[Sca-cooks] Wild Rumours

[Jones, Craig]

While i eagerly await my Tim-Tams, i thought i'd add something a bit
more, uh, "period" to the conversation.

I served this Melon Soup in the third, Italian, course of the Mists
Bardic Feast. When i made the first part at home, i was not very
excited. It was sort of odd, sweet and fruity, and salty and brothy.

But when i heated it up at the feast and stirred in the beaten eggs,
mmm-mmm-mmm. Some folks commented on how it reminded them pleasantly
of winter squash soup.

I'd consider doing this again. No part of the process was
particularly difficult. And it would work on a small scale for a
smaller dinner with, well, smaller melons.

I also heard last night at our weekly Herald's meeting that some
folks didn't attend the Mists Bardic Feast because they assumed i'd
be cooking Middle Eastern food and they'd been eating plenty of it
lately.

I don't know why they assumed that, except perhaps from my name and
that i'd cooked Near Eastern food for the Casbah (i wonder why i did
*that* :-) in August. Yes i was Iron Chef Persian, but that feast had
a lower than expected attendance and i wasn't "well known" then. The
two Boar Hunts i cooked were entirely European and the Bardic was
only 1/3 Near Eastern. I probably wouldn't even have cooked any, but
the Bard requested that Persian stuff and Baklava (which was really
yummy, if modern).

It was suggested to me that i "branch out" in my cooking... by the
very person who asked me to cook the two Boar Hunts which were
entirely European and who attended them. (staple hand to forehead,
palm out) How soon they forget. (sigh)

At the same time, this same person asked if my Persian recipes were
on my website and if the lamb and chicken dish was just as good
cooked in small quantities :-)

Somehow, i don't think the Bardic Feast missed those folks who didn't
attend. The Bard told me there were 88 diners he knew of, and he was
pretty sure there are a few others who didn't get counted, at a feast
that usually only feeds 50-60 ( i think a 50 percent increase in
attendance is significant).

Anyway, i'll be cooking an Italian feast next March and some sort of
European food next September, although i'll confess i'm now toying
with serving stuff from A Soup for the Qan...

Guess i'll post that Baklava recipe to the list... i think i know
better than to ask if folks would be interested...

Anahita

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MENESTRA DE MELONI - A SOUP OF MELON

ORIGINAL
Cuoco Napoletano, 14th c.
trans. Terence Scully

Get good melons and take out the good part and grind it in a mortar
and set it to boil in a little fat broth; then take it a little away
from the fire, and for every bowl, add in one egg beaten with a
little good cheese, a little verjuice, a little ginger or pepper, and
saffron; and when dishing up put sugar and cinnamon on top; this dish
should be somewhat thick.

MY RECIPE

2 large ripe Cranshaw melons
a couple tablespoons Better Than Bouillon vegetable broth concentrate
2 Tb. butter
1/8 tsp. saffron
8-10 eggs
1/2 lb. grated Queso Fresco (Mexican white cheese)
1/2 c. verjuice
2 tsp. powdered ginger or pepper
granulated sugar to taste
powdered cinnamon

AT HOME
1. Halve melons and scrape out the seeds.
2. Puree the flesh of one melon in a blender or food processor.
3. Cut up the flesh of the other melon into medium-small cubes.
3. Bring melon puree to a boil with broth.
4. Reduce heat and simmer until it begins to thicken somewhat. This
took a long time on a low fire. I checked on it often to give it a
stir.

ON SITE
5. Put the melon soup into a big pot, crumble the saffron and add it
to the soup.
6. Reheat soup to a high simmer - no need to bring to a boil.
7. Beat eggs well while soup is heating.
8. When the soup starts to bubble around the edge, reduce the fire
under the melon.
9. Temper the beaten egg with a little melon soup, stir well, then
add a little more soup to egg. Do this until you're satisfied the egg
is well warmed up, but not cooking.
10. Then stir the beaten eggs into the pot of soup - stir constantly
as you pour the eggs slowly.
If the egg begins to curdle (form shreds as in Chinese egg drop
soup), stop pouring immediately. Take the soup off fire. Temper egg
with more soup, little by little. Then once again pour egg into soup,
stirring as you pour.
11. Then stir in cheese, verjuice, ginger or pepper, and saffron.
This dish should be somewhat thick.
12. When dishing up, sprinkle each serving bowl with a little sugar
and cinnamon.

NOTES:
1. I used Cranshaws because they were large, ripe, and the most
inexpensive melons in the store.
2. I didn't puree the entire melon so there would be some texture, a
concession to my personal taste. The Medieval recipe purees the whole
thing. However, the chunks of melon cooked down quite a bit and were
not terribly "lumpy".
3. I used vegetable rather than meat broth so that vegetarians could eat it.
4. I didn't actually use vegetable broth. Instead, i added vegetable
stock concentrate directly to the pureed melon because it was already
so watery. Around here, the "Better than Bouillon" brand is cheaper
than icky broth cubes.
5. I added butter to make up for the fact that i was not using "fat" broth.
6. I was conservative with the cheese, because of how the soup had
tasted at home. I could have used more and it would have been fine. I
don't think it suffered terribly from a little less cheese, though.
7. This was nice and custardy, sweet melon with a bit of tartness
from the verjuice and cheese. Some folks said it tasted a bit like
winter squash soup.
8. There wasn't much of this left over...