The recipe is from one of my go-to cook books Le Menagier de Paris as translated by Janet Hinson:
TO MAKE A TART, take four handfuls of beet-leaves, two handfuls of parsley, one handful of chervil, a bit of turnip-top and two handfuls of spinach, and clean them and wash them in cold water, then chop very small: then grate two kinds of cheese, that is one mild and one medium, and then put eggs with it, yolk and white, and grate them in with the cheese; then put the herbs in the mortar and grind them up together, and also add to that some powdered spices. Or in place of this have first ground up in the mortar two pieces of ginger, and over this grate your cheeses, eggs and herbs, and then throw in some grated old pressed cheese or some other such on to the herbs, and carry to the oven, and then make it into a tart and eat it hot.
Ingredients:
One bag spinach (this cooks down a lot, it’s less than you think)
Some swiss chard (for the colour so use as much or little as you want, but we want the bright red stalks to give the dish colour)
1 cup fresh parsley – diced
1 tbsp dried chervil
2 cups grated Mozzarella
1 cup grated Romano or Parmesan (feel free to use the dried stuff when in a hurry)
6 eggs
1 tbsp Powder Fort (substitute powdered ginger if needed)
2 tsp salt
2 pie crusts (make your own, or buy the pre-made crusts or a package of pre-made individual tart shells)
1. wash spinach and chard very well
2. chop spinach, chard, and parsley small (don't use a food processor, it doesn't have the right texture)
3. beat eggs
4. mix herbs and spices together
5. add spices and cheese to eggs and mix
6. pour egg mixture over greens and mix
7. spoon into pie crusts or tart shells
8. bake at 350 until cooked (depends on depth of pie usually an hour)
The final result is kind of like a quiche but with the greens and egg percentages swapped.
- Tomas de Courcy (for more information on this and many other interesting recipes, be sure to check out his blog, too!)
Thursday 26 May 2016
Ása's Peeres in Confyt and 'Snowe' Cream
As part of the TUA feast, we were given the opportunity to make a gluten-free dessert for those in the populace who couldn't enjoy the apple strudel that Mistress Joan from Borealis made.
Ása decided to go with a recipe for pears poached in red wine. This is a classic dessert which is still really popular in England and the Commonwealth today, but it has its origins in the Forme of Cury - a 14th century English cookbook put together by King Richard II's cooks. We refer to this cookbook often, so I guess he had good taste!
The recipe, as it is described in the Forme of Cury (transcribed by Samuel Pegge in 1780) is:
"PEERES IN CONFYT. XX.VI. XII. Take peeres and pare hem clene. take gode rede wyne & mulberes oþer saundres and seeþ þe peeres þerin & whan þei buth ysode, take hem up, make a syryp of wyne greke. oþer vernage with blaunche powdour oþer white sugur and powdour gyngur & do the peres þerin. seeþ it a lytel & messe it forth."
There's an excellent redaction available on the website Medieval Cookery, but Ása's redaction is a little different and a little more modern. We served these with a 'snowe' cream.
As there were a few children and adults who were gluten-intolerant and couldn't have alcohol, Ása also made a few pears in a simple syrup. These were equally popular!
Ása's Peeres in Confyt
5 pears (Bartlett or Anjou)
6 cups red wine
6 cups red wine
4 cups sugar
Zest of an orange
2 sticks of cinnamon
1-2 T whole cloves
A knob of peeled ginger root
1/2 cup of honey
Peel your pears and cut them in half lengthwise. With a spoon or paring knife, cut or scoop out the inedible core of each pear half. In a large pot, set all other ingredients to boil. Place the pears in the boiling wine mixture and cook for 20-30 minutes, until the pears are soft enough to be cut with the press of a fork or a spoon. Remove the pears from the wine and set aside to cool.
Continue to boil the red wine mixture until it becomes a thick syrup. Strain while hot, then bottle.
To serve, place half a pear in the center of a plate or bowl, top with a generous dollop of 'snowe' or whipped cream, and drizzle with the reduced syrup. Makes 10 servings.
*For a non-alcoholic version, simply replace the red wine with water.
'Snowe' Cream
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 T rose water***
1-2 T icing sugar
Snowe comes up a few times in English Renaissance cookbooks, and usually includes egg whites. I'm not comfortable serving raw egg whites to a large number of feastgoers, my skills at tempering them are not good enough for me to be certain they'd be safe, and I think the texture might put off some less keen feastgoers. Therefore, I decided to simply flavor some regular whipping cream with a little rose water to give folks the impression of snowe without the risk.
Combine all in a bowl and whisk (hand or electric.)
***You must be very careful with rose water! The concentration can range widely depending on which brand you buy. Test, test, and test again. Start by adding a tiny amount, then add more if necessary. Rose water can absolutely destroy a recipe if you slip and add too much!
Until next time!
- Alice Percy
- Alice Percy
A Trio of Butters
For variety, we served a herb butter, a whipped butter, and a honey butter. I highly recommend whipping any butter you use for a feast - not only is it easier to spread, it will increase the volume of your butter and make it stretch a little further.
Two pounds of butter for each recipe handily made enough for ten tables of eight, with plenty extra to go around.
Honey Butter
Honey butter is a feast staple around here. How strong you make it depends totally on your taste and the tastes of your populace. In general, you want between 1/4 and 1/2 as much honey as you have butter.
1 cup softened butter (make sure it's really, really soft)
1/3 cup runny honey
1 T milk or water, for blending
Combine all using a whisk, electric or hand. (Use a stand mixer if you're putting together a feast - trust me.) More honey will result in a firmer texture.
Herb Butter
We adapted this recipe from Bóthæiðr's "Scarborough Faire" butter, which was a big hit in Northshield. She recommends using a strong gouda cheese rather than the parmesan, and in a larger amount.1 cup softened butter (really soft!)
1/3 cup mixed fresh herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme)
3 T parmesan cheese (or aged gouda,) or to taste
1 T olive oil, for blending
Combine all using a whisk, electric or hand. (Use a stand mixer if you're putting together a feast.)
Whipped Butter
Butter is easy to whip, and it gives your feast a much more finished air than just dropping a brick of cold butter on the table. You'll find less will be wasted if it's whipped, since it stretches more and people are more likely to use it up if it's easier to spread on their bread!
1 cup softened butter (very soft!)
1 T milk or water, for blending
Please note, this will not work if you butter is still even a little bit cold. You want it almost as soft as it can be before it melts! Combine your butter and the milk or water and blend with a whisk (electric or hand) until it reaches the desired texture. If it's not getting soft enough, try adding a little more milk.
*Do not whip butter ahead of time and then pop it in the fridge! Once whipped butter gets cold, it will lose its texture and you're back at square one.
Until next time!
- Alice Percy
Wednesday 25 May 2016
The Montengarde Culinary Group
About Us
We are a collective of SCAdians interested in cooking, brewing, baking, curing, preserving, and redaction of pre-16th century recipes. We are located in the barony of Montengarde, in the kingdom of Avacal (Calgary, Canada.)
Most of our activities centre around a monthly "culinary night," which is basically a potluck on a theme. Everyone brings an attempt at pre-16th century food or drink to share. Each of us has a different level of skill and interest in accuracy of reproduction, and we like it that way! Every culinary night, contributions range from family recipes without a known date of origin to carefully followed redactions of recipes from pre-16th century texts.
Everyone is welcome! Our membership is informal and non-hierarchical, and we have many occasional participants. Meetings are casual and not in garb, and held at a member's private residence. Please get in touch with us via the Facebook page for more information, or comment here.
Members
Viscountess Maiosara, OL
Master Thorvald Grimsson, OP, OL
Baron James Douglas
Baron James Douglas
Machabi Caiaphas, OWS
HL Francis Coulter Hill
HL Kayleigh de Leis
HL Sorcha de Lenche
HL Arnaut Guilhem de Najac
HL Bóthæiðr Sigarsdóttir
HL Drífa at lækjarmóti
HL Bóthæiðr Sigarsdóttir
HL Drífa at lækjarmóti
Lady Ása Nordøster
Lord Timothy of Sherwood
Lord Timothy of Sherwood
Lady Lianora Heinriksdotter
Lady Audrey Hampton
Lady Ainè Inghean Úi Cuinn
Lord Tighearnán Ó Cuinn
Lady Alice (Allie) Percy
Dan
Maggie
Melodie
Jessica
Melodie
Jessica
Members abroad (and former members):
HL Brangwayn Hesson the Everpresent
Lady Millicent of Eaglescliff
Sola
Culinary Nights
Anything Goes/TUA Feast Practice Night (May 9th, 2016)
April 'Fools' (April 18th, 2016)
April 'Fools' (April 18th, 2016)
Pie Night (March 14th, 2016)
Pygge Night (February 29th, 2016)
In The Bleak Midwinter (January 11th, 2016)
The Spice Road (November 16th, 2015)
Harvest Food (September 21st, 2015)
Tavern Potluck (August 26th, 2015)
'Not Brown' Night (July 6th, 2015)
Your Best Recipe (June 1st, 2015)
Beltane Appetizer Platters (April 11th, 2015)
No Theme/Beltane Appetizer Testing (March 2nd, 2015)
No Theme/Beltane Appetizer Testing (February 2nd, 2015)
Feast of St. Cecilia (November, 2014)
More Culinary Groups in Avacal
Saturday 14 May 2016
A Feast of Friendship for Spring (May 14th, 2016)
A few months ago, the event steward for Spring Grand TUA (The University of Avacal) approached us about getting together with the Borealis Culinary Guild to make a meal for the event. Happily, the Borealis Guild agreed to work with us. We set about designing a menu which would appeal to the many different tastes and dietary requirements of the populace of Avacal.
The Montengarde Culinary Group isn't a feast-based group - although some of us have feast experience, we don't tend to involve ourselves too much in preparing feasts for events. We've done appetizer platters at a small local event (Beltane) and we've done a bespoke feast for a small group (the Feast of St. Cecilia,) but this was our first time taking on an actual feast from start to finish.
We had a few issues right out of the gate - first, most of our members weren't available to help out with food prep or assist in the kitchen at the actual event. It's a really busy time of year. Because Grand TUA is such a huge deal for the A&S community, lots of folks also had commitments to teach or take classes at the event. In the end, we wound up with a core team of three - Ása, Audrey, and myself - who took responsibility on behalf of the group.
Our second problem was that we'd never had to work with another culinary group before. The Borealis Culinary Group has been around for over a decade, and has dozens of feasts under their collective belt. Many of its members are Pelicans and have worlds more experience than we do! We had our own ideas around how to go about planning a feast and preparing, and they had theirs. Harder still, Borealis is around three hours away, which meant that we were operating primarily over Facebook. They were extremely patient with us while we tried to figure out what to do and when.
Our third problem was the number of dietary restrictions and requirements which came out of our feast pre-registration. As we mostly just cook for our own small group here in Montengarde, it was surprising to see how many folks couldn't have alcohol, gluten, eggs, pork, or dairy. There were also a much wider range of tastes to account for, since not everyone in Avacal is as interested in reproducing period flavors as we are! It was a steep learning curve, and led to a lot of frustration when we realized that we couldn't cook something which would be perfect for everyone. We did learn a lot about how to adapt recipes and make changes where we can to be as inclusive as possible, though!
In the end, we put together a really wonderful menu and divided the dishes between Borealis and Montengarde - we were responsible for a trio of butters (herb, honey, and whipped,) a green salad with a vinaigrette, applemoyse for the pork, 'snowe' cream and whipped cream for dessert, poached pears in red wine for our gluten-free guests, and some poached in simple syrup for those who couldn't have gluten or alcohol.
We made little menus for every table, and a young lady from the local area helped us out by serving the head table (with some helpers.)
There was a massive amount of help serving, cleaning up, washing, prepping, and even just some company to keep us sane during the day. It was really amazing to see how enthusiastic the general populace is about getting involved in feast!
Overall, it worked out extremely well and we all got many compliments from the populace (and even some from the Borealis Culinary Guild - we look up to them a lot!)
Until next time!
- Alice Percy
The Montengarde Culinary Group isn't a feast-based group - although some of us have feast experience, we don't tend to involve ourselves too much in preparing feasts for events. We've done appetizer platters at a small local event (Beltane) and we've done a bespoke feast for a small group (the Feast of St. Cecilia,) but this was our first time taking on an actual feast from start to finish.
We had a few issues right out of the gate - first, most of our members weren't available to help out with food prep or assist in the kitchen at the actual event. It's a really busy time of year. Because Grand TUA is such a huge deal for the A&S community, lots of folks also had commitments to teach or take classes at the event. In the end, we wound up with a core team of three - Ása, Audrey, and myself - who took responsibility on behalf of the group.
Our second problem was that we'd never had to work with another culinary group before. The Borealis Culinary Group has been around for over a decade, and has dozens of feasts under their collective belt. Many of its members are Pelicans and have worlds more experience than we do! We had our own ideas around how to go about planning a feast and preparing, and they had theirs. Harder still, Borealis is around three hours away, which meant that we were operating primarily over Facebook. They were extremely patient with us while we tried to figure out what to do and when.
Our third problem was the number of dietary restrictions and requirements which came out of our feast pre-registration. As we mostly just cook for our own small group here in Montengarde, it was surprising to see how many folks couldn't have alcohol, gluten, eggs, pork, or dairy. There were also a much wider range of tastes to account for, since not everyone in Avacal is as interested in reproducing period flavors as we are! It was a steep learning curve, and led to a lot of frustration when we realized that we couldn't cook something which would be perfect for everyone. We did learn a lot about how to adapt recipes and make changes where we can to be as inclusive as possible, though!
In the end, we put together a really wonderful menu and divided the dishes between Borealis and Montengarde - we were responsible for a trio of butters (herb, honey, and whipped,) a green salad with a vinaigrette, applemoyse for the pork, 'snowe' cream and whipped cream for dessert, poached pears in red wine for our gluten-free guests, and some poached in simple syrup for those who couldn't have gluten or alcohol.
We made little menus for every table, and a young lady from the local area helped us out by serving the head table (with some helpers.)
There was a massive amount of help serving, cleaning up, washing, prepping, and even just some company to keep us sane during the day. It was really amazing to see how enthusiastic the general populace is about getting involved in feast!
Overall, it worked out extremely well and we all got many compliments from the populace (and even some from the Borealis Culinary Guild - we look up to them a lot!)
- Alice Percy
Monday 9 May 2016
Anything Goes/TUA Feast Practice Night (May 9th, 2016)
May 9th's Culinary Night was a little smaller than we've been used to in recent months - the season really starts to kick off in May in Avacal, and stretches right through to September. Most of our members were either gearing up for camping or trying to catch up with mundane life!
We had an absolutely heaving table, though! Ása and I had our recipes to test for the Grand TUA feast, and Lianora had put on (almost completely by herself - a huge feat!) a non-SCA Medieval feast for something like forty people that week, so she brought tons of her leftovers to share with everyone.
Caiaphas and Francis do frequent experiments with frozen period treats - surprisingly enough, the technology existed in period! Apparently, they used a chemical reaction with saltpeter to reduce the temperature quickly enough for things to freeze. They decided to make orange sherbet today, using regular navel oranges and sugar. Delicious!
Audrey brought a family recipe for stroganoff; she didn't have much time, but always brings something to share anyway! It was delicious. She also baked some sourdough bread to go with our butters.
Master Thorvald often brings fish dishes, which I always enjoy a lot because it's not something often served in the SCA. (At least, not where we are!) This night's offering was steelhead trout in daube sauce, which was pleasingly tart.
Drífa came with some pickled carrots; it's always so nice when people bring preserves, since I think they were such an important part of our collective diets up until the 20th century! Her carrots had plenty of anise in them. Super delicious!
Lianora's offerings were amazing. First, there was cormarye - a marinated pork dish which is always very popular with us. She made chard in butter, roasted potatoes, boiled quail eggs, a soup of mixed greens (not dissimilar to the one Borealis brought for TUA - very delicious!) a "sour cherry sauce" (a really unique flavor - like a savory pudding,) and some venison, which is a special treat for those of us without a regular supply of game meat.
Ása brought her delicious peeres in confyt and herb butter, and I brought a salad (they're period! I promise to do a post about this) with vinaigrette, honey butter, applemoyse, and my 'snowe.'
We had a great conversation about the future of the Culinary Group - some months, we're so big that we don't all fit comfortably in Caiaphas and Francis' house anymore! We all feel strongly that we never charge anyone money to attend Culinary Night, so that's something we'll have to figure out in the future.
Here's what was brought!
Near row: chard in butter, cormarye
Next: pickled carrot; potato; quail egg; apple moyse
Next: mixed greens soup; orange sherbet; honey butter;
Next: sour cherry sauce; venison; stroganoff
Next: steelhead trout in daube sauce; herb butter; bread
Next: salad; whipped cream snow; reduced pear syrup (almost entirely hidden); pears
Until next time!
- Alice Percy
We had an absolutely heaving table, though! Ása and I had our recipes to test for the Grand TUA feast, and Lianora had put on (almost completely by herself - a huge feat!) a non-SCA Medieval feast for something like forty people that week, so she brought tons of her leftovers to share with everyone.
Caiaphas and Francis do frequent experiments with frozen period treats - surprisingly enough, the technology existed in period! Apparently, they used a chemical reaction with saltpeter to reduce the temperature quickly enough for things to freeze. They decided to make orange sherbet today, using regular navel oranges and sugar. Delicious!
Audrey brought a family recipe for stroganoff; she didn't have much time, but always brings something to share anyway! It was delicious. She also baked some sourdough bread to go with our butters.
Master Thorvald often brings fish dishes, which I always enjoy a lot because it's not something often served in the SCA. (At least, not where we are!) This night's offering was steelhead trout in daube sauce, which was pleasingly tart.
Drífa came with some pickled carrots; it's always so nice when people bring preserves, since I think they were such an important part of our collective diets up until the 20th century! Her carrots had plenty of anise in them. Super delicious!
Lianora's offerings were amazing. First, there was cormarye - a marinated pork dish which is always very popular with us. She made chard in butter, roasted potatoes, boiled quail eggs, a soup of mixed greens (not dissimilar to the one Borealis brought for TUA - very delicious!) a "sour cherry sauce" (a really unique flavor - like a savory pudding,) and some venison, which is a special treat for those of us without a regular supply of game meat.
Ása brought her delicious peeres in confyt and herb butter, and I brought a salad (they're period! I promise to do a post about this) with vinaigrette, honey butter, applemoyse, and my 'snowe.'
We had a great conversation about the future of the Culinary Group - some months, we're so big that we don't all fit comfortably in Caiaphas and Francis' house anymore! We all feel strongly that we never charge anyone money to attend Culinary Night, so that's something we'll have to figure out in the future.
Here's what was brought!
Near row: chard in butter, cormarye
Next: pickled carrot; potato; quail egg; apple moyse
Next: mixed greens soup; orange sherbet; honey butter;
Next: sour cherry sauce; venison; stroganoff
Next: steelhead trout in daube sauce; herb butter; bread
Next: salad; whipped cream snow; reduced pear syrup (almost entirely hidden); pears
Until next time!
- Alice Percy
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