Backlog Bistro | Bloody Mary Green and Scary

Graveyard Keeper’s new Tavern DLC inspired me to not only pick up the game again, but churn out some tasty tavern treats. A Bloody Mary inspired drink and a twist on Toast with Onions will have you cheering loud enough to wake the undead!

Now That’s Dead-ication

Well, I’m at it again. Graveyard Keeper has pulled me back down into its weird and wonderful trenches of morally questionable tasks and witty repartee. Even if there wasn’t new DLC to dive into, I probably would have been  back anyway since it was recently released on the Switch. It’s one of my favorite games after all and what gamer in this day and age doesn’t own their most beloved title on every possible device? Don’t pretend you aren’t guilty of the double dip! Or triple dip in my case…possibly quadruple should it ever go on sale on the PlayStation store… whatever! No regrets!!! Moving on!!

So, unsurprisingly, I’ve had Graveyard Keeper on the brain and since it was coming on time to whip up a new Backlog Bistro post, I thought to myself, “Let’s see what we can do with this!”. I believe many moons ago, when I first started doing these food posts, I mentioned that I don’t like making gross looking food even if it does fit whatever hairbrained theme I’m going for. So, despite the multitude of opportunities that Graveyard Keeper presents for nasty zombie or “people meat” related concoctions, I expertly dodged round those thoughts and went with foods that will not only taste good but look appetizing as well.

Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun

In Graveyard Keeper, most of the food choices are rather simple and very rustic. The setting in the game is around the late medieval times so it stands to reason that most food available would be on the more basic side. I could have made a berry pie or fish stew, but that’s not very interesting is it? None of the in-game recipes were enough to spark inspiration to be honest, except one. The toast with onions intrigued me greatly. Now, the picture literally just looks like they’ve put some fingers of toast on top of some sliced onions, but that was enough to send my brain into a flurry of activity. And amongst that flurry came the idea that since in the game the toast is purported to go best with beer, (it even gives you the Beer Thirst perk when eaten) I thought it would be fun to make a drink to go with it!

For the drink I had to go to my resident mixologist husband. We put our heads together and quickly landed on a Bloody Mary. It fits right? Bloody Mary, zombies, you get it. But it couldn’t JUST be a regular old Bloody Mary drink, we needed to Graveyard Keeper-ify it! So, out of our brain coffins climbed the Fiendish Mary, a ghoulish green, Bloody Mary style cocktail that will tickle your tastebuds with a little spice and a lot of flavor! And I have to say it’s not often I sit back and feel pleased with myself to such a magnitude, but that meal we churned out…was stupid good! Stupid!!

Farm Flesh Ingredients

For the Fiendish Mary:

-          1 lb. of tomatillos, husks removed and washed

-          1 Jalapeno pepper

-          Olive oil

-          1 medium cucumber, chopped and seeded

-          1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

-          ½ cup fresh cilantro (stems and all)

-          1 cup water

-          2 limes, juiced

-          Salt to taste

-          1 ¼ cups of vodka

*This makes almost a full pitcher of the drink, even after its strained, but it does keep fairly well in the fridge so drink it all in one go or don’t, no judgement here. 😉

For the Caramelized Onion Flatbread (A.K.A. Toast with Onions):

-          Flatbread (store bought or homemade) *

-          2 huge sweet white onions, sliced into thin half rings

-          Olive oil

-          5oz of goat cheese

-          1/3 cup fresh basil **

-       Pinch of Kosher Salt (or to taste)

*I used my own homemade dough and spread it super thin so it turned out almost cracker like and it was awesome, but feel free to just buy some flatbread. Or make your dough as thick as you like, it will all be good trust me!

**Definitely spring for the fresh basil here. It makes all the difference in taste.

Make it Brain Up in Here!

Fiendish Mary:

If you are planning on making the drink and the flatbread together make the drink well ahead of time because it needs to chill in the fridge for an hour or so. Nobody likes a warm Fiendish Mary, believe me!

Preheat your oven to 400⁰

Lay out your tomatillos and jalapeno pepper on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the Tomatillos have popped open and gotten soft.

You can choose to leave the seeds in your jalapeno, or not, it's up to you how spicy you want it, but remove the stem and toss it into a blender with all the other ingredients. Blend the bejeezus out of your veggies and then give it a taste to make sure your happy with the flavor. It will taste a little bitter at first, but once you strain out all the bits and chill it that bitterness should go away. Unlike that time your controller died while you were in the middle of a boss fight… that bitterness is here to stay unfortunately!

Strain the contents of the blender into a pitcher. Use a sieve people, not a colander! It needed to be said, sorry not sorry!

Chill your pitcher of delicious boozy goodness for about an hour or so and then drink up my zom-beauties!

Caramelized Onion Flatbread:

Preheat your oven to 400⁰ and bake your flatbread until crispy. About 8 minutes if its premade and 15 if it’s thin dough. Keep an eye on it though, everyone’s oven is different.

Heat up the olive oil in your biggest frying pan and toss in your onions. Keep the heat at around medium and stir occasionally until the onions are nice and soft, and brown. You might need to add a little liquid (no more than a few Tbsps.), if you find you pan is getting too dry or your onions are starting to crisp instead of soften. I used beer because that’s what I had in my hand at the time, but just water or broth works too.

Spread your goat cheese over the crispy flatbread and top with your lovely caramelized onions. Put it back into the oven for just a few minutes to get everything warm (maybe 3 minutes tops). Tear up the basil leaves, scatter over top of the onions with a Salt Bae sprinkle of salt. Cut the bread into fingers and enjoy!

This drink and flatbread pair perfectly together in my opinion. I love how herbaceous and perfectly spicy the drink is. It really compliments the sweet and tangy flavors in the flatbread. And that's what life is all about right? Finding that balance of components that complement each other perfectly.

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