Recipe#10912

Title: Medieval Saxon

Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes 
 From: "Jennifer A. Newbury" jn1t+@andrew.cmu.edu 
 Subject: COLLECTION: Medieval and Anglo Saxon Recipes 
 Message-ID: kgj4twu00WBM06jKE=@andrew.cmu.edu 
 Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA 
 Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1993 14:52:44 -0400 

More Medieval Recipes
 Includes:
 A Jellie of Fyshe
 Crustade of Chicken and Pigeon
 'Fenkel in Soppes' or Braised Fennel with Ginger
 Lozenges or Curd Cheese Pastries
 And Some Recipes from Anglo-Saxon Britain:
 Griddled Trout with Herbs
 Hare, Robbit, Veal, or Chicken Stew with Herbs & Barley
 Small Bird & Bacon Stew with Walnuts or Hazelnuts
 Summer Fruit, Honey & Hazelnut Crumble
 ----------
 A Jellie of Fyshe
 Serves 6
 225 g (8 oz) hake, cod, haddock, or other well-flavored white fish
 3 scallops
 75 g (3 oz) prawns (shrimp)
 2 onions, roughly sliced
 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
 25g (1 oz) ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
 1/3 teaspoon sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
 450mL (15 fl oz, 2 cups) each white wine and water
 20g (3/4 oz) gelatine
 Put the white fish in a pan with the onions, vinegar, ginger root,
 spices, wine and water. Bring it gently to the boil and simmer for 10
 minutes. Add the scallops and prawns and cook for a further 3 minutes.
 Remove the fish; bone and skin the white fish and set it all aside.
 Strain the cooking juices and set aside to cool for several hours by
 which time a lot of the sediment will have settled in the bottom of the
 bowl. Carefully pour off the juices, leaving the sediment, and then
 strain several times through a clean teacloth. You should have
 appoximately 750mL (25 fl oz, 3 cups) of liquid left. Melt 20g (3/4 oz)
 of gelatine in a little of the liquid, cool it to room temperature, then
 mix it into the rest of the juices.
 Pour a thin layer 1 cm (1/2 inch) of the juice into the bottom of a 1.2
 liter (2 pint, 5 cup) souffle dish or fish mold and put it in the fridge
 to set. Flake the white fish into smallish flakes; remove the coral from
 the scallops and cut the white flesh into three of four pices. Once the
 jelly is firm, arrange the most decorative of the fish in the bottom of
 the dish-- some scallop coral in the middle, prawns around the outsides,
 flakes of white fish in between or however you feel inspired. Spoon a
 little more of the juice and return it to the fridge to set. Continue to
 layer the fish in the mould, setting each layer with a covering of juice
 until you have used up all the fish and juices. Leave the jelly to set
 for at least 4 hours in a fridge. Unmold and decorate with fresh herbs;
 serve as a starter.
 ---------
 Crustade of Chicken and Pigeon
 Serves 6
 225-350g (8-12oz) wholemeal or wholewheat pastry (depending on whether
 you want a lid on your crustade)
 1 pigeon
 2 chicken joints (2 breasts or 2 whole legs)
 150mL (f fl oz, 2/3 cup) dry white wine
 several grinds of black pepper
 4 cloves
 15 g (1/2 oz) butter
 50g (2oz) mushrooms, roughly chopped
 25g (1oz) raisins
 3 large eggs
 salt, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
 Roll out 225g (8 oz) of the pastry and line a 20cm (8 inch) flan dish;
 back the crust blind.
 Put the pigeon in a pot with the stock, wine, pepper and cloves and cook
 very slowly for an hour. Add the chicken and continue to cook for a
 further 45 minutes or till the meat of both birds is really tender.
 Meanwhile cook the mushrooms lightly in the butter. Remove the birds
 from the stock and bone them. Cut the flesh into quite small pieces, mix
 it with the mushrooms and the raisins and spread them over the base of
 the flan case. Beat the eggs with a fork and season with the salt,
 pepper, and ginger. Add 240mL (8floz, 1 cup) of the cooking juices and
 pour over the meat in the flan case. If you want to have a lid, roll out
 the rest of the pastry and cover the flan. Bake it in moderate oven
 (180C, 350F, Gas Mark4) for 25 minutes if uncovered, 35 minutes if
 covered. Serve warm with a good green salad.
 For a more 20th century flavor-- double the chicken, leave out the
 pigeon, and substitute 25g (1 oz) chopped fried bacon for the raisins.
 ------------
 'Fenkel in Soppes' or Braised Fennel with Ginger
 Serves 6
 The original version of this recipe comes from the "Forme of Cury," a
 collection of 196 "receipts" copied by Richard II's scribes at his
 cooks' directions.
 750g (1 1/2 lb) trimmed, fresh fennel root; cleaned and cut in matchsticks
 225g (8 oz) onions, thickly sliced
 1 heaped teaspoon of ground ginger
 1 level teapsoon of powdered saffron
 1/2 teaspoon of salt
 2 tablespoon olive oil
 150mL (5 fl oz, 2/3 cup) each dry white wine and water
 6 thick slices of coarse wholewheat or wholemeal bread (optional)
 Put the fennel in a wide, lidded pan with the onions. Sprinkle over the
 spices and salt, then the oil and finally pour over the liquids. Bring
 to the boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes or till the fennel is
 cooked without being mushy. Stir once or twice during the cooking to
 make sure the spices get well distributed. Serve it alone with a roast
 meat or griddled fish or place one slice of bread on each warmed plate,
 cover it with the fennel and pour over the juices.
 -------------
 Lozenges or Curd Cheese Pastries
 Serves 6
 225g (8oz) wholemeal or wholewheat shortcrust pastry
 225g (8 oz) curd cheese
 25g (1oz) very finely chopped stem or crystallized ginger or plump raisins
 15g (1/2 oz) toasted and chopped pine nuts
 sugar to taste
 lemon juice to taste
 Roll the pastry out very thin and cut it into small rectangles--
 approximately 15x8 cm (6x3 inches). You should have at least 24. Bake
 them in a moderately hot oven (190C, 375F, Gas Mark 5) for ten minutes
 or till they are crisp and brown. Remove them and cool on a rack.
 Meanwhile mix the curd cheese with the ginger or raisins, the pine nutes
 and the sugar and lemon to taste. Set aside. When you are ready to
 serve, sandwich together two pieces of pastry with the cheese mixture.
 They can be used as a dessert or as a snack.
 ----------
 Griddled Trout With Herbs
 Serves 6
 The herbs below are what might have been used in Anglo-Saxon East
 Anglia, but use whatever you might fancy. Try to use fresh, although
 dried is acceptable.
 6 fresh cleaned trout
 6 sprigs fresh rosemary, or 1-2 tablespoons dried
 75g (3 oz) soft butter
 18 fresh mint leaves or 2 teaspoons dried
 leaves from 6 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried
 6 fresh sage leaves or 1 scant teaspoon dried
 1-2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
 6-9 grinds black pepper
 Put one sprig or generous shake of rosemary down the middle of each
 fish. Chop all the other herbs and seasonings and mash them into the
 soft butter. Use this to coat the fish generously on each side. Griddle,
 barbeque or grill it for 4-5 minutes on each side or till the skin is
 well browned and the flesh flaking off the bone. Baste now and then with
 the butter which runs off. Serve at once with lot of fresh bread and a
 salad or a simple green vegetable.
 ----------
 Hare, Rabbit, Veal or Chicken Stew with Herbs & Barley
 Serves 6
 In 7th century England, herbs were one of the few flavourings available
 to cooks and were used heavily...
 50g (2oz) butter
 1 -1.5kg (2-3 lb) (depending on the amount of bone) of hare or rabbit
 joints, stewing veal or chicken joints
 450g (1lb) washed and trimmed leeks, thickly sliced
 4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
 175 g (6 oz) pot barley
 900 mL (30 fl oz, 3 3/4 cups) water
 3 generous tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
 2 bay leaves, salt, pepper
 15 fresh, roughly chopped sage leaves, or 1 tablespoon dried sage
 Melt the butter in a heavy pan and fry the meat with the leeks and
 garlic till the vegetables are slightly softened and the meat lightly
 browned. Add the barley, water, vinegar, bay leaves and seasoning. bring
 the pot to the boil, cover it and simmer gently for 1 - 1 1/2 hours or
 till the meat is really tender and ready to fall from the bone. Add the
 sage and continue to cook for several minutes. Adjust the seasoning to
 taste and serve in bowls-- the barley will serve as a vegetable.
 --------------
 Small Bird and Bacon Stew with Walnuts or Hazelnuts
 Serves 6
 6 fatty rashers of bacon, chopped roughly
 3 cloves garlic
 4 pigeons or other small game birds (6 if very small)
 225 g (8 oz) mushrooms, whatever variety, chopped roughly
 75 g (3 oz) roughly chopped roasted hazelnuts or walnuts
 300 ml (10 fl oz, 1 1/4 cups) real ale
 150 ml (5 fl oz, 3/4 cup) water
 2 or 3 bay leaves
 a little salt and freshly ground black pepper
 6 coarse slices brown bread
 Fry the bacon, with the garlic, till it is lightly browned in a heavy
 bottomed casserole. Add birds and brown on all sides. Add the mushrooms
 and nuts, continue to cook for a couple of minutes, then add the ale and
 water with the bay leaves.
 Bring to the boil, cover and simmer very gently for 2 - 2 1/2 hours--
 the birds should be falling off the bone. Remove the birds from the
 juices, cool juices completely and remove any excess fat. The birds can
 be served whole on or off the bone. If the latter, carve them while they
 are cold  then return to the skimmed juices and reheat gently. Adjust
 the seasoning to taste and serve either the whole birds of the slices on
 the pieces of bread, with plenty of the juices and "bits". A good green
 salad to follow is the best accompaniment.
 ------------
 Summer Fruit, Honey, and Hazelnut Crumble
 Serves 6
 1 kg (2 1/2 lb) mixed soft summer fruits-- raspberries, loganberries,
 strawberries, currants, bilberries or whatever is available
 honey or brown sugar to taste
 75 g (3 oz) tasted hazelnuts
 75 g (3 oz) wholemeal or wholewheat brown breadcrumbs
 Put the fruits in a pan or microwave dish with about 20 cm (1 inch)
 water in the bottom and cook gently for 10-15 minutes (4-6 minutes in
 microwave), or till the fruits are soft without being totally mushy.
 Sweeten to taste with honey or brown sugar (Saxons would have used
 honey); how much you need will depend on what fruits you have used.
 drain the excess juice and save to serve with the pudding. chop the
 hazelnuts in a processor or liquidiser until they are almost as fine as
 the breadcrumbs, but not quite, then mix the two together. Spoon the
 fruit into an ovenproof dish and cover with a thick layer of hazelnuts
 and crumbs. Bake in a moderate oven (180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4) for 20 - 30
 minutes or till the top is slightly cruncy and browned. Serve with lots
 of cream or plain yogurt and the warmed fruit juices.