A Discovery of Witches and Earl Grey Pots de Creme

I did not want to like Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches.   I had ordered it on Amazon without really reading much about it.  When it came and I read the blurb in the back I realized that it was a vampire love story.  I thought uh oh, this is just some Twilight rip off and I should just return it.  But I didn't, I decided to give it a try, and man am I glad I did.  As soon as I was 10 pages in the book had sunk its teeth into me (cheesy pun alert) and I could not put it down.  Is this book a little over the top cheesy in the romance department? Yeah, it is, but it so fun I did not care.  The book documents a love story between a modern day witch and vampire.   Harkness creates a world where witches, vampires and daemons are real and live amongst us regular ol' humans.  The witch and vampire at the center of the book are Diana Bishop - a witch and scientific historian who comes from a prominent old witch family (her ancestor was tried in Salem) and Matthew de Clermont, a very, very old vampire who is  a preeminent scientist and from an old prominent vampire family.  What we have here people is a classic Romeo and Juliet story. Vampires and witches are not supposed to mix, and when Diana and Matthew get together all hell breaks loose.  I'll tell you more about it, and this earl grey pot de creme with blood orange compote after the jump.

As I said above, I was wary about A Discovery of Witches as soon as I realized what it was about.  Over the past few years, vampires have certainly been having their moment, and personally I kind of think the moment has passed - yeah, I still like True Blood, but the Twilight series (to me at least, sorry in advance to avid fans) seems like kind of a joke.  But the Discovery of Witches, despite its over the top "fated star crossed lovers" story line, really won me over.  Part of the reason for that is all the interesting history thrown in.  The novel takes place largely in Oxford, where Matthew de Clermont is a renowned but reclusive scientist and Diana Bishop is a history professor from Yale who is doing some research at Oxford for a few years.  Diana's academic focus is the history of science, and in particular she is in Oxford studying old original alchemy texts.  Alchemy is an ancient philosophy that is a blend of science and witchcraft.  It is full of mystery and many famous scientists in history studied alchemy, like Isaac Newton.  The central focus of alchemy is the transmutation of substances, like regular metals, into something else - like gold or silver.   Diana Bishop is a witch, from one of the oldest witch families in the world but she does not practice witchcraft or use magic.  We don't know exactly why that is, except that it most likely is because of her parents, who were both famous and powerful witches who were brutally killed in Nigeria when Diana was young.  She was raised by her aunt, also a powerful witch and her partner in upstate New York.  Diana is rigorous about avoiding magic, but one night in the Bodleian library at Oxford she uses her magic to grab a book down from a very high shelf.  Matthew de Clermont sees her do this, and this is when things in Diana's quiet, controlled life start to go awry.  Around this time Diana asks the librarian to find an old alchemist text, Ashmole 782.  Once she gets the old manuscript, Diana knows that it is bewitched - she immediately senses its danger and only looks at it briefly and returns it to the circulation desk.  She soon learns that Ashmole 782 is a holy grail of a text that witches, vampires and daemons have been searching for for centuries.  It was thought to be missing, but only Diana could call it from the library.  Diana's discovery of the text puts her in severe danger from all of the magical beings that seem to hang out at Oxford, and Matthew soon becomes her protector.  Diana resists his protection, independent, non-magical woman that she is, but soon she becomes drawn to him.  Fast forward, these two fall in love, run into all sorts of problems with witches, vampires and daemons coming after Diana, and she is whisked off to Matthew's chateau in France.  Harkness does a great job creating a world that is rich with detail as to what vampires and witches are really like.  Matthew smells like cloves and cinnamon, Diana like herbs, and Matthew can smell her when she is tired, scared, aroused.  Modern day vampires and witches love to do yoga.  Vampires are all fabulously wealthy and love expensive wine.  As Diana and Matthew try to learn more about why all the bad witches and vampires want Ashmole 782, Diana must confront her past and what  happened to her parents, and must learn to control her powers.  Although she seemingly suppressed her powers for her whole life, as soon as she meets Matthew those powers start spewing to the surface - sparks shoot out of her hands, she can create floods through her tears and throw fireballs when she is angry.    As she learns more about her past, it is revealed that Diana and Matthew's relationship is intimately linked with Ashmole 782 and its secrets.  Their union basically sets in motion a massive war that will determine the future of magical creatures in the modern world.  A Discovery of Witches is book one in a trilogy Harkness has written, so it ends with a big cliff hanger.  As soon as I finished the last page I went on Amazon and pre-ordered the sequel, which comes out this summer.  This is a great book for a plane ride, if you are down and need a pick me up, for a rainy day.  Reading it won't make you any smarter, but it will transport you and make you look twice to the very pale person next to you at Starbucks and wonder if they are something more than human.


Earl Grey Pot de Creme and Blood Orange Compote (adapted from Martha Stewart.com)
(printable recipe)
 I knew I had to make something earl grey related after I read A Discovery of Witches because the main character, Diana Bishop, spends so much of the novel with a warm milky cup of tea clutched between her hands. I mean, seriously, she was constantly drinking tea.  This pot de creme seemed like a good way to capture the taste of earl grey tea purely without anything to distract.  The blood orange compote was an obvious choice to represent Matthew in this equation.  The book is about the essence of Matthew and Diana coming together so that is what I was going for with this dish.  I thought the pot de creme may be a bit boring but really suited my "book" needs this week.  I was surprised at how delicious this custard was - the earl grey/citrus taste really came through and the texture was lush and smooth.  A really lovely dessert.

Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons earl grey tea leaves
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/8 of a teaspoon salt
Compote:
4 blood oranges
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Put the milk, cream and tea into a small sauce pan and bring to just below a boil.  Cover and let the tea steep - at least 30 minutes but no more than 2 hours.
3. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and salt in a medium bowl.
4. Bring the cream mixture back to warm.
5. Slowly whisk the warm cream into the egg mixture.
6. Strain the mixture into another bowl, discard tea leaves.
7. Arrange 4 6 ounce ramekins in a square baking dish. Pour custard into the ramekins.
8. Pour boiling water into the dish so it is half way up the sides of the ramekins.
9. Put in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes - until the custard is set but slightly wobbly in the center.
10. Remove ramekins from a rack with tongs or a dishtowel and let cool on a rack for 30 minutes or so.
11. Chill in the refrigerator before serving.
12. For compote: Peel and cut the blood oranges into supremes (removing the pith and membranes) over a bowl that will capture the blood orange juices.  Set aside the supremes and the juice.
13. Bring the sugar, vanilla, water and lemon juice to boil in a small saucepan.  Boil until reduced and syrupy, add the blood orange segments and juice.
14. Remove from heat and chill at least 30 minutes before serving.