Recipes from a Baronial Investiture - Part 3

Recipes from a Baronial Investiture - Part 3

By Lady Angharad Gam, Barony of Innilgard, A.S. XLVIII

Pollastri Uva Negra

Habi de la bona uva negra et rompila molto bene in un vaso, rompendo con essa un pane o mezo secundo la quantità che voi fare, et mettevi un pocho di bono agresto, overo aceto, perché l'uva non sia tanto dolce. Et queste cose farai bollire al focho per spatio di meza hora, agiongendovi de la cannella, et zenzevero, et altre bone spetiarie.

Have some good black grapes and break very well in a pot, break with the same a loaf of bread or a half according to the quantity that you need, and put a little good verjuice, or vinegar, so that the grapes will not be too sweet. And these things are made to boil on the fire for the space of half an hour, adding some cinnamon and ginger, and other good spices.

Libro de Arte Coquinaria

This is a recipe for a sauce alone. I served this sauce with roasted chicken pieces, hence the name I have given the dish. In order that one of my sauces be gluten free, I made this one with ground almonds instead of breadcrumbs. There are a number of other instances of sauces like this made with ground almonds both alongside this one in the text, and in other similar Italian sources. However, the procedure described below would change very little if one were to substitute breadcrumbs for almonds.

800gms red grapes

1l verjuice

200-300gms ground almonds

Cinnamon, ginger

Put the grapes into a saucepan and crush slightly (a potato masher will do the job handily). Add the verjuice and simmer until the grapes are very soft. Pour through a sieve into a large bowl, squeezing the grapes to get as much juice out as possible. Add a little cinnamon and ginger to taste and stir in enough ground almonds to make the sauce as thick as you like. If you wish you can return this to the saucepan and heat gently for 5-10 minutes more. This will help to make the sauce smoother.

Serves 90

Macaroni or Makerouns

Piglia de la farina che sia bella, et distemperala et fa' la pasta un pocho più grossa che quella de le lasangne, et avoltola intorno ad un bastone. Et dapoi caccia fore il bastone, et tagliala la pasta larga un dito piccolo, et resterà in modo de bindelle, overo stringhe. Et mitteli accocere in brodo grasso, overo in acqua secundo il tempo. Et vole bollire quando gli metti accocere. Et se tu gli coci in acqua

mettevi del butiro frescho, et pocho sale. Et como sonno cotti mittili in piattelli con bono caso, et butiro, et spetie dolci.

Take some fair flour, and temper it and make the pasta a little fatter than that for lasagne, and roll around a stick. And then remove the stick and cut the pasta the width of a little finger, and it will stay in the manner of ribbons or strings. And put to cook in fatty broth, or in water according to the time. And you want it to boil when you put it to cook. If you cook it in water put in some fresh butter and a little salt. And as they are cooked put on little platters with good cheese, and butter, and sweet spices.

Makerouns. Take and make a thynne foyle of dowh, and kerue it on peces, and cast hym on boillyng water & seeth it wele. Take chese and grate it, and butter imelte, cast bynethen and aboven as losyns; and serue forth.

Forme of Curye

In period as now pasta was not confined to Italy. As you can see the name ‘macaroni’ at this time appears to apply to a fettucine or tagliatelle like pasta. After SCA period it came to refer to what we would now call ‘spaghetti’ and finally took on its modern meaning in the 19th century.

The simplest recipe for pasta requires only flour and water. The flour will need to be the ‘strong’ flour that is sold specifically for making pasta, or for making bread. The dough is mixed and kneaded until it is smooth and elastic. Most pasta that you buy dried in the supermarket is made this way, with the addition of a little oil and salt, which aid in preservation. Oil also helps to make the dough a bit more supple and easier to work. A richer pasta dough can be made with the addition of whole eggs, or egg yolks.

A good rule of thumb is that 100gms of flour will make enough pasta for an adult to have at dinner time. If you are making it for a feast at least one quarter of that amount, or less (depending on how many other dishes you have) will be sufficient. If you are making egg pasta, use one large, fresh egg (at least 55gms) per 100 gms of flour. If you have smaller eggs beat up another in a cup and add a little of that to make up the difference, or add a small amount of water. If you are using water alone then use 1:3 parts water to flour by volume (eg 1 cup of water to 3 cups of flour), but start off by adding a little less water than this, and putting in more if you need it. The amount of liquid you need might be less if the weather is very humid or damp.

You will not need as much liquid as you might think. The dough may seem a little dry to start off with, but as you knead it, it will become smoother and more integrated. If it is too sticky to start off with, it will only get stickier when you roll it out, and you will make a big mess in your pasta machine. Kneading will take a great deal of elbow grease, but persist until you have a dough that is smooth all the way through and starting to get a bit stretchy. Then cover it, and put it in the fridge for half an hour or so.

A little before you are ready to cook it, roll out the dough into a thin sheet. Pasta machines are not period, but they make this job very much easier, especially when you have large quantities of dough to deal with. It's also easier to get very thin sheets of pasta using a pasta machine. Dust the machine and the pasta liberally with flour as you are using it. Once the pasta is rolled out you may cut it into whatever shapes you wish. Most pasta machines come with special attachments for cutting fettucine, or you can try the rolling up trick described in the original recipe.

Fresh pasta is difficult to keep (in a fresh state) for longer than an hour or so, as it dries out very easily. However, you can keep your pasta in a dried state for some time. To do this you need to dry your pasta thoroughly by hanging it up somewhere overnight (I use my clothes airer for this – but

make sure you put it somewhere the kids or dog won't eat it). When it’s completely dry, store it in an airtight container. Note that if you don’t dry it properly before storing it, it will go mouldy.

Fresh pasta is cooked in the same way as ordinary pasta, except it will cook much more quickly, even if you have dried it. Bring a large pot of stock or water to a rolling boil. Add a splash of olive oil (this helps to stop the pasta from sticking together in the pot). Toss in your fresh pasta. It is done when it floats to the surface. This may only take two or three minutes. If you prefer your pasta a bit on the softer side you might want to cook it for a few minutes more. Drain and serve sprinkled with cheese (parmesan of course!), and with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger if you so desire.

Cavoli a la Romanesca

Rompi li cavoli torzoti con le mani secundo l'usanza, et mittigli in l'acqua quando bolle. Et quando seranno circha mezo cotti butta via tutta quella acqua et habi di bon lardo battuto in bona et competente quantità, et mettilo ne li ditti cavoli così sciutti, voltandoli ben col cocchiaro. Poi pigliarai di bono brodo grasso, et in quello li metterai al focho a bollire per piccholo spatio di tempo.

Break the twisted broccoli with your hands according to custom, and put in water when it has boiled. And when it will be about half cooked throw out all that water and have some good chopped lard in good and sufficient quantities, and put the said broccoli that is dry, turning well with a spoon. Then take some good fat broth, and in this put it to the fire to boil for a short space of time.

Libro de Arte de Coquinaria

Broccoli was well known in Italy since at least Roman times. Romanesco broccoli is actually a cultivar of standard broccoli with an unusual fractal-like spiral head (hence the description of it as ‘twisted’). It is still available, but certainly not common. The cooking method proposed here is to parboil the broccoli in water and then adding some fat by both frying in lard or pork fat, and finishing the cooking in fatty stock.

There are a number of ways you could interpret this recipe, including parboiling the broccoli and then frying it with bacon. I chose a simpler (and more vegetarian) route for the feast – the broccoli was cooked in vegetable stock and then drizzled with good quality extra virgin olive oil.

Rape armate

Fa' cocere le rape sotto la brascia, over alessarle integre et sane, et tagliale in fette grosse quanto una costa di coltello; et haverai di bon cascio grasso tagliato in fette larghe quanto quelle de le rape, ma più sottile; et habi del zuccharo, del pepe et de le spetie dolci mescolate inseme; et conciarai in una padella da torte per ordine sul fondo di quella, fette di caso a modo che faresti una crosta di sotto, et di sopra gli mettirai un solar di rape buttandoli di sopra de le spetie sopra scripte et di bon butiro fresco abundantemente; et così di grado in grado andarai acconciando le rape, il cascio tanto che la padella sia piena, facendole cocere per un quarto d'ora o più, al modo d'una torta. Et questa imbandiscione si vole dare de reto all'altre.

Make the turnips to cook under the coals, or to be boiled intact and whole, and slice in slices fat as the back of a knife; and have some good fatty cheese sliced in slices wide as that of the turnips but more thin; and have some sugar, some pepper and some sweet spices mixed together; and dress in a torte pan arranged on the bottom of it, slices of cheese in the manner you would make a crust underneath and over these put a bottom layer of turnips throwing over some of the spices above written and of good fresh butter in abundance; and so of layer on layer dressing the turnips, the cheese so that the padella will be full, then make to cook for a quarter hour or more, in the manner of a tart. And this dish one shall give after the others.

Libro de Arte Coquinaria

This dish is widely known as ‘Armoured Turnips’, or sometimes more elaborately ‘Turnips Armoured in Self Defense’, although ‘armate’ in this context could probably be translated as ‘garnished’ or ‘dressed’.

The trick to making this good is to use a very generous hand with a fairly strong flavoured cheese. You could use mozzarella (it is thought to have been available in period) for the stringy effect, but I would mix it with parmesan or cheddar (or just boring old tasty) if you do. This will counteract the stronger flavour of the turnips (in comparison to the potatoes that are more commonly used these days in a dish like this). You can also try to get actual ‘turnip’ turnips, rather than swedes, as the former have a slightly milder flavour than the latter. The two are often sold together, and they look quite similar, but swedes are yellow fleshed where turnips are white.

Although Maestro Martino is usually spot on, I find there is generally no need for butter here. Perhaps his cheese was not as ‘fatty’ as our modern ones.

4.5kg of turnips

3kg grated cheese

Pepper, ginger, cinnamon

Peel the turnips, slicing off the tops and any remaining roots. If they are large cut them into quarters, but bear in mind you still need large enough pieces to slice. Put in a large pot, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cook for 30 mins or until they are soft enough that you can stab them fairly easily with a knife or fork.

Drain the turnips and slice into pieces about ½ cm thick. Grease a large baking dish or roasting tin liberally and make a layer of turnip slices on the bottom. Sprinkle with a generous layer of cheese and a large pinch of the spices. Repeat this layering until the dish is full, ending with a layer of cheese. Bake for 20-30 mins at 180°C or until the cheese on top has formed a nice well-done crust.

Serves 100.