Get ready everyone, the newest Marvel movie is finally in theaters! The Marvels stars Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) in one heck of a superhero mix-up. Not only are these 3 incredible ladies mixing it up with the baddies, they’re mixing it up between themselves.
For some reason every time they use their powers they swap places with each other. Talk about confusion! Playing with the theme of swapping, here’s a marvelous meal that takes a classic American staple, swaps in some classic Pakistani flavors, and adds a little Cajun heat: marvelous mushroom burgers with Cajun sweet potato fries and a cookie cup dessert!
Start with the cookies in honor of Captain Marvel
Cooking this multi-part meal may feel a little daunting, it’s certainly more than we usually put together here in Cosmic Cuisine, but if you just read everything ahead of time and make a plan of attack you’ll be fine. Start with the cookies, they take a long time to cool and you can do plenty of other kitchen work while they bake and cool. Of course, these can always be made earlier, even days earlier, if you don’t want to spend so much time in the kitchen.
My one big tip for the cookies is to make sure to use muffin liners. Even though they’re cookies that shouldn’t stick, getting them out of the pan in one piece can be a little awkward, muffin liners will make for an easy, no-fuss removal. Also, wait until they’re fully cooled before you try to take them out. The chocolate will be really melty and messy when they’re hot, which just complicates everything. Other than that, I think these aren’t too hard.
Marvelous Cookie Cups
In The Marvels Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, and Monica Rambeau keep switching powers. The constant recombination of the three heroes is the inspiration for this Marvelous Meal! After finishing off the cajun sweet potato fries and mushroom burgers it's time to end this meal on a sweet note. These marvelous cookie cups are just as sweet as Ms. Marvel with a surprising treat tucked in the middle. Check out The Marvels in theaters!
Ingredients
- 3/4 c softened butter
- 1 c sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanillia
- 2 1/2 c flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- red food coloring
- blue food coloring
- yellow food coloring
- 36 chocolate peanut butter cups
- muffin tin liners
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Place a baking sheet on the rack while the oven is heating.
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Add Eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add flour mixture to the butter mixture 1/2 c at a time.
- Split dough into 3 separate but equal lumps and place in different bowls.
- Add red food coloring to one bowl, blue to the second and yellow to the third. Mix coloring into dough until a uniform color is reached of the desired depth.
- Chill dough for one hour before rolling out.
- Lightly flour counter and rolling pin. Take the red dough out of the fridge and roll out to 1/8" thickness. Cut out cookies with a circle shaped cookie cutter that is slightly larger than your muffin tin.
- Gently set the circle into the lined muffin tin and form a cup with the dough.
- Re-roll dough and cut more circles until you've filled 18 muffin tins.
- When the red dough is gone, repeat steps 9-11 with the blue dough.
- Place a chocolate peanut butter cup in each cookie cup.
- Roll out the yellow dough and cut stars with a cookie cutter that is just smaller than your muffin tins.
- Place the stars on top of the chocolate peanut butter cups.
- Put the muffin tins in the oven on top of the baking sheet that has been heating.
- Bake cookies for 10 minutes, check to see if they're fully baked. This will be a little hard because you cannot depend on color. Lightly press on the cookie, if your fingerprint remains the cookies aren't done. If the cookie pops right back up their finished.
- Let the cookies cool completely before trying to remove them from the tins. Enjoy!
Next, come the fries with a Cajun flair for Monia Rambeau
When it comes to the actual dinner, start the fries before you do anything else. Chopping and baking the sweet potatoes takes a long(ish) time and the mushrooms take just a few minutes. So get the fries in the oven first, then worry about everything else. My big tip with these is (drum roll…) parchment paper! You’re shocked, I know, but it will keep the fries from sticking to the pan and make cleanup a breeze too. So line those pans!
When it comes to cooking time, 40 minutes should be long enough, but make sure to poke them with a fork to check for doneness. If they don’t feel tender then cook them longer, there’s nothing worse than undercooked fries. And remember to season them to your taste.
I prepared these with my mom, and neither of us is crazy about heat so we used one tablespoon of the Cajun seasoning. It made the fries flavorful without being spicy. Now if I was making these for my family at home I would have used at least two tablespoons of the mix because the rest of my family loves heat. So just do what feels best to you that way you’ll think they’re marvelous.
Marvelous Cajun Sweet Potato Fries
In The Marvels Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) keep switching places with each other due to their light-based powers. The constant switching of the three heroes is the inspiration for this Marvelous Meal! In this recipe, Monica's Louisiana roots are on display with some sweet potato fries that are flavored with Cajun staples like cayenne, garlic, onion, and thyme. The gentle heat and hearty flavors pair perfectly with the marvelous portobello mushroom burgers. And don't forget to check out The Marvels, which is currently in theaters!
Ingredients
Cajun Seasoning
- 1 Tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp fine kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 3/4 tsp dried thyme
Sweet Potato Fries
- 2 large sweet potatoes (approximately 1.5 lbs)
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 to 2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl mix together 1 Tbsp paprika, 2 tsp fine kosher salt, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp ground white pepper, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, and 3/4 tsp dried thyme.
- Stir the seasonings until fully combined. Set aside until later. NOTE: This will make more seasoning than you need for the fries. I recommend placing the leftovers in a small air-tight container. An old seasoning jar works perfectly.
- Slice sweet potatoes into 1/4 inch slices, then cut each slice into 1/4 inch sticks.
- Put sliced sweet potatoes into a large bowl. Drizzle with 3 Tbsps of olive oil. Sprinkle with one to two Tbsps of cajun seasoning. More for a stronger kick, less for a more subtle flavor.
- Toss the potatoes until they are fully and evenly coated.
- Divide the potatoes evenly between the two baking sheets.
- Bake at 450°F for 20 minutes. Flip fries and rotate pans in the oven. Cook for an additional 20 minutes.
- Poke sweet potatoes with a fork to make sure they are tender and done. Cool for five minutes before serving.
Notes
Seasonings can be switched out or reduced depending on your tolerance! Just try to have fun with it!
Don’t forget the onions!
As soon as the sweet potatoes are in the oven you’re going to want to get started on the onions. Very technically, you only have to have about 15 minutes for them to cook. And you can always cover them to help them cook faster. But if we’re being honest, 30 minutes is much better. So get the onions going right away after the sweet potatoes are in the oven. Once they’re in the pan they don’t need a lot of attention. But be sure to stir them occasionally and keep the heat low so they don’t burn. If the heat is too high the onions will turn bitter and no one wants that.
Finally, the ‘shrooms in honor of Ms. Marvel
The mushrooms are the very last thing that you need to worry about. It took just about 10 minutes to cook them and just seconds to wash and prep them. When it’s time to flip them, you’ll notice a nice golden brown color on the mushroom. When both sides have this color (not the gills, they’re darker to start with, so you won’t notice a color change on them) the mushroom is done.
Toasting the buns, slicing the tomato, and tearing the lettuce can all be done while the mushrooms cook. Once the mushrooms are done it’s assembly time! Personally, I love a loaded burger so I had everything but mustard and pickles on my monster burger. But to each, their own, just make sure to get some good flavors in there. And I’d really, really suggest you put the onions on. Mushrooms and onions just go together, like peanut butter and jelly!
Marvelous Mushroom Burgers
In The Marvels Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, and Monica Rambeau keep switching powers. The constant recombination of the three heroes is the inspiration for this Marvelous Meal! In this recipe, we have traditional Pakistani flavors seasoning a portobello mushroom burger. Mashing up Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel. It pairs great with the Cajun sweet potato fries that represent Monica and her Louisiana flavor. And check out The Marvels in theaters!
Ingredients
- 9 Portobello mushroom caps
- 9 hamburger buns
- 9 slices of Swiss cheese
- 1/2 pound of bacon
- 2 large sweet onions
- 1 tsp garam marsala
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- lettuce
- tomato
- hamburger condiments as desired
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Start heating a pan on medium-high heat.
- Chop half of the bacon into small pieces, reserving the other half to fry for topping the burgers.
- Add the chopped bacon to the pan to start crisping.
- While the bacon is cooking, chop the onions into strips.
- Once the bacon has crisped and there is fat in the pan, reduce the heat to low and add the onions. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Let the onions slowly cook down over low heat until tender (20-25 minutes).
- Now it's time to clean the mushrooms. Remove the stems and gently wipe the caps with a damp cloth or paper towel to remove any dirt.
- Start heating your grill or pan over medium heat.
- Place the caps on a plate and gentle drizzle or brush them with olive oil.
- Mix together 1 tsp of turmeric and 1 tsp of garam Masala in a small bowl. Sprinkle half of the mixture over the oiled mushroom caps.
- Once the grill is hot, place the mushrooms, gill side up, on the heat. Drizzle/brush the gill side with more olive oil and sprinkle with remaining seasoning.
- Cook for 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until tender.
- This is a good time to grill the rest of the bacon strips for topping the burgers.
- While the mushrooms cook, slice the tomato, tear the lettuce into bun sized pieces, and toast the buns.
- When the mushrooms are done it's time to assemble the burgers. My personal burger was toasted bun, lettuce, tomato slice, mayo, ketchup, mushroom, Swiss cheese, two strips of bacon, and a big scoop (or two, or three...) of the onions and bacon, topped with the second half of the bun. Then cut in half because that thing was a monster to eat!
- Of course, that's just a suggestion, top your mushroom burger however you want. Just be sure to enjoy!
That’s it for a marvelous The Marvels-inspired meal!
Now this meal can be prepped by one person but just like in The Marvels, I recommend some teamwork. We had three of us working on this meal and it made it quick and easy with no stress. After we cleaned up (also faster with a team!) we indulged in the cookie cups. It was truly a marvelous meal!
The Marvels is currently playing in theaters! Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus or in the Cosmic Circus Discord if you plan on making this Marvelous Meal!
Review: The Marvels Unites an Electrifying MCU Team
