Shenmue-Shu Pork - It Won't Be Left Unfinished!

Sorry for the delay, recipe coming a little later!

Our Top 3 Tasty Combos for The Sega Pasta System

Yesterday, we posted our recipe for The Sega Pasta System, in the first of our Sega-flavour Easter Eggspo recipes. As the recipe has over two hundred million different combinations, we thought we would give you a few pointers in this bonus post and tell you our top 3 delicious combinations that you can make and eat using the system.

3. The Healthy One

We love the fresh, light combination of roasted bell peppers, steamed broccoli, garlicky sauteed zucchini, baby spinach leaves and basil, stirred through cooked pasta, brought together with lemon juice & zest and good quality olive oil. Plenty of cracked black pepper and some grated Asiago cheese to finish the dish and you're good to go! This combination would be great for getting kids into the kitchen to teach them about cooking real food from scratch, a la Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.


2. The One That Tastes Like Pizza

Everyone loves pizza, right? So who wouldn't want to eat pizza-flavour pasta?!
For this one, mix your pasta with pepperoni, sun-dried tomatoes, crumbled cooked Italian sausage, mushrooms sauteed in garlic and fresh basil then mix in your marinara / spaghetti sauce, shred some mozzarella over the top and stir until the cheese starts to melt. Not quite as pious as the first dish, but healthier than take-out pizza and definitely delicious!

1. The Freaky Sicilian One

We eat this at least once a month at Mealtime Strategy Headquarters and it's the meal that led to the whole Sega Pasta System idea.
The traditional Sicilian flavour profile works so well and provides salty, sour, and sweet tastes in every mouthful. Take some toasted pine nuts, sultanas, capers and chopped sun-dried tomatoes and stir through your cooked pasta with a healthy dollop of pesto, then simply top with some shaved parmesan and toasted breadcrumbs. You'll thank us for this one later, so easy but so good!


Head back later for our Easter Saturday recipe in the Sega-Flavour Easter Eggspo here on MealtimeStrategy.com, the world's first video game recipe site!

Follow us on Twitter, @MealtimeStrateG or become a fan on Facebook for hints on upcoming recipes, news and more.

The SEGA Pasta System - Over 2 Hundred Million Recipes in One!

Welcome to the opening recipe in Mealtime Strategy's first annual Sega-Flavour Easter Eggspo, or to be more precise the opening 214,176,000 recipes! Inspired by Sega's streamlined 8-bit console, the Master System, our simple and ingenious "Pasta System" will ensure that you never end up with boring spaghetti and plain sauce ever again.

In Japan and the USA, the Sega Master System was hugely overshadowed by the Nintendo Famicom / NES. However in Italy, the home of pasta, and the rest of Europe the sleek black-and-red Sega machine was at least as popular as its grey, shoebox-like rival. Some of the best Master System exclusives were not even released in the USA, and we will highlight five of the best of these at the end of todays recipe.

Incidentally, the console in the header image was the first Sega Master System sold in the UK, bought on launch day! The launch was so low-key as to be pretty much non-existent, and coincided with my eleventh birthday. Seeing as the game was being distributed by Virgin Mastertronic, we thought the best place to buy one on launch day would be the flagship Virgin Megastore in London. Sadly the staff in the games department knew nothing of the launch and we had to wait until phone calls were made and a console was brought to the store. None had been delivered to any UK stores at all, such was the lack of fanfare over console launches back then, so I am the proud owner of the first UK retail Master System :)

This exclusive "Sega Pasta System" is incredibly simple but is adaptable enough to suit a simple student supper or a cosy romantic meal for two.

Recipe: The SEGA Pasta System - Over 2 Hundred Million Recipes in One!

Serves 2 but can be easily scaled for larger numbers

Ingredients:

• 8 oz (250g) freshly cooked pasta of your choice

A handful each of between 3 and 5 of the following tasty additions:

• Capers
• Toasted pine nuts
• Sultanas
• Sun dried tomatoes, chopped
• Sauteed eggplant
• Coarsely chopped black olives
• Roasted bell peppers
• Crumbled bacon/pancetta (cooked)
• Mushrooms sauteed with garlic
• Strips of prosciutto
• Steamed broccoli florets
• Zucchini (courgette) sauteed in garlic
• Pepperoni
• Grated lemon zest
• Meatballs (cooked)
• Crumbled italian sausage (cooked)
• Cooked shrimp (prawns)
• Fresh basil, torn into pieces
• Sauteed onions
• Chopped walnuts
• Baby spinach leaves
• Fresh chopped parsley
• Lightly sauteed garlic
• Anchovies, melted in a pan in a tsp of oil
• Toasted breadcrumbs

One of the following sauces: (store-bought is fine, homemade is tastier!)

• Pesto (Jamie Oliver's recipe is great)
• Marinara / spaghetti sauce (again, Jamie Oliver has a decent simple recipe )
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon and a hefty glug of good olive oil
• White wine cream sauce (this recipe would be perfect)

And finally a sprinkling of one of the following cheeses:

• Parmesan Reggiano
• Asiago
• Pecorino
• Grana Padano
• Cheddar
• Mozzarella
• Aged Provolone
• Crumbled feta

Method:

Now, if you've read through the ingredients, you've probably guessed that there isn't really much of a method to write, but for the purposes of completion, here you go!

• Make sure your sauce is heated through (not necessary for pesto or lemon and oil) and your 3-5 ingredients are prepared.
• Drain your pasta when it is cooked, return to pan and add a handful each of your chosen ingredients. Mingle it well to make sure each forkful contains a bit of everything!.
• Add your chosen sauce and mingle the pasta again.
• Serve with a sprinkling of any of the cheeses and eat while hot and yummy.

See?! Easy, streamlined, near-endless replayability... that's Mealtime Strategy.com's unique Sega Pasta System. You can play about with the add-ins too, if we haven't mentioned one of your favourite ingredients.
And as a bonus, tomorrow we will give you a few of our favourite combinations, as well as providing you with yet another brand new recipe inspired by one of Sega's greatest franchises...


Now, as promised here are the Mealtime Strategy Top Five Sega Games Never Released in the USA:

5. Asterix

The French hero and his chum, Obelix, have attended Mickey Mouse's platforming 101, but with bright, clear graphics and well designed levels, Asterix stands as one of the best platform games on the system.

4. Master of Darkness

Master of Darkness makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's a Castlevania clone. However, with the Belmont clan restricted to the NES at the time, there's no blaming Sega for wanting a piece of the horror-action pie, and a very fine example of the genre it is too!

3. Land of Illusion

There were quite a few Disney games on the Master System that never saw store shelves in the USA. We were torn between this and Donald Duck's Lucky Dime Caper for our top 5, but in the end the puzzles and slightly better controls saw Mickey win out.

2. Powerstrike 2

This classy Compile-developed shmup may flicker when there's lots onscreen, but it's by far the best scrolling shooter on the 8-bit Sega. Good sound too, considering the capabilities of the Master System sound chip.

1. Ninja Gaiden

Now, all you Nintendo fans are probably wondering why Ninja Gaiden is topping a list of Master System exclusives, but this version is developed by Sega themselves, not Tecmo. This makes for a very different game, reminding me of the Game Gear versions of Shinobi more than Ninja Gaiden.

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See you tomorrow for the second recipe in our Easter Eggstravaganza!

The 1st Annual SEGA-Flavour Easter Eggspo!

Having had a great response to our Sweets of Rage and After Burger recipes (check the review on SegaShiro.com!) we have decided that Easter 2010 is to be the inaugural Sega-themed Easter Weekend here on MealtimeStrategy.com!
Hopefully the first of many, we will be providing new recipes based on classic Sega games every day of the holiday weekend, served with a generous side of our signature house-made retro trivia.

Our hope is that if enough people eat Sega-flavour food over the weekend, there's a chance that Shenmue III will rise again on Easter Sunday, in accordance with the scriptures!
For all the Nintendo fans feeling forgotten, don't worry, we love the Big N too and will be featuring recipes inspired by many great franchises over the coming weeks and months.

You can follow us on our Twitter, @MealtimeStrateG or Facebook to be alerted when new recipes are posted and get exclusive clues and hints on what delicious treats we're prepping in the virtual test kitchen!


Big thanks to SegaShiro, Sega Addicts Podcast and of course SEGA themselves for their support for our new, slightly ridiculous site :D


Also, we have collected together some of the best SEGA games available on all systems in our Classic Sega Store, to save you sorting the wheat from the chaff! For readers who don't yet own a Sega Dreamcast, we can highly recommend picking one up from the USA store while there are still some available; if the Dreamcast's "geek-cool" status doesn't grab you, the sheer weight of triple-A games will!


Classic Sega Store USA

Classic Sega Store UK

If you are thinking of picking up a Dreamcast or some SEGA games for current or retro systems and have enjoyed our recipes, please consider using our stores, as this helps us keep the site up and running. Thanks!!

Sweets of Rage - A Classic Easter Eat 'Em Up

This recipe is for our friends over on The Sega Addicts Podcast who have just posted episode 4 of their show featuring a discussion on beat 'em up games. The Sega Addicts crew includes heroically controversial Destructoid editor Jim Sterling and for those who are missing the late, great RetroforceGO! podcast, former host Topher Cantler is on board too.

The Streets of Rage series was one of the jewels in the 16-Bit Sega crown and Streets of Rage 2 is still regarded as one of the finest side-scrolling fighters ever released. While the gameplay and visuals of the series were undoubtedly first-rate for the era, special mention must go to the scorching techno soundtracks by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima. Koshiro, composer of the vast majority of tracks, was heavily influenced by the Nineties rave scene and squeezed sounds out of that poor little Yamaha chip that no-one had thought possible, from deep bass growls to searing acid-tinged synth lines.
Here's the track Jungle Base from the second game.



When I was younger, I made a cassette tape of Yuzo Koshiro's music from Revenge of Shinobi and Streets of Rage 1 and 2 for my walk to school. Nowadays, it's MP3s on my PSP but the music has held up a darn sight better than that of many commercial artists from the same period. Many gamers seem to dislike the music from Streets of Rage 3, as it is often discordant in nature and not as catchy as the earlier games, but listened to in the context of Aphex Twin/Warp Records electronica or even the Psy Trance/Acid Techno free-party scene, it is a remarkably prescient piece of work.

You can find all three Streets of Rage games (alongside 40 other classic Sega games) on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection which is now under $15 dollars at Amazon on Xbox 360 or PS3. For those of you in the UK, it's less than eleven quid on either system and is known as SEGA Mega Drive: Ultimate Collection


So, on to today's recipe...

Our truffles hit you with a chocolate, caramel and sea salt combo in a concerted effort to both freak out and delight your tastebuds. These three big hitters are ably assisted by some smoky chipotle chiles to provide some depth and heat, and most importantly giving me an excuse to call the recipe Sweets... Of... Raaaaaaage!

Sega fans who prefer savoury to sweet can try our spicy Sega sandwich, After Burger!

Recipe: Sweets of Rage

Makes 40-ish truffles

Ingredients:

• 8 oz (225g) dulce de leche caramel (available in cans or jars from most supermarkets)
• 3.5 oz (100g) extra-bittersweet / very dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa), smashed up good and proper
• 10 oz (280g) bittersweet / dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa), beaten up into pieces
• 10 oz (280g) good quality milk chocolate, broken 'til it feels the pain
• 1/2 of a US pint of heavy cream (250ml double cream)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp chipotle chile powder (or crushed dried chipotles)
• 3 oz (85g) cocoa powder mixed with another teaspoon of chipotle powder for rolling 'em in
• A little vegetable oil to prevent caramel sticking

Method:

• Ok, these truffles have gooey centres, so first we must make some goo!
• Put your dulce de leche in a pan over a low-to-medium heat for a minute or so before mingling in the darkest of the three chocolates. Leave it to melt for another minute before removing from heat, adding the sea salt and giving it a good stir, making sure the mix is smooth.
• Take a baking sheet (or large plate) and cover it in plastic wrap / cling film, then smear enough oil on the plastic wrap so that it is all coated very thinly.
• Pour the caramel chocolate mix onto the covered sheet and spread evenly. Leave to cool, then place in the freezer for a couple of hours or until the caramel has firmed up.
• Next, heat the cream in a pan until it reaches boiling point, placing the other two types of chocolate in a bowl while you wait. Pour the just-boiling cream over the chocolate and leave to melt for 2 minutes.
• Add the vanilla and the first teaspoon of chipotle powder and stir until smooth. Leave this mix to cool, then place in the fridge to set.
• Take your caramel from the freezer and chop it into pieces about the size of your thumbnail. It's easiest to cut the mix up using wet kitchen scissors but a knife should be fine, just a little messier!
• Spread your chipotle-spiked cocoa powder across a large baking sheet and remove your chocolate truffle mixture from the fridge.
• Dust your hands in a little cocoa, take a heaped teaspoonful of the truffle mix and prod a piece of your caramel into the middle of it. Smear the truffle over the join, make it round-shaped and roll it around in the cocoa. Repeat this process until you run out of caramel or truffle. Any leftovers of either mix would make a great ice cream topping!
• The Sweets of Rage will last 3 days in the fridge, a month in the freezer or 5 minutes in my house! If you are freezing all or some of your truffles, just take them out of the fridge an hour or so before serving.

Happy Easter to food geeks and retrogamers the world over!

We have collected together some of the best SEGA games available on all systems in our Classic Sega Store, to save you sorting the wheat from the chaff! For readers who don't yet own a Sega Dreamcast, we can highly recommend picking one up from the USA store while there are still some available; if the Dreamcast's "geek-cool" status doesn't grab you, the sheer weight of triple-A games will!


Classic Sega Store USA

Classic Sega Store UK

If you are thinking of picking up a Dreamcast or some SEGA games for current or retro systems and have enjoyed our recipes, please consider using our stores, as this helps us keep the site up and running. Thanks!!

Devil Make Pie - Dante's A'Baking

Our latest recipe here on Mealtime Strategy is for those readers with a sweet tooth and a penchant for gothic action games! As this past week saw the release of God of War III, we thought we would pay tribute to the inspiration for the God of War series, Devil May Cry.

The first Devil May Cry game for Playstation 2 was originally envisaged as the fourth Resident Evil game. However, the fast-paced nature of the new game was believed not to be a natural fit for the slower, considered approach of the Resident Evil series. Rather than go back to the drawing board and waste all of the hard work, the game coninued development as a standalone title.

Released in 2001, the game quickly built up a solid following among gamers and at the time of writing has received 3 sequels.

This recipe is a fusion of the classic flavours of Devil's Food Cake and the homely, comforting nature of an American pie!

Recipe: Devil Make Pie: Dante's A'Baking

Makes 8 small portions, or 4 portions for hungry souls!

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 200g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp sea salt or kosher salt
• 50g ground walnuts or pecans
• 120g cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 egg, yolk and white separated

For the chocolate filling:

• 250g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids preferably)
• 250ml double cream
• 2 eggs, yolks and whites separated
• 5 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 50ml good dark rum or cognac (Jack Daniels also works well or you can substitute 50mls of espresso / strong coffee for a non-alcoholic version)

Method:

For the crust:

• Place the flour, salt and ground walnuts in a large bowl and mix, before rubbing the butter through the mixture until you have a fine, crumbly texture.
• Mix in the 2 tbsps of caster sugar, then add the egg yolk and 2 tbsps of very cold water.
• Smoosh the mixture into a ball (don't smoosh it too much or your pastry will end up too hard!) and then put it in the fridge, wrapped in cling film for half an hour.
• Next, heat your oven to 200°C (180° for fan oven)
• While the oven is heating, we can roll out the pastry! So, take it out of the fridge and roll it as thinly as possible (if you roll it between two sheets of greaseproof paper, it's easier) then line a pie case with your pastry sheet. If the pastry breaks, it's fine, just fix the joins with your fingers!
• Place a disk of greaseproof paper on the crust, then fill with baking beans or dry rice and bake for twenty minutes. Take out the beans and greaseproof paper, brush some egg white on the pastry and put back in the oven for a further 5 minutes.
• Once the pie crust is baked, lower the oven to 140° and we can get going with the chocolatey filling!

For the filling:

• Break up the chocolate in a bowl, add the cream, and heat over a pan of simmering water ensuring the bowl isn't touching the water.
• Keep stirring until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla extract and your choice of booze (as per above) and stir well. Put to one side to cool for 15 minutes or so.
• Take a clean bowl, and whisk your egg whites to the "soft peak" stage, then whisk in 2 tbsps of caster sugar, creating a soft meringue. Don't over-whisk to the "stiff peak" stage!
• In yet another bowl (!), whisk the yolks with the rest of the sugar for a few minutes until all creamy-like, then add the chocolate mixture and combine the two.
• Take a large spoon, preferably metal, and fold the meringuey egg whites into the chocolatey goo.

Now we are ready to put it all together!

• Pour the filling into your pastry case and bake in the oven (at 140°) for 15 minutes. The centre should still be a little squooshy when you remove it, but will firm up when left to cool for a while.

The pie is best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche, but you can eat it cold too... if you can wait that long! Some black cherries would also make a good addition on the side.

After Burger - A Spicy Sega Sandwich

Today on Mealtime Strategy we are celebrating the recent announcement of After Burner Climax for XBLA and PSN, releasing this Spring, with a recipe to evoke the exuberance of SEGA's golden era that would be perfect served at a barbecue beneath SEGA-blue skies.

Nowadays, SEGA is sadly often remembered more for failure than success, but back in the 1980s the company was a real force to be reckoned with, especially in the arcades.

Their SuperScaler technology was the first chipset to really harness the power of the third dimension, albeit using pseudo-3D with sprites not polygons, and every machine seemed like showboating from a company brimming with confidence. Hydraulic machines such as Space Harrier, Outrun and our inspiration for this recipe, After Burner drew crowds at the arcades and we are hoping that this fiery recipe will be a real crowd pleaser once they smell your burgers sizzling.

The recipe draws on South American flavours, to mark the Brazilian love for all things SEGA, though it's more of a Mexican theme, as Brazilian burgers are just plain weird... (no offence, Brazil!)

Note: We are based in the UK, probably the largest SEGA stronghold outside of Brazil, but we thought a burger flavoured with tea and served in crumpets would not be quite so appealing!

Recipe: After Burger

Makes 4 quarter-pounder burgers

Ingredients:

• 1lb (500g) lean ground beef / lean beef mince
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped pickled jalapenos (more is hardcore, less is for wimps!
• Zest of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon cumin powder
• Handful of fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican oregano, if you can find it)
• Good dash Tabasco or preferred hot sauce
• 4 slices of strong cheddar cheese
• 4 lettuce leaves, shredded.
• 4 slices onion
• 4 burger buns, toasted (We recommend sourdough buns if you're in the USA or can find them elsewhere)
• 4 tablespoons of good quality salsa (shop-bought is fine)
• 4 tablespoons sour cream
• Salt and pepper
• Optional: Hot sauce, jalapenos, fresh coriander (cilantro) and lime juice to serve

Method:

• Combine the ground beef, chopped jalapenos, cumin, lime zest, oregano, coriander (cilantro) leaves and hot sauce.
• Season with salt and pepper, mix well and form into four equal-sized patties, approx 1/2 inch thick. If possible, leave these in the fridge for an hour or so for the flavours to develop and for the mixture to meld.
• Heat a small amount of oil in grill pan or frying pan to a medium-high heat (you can barbecue these burgers if preferred)
• Cook the patties for 4 minutes on each side for medium, or 6 minutes for well done. Place the cheese slices on top of the patties to melt for the last two mimutes.
• Take patties out of the pan to rest for a couple of minutes. While they are resting, we can assemble the buns!
• Smear the bottom half of each toasted bun with one tablespoon of sour cream. If you are using extra jalapenos, cilantro and hot sauce, place the required amount on the sour cream. Top with an onion slice each and share the shredded lettuce equally over the four buns.
• Spread one tablespoon of salsa on the top half of each bun.
• Place the rested patties on the dressed bottom halves of the buns, add a squeeze of lime juice, if using, and place the other half of the bun on top.
• Eat, and enjoy the burn!

The After Burger would be great served with sweet potato fries, a Mexican rice salad or even just a handful of tortilla chips.

Inspired By...

After Burner

SEGA's AM2 development team followed up the hit arcade driving game, Out Run, with this accessible flight-sim / shooter in 1987. In fact it is After Burner II that is more well known, but it's not a true sequel. more an update released very soon after the original.

The excitement of seeing a new hydraulic SEGA cabinet in arcades is difficult to explain nowadays, as home consoles and computers are just as powerful, if not more so, than current arcade machines, but suffice to say, folks would gather round these machines just to watch and be sucked into SEGA's glorious technicolour world.

Production of the game was headed by Yu Suzuki, perhaps the best known of all SEGA legends, and in a homage to his own output, the full AfterBurner II arcade game can be played, alongside other SEGA smashes, in his flawed masterpiece, Shenmue 2.

Many fans fondly remember After Burner's hard-rock tinged music, which rocked so hard that UK magazine, Computer and Video Games, gave away a cassette featuring tunes ripped direct from the arcade cabinet!

For those of you that have not seen or played the game, here's a video highlighting some of the gameplay:

In 2006, SEGA surprised their fans by releasing a new arcade game in the series, Afterburner Climax. The game is set to be released in Spring 2010 on XBLA and PSN, so you might want to get your Xbox 360 Live Points or a PlayStation Network Card in anticipation of the release!

We have collected together some of the best SEGA games available on all systems in our Classic Sega Store, to save you sorting the wheat from the chaff! For readers who don't yet own a Sega Dreamcast, we can highly recommend picking one up from the USA store while there are still some available; if the Dreamcast's "geek-cool" status doesn't grab you, the sheer weight of triple-A games will!

Classic Sega Store USA

Classic Sega Store UK

If you are thinking of picking up a Dreamcast or some SEGA games for current or retro systems and have enjoyed our recipes, please consider using our stores, as this helps us keep the site up and running. Thanks!!

All Meals Served with Chips

Hi, my name's Dan and I'll be your server for this evening.
I'd like to welcome you to Mealtime Strategy, the world's first site devoted to recipes based on video games!
In addition to new recipes for you to try each week, we will also be serving up healthy portions of nerdy food news and reviews of food-related games and books.

Each recipe contains some background information on the game or series that has inspired the dish, and we have set up the Mealtime Strategy UK Store and the Mealtime Strategy USA Store to help you find the games easily if you wish to try them yourself. The stores also carry a number of foodie books that we have grown to love and will help improve your culinary skills.