Volume 2, 16: Making food for the sick.

Volume 2, Chapter 16: Making food for the sick.

“Rubell… with rice, water, salt and pepper and cheese, perhaps.”

A recipe popped up in Zeke’s mind, and he laid out the ingredients on the worktable.

After closing the café, Keith let him know how overconfident he had been in his skill. He stood in the kitchen by himself, frustrated and depressed.

Suddenly, a cutting of rubell appeared in front of him. Apparently Risa’s spirit had brought it here, and the cutting waved around in the air as if to tell him something. After a while, he finally understood that the spirit wanted him to cook the rubell into a tasty dish for Risa.

When Zeke was still a knight, one of their drills had involved camping up in the mountains. The drill was designed to simulate the shortage of food during wartime. He was told that it would fall to himself to forage for food, but he would be able to survive on just rubell if he found it. That was how nutritious the plant was.

On the other hand, it was also famous for being incredibly disgusting. Zeke could confirm this from the tiny piece he just had.

This tastes really bad.

Despite rinsing out his mouth for a few minutes, the bitterness aftertaste clung to his tongue.

He was tasked with making this disgustingly bitter rubell into a tasty dish. The spirit didn’t have anything in mind and left it all to Zeke to decide.

A dish that would dampen the bitterness of rubell and also be edible for the sick Risa. In the end, he decided to go with risotto. It could be eaten without too much trouble even if one didn’t have much appetite. He voiced his thoughts aloud, and the teacup was tapped once. The spirit agreed.

Now that he decided on the dish, he set about preparing the dish.

First, he would parboil the rubell to detract some bitterness. He set the rubell leaves to soak in water, and put a pot filled with water on the stove.

In another pot, he heated a square of butter and some lintz oil and lightly pan fried the rice. The white rice mixed with the golden oil and let out a wonderful smell. Once the rice turned translucent, he turned down the fire, added water and closed the lid to slowly steam the rice.

Next, he strained the rubell and quickly parboiled it so the nutrients wouldn’t escape into the water. The color of the rubell lightened from a forest green to a bright, vibrant green.

He diced it as thinly as he could, so the taste would spread and pack less of a punch. Meanwhile, he occasionally stirred the pot of rice so the bottom would not burn. When the rice grains began to puff up, he added the diced rubell. The pot filled with white now had speckles of green. He added a bit of water and continued to stew the risotto.

When there were no more hard rice grains, he added cheese garnish and seasoned with salt and pepper. The cheese melted and spread across the top. Zeke gently spooned a bit of it and it stretched into a tasty-looking string.

He turned off the fire, placed a bite-sized serving into a tasting saucer, and put the saucer down with a small spoon next to the teacup and chopstick. He scooped up an even smaller portion of risotto, and it floated into the air before disappearing. He took a bite as well.

“What do you think?”

He asked the spirit before voicing his opinion. The teacup clanged loudly once, followed by a half-hearted, dull thunk.

“Yeah. It’s much better than when I had it raw, but it’s questionable whether this tastes good…”

The strong bitterness was gone and it was edible, but that was about it in terms of taste.

Zeke wondered what it was missing.

He looked around in the cabinet and the spices, but nothing stood out to him, so he turned to the fridge.

The first thing that he saw was the pudding left over from business today. He had a passing thought to try adding it, but he quickly waved away the thought.

Right when he was about to close the door, he saw the bottle of white liquid in the corner—the milk.

He remembered Risa saying that milk could help lessen smells and spiciness; perhaps it could help dampen the distinct flavor of rubell as well.

Zeke remade the risotto from scratch, adding milk instead of water when he steamed the rice. He paid special attention as milk was easier to burn than water. This time, he put the rubell into a mixer to make rubell puree. He felt that the diced rubell still held some of the bitterness when chewed.

However, that would leave nothing for texture, so he added some crushed nuts. Seasoning was cheese and salt and pepper. He also added some soy sauce that Risa had happily reported was finally finished.

It looked quite different from the first dish.

He gave some to the spirit to taste, and immediately received a single loud clang. They approved.

Zeke spooned a little out of the pot and tried some. Not only was the bitterness now a subtle, gentle flavor, but he felt the dish could even be called delicious. He finally created the ideal risotto.

It was already late at night, however, so he asked the spirit if it could wait until tomorrow. He received a single tap in reply.

It was decided that Zeke would bring the risotto to Risa tomorrow morning, and the spirit would inform Risa of their plan.

Zeke felt quite accomplished for creating the risotto while communicating with the spirit, but he also felt the fatigue of the day catching up to him. He quickly cleaned up the kitchen and left the café after saying goodbye to the spirit.