[Sca-cooks] soooooo...

[David Friedman]

Lentils are period, tasty, cheap, and readily available. One favorite of ours is:

Cooked Dish of Lentils
al-Andalusi no. 377 (Good)

Wash lentils and put them to cook in a pot with sweet water, oil, pepper, coriander and cut onion. When they are cooked throw in salt, a little saffron and vinegar; break three eggs, leave for a while on the flame and later retire the pot. Other times cook without onion. If you wish cook it with Egyptian beans pricked into which have been given a boil. Or better with dissolved yeast over a gentle fire. When the lentils begin to thicken add good butter or sweet oil, bit by bit, alike until it gets absorbed, until they are sufficiently cooked and have enough oil. Then retire it from the flame and sprinkle with pepper.

½ lb onions         4 T butter (or oil)
1 ½ c dried lentils     ¾ t salt
2 ¼ c water         12 threads saffron
1 ½ T oil           2 T vinegar  
⅜ t pepper          4 eggs 
1 ½ t coriander       more pepper

Slice onions. Put lentils, water, oil, pepper, coriander and onion in a pot, bring to a boil, and turn down to a bare simmer. Cook covered 50 minutes, stirring periodically. Add butter or oil and cook while stirring for about 5 minutes. Add salt, saffron (crushed into 1 t water) and vinegar, and bring back to a boil. Put eggs on top, cover pot and keep lentils at a simmer; stir cautiously every few minutes in order to scrape the bottom of the pot without stirring in the eggs. Adjusting the heat is a little tricky—too low and the eggs don’t cook, too high and the lentils stick. With a larger quantity, the pot stays hot enough to cook the eggs without being on the flame.
When the eggs are cooked, sprinkle with a little more pepper and serve.



At Thu, 2 Feb 2012 12:16:03 -0800, Ian Kusz wrote:
>
>
>Since it appears that beans as a cheap option are out (unless I can get a
>ride to Yoke's), anyone have any ideas of something authentic, popular,
>filling and cheap to bring to a Medieval feast?  I"m trying to avoid the
>standard "bachelor" options, and bring something nice.
>-- 
>Ian of Oertha
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>




David Friedman
www.daviddfriedman.com
daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/