has happened. Then I had to inform the authorities at Berevrynn that you'll be gone for a while. They didn't need me for much lately as well, so I was able to take some leave and come here."
"No talks of war or conquest? No whispers from gods or anything like that?" Shallies asked, not exactly wanting to hear an answer.
Phey'lan silently shook her head while sipping tea.
"Gods are quiet. No one's turning mad. There aren't any talks about conquest or anything like that, as far as I'm aware." She looked to her partner, then back to Shallies. "Should we have been looking for something?"
"No, I don't think so." The semi-retired Godkiller pondered for a moment. She recalled her dream about Fello'resh the other day. "Actually, I do have one I need the two of you to check."
"Signs?" Valor'el asked. The expression of the two seraphim immediately darkened. "Isn't it too soon?"
"It was just a vision, so it could be nothing," Shallies said, calmly. "But we can't be complacent, even if it seems too soon to have another Divine War. Or it could just be a resurrecting god, which, more often than not, isn't a problem. We can talk about it more once we're sure Arun'dul's okay."
Phey'lan made a sigh of relief. "Alright, let's forget about that stuff for now. What do you think of my recipe?"
Shallies pondered for a moment.
"It's pretty straightforward," she began. "It gives me a lot of free time to make other dishes. I'll have to taste it first before I can say if I want to keep it on the menu or not, but it seems likely. Might have to try switching out some of the ingredients too, to match people's taste here. Oh, and I think I can portion them up using potato skins to make it fancy."
"Potato skins?" Phey'lan frowned. "You're saying we can eat potato skins?"
Shallies nodded hesitantly. It felt a bit odd telling people they could eat potato skins. It was like telling a newbie adventurer they could learn Skills from the General Category as long as they met the requirements.
"Clean it properly, toast it, make it crispy. Should work like a nice container for softer foods. You haven't had baked potatoes? They usually leave the skin on."
Not only Phey'lan, but even Valor'el's face contorted with disbelief. Not 'amazement', disbelief, but rather, one of slight horror.
Shallies held down a smirk and went back to the kitchen.
"Wait, Shallies. I don't think we should—"
"Just sit tight there, Phey. I'm going to blow your mind."
[Super Quick Baked Potatoes Recipe - Per Serving]
1 Large potato
1/4 Cup of grated cheese, or more
1 Tablespoon of butter
Olive oil
Shallies poked a lot of holes into three potatoes, covered them with a thin layer of olive oil, and sprinkled some salt, before stuffing them into the oven to bake for five minutes. Her Cooking Mastery was proving to be really helpful today, despite how it seemed unnoticeable at first, cutting the usual ten-minute cooking time in essentially half. She placed them together with the Cottage Pie filling.
In the meantime, she grated some cheese, diced some chives, and ground a piece of dried chili. Soon enough, the potatoes were ready.
Shallies sliced the tops to open up a tub and scraped out the contents into a bowl. She added all the ingredients and mixed them up together. The goal wasn't to make a mash, but to incorporate all the ingredients. Next, she filled the potato skin tubs with the mixture, added more cheese on top and some butter. Then she broiled them until both the cheese and butter had melted.
Within just ten minutes, Shallies was back out with three piping hot Super Quick Baked Potatoes.
"Don't burn your mouths," she said as she gave both seraphim a potato and a spoon each.
The two looked at their food before turning back to Shallies, their expression unsure. On one hand, the smell alone was enticing enough that they didn't outright reject the food. On the other, the potatoes had skin on them.
Crispy, delicious skin, Shallies knew, but the seraphim in front of her were having a hard time entertaining the prospect of it. She urged them to try it out.
"Mix the skin with the rest, if you're unsure," she said, already peeling off the skin from her own portion and popping it into her mouth. There was no loud crunch, but the crisp texture and the salty flavor were still clearly present. "Stop gawking at me and take a bite already."
Valor'el was the first to move. This Favored Double Class Adventurer and Acting Deity, who had taken on multiple Divine Wars, took a deep breath and gulped as he nervously spooned a skin portion of the Baked Potato. Reluctantly, with a shaking hand, he moved to take a bite. Slowly, excruciatingly so…
Apple rolled her eyes as she ran out of patience. She suddenly jumped and pushed the spoon into the seraph's mouth.
Valor'el coughed as he nearly choked from the sudden attack, not to mention the heat and spice from the potato. But he managed to regain composure and take a few chews, before swallowing the food with a bit of hesitation.
His expression changed, and he began eating in earnest.
Phey'lan looked in horror as her partner devoured his Baked Potato. She took courage, saw Apple waiting for her threateningly, and took her own bite. The seraph's eyes sparkled with delight.
There were no words, just two seraphim enjoying Baked Potato. Skin and all.
A moment of silence fell in the room. Phey'lan was the first to break it, giving a sigh of satisfaction.
"I didn't think it would be that delicious," she said, placing a worried hand on her forehead. "Why did we keep throwing it out?"
"I'll make this a mandatory knowledge in Avel Paradise," Valor'el said, his expression serious. "I don't use my authority often, but this is absolutely necessary."
"Did you know there are more nutrients in the potato skin than the actual potato?" Shallies added, taking a sip of more tea.
"What?!" the two shouted, jumping off their seats.
"Some research article I read a long while ago," Shallies replied defensively. "Don't quote me on it, but I think they made actual studies. Barring mana-infused potatoes, the skin is actually packed with a lot of nutrients."
From there, the three talked about a slew of other things. Most of it involved events and news about Avel Paradise and the surrounding territories. Soon, Stachie spoke to announce her reminder.
"Alright, we need to thicken it up a bit more," Phey'lan began, looking at the consistency of their minced beef. "If it's not thick enough, the mashed potato will sink into the pot."
Cornflour slurry was their solution. A few tablespoons of the slurry, adding the peas in, and a quick boil later, they thickened up the minced beef. Shallies covered it up with the mashed potato. She made a nice, thick layer of it, almost filling the pot. After making sure the surface was even, she brought it back into the oven to cook for twenty more minutes.
"And we're done!" Shallies celebrated, putting the pot of Slow-Cook Cottage Pie on her prep table. "We'll just let it rest, wait for everyone else, and have dinner."
As soon as she said it, the door to her tavern opened. Grace had returned. The half-orc, however, rather than cheerfully announcing her arrival, had stopped dead by the foyer.
Shallies poked her head out of the kitchen to see what was keeping Grace, and saw another person at the opposite side, heading down from the stairs.
Arun'dul and Grace were staring at each other. Shallies could see sparks coming out of the half-orc's glare, while the seraph had a confused look at best. She was about to intervene when a hand grabbed her shoulder.
Shallies turned to see Phey'lan had a finger above her excited, grinning lips. The seraph had leveled down to her height, as if trying to hide. She immediately received the message. Now she, and the two seraphim with her, observed the scene with curious eyes.
"Arun'dul?" Grace asked cautiously.
Whether she knew if Shallies and the others were watching or not didn't show on her alert face. Her hands were nowhere near her Mana-Edge, but her guard was completely on high alert. As far as she was concerned, this person was supposed to be asleep, and the last thing he did to her was scare her half to death.
"Yes," said the cursed seraph. His dark red hair was a mess, and his silver eyes weren't focusing on one place. "I'm sorry, did I hurt anyone? Where am I?"
Grace relaxed a little. The seraph made a good response and showed no signs of hostility, nor any desire to escape.
"You're just outside of town," she replied. "Do you remember? Cinterbrim Town?"
Arun'dul shook his head, clutching it with both hands. He sat at the first flight of the staircase. His breathing was normal, but Shallies could sense that his heart rate was speeding up. A sign that his mind was beginning to panic, but either he or one of his Skills was keeping him stable.
Grace quickly moved, entering the bar to get some water. She saw Shallies looking at them and desperately but silently asked for help. The semi-retired Godkiller took that as a signal to get out of hiding.
"And I thought we were going to see some sparkles," Phey'lan said, sounding genuinely disappointed. For all the Divine Mandate had imposed on her kind these past few centuries, her eye and interest for romance still remained active.
Shallies shot another look at Valor'el, implying how he thought he had broken up with such a fiery woman.
"I'm starting to realize that I was the problem all along, Lady Shallies," he said, not minding that his partner was within earshot. "I'm thankful that she didn't mind giving me space all these years."
"You have a lot of making up to do," Phey'lan said with a wink. "You're lucky I don't mind waiting."
"Yes," Valor'el admitted. "I'm very lucky."
"Not as lucky as this guy," Shallies said, looking at Arun'dul.
"He's confused," said the Light Archdevout. "Arun, can you hear me, dear?"
Calling out his name got his attention. He looked up, following the familiar voice. And when he confirmed Phey'lan was there in the flesh, the desperation on his face made him look like he was about to tear up. So when Valor'el showed up as well, the boy—despite being centuries old—helplessly allowed himself to break down in relief.
"It's okay, Arun," Valor'el said, holding the boy by the shoulders. "You're safe. We got you."
"Take deep breaths, dear," Phey'lan encouraged. She took the glass of water from Grace, who was standing on the side, wishing she could do something to help. "Here, take a drink. You must be parched."
Arun'dul's hands were shaking. He needed help holding up the glass. Slowly, he took his first real drink since he passed out in the beginner dungeon.
"Better?" Phey'lan asked.
With a sigh, Arun'dul slowly nodded.
"Hungry?" Shallies asked. The boy gave another nod. When she looked towards Grace, she gave a nod too. "Let's have dinner while we talk. I have a lot of questions."