I’m one of those people who loves to play hostess, so hosting a game night is totally up my alley. Furthermore, if you can throw a theme on a shindig, I am right there in it. So naturally, when it comes to D&D nights at home, I love the opportunity to get creative in the kitchen and try to come up with meals that are appropriate to the world we’re playing in. I’ve listed some of my favorites below that are easily shareable, and if I don’t have my own recipe, I’ve linked to some ones I’m partial to instead.
Pies
Very Sweeney Todd of me, but pies have always been an easy vehicle for food! Whether you do a sweet pie (fruit or nut based) or a savory one (meat with vegetables), they’re filling and appropriate as tavern fare. Too much mess when it comes to serving? Make it mini! Then it becomes a one pie per person serving, keeping the clean up easy and effective. Here are some of my favorite pie recipes that are easy to tackle in the kitchen. Not very good in the kitchen? That’s okay! Pies are and accessible enough thing to go to the store and just buy. No judgements here.
Charcuterie Board
I feel like meat, cheese, and bread are the go-to staples for adventuring party food. Why not build an entire plate around just that? Get sliced cured meats that you like (prosciutto, salami, sopressata, etc.), blocks of cheese (you can do a mix of soft and hard), and a vessel for it all, whether that be crackers, sliced up baguette, or crostini. I recommend adding in other things like grapes, apple slices, dates, figs, or nuts to the mix too – it ends up being a mix of different flavors and textures, but it’s super customizable for any allergies or preferences your group might have! This is also a SUPER easy thing to make into a potluck – have everyone bring one of the items, and you’ve already got the board built! If that’s not teamwork, I don’t know what is.
Bread
The smell of fresh bread is always amazing and setting the scene with smell is equally important as the actual food. That said, while the idea of bread making may seem like a daunting task, there’s some recipes out there that are far less complicated. I recommend doing an Irish soda bread – no bread maker required! See the recipe below for something I’ve done before – then it’s just a matter of breaking it up at the table, bringing out some jams and butter, and enjoying it!
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients:
4 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 cups buttermilk
Spoilers – if you don’t have buttermilk, just take whatever milk you do have, add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to it, and let it sit for five minutes. Then you can use it – it helps it curdle that little bit in order to make it the consistency of butter milk. I’m aware that sounds gross, it’s actually not and is an actual kitchen hack.
Mix the dry ingredients together, and then add in the “buttermilk”. Mix until combined, and then put on a lined cooking sheet. Put in a pre-heated oven (425 degrees C) for 35 minutes, and voila! Easy.
Drinks
Obviously, the standard fare of beer and wine is always on brand, but for those who are a little extra like me, there’s some neat concoctions out there that are simple enough to whip up in a pitcher and have for your party! I’d recommend looking up recipes for grog specifically, which is a rum based beverage that you can make into something special for your group.
Still not sure what to serve your adventuring party? Well, if you subscribe to our Patreon, we released a table where you can roll for the food and drink specials at various taverns! You can use that to also help decide what meal to provide at your next game night – it’s just that multipurpose. If you have any suggestions of thematic meals you’ve prepared for your group, please share with us on Twitter! We’d love to hear from you.
As always keep creating, have fun cooking, and stay awesome!
