TV Dinners: True Blood Menu and Party Plan

By Sara Bonisteel,

Epicurious.com

Ingredients:

Fake blood, vampire teeth, zydeco music, Goth decor (red and black candles, trays, and dinnerware), but by all means hold the silver and garlic!

Preparation:
Get a full day's rest, take a drop of V from Lafayette, and invite plenty of vamps

Yield:

A Cajun breakfast with a supernatural twist

The Menu:
If you're going to hang with the vampires of northern Louisiana's Area 5, you'll be getting up at dusk, so why not have breakfast for dinner? Life does, after all, begin after dark. We've created a menu that's high in iron, offers a bit of spice, and features sausage, as that's what Sookie Stackhouse first tastes after drinking vampire blood. "It's like I can close my eyes and I can see the farm the pig lived on, and feel the sun and the rain on my face, and even taste the earth that the herbs grew out of," she tells Granny.

See also:Our Ultimate Grilling and Barbecue Guide

Naturally, we included some blood (in the form of Bloody Mary soup-don't forget to garnish with spiced beans and pickled okra); a tropical-fruit salad the maenad Maryann Forrester would have, well, she has, died for; and some chili powder-infused home fries sure to find their way on to the Merlotte's menu. For Tara, we added an Eggs Benedict Bread Pudding, and we end the meal with a nod to Sookie and Jason's beloved Granny-a Texas/west Louisiana take on pecan pie using cane syrup. Steen's, please!

True Blood Menu For Six:

Bloody Mary Soup Shots with Shrimp and Pickled Vegetables

Fruit Salad with Herb, Citrus, Mint-Maple, or Basic Syrup

Eggs Benedict Bread Pudding

Homemade Sausage Patties

Creole-Style Oven Hash Browns
(double)

Cane Syrup Pecan Pie


Party Tips:
Complete your gathering with a sexy soundtrack of vampy music. Cue up Jace Everett ("Bad Things"), Concrete Blonde's "Bloodletting," New Orleans' moody Hurray for the Riff Raff, and the Knife (a Swedish duo whose album Deep Cuts-especially the single "Heartbeats"-is certainly on Eric Northman's Fangtasia playlist). Give the party an authentic feel with some essential Louisiana zydeco, too. Try Keith Frank's Loved. Feared. Respected album and the Hackberry Ramblers.

Serve this menu with plenty of Abita beer and TruBlood. Sam's coffee works, too.


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Photos: Courtesy of HBO