SC - Spanish noodles (was: Re: OT diabetes was...)

[david friedman]

At 12:18 AM -0400 9/27/99, Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:
 >
>I tried something different at lunch today.  De Nola says that noodles in
>chicken broth are good with grated cheese.  I happened to have some
>homemade chicken noodle soup on hand, and I tried sprinkling it with
>Manchego cheese, which is a sharp Spanish sheep's-milk cheese.  It
>was very good.  I did not add the almond milk (or goat's milk) that the
>recipe calls for, but it is listed as an optional ingredient.  I had feared
>that almond milk would make the soup too bland, but considering the
>sharpness of the cheese, I don't think that would be a problem.  I think it
>would give a nice balance to the flavor (and the creamier texture would
>be nice, too).  However, next time I will continue to omit sugar, which is
>also an optional ingredient.  :-)
>
>Brighid

You posted this recipe some time ago, and we did it at our cooking workshop
this Saturday (and I did it again on Sunday, for the shire's potluck). Here
is our version:

Potaje de Fideos (Pottage of Noodles)
"Libro de Guisados" by Ruperto de Nola, 1529
translated Lady Brighid ni Chiarain of Tethba, Settmour Swamp (Robin
Carroll-Mann)

Clean the fideos of the dirt which they have and when they are well cleaned
put them on the fire in a very clean pot with good fatty broth of chicken
or mutton which is well salted and when the broth begins to boil, cast the
fideos in the pot with a piece of sugar, and when they are more than half
cooked, cast into the pot with the chicken or mutton broth, milk of goats
or sheep, or in place of those, almond milk, for that can never be lacking,
and cook it all well together, and when the fideos are cooked remove the
pot from the fire and let it rest a bit and prepare dishes, casting sugar
and cinnamon upon them; but as I have said in the chapter on rice, there
are many who say concerning pottages of this kind which are cooked with
meat broth that one should cast in neither sugar nor milk, but this is
according to each one's appetite, and in truth, with fideos or rice cooked
with meat broth, it is better to cast grated cheese on the dishes, which is
very good.

Translator's notes: My modern Spanish dictionary translate "fideos" as
"vermicelli"; I do not know what medieval fideos were like.  I suspect the
phrase "clean the fideos of the dirt which they have" is a scribal error.
An almost identical phrase is at the beginning of the previous recipe,
which is for baked rice.  *There* it makes sense; even today, packages of
rice have instructions to check it for small pebbles and other impurities.
I cannot see why pasta would need cleaning.

 8 oz spaghetti
1 10.5 can concentrated chicken broth + 1 can water
1/2 t sugar
1 c goat's milk (or sheep milk or almond milk)
1 T sugar + 1 t cinnamon
or
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Bring broth and water to a boil and cook spaghetti in boiling broth 8
minutes (or just over half the maximum cooking time given on the package),
then add goat's milk and cook another 6 minutes.  Let sit off the heat
about 15 minutes, during which time most of the liquid gets absorbed. Mix
in either the cinnamon sugar or the cheese. For larger quantities, reduce
the amount of broth: for three times this amount, for example, use two and
a half times the amount of broth.

We also tried the salmon recipe you posted here; I'll post our version of
that if people like.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook


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