Since last year, I’ve been wanting to make a dish from Stardew Valley for this month, but there wasn’t any official cookbook for it and a lot of the recipes in the game are just normal dishes in real life. But there are a couple of dishes unique to the game and the one that I was planning on doing was this one: the Lucky Lunch.
I was initially going to create my own recipe for this, but as it turns out, since I last checked, there actually is now an official Stardew Valley cookbook, which is, funnily enough, coming out this very week. So, you should be able to get a copy from your favorite bookstore very soon. And, luckily I was able to get a preview of this particular recipe in the book from the book’s website.
Stardew Valley is one of my favorite games I’ve ever played. As someone who has been a fan of farming sims since the Harvest Moon game I got with my GBA as a kid, Stardew Valley takes all of the good things from those games and adds so much to it to make it even better, so much so that it is now one of the most best-selling games of all time, with more than 30 million copies sold. And it’s even more impressive that it was all developed by just one person.
I especially love the cooking aspect of the game since there’s so many things you can make and it rewards you for exploring the many things you can do in the game to collect a bunch of different ingredients.
Speaking of which, the Lucky Lunch is a bit of a tricky recipe to make in the game. Only available to learn during the 28th day of Spring of your second year (or during reruns afterwards), the Lucky Lunch requires ingredients from every season, with the Jazz flower only growable in the Spring and the corn used to make the tortilla only growable in the summer and fall. And for the sea cucumber, this is only obtainable in the fall and winter at the beach. But this dish is well worth the effort, since it gives +3 to your Luck for 11 minutes and 11 seconds, making it the best craftable luck boost to your character.
Speaking of sea cucumbers, of course, the IRL version of the dish uses shrimp instead of sea cucumber, but I think that’s a good substitute since sea cucumbers are really difficult to find and most people would probably be put off by its slimier texture, compared to the much more palatable shrimp. Though, if you do have access to sea cucumbers and you like them, I think you could easily substitute them into this dish to make a more authentic version of this super helpful and delicious dish. But regardless of what seafood you use, if you’re looking for a refreshing and easy to make dish (at least in real life) to potentially bring some good luck in your life, I highly recommend making some Lucky Lunch.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups or so water for boiling
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from about 4 limes)
- Some kosher salt
- 12 ounces or so large or extra-large shrimp (peeled, deveined, and tails removed)
- 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 small red onion
- 1 small jalapeño
- 1 large or 4-5 small (Persian) cucumbers
- 1 cup rainbow cherry tomatoes
- 12 yellow corn tortillas (if you wish, flour tortillas should work also if you prefer those)
- 1 small avocado
- 3 tablespoons fresh chive greens
- Some edible flowers for garnish (optional)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 2 packed cups romaine lettuce (or any other type of lettuce you prefer)
Step 1: Set Pot to Boil
First, set a pot of water to boil. While we wait, we’ll prepare the ingredients.
Step 2: Prepare Vegetables
Mince up your garlic and finely chop up your red onions. Then for your jalapeño, cut off the stem, cut it in half, remove the seeds, and then mince this up as well. For your cucumbers, cut off the stem, then cut it in half lengthwise, and then cut the half in half again so that you have 4 quarters.
Then, chop up your cucumber quarters into bite size 1/2 inch pieces.
Finally, for your cherry tomatoes, cut these in half and then cut these in half again to create 4 quarters as well.
Step 3: Cook Shrimp
Once your ingredients are ready, your water should be boiling by now, so stir or squeeze in 2 tablespoons of the lime juice from 1-2 limes and add in 1 tablespoon of salt.
Then, add in the shrimp. Cover with a lid and immediately turn off the heat. Keep the shrimp in the hot liquid until just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes.
Drain the shrimp from the water and let it cool slightly before continuing.
Step 4: Mix Shrimp w/ Vegetables
Next, cut the shrimp into 1/2-inch pieces and place them in a large bowl. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of lime juice from the rest of the limes, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the sugar, garlic, red onion, jalapeño, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Carefully stir this to combine everything, and then when it’s mixed to your liking, cover with some plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 4 hours.
Step 5: Preheat Oven
While we wait, we’ll prepare our star chips. Preheat the oven to 350°F, making sure that there’s a rack in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
Step 6: Cut Tortilla into Star Shape
Next, we’ll cut out our star tortillas, so grab or create a stencil out of cardboard, or freehand it. I recommend cutting one tortilla at first to get the shape correct and then you can use that as a guide to cut multiple tortillas at the same time. Also, make sure to keep any scraps for later.
Step 7: Bake Tortilla Stars
Then when you’re done, divide the tortilla stars between 2 large baking sheets, brush them all over with some of the remaining olive oil, and season liberally with some salt.
Bake it in the oven until it’s lightly browned in spots and crispy, about 15 to 20 minutes, flipping once and rotating the baking sheets top to bottom once after 10 minutes.
Once they’re done, transfer the baked stars to a wire rack to cool and leave the oven on.
Step 8: Bake Tortilla Scraps
Next, let the baking sheets cool and we’ll repeat this to cook the scraps. Divide the tortilla scraps between the baking sheets, spreading them out in a single layer. Brush the scraps with more of the olive oil and season liberally with salt.
Bake this as well until it’s also lightly browned in spots and crispy, about 15 minutes, flipping the scraps over and rotating the baking sheets top to bottom and vice versa once after 8 minutes instead since these are smaller in size.
Once they’re done, transfer the scraps to the wire rack to cool completely as well.
Step 9: Prepare Avocado & Chives & Mix w/ Ceviche
When you are ready to serve the dish, we’ll prepare the rest of the ingredients, so for your avocado, cut it in half, remove the pit and then remove the flesh and dice it up into bite-sized pieces, finely mince your chives, and roughly chop up your cilantro.
Then, when you’re ready, stir the avocado, chive greens, and cilantro into the shrimp ceviche. Make sure to taste for seasoning and add some more salt, if needed.
Step 10: Combine Everything & Serve
Then, to plate the dish, scatter one-fourth of your lettuce on a large serving plate, then drizzle with some of the shrimp marinade.
Next, scoop 1/3 cup of the ceviche onto the center of the lettuce, then top with 1 star tortilla chip.
Layer with another scoop of ceviche, another star tortilla chip, more ceviche, and top with the third star tortilla chip.
Then, garnish with some of the edible flowers if desired.
Repeat to make the 3 additional servings and serve immediately, with a bowl of the baked tortilla scraps alongside, and with that, your Lucky Lunch is ready to eat.