SC - Holiday Recap

[Hupman, Laurie]

A little late, perhaps, but for me this is not unusual.

We had an orphan's Christmas with other friends who did not have family
nearby.  Our friend had managed to score a PS2, and we spent the day playing
Tekken Tag.  For dinner, I cooked tuffahyya (from Cariadoc's cookbook
collection), which turned out splendidly.  This is the second time I've
tried this recipe (and I wrote it down this time):

1 1/2 lb lamb, cut into chunks
4 granny smith apples, cut into quarters
1 large eggplant
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 15 1/2 oz cans garbanzo beans
2 stalks celery
1/4 cup mint
1/2 tsp rue
1/2 tsp thyme

The lamb and apples are boiled together until the meat is partly cooked
through and the apples are soft.  Take the apples out and puree them, then
add them back into the meat and water.  The eggplant is boiled separately
until soft, then drained and added to the lamb and apples.  I threw in the
olive oil, black pepper and salt, and let everything cook while I pureed the
garbanzo beans, celery and mint together.  That went into the pot with the
rue and thyme.  When everything was in the pot, I covered it and let it
simmer until the meat was cooked all the way through and the eggplant had
mostly dissolved.

The original recipe calls for purslane, but I don't know what that is and
couldn't find any.  Does anybody have any ideas?

I got a gift certificate from my brother and sister-in-law to cooking.com,
but I haven't gone up to spend it yet.  I also got a copy of "A Drizzle of
Honey," which has joined the collection of books to be read real soon now.
And all three Mediaeval Baebes CDs.  Groovy.

A friend of ours planned her Laurel vigil for the night before 12th Night
(11th Night?) and I offered to run the vigil and make some party food.  Not
too long after that, my husband and I were also offered the Laurel, and the
vigil became a triple.  I managed to crank out a batch of Digby's Excellent
Cake and Shiraz Bi-Buqul (also from Cariadoc's cookbook collection), a
cottage-cheese based relish served with flatbread.  I had bought olives for
the olive spread recipe from Apicius (I think?), but never quite got there.
However, once we got to the vigil there was never any time to even put food
out, so everything was served at the Golden Stag Players impromptu cast
party on Saturday night.

Oh, yeah, here's my recipe for Shiraz Bi-Buqul:

1/2 bunch mint
2 stalks celery
2 leeks (white part only)
1 lb large curd cottage cheese
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp mustard powder
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Chop the mint, celery and leeks finely (or whizz in a food processor).  Mix
the vegetable paste with the cottage cheese, stir in mustard and salt.
Garnish with chopped walnuts and serve with pita bread triangles.  (From
Al-Bagdadhi)

So that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Rose