[Sca-cooks] "Oranges of Xativa"

[El Hermoso Dormido]

Hey, this is one of the first ones I tried when I started playing
with medieval recipes...

My interpretation was a bit loose, but I think still fit the "spirit"
of the original recipe.

Basically, for "new cheese and curd cheese" I used "cream cheese
and cottage cheese" (as an experiment, we also took the last of the
dough and wrapped "regular cheese" [cheddar and mozarella] in it - not in the
original recipe, but it was really good anyway...).  Given more time and
resources, I'd actually pick up cheese curds from the local dairy and
make up some "new cheese" with whole milk and verjuice, but I haven't
tried it yet.  My inexpensive modern substitution for the informal
experiment was heavily influenced by the initial impression I got of
the recipe that made me think "Cheesecake [in the modern sense] Fritters!"

I made no record of the amounts I used (but then, I rarely measure anyway),
but I mixed up slightly thick mass of egg and the cheeses, then added pastry
flour to it until it was firm enough to fry (shape-able but still slightly
sticky).  I actually ended up making "flattened" balls out of them to be sure
the center cooked properly (the original recipe DOES explicitly specify that
you can shape them however you want...).  I fried them in a mixture of olive
and almond oil.  I think I might go with lard next time - it has a lower smoke
point (almond oil is a relatively "high temperature" oil - the first few
fritters seemed to cook  too fast - the outside was done and the inside was
still too doughy...they turned out fine after reducing the temperature a bit,
but to do it "authentically" [i.e. using the "boiling" of the fat/oil as the
temperature guage rather than a thermometer] I suspect lard or straight olive
oil would be better.)

I think next time, I'll definitely try to use a "chunkier" bunch of cheese
with the eggs, but either way, it was good....

Don't know if this description of my "free-form" method of doing it helps
or not, but figured I'd offer it...

On Thursday 01 August 2002 10:17 am, Barbara Benson wrote:
> >Toronjas de Xativa que son Almojavanas - Deep fried ricotta cheese
> >balls with honey (make on site)
>
> Greetings,
>
> I attempted to redact this recepit and did not have a successful time of
> it. Have you already worked on it or is it in the plans? When you figure it
> out I would really love to see what you work out, because I spent several
> hours getting very cranky with these particular little balls.
>
> Glad Tidings,
> Serena da Riva