SC - my medieval dinner party - long

[Seton1355 at aol.com]

Last night I had some mundane friends over and served them a medieval feast.
They really enjoyed it and were interested in the background of the recipes.
The evening went off well so I thought I'd post the recipes I used.
Phillipa

***Winter Squash or Pumpkin Soup***
The Medieval Kitchen  
Redon, Sabban, Serventi
University of Chicago Press
1998

SQUASH.    For squash, Peel them and cut them into slices.  Remove the seeds
if there are any and cook them in water in a pan.  Then drain them and rinse
them in cold water.  Squeeze them and chop them finely.  Mix with some beef
and other meat broth and add cow's milk and mix half a dozen egg yolks. Put
through a seive into the broth and milk.  On fast days use the cooking water
from dried peas or almond milk and butter.

5 ½ lbs winter squash or pumpkin
4 C almond milk - made with a little more than 4 cups of water and 2/3 C
almonds
4 Tbsp butter
salt to taste
Peel the squash and remove the seeds.
Cut into 1" chunks and cook on boiling salted water for 10 minutes.
The squash must remain firm and must not fall apart.
Drain and press gently through a seive to remove excess water.
Chop to a coarse puree with a knife or food processor.
Place the puree in a sauce pan, add the almond milk and butter and bring to a
boil.
Check for salt before serving

This was the Lenten recipe. It was OK, but it didn't "send" me.  My guests,
however, had 2 helpings!  The texture of the finished product was like eating
pumpkin straight out of the can.  I just found another pumpkin soup recipe in
this book that I like better.  I'll try that next time.

***Chicken Ambrogino With Dried Fruit***
The Medieval Kitchen  
Redon, Sabban, Serventi
University of Chicago Press
1998

If you want to make Chicken Ambrogino, take the chicken, cut them up, then put
them to fry with fresh pork fat and a bit of onion, cut crosswise.  When this
is half cooked, take some almond milk, mix it with broth and a little wine and
add it to the chickens.  First skim off the fat if there is too much.  Add
cinnamon cut up with a knife and a few cloves.  When it is dished up, add some
prunes, whole dates,  a few chopped nutmegs and a little crumb of grilled
bread well pounded and mixed with wine and vinegar.  
This dish should be sweet and sour.
The name of this dish appears on a menu of a feast given at Siena on Tuesday,
December 23, 1326
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************************

1 chicken - 3 1'2 - 4 lbs		1 C almond milk		a 1" piece of cinnamon 
fresh pork fatback			½ C chicken broth		3 cloves
2 medium large onions		3/4 C dry white wine 	8 prunes
									10 dates
2 slices whole wheat bread
3 Tbsp wine vinegar 
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
salt

Toast or grill the bread; remove crusts.
Cut the chicken into serving pieces and slice the onions.
Cut the fat into tiny pieces.
Over medium heat, render the fat in a large skillet.*1  Then add the chicken
and onions 	and cook until lightly browned.
Mix the almond milk with the broth and half of the wine.
When the chicken is lightly browned, season it with salt to taste and add the
almond 	milk mixture, the cinnamon, the cloves and simmer for about 30
minutes.
Pit the prunes and dates.
Break up the bread and mix it with the vinegar and the remaining wine.
When the chicken is nearly done add the prunes, dates, bread mixture  and
nutmeg to 	a small saucepan and cook over low heat ensuring that the prunes
and dates 	remain whole.
When the sauce has thickened, salt to taste and remove the pan from heat

To Serve:  Arrange the chicken on a serving platter topped with the almond
milk sauce in which it is cooked and surrounded by the prunes and dates from
the second sauce.  Pour the second sauce over the first.

*1 - I would skip the pork fat and spray the skillet with vegetable spray and
a very little        water to cook the chicken in.
NOTES: I liked "frying" in 2 Tbsp oil and 1/2 C water.  I think the chicken
came out lighter than if I had fried it.  Also, I did not put one sauce on top
of another because it would have overflowed the serving dish.  I put the sauce
in a seperate bowl and let people help themselves.

***Green Poree for Days of Abstainence***
The Medieval Kitchen  
Redon, Sabban, Serventi
University of Chicago Press
1998
Trim, cut up and wash it in cold water without cooking it, then cook it in
verjuice and a little water, adding salt.  It must be served boiling hot and
good and thick.  And in the bottom of the bowl, undr the Poree, put some
salted or fresh butter and cheese or curd or aged verjuice.

3 1/4 lbs swiss chard leaves*1
2/3 C verjuice  OR  1/3 C cider vinegar mixed with 1/3 C water*2
2/3 C water
2 - 6 Tbst butter*3

Wash the swiss chard and then cut into fine strips.
Soak in 2 changes of cold water.
Add the verjuice and water and salt  to a pan and bring to a boil.
Cook the swiss chard over a low heat for 20 - 30 minutes.
When completely cooked, drain thoroughly.
Put the swiss chard into a warm serving bowl.
Stir in anywhere from 2 - 6 Tbsp of butter, until the dish seems nice and
creamy
Check for salt and serve-      
*1   I used spinach.  I didn't have swiss chard and I am allergic to it anyway
*2   verjuice, I used 3 parts lemon to 1 part water
*3  I used margarine and next time I am going to either really reduce the
quantity or leave it out all together.

***Mashed turnips and parsnips***
I didn't have a recipe, but I've eaten this at several feasts.
4 medium turnips
2 medium parsnips
grains of paradise
cubeds
margarine

peel the veggies and boil until soft, about 20 minutes 
Drain
Put the veggies back in the pot, throw in the margarine and a pinch of ground
cubeds and grains of paradise.
mash well and be sure to blend everything

***Gingerbread***
1c honey
1c breadcrumbs
1t ginger
1/4t pepper (I used the pinch method)
1/4t saunders (sandlewood)  I omitted this because I was in a hurry and didn't
have any
1T sugar
30-40 whole cloves or 5t sugar and a pinch of powdered cloves

Bring honey to a boil, simmer two or three minutes, 
stir in breadcrumbs with a spatula until uniformly mixed.  
Remove from heat, stir in ginger, pepper and saunders.  
When it is cool enough to handle, knead it to get spices thoroughly mixed.  
Put it in a box (square plastic container with a lid)
squish it flat and thin (it REALLY says squish), 
sprinkle with sugar and put cloves ornamentally around the edge. 
 Leave it to let clove flavor sink in;
do not eat the cloves.
**An alternative wy of doing it (this is the way I did it) is to roll into
small balls, roll in sugar mixed with a pinch of cloves.

[Cariadoc's transcript of the original recipe is as follows:

To make ginerbrede.  Tanke goode honey & clarifie it on the fere & take
fayre paynemayn or wastel brede & grate it & caste it into the boylenge hony
& stere it weel togyder faste with a sklyse that it bren not to the vessell.
& panne take it doun and put therein ginger, longe pepper & saundres, &
tempere it up with thin hands & than put hem to a flatt boyste & strawe
thereon suger & pick therein clowes rounde aboute by the egge and in the
mydes, yf it plece you, & c.]

When I made it, the mixture seemed alittle runny, so we added some extra
breadcrumbs.
 
I have made this recipe several times, always with good success.  For some
reason, the mixture didn't want to "hold up" so I ended up adding a total of
another whole cup of bred ctumbs to the mixture.

Anyway, this was  my menu...oh yes, I also made fried potatoes, no recipe.
Everyone liked everything, includeing my picky son!
IS,
Phillipa


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