Cooking from the Books with K: Anne of Green Gables

"But it isn't good manners to tell your company what you are going to give them to eat, so I won't tell you what she said we could have to drink. Only it begins with an R and a C and it's bright red color. I love bright red drinks, don't you? They taste twice as good as any other color."

K: "I like imagination a lot. She even had an imaginary friend named Katie.
Also that she has red hair like I do." 

How is it possible that I did not know that an Anne of Green Gables Cookbook existed? It was a book or really, series, that I read countless times. Anne's stories of Avonlea, along with her imagination, are not to be forgotten and remind me more than a little of K's imaginary worlds. But thanks to a few tweets from tea_austen and @poeticappetite, I am rereading the books for the first time as an adult. It is one of my favorite things about twitter, shared interests coming together in creative ways. In fact, after a few tweets, it was decided that: 

"@tea_austen Some of us are getting together an Anne of Green Gables read-along, for anyone interested. Read next week, virtual potluck after #AnneofGG"

After a bit of research, I discovered that this is far from the only cookbook from the books of my childhood. There is a Secret Garden cookbook, one from Mary Poppins, Encyclopedia Brown, Green Eggs and Ham and the Little House book, among many others. K and I decided that we would choose a new book and recipe each week.

From Anne, it seemed that cordial was the clear way to start. Especially on a hot day when I had been been slow roasting tomatoes for four hours. Indeed, when I first told K about the cookbook, her first comment was about "the drink that made Diana drunk." After a frustrating few days trying to track down a hard copy of the book, I discovered the recipe online.  Having promised K a non-alcoholic version, we were off. We changed the recipe a bit because we are still in the backyard blackberry season. So rather than straight raspberries as in the book, we added blackberries for a slightly more dramatic color. For adults, I think that a bit of my blackberry-infused bourbon might be a fine addition. K will be pairing it with yesterday's custard. I'll be having it with an egg salad sandwich, inspired by Anne's Poetical Egg Salad.  

• 2 cups  raspberries 
• 2 cups blackberries 
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 6 cups boiling water
• 3 lemons

Directions:

1. Put the berries into a saucepan and add sugar.
2. Cook on medium, stirring occasionally until all the sugar has dissolved.
3. Using a potato masher, mash the raspberries and syrup thoroughly.
4. Pour the mixture through a strainer, extract all the juice.
5. Squeeze two of the lemons and strain the juice, add it to the raspberry juice.
6. Add the boiling water to the raspberry juice.
7. Allow the cordial to cool, then chill it in the refrigerator.
8. Serve cordial with a thin slice of lemon in each glass.