All photos and illustrations created by Faith Orcino.

Welcome to the fourth installment of Fictional Food with Faith!

I decided to cook another recipe from Gido Amagakure’s “Sweetness & Lightning”. This time is the gratin one found in Chapter Six. The dish has always intrigued me since I’ve seen also in both “Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family” and “Kitchen Princess”. I’ll definitely try out their variations on gratin in later installments.

This recipe had quite a lot of vegetables and prep work before actually cooking. As a novice cook, I got a lot of practice on my cutting skills, making sure that the ingredients were appropriate sizes. I was a bit worried about the beschamel sauce since it was made with the other ingredients unlike in Chapter Six where the characters cooked it separately. Luckily it was easy to tell when the sauce reached the right consistency before the mix needed to be in the oven.

Another worry I had was the type of cheese that would be right for the gratin. Since it didn’t specify, I used a Mexican blend of shredded cheese I had. The flavor seemed fine but I do wonder what is the preferred cheese to use. I didn’t also have asparagus nor fava beans on hand but would like to remake it in the future with Kotori’s recommendations. I’d also would add more of the cherry tomatoes. I’m not a big fan of them but they gave a nice burst of refreshing flavor that cut through the creaminess. This gratin has a lot of ingredients many would have easy access to and should be one everyone should try out.

Head over to Kodansha Comics’s website for more information on “Sweetness & Lightning” and where to get your copy of the manga and recipe.