***Red alert! This post discusses, and has a photo of, stuffed pig’s trotter. If you don’t want to read about this, I suggest reversing your engines, changing course and coming back next week!***

I’ll admit I may be going into taboo territory here. Eating a Star Trek species??! While I don’t think they’re universally loved, the Tellarites certainly have their place in the Star Trek universe. This idea was of course inspired by the Tellarites having somewhat of a resemblance to pigs, and my thought that this meant they probably had cloven feet or hooves of some sort.  

This recipe has a lot of steps, but as long as you are comfortable working with trotters, it is not difficult to put together, with the end result being well worth the effort.

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Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Hooray the Earth didn’t collapse in an apocalypse! Whatever you’re celebrating, I think gingerbread is always a welcome addition. While Christmas is not celebrated in the Star Trek Universe, I could not resist the opportunity to create a gingerbread version of one of the most iconic pieces of equipment from The Original Series.

While I wanted it to have the details from the communicator, I also wanted it to look like gingerbread, so I kept decorations to a minimum. The secret to creating 3D gingerbread items is to use lots of royal icing - this stuff really is like cement and holds everything together beautifully.

Even if you don’t want to make anything fancy, this recipe still creates delicious gingerbread cookies you can enjoy. Happy holidays!

Replicate your own

I used Simply Recipes’ gingerbread house dough recipe for my cookies. I halved the quantities listed on the recipe but still ended up with about 40 cookies on top of the two sets of communicators I cut out - so be aware it makes a lot!

I created a simple template for the communicator using this tutorial as a guide. I cut out the pattern pieces on thick card paper and then used that to cut out the cookie pieces. I froze the dough before cooking as this helps it keep its shape.

I used royal icing (1 egg white, add icing sugar until the desired consistency is reached) for all decorations, as well as for gluing the pieces together.

Toothpicks and scrunched up pieces of plastic wrap are both very useful to use as prop-ups while waiting for the royal icing to dry when gluing the pieces together.

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m posting this a bit before Thanksgiving, so if you want to have an appropriate Star Trek Thanksgiving, you’ve got time to replicate this!

You may have noticed that there hasn’t been many recipes from The Original Series. I’m definitely a fan of TOS but unfortunately there’s not much food to be seen or even referred to. Anyway, this is all about to change with this recipe. This recipe comes from Charlie X, the events of which apparently occur around the Thanksgiving holiday. In the middle of all the excitement of the episode, Captain Kirk still has time to order the chef to ensure the meatloaf they have looks like turkey. In the course of the episode, Charlie turns the meatloaf into real turkeys - and in the process reveals the extent and strength of his powers.

In developing this recipe, I thought of the flavours that go into a turkey dinner - not just the turkey itself, but also the stuffing and other accompaniments. While this isn’t the same as a real turkey, it might just suffice until Charlie can come along and change it into a real turkey.

Replicate your own
(Serves 3-4 if served with vegetables and other sides)

700g turkey meat, minced (buy it minced or mince it yourself)
1/2 onion
1/2 apple
1 small bunch of parsley
4-5 leaves of sage
1 egg
50g breadcrumbs
10g salt
Pepper to taste

For the glaze:
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350°F. Start by preparing the meatloaf mix. If you are mincing your turkey meat yourself, cut it into large pieces and sprinkle on the salt and pepper. Chop the onion and apple into large chucks and add these to the mix. Add the parsley and sage and mix everything together. Run the entire mixture through your mincer on a small blade.

If you’ve bought your turkey meat pre-minced, finely dice the apple, onion, parsley and sage, and mix together with the turkey mince, salt and pepper.

To your mince mixture, add the egg and mix well. Add the breadcrumbs and mix thoroughly for a couple of minutes.

Place the mince on a baking tray covered with aluminum foil. Using your hands or a couple of spoons, shape your mince into an roast turkey shape (there will be photos on the facebook page if you want to see how I did this part!).

Mix the glaze by melting the butter in a small container and adding the Worcestershire sauce. Brush this glaze over the turkey so it gets a nice brown colour. Reserve the remaining glaze.

Place the meatloaf in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. After 15 minutes, brush more glaze over the loaf and return to the oven. Repeat the glaze brushing every 10-15 minutes. The meatloaf should be done after 45 minutes.

To serve, remove from the baking tray and place on a serving dish. Add vegetables and more parsley to garnish.

Notes:

• I roasted the vegetables separately and cooked carrots, onions and potatoes. The potatoes were cooked in duck fat.
• If you do want to serve this as a main course for Thanksgiving, I’d suggest upping the quantities as this is a nice lunch for 3-4 people, but probably not enough for a Thanksgiving dinner.