[Sca-cooks] Platina's turnips

[Elaine Koogler]

Here 'tis....I thought I had shared it in the past when we talked about it
on other occasions.  Oddly enough, Phillip and I like it so much that I
purchased the ingredients to make it last weekend and it's going to be done
one night this week!

Kiri
*
Armored Turnips (Rapum Armatum*

6 1/8 medium turnips
3/8 pound mozzarella cheese
3/8 pound provolone cheese
1/8 quart butter
white pepper
sugar
nutmeg

1.    Steam turnips until tender. Pat as dry as possible between paper
towels.

2.    Layer turnips, mozzarella, provolone and butter in a baking dish,
sprinkling each layer with salt, sugar and nutmeg.

3.    Bake in a moderate oven until cheese is bubbly and brown.

4.    Serve hot.

Servings: 8

Notes: This was taken from four versions of the recipe: Epulario, Platina,
Libro de Arte Coquinaria (Maestro Martino) and Bishop Geoffrey D'Ayr of the
East Kingdom. Platina tells us:

Those who have a fortified gullet are pleased to call turnips "armored" when
they have been rolled in cheese, covered, as it were, with breastplate and
cuirass, as if their descent into the lower regions would not seem safe
without arms. But what good does this protection do the turnips, since it
turns against them to their total ruin, since the very strong gluttons in
the cookshop of athletes prefer their enemy armored and eat them,
defenseless as they are. Cut up turnips that have been either boiled or
cooked under the ashes. Likewise do the same with rich cheese, not too ripe.
These should be smaller morsels than the turnips, though. In a pan greased
with butter or liquamen, make a layer of cheese first, then a layer of
turnips, and so on, all the while pouring in spice and some butter, from
time to time. This dish is quickly cooked and should be eaten quickly, too.
But since it is ruinous, it should be served to Domitianus, who is very
greedy.

Maestro Martino and Mestre Robert {Libro per Cuoco) both call for the
addition of sugar, and Maestro Martino adds pepper as well.

Bishop Geoffrey used both provolone and mozzarella in his redaction of a
number of years ago, and I continue that here as I like the combination of
flavors. None of the recipes specify which kind of cheese beyond
"mild","rich", etc., so this is a reasonable translation.


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