Written for the 2008 Shire Kitchen Recipe Fic Challenge: "In a Pinch"

Title: Making Do
Rating: G
Characters: Merry, Pippin
Summary: Missing a main ingredient…what’s a hobbit to do?

Making Do

“Oi! Pip! Where are you?” Merry called as he came in the kitchen door. He hefted the large basket he was carrying onto the table.

“I’m in the larder, putting away the butter,” came Pippin’s voice. There was a slight tinge of annoyance in his tone. He came out of the larder and frowned. “I had tea without you, Merry! I thought you’d be home in time.”

Merry just grinned as he watched Pippin give a sniff, and saw his expression change from irritation to bliss. “Mushrooms! Oh, blessed Meriadoc! How did you come by them?”

Merry chuckled. “Forgiven, am I? While I was at Brandy Hall helping Da go over the breeding books for the ponies, Farmer Maggot dropped over to have a word with him--and he brought a bounty of mushrooms with him for the Master of the Hall. Mum insisted that I bring some home with me.”

Pippin had already opened the lid of the basket, and was examining the contents. The earthy and musky aroma wafted forth, as he began to name the glorious bounty: “Summer Truffles! Penny Buns! Chicken of the Woods!
Chantarelles! This is wonderful, Merry!”

Merry laughed. “I thought we’d have mushrooms on toast for supper!”

Pippin’s face fell, in an expression of consternation and guilt that took Merry back across a span of more than twenty years in an instant. “What have you done, Pip?” his eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. “Don’t tell me you ate all the bread? There was over half a loaf left after luncheon!”

Pippin rubbed one foot behind the other, looking very crestfallen, and nodded. “I’m sorry, Merry! But I was hungry.”

Merry sighed. Pippin might be all of thirty years old now, but he still had the appetite of a young tween. There was certainly no time to make bread, and bread was something neither he nor Pippin was particularly good at making. When Bluebell had not been in to bake for them, they purchased their bread at the bakery in Newbury, or Merry would bring it home from Brandy Hall. “How’s the flour supply?” He was fairly certain they did not have enough to make scones--something they were good at--though he did not think they were completely out. He had planned to go into Newbury the following morning to do the marketing.

Pippin confirmed his suspicion with a shake of his head.

“I hate to see these go to waste,” Merry said. “They won’t be nearly so good tomorrow. But I guess we can take them back up to Brandy Hall with us and have supper there…”

Pippin bit his lip again, clearly unhappy with the thought of not having supper at home. He furrowed his brow in thought for a moment. “I know, Merry! We’ve plenty of potatoes! Why don’t I make potato cakes! I know there’s enough flour for those! And we can have the mushrooms with them--I‘m sure they‘ll do instead of toast in a pinch!”

Merry raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Potato cakes? Hmm…well, why not?” He paused. “Have you made them before?”

Pippin grinned. “Not really. But we watched Sam make them often enough while we were gone. Don’t worry.”

Merry shrugged. “In that case, I’ll fix the mushrooms and leave the potato cakes to you!”

Pippin darted back into the larder, and brought out some potatoes to put on the boil.

While they waited for the potatoes to first boil, and then cool afterwards, they sat at the kitchen table to have a pipe and a cup of tea.

“The post is on the table, Merry. You’ve a letter from Berilac…”

Merry picked it up, and ran his thumb under the seal to open it. He scanned it for a moment. “They’re in Tharbad now.”

Pippin nodded. Merry would probably let him read it in a moment. Just then Merry gave out with a bark of laughter. “Ah, Beri! You know me too well!”

“What’s he say?” Pippin stared curiously at the letter in Merry’s hand.

“It seems my cousin has fallen in love! Listen: “I am making the acquaintance of Miss Viola Harfoot, Mistress Poppy’s apprentice. She is a remarkable lass. In some ways she is very timid, but that does not sway her determination to do what she needs to do, and to be a help and not a burden to us.

You may remember meeting her at the Great Smials. She’s quite lovely, with a tip-tilted nose, warm brown eyes, and her curls are just the colour of autumn leaves. She has a beautiful smile as well. But when she is busy at being a healer, she is quite formidable!

Stop laughing at me. I have listened to you gush about Estella often enough!”

Merry met Pippin’s eyes, and Pippin was smiling, but it was rather a wistful smile. “What is it, Pip?” he asked.

“Well, I had hoped to make the acquaintance of Miss Viola myself,” he sighed, “but what with everything else that happened, we never got beyond a dance or two. And then the next thing I know, Mistress Poppy is hauling her off to Gondor. Beri has excellent taste.”

“Ah yes,” said Merry. “You were dancing with her at the Ball last spring!”

“And then we had all those interruptions, and all that trouble with the Bankses, and nothing ever came of it.” He sighed.

“Cheer up, Pip! Sooner or later the right lass for you will come along!”

Pippin snorted. “That’s easy for you to say! You and Estella are all but betrothed!”

Wisely, Merry sought to change the subject. “Was that all the post-hobbit delivered?”

“I had a letter from my mother,” Pippin said. “Pimmie’s doing very well, and Mistress Lavender has confirmed it’s going to be twins!”

“Four children! Your middle sister is keeping very busy!”

“Mother says Flora’s quite looking forward to being a big sister again; Allysum’s still too young to understand yet.”

The two of them gossiped a while about their various Took relations, and then Merry furrowed his brow. “We haven’t had a letter from Frodo in almost two weeks.”

“I expect he’s busy,” said Pippin, who in his turn decided to also change the subject. Talk of Frodo was often a painful subject. Both of them knew that in the past Frodo had never been too busy to write. “Why were you and Uncle Sara going over the stud books?”

Merry’s face lit up with enthusiasm. “We were trying to decide which mares we should breed with Stybba! He’s going to make a great difference in our stock!” Merry was quite proud of his little steed from Rohan, and rightfully so.

Pippin stood up. “I think the potatoes are cool enough to handle now,” he said, standing over the pot.

Merry nodded, and soon the two of them were busy with the important task of making supper.

Pippin peeled the cooked potatoes, and then grated them into a bowl with some onion. “Do we have any chives, Merry?”

“In the blue bowl, Pip,” Merry answered, as he occupied himself in wiping and trimming the mushrooms.

Pippin checked the bowl, where Merry would place freshly harvested herbs, wrapped in a damp napkin, each morning. He found the chives, and snipped them into the bowl with the potatoes and onion, and added a bit of salt.

Merry had begun to slice the mushrooms. “May I use the other half of that onion, Pip?”

“Of course. Need anything from the larder? I have to fetch an egg, the flour and some butter…”

“I could use a clove of garlic,” Merry answered, as he diced the onion. “and I’ll need the butter as well. Oh, and that jar of beef stock--”

Soon the sounds of sizzling butter and Pippin’s cheery humming filled the kitchen, and the air was redolent with the aroma of mushrooms and other good things.

The little potato cakes were round and golden and crispy on the outside, as Merry and Pippin ladled the mushrooms over them. They rounded out the meal with a salad of rocket and radishes and cucumber, and half a cherry pie left from luncheon.

As they lit their pipes for an after-supper smoke, Merry leaned back and locked his fingers behind his head. “You know, Pip, I think those mushrooms were even better on the potato cakes than they would have been on toast!”

Ingredients:

2 large potatoes, boiled, cooled, peeled and grated
½ of a medium onion, grated
About a TBSP of snipped fresh chives (optional)
1 heaping TBSP of flour
1 egg
Salt to taste
2 TBSP cooking oil or melted butter or margarine

In a large bowl thoroughly mix the potatoes, onion, chives, flour and egg with your hands, then form into eight patties. Heat the oil or butter in a frying pan, and then cook the patties about 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and heated through.

Remove from skillet to a warm plate, and keep warm until serving. Serves four humans or two hobbits.

Ingredients:

About 1 pound of fresh mushrooms (mixed varieties are best, but the dish can be made with only one sort of mushroom if that’s all that’s available.)
½ a medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP finely chopped parsley
1 TBSP each finely chopped thyme and tarragon
2 TBSP butter
1 cup of beef or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onion until translucent, then add the garlic and mushrooms. Continue to sauté for about five minutes, or until the mushrooms begin to sweat, then add herbs and stock. Bring to a simmer, and let simmer for about five to seven more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over toast--or if hungry cousins have eaten all the bread, over potato cakes