Getting Medieval in the Kitchen

Some of you may remember that a little over a year ago, I received the book British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History by Colin Spencer, and that I was intrigued to learn more about the eating habits of my homeland, particularly during medieval times. As soon as I read the book, I knew that I would have to try some of the dishes for myself. And I did just that on Saturday when I prepared a 14th century-influenced meal for myself and hubby.

I was able to find a wonderful website, Medieval Cookery, which provides a plethora of recipes based upon contemporary texts. Recipes are categorized by century, country, level of difficulty, and so on.

I started our meal with a Potage of Ris, a 14-15th century dish popular in England and on the continent.

2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cooked white rice
a few almonds, crushed
pinch saffron

Bring the milk to a low boil and simmer until it has reduced to about 3/4 of its original quantity. Add the rice, saffron, and almonds. Warm through and serve.

Some versions also added some of the drippings from a meal's meat, but I decided to keep mine simple and sweet. The result is a lightly sweetened rice pudding, with just a delicate hint of flavor from the saffron and almonds. Best of all, I can have the leftovers as rice pudding with a dash of jam!

Next up is our meat course. The recipe I had called for Coney or rabbit. Unable to find rabbit, and thinking chicken a little too ordinary, I decided to go with duck, which I had never cooked before. Fortunately, I was able to find a very helpful video online at Maple Leaf Farms which explained exactly how to cut my whole duck into portions. With the carcass and innards bubbling away in a pot to make stock (let's not waste all that goodness), I set to work making my Ducke in Civey.

4 lb duck, cut into breast, leg, wing, portions.
1 onion, chopped
2 tbs olive oil
1 cup red wine
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
a few whole cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup breadcrumbs

Sear the portions of duck in the heated oil. Remove the meat to a plate. Add the onion to the oil and saute until translucent. Then return your meat to the pan, along with the wine, broth, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, and then cover and simmer for an hour.

Now in medieval times, sauces were often thickened with ground up livers or, as is the case here, with breadcrumbs. So when your dish has simmered nicely for an hour, stir in the breadcrumbs, red wine vinegar, and salt. Also take this opportunity to taste and add any additional spices, as required.

We didn't want to stuff ourselves and so just ate the breasts, leaving the rest for another day. I also made one adjustment to the authenticity of our meal, by adding a vegetable.

Nobles in the middle ages were not huge fans of vegetables and fruit with their meals. A few vegetable dishes I came across didn't appeal to my modern palate (Composte being a dish of boiled root vegetables served cold in a sugary vinegar). In fact, it wasn't unknown for cooks of the day to produce elaborate meat concoctions designed to look like fruit - chicken liver mousse in the shape of an apple, anyone?

I settled on simple, and added some roasted carrots to our plates.



I was a little surprised that the sauce was not redder, given the wine, and when cooking, I was concerned that the spices might be overpowering. Once again, though, the spices combined to provide a flavorful yet delicately spiced dish, and the duck was deliciously tender. After all, nobles in the Middle Ages had notoriously weak teeth, given their love of sugar. Meat was often ground or cooked to be very soft. Peasants, on the other hand, relied on a diet of vegetables and had wonderfully healthy teeth.

Finally to dessert and for this we did enjoy some fruit: Peeres in Confyt, better known as pears poached in red wine.

2 pears
1 1/2 - 2 cups red wine
water
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ginger

Peel the pears, but leave the stems intact. If necessary, slice a teensy bit from the bottoms so they stand up. Place in a pan with water and 1 cup wine, making sure the water covers the pears. Poach for about 30-40 minutes.

Boil the remaining wine with the sugar and ginger to make a syrup, which you serve over the pears.

All in all, the entire meal was surprisingly easy to prepare, very flavorful, and not at all out of place at a modern dining table.

The flavors were sophisticated but never overpowering, and I look forward to creating my next medieval meal.

Cooking Paleo: Gluten-free Raspberry Walnut Brownies

Yesterday was the Kentucky Derby, which meant that, living in Kentucky, all I had heard about for the past week (at least) was how to make a mint julep, how the whole world stopped to watch the fastest two minutes in sport, etc. And feeling particularly curmudgeonly about the whole affair this year, I felt compelled to point out a few things:
1. On the subject of mint juleps, I am convinced that most people do not like them. How many people do you know that drink them at any other time of the year? It's a waste of good bourbon, IMO, which is why I drank my Buffalo Trace neat and unencumbered yesterday.
2. The whole world does not watch the Kentucky Derby, any more than most Kentuckians know or care about the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, the Grand National, or the Epsom Derby.
Sorry to burst bubbles, and by all means, if you like the Derby, watch it and enjoy it, but it's just a race.

But I digress...

We were invited to a friend's house to watch the Derby, eat burgoo, and play some board games. One of our friends has recently adopted a paleo, gluten-free diet for health reasons, and her toddler daughter is following the same diet. Knowing that they could not enjoy any Derby Pie, I decided to try my hand at baking a dessert suitable for them.

Gluten-Free Raspberry Walnut Brownies (adapted from the recipe for Peach Walnut Brownies at PaleOMG).

Note that I was able to find all of the specialist ingredients at my local Meijer.

1 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbs vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
about 1 cup fresh raspberries - I didn't measure these but just threw a few handfuls into the mix.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Throw your chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and nuke for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until they are melted and smooth.
Add everything else and mix.
Pour into an 8x8 pan and bake for about 20 minutes.

Simple, right?

Now these were quite squishy and moist. It being my first time making these, I'm not sure if that is normal or not. All I do know is that they tasted delicious and were much appreciated.

Adventures in Cheesemaking: The Beginning and Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes

Given my love of cheese, it is little surprise that for some time I've been intrigued by the idea of making my own. So when Groupon offered a deal for a cheesemaking kit from Tennessee's Standing Stone Farms late last year, how could I resist?

As it happens, some of the cultures and rennet are very temperature sensitive so I waited until an appropriate time and received my kit last month. Finally, with family visits out of the way, I decided to try my hand at the art of making cheese last Thursday. Looking through the detailed instruction booklet, I settled on attempting a mozzarella. I tell you this because what I ended up with was far from mozzarella, but it was still very tasty.

Ideally, I would have access to some local raw milk (and I'm working on that) but in the meantime, I wanted a recipe for which I could use store bought milk, and mozzarella fit the bill. (Apologies to any of you who thought I might be milking a water buffalo for this!)

Obviously, cheese is very susceptible to the introduction of any bacteria so it was important to sterilize all equipment before starting. Then, I was all set.

I added one gallon of milk, some citric acid, and some lipase powder to a large stainless steel pan and began to heat on the stovetop.

Once the temp reached 88°, I added some diluted calcium chloride, followed by some diluted rennet.

At this point, the milk started to split into curds and whey.

Now I think this is where I made my big mistake. The instructions said to heat to 105° with only a little stirring. As it happens my "little stirring" was clearly too much.

At the appropriate temperature, I removed the curds and microwaved, drained again, microwaved again.

Eventually, I had removed as much of the whey as possible, and was left with a bowl of curds (take that, Little Miss Muffet!)

According to my instruction booklet, I could now mold and stretch the curds, shaping it into stretchy balls of mozzarella. That was definitely not going to happen with my dry, crumbly mess. After some panic, thought, pondering, searching on the Web, and consideration, I decided that the best I could hope for was that it would make a passable ricotta equivalent. So I wrapped it in cheesecloth, and placed in the fridge.

By the next day, I had quite a hard cheese, which I see as a good sign for when I try my hand at making a molder hard cheese. Nevertheless, I decided to try using some of it in the following pancakes.

Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes with Brandied Cherries

I like pancakes but Nic and my schedules in the morning rarely, if ever, mesh and so the idea of making pancakes for brunch, even at the weekend, rarely flies. Instead, we occasionally enjoy brinner, pancakes, bacon, and sausage in the evening. My homemade cheese gave me the perfect excuse to make brinner, plus I had a jar of brandy soaked cherries that I was just dying to try.

For the pancakes, you need:

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 1/4 cups ricotta
4 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
juice and zest of 1 lemon

Mix together your dry ingredients, and then add the beaten eggs, milk, and lemon. Make your pancakes as you normally would in a hot skillet or griddle. Serve with cherries/maple syrup/sausage/ your choice of accompaniments.

The pancakes are delicious. The ricotta keeps them quite light and fluffy while the lemon gives them just the right amount of flavor.

The brandied cherries, on the other hand, were STRONG! Only a few at a time please.

All in all, I am fairly pleased with my first cheesemaking experience. Although I did not get the end product I expected, I did end up with something that can use with good results. I also have jars and jars of whey which I shall be finding new uses for in the coming weeks.

Loving My LoveWithFood Box

I first saw LoveWithFood mentioned by Andrew Zimmern on Twitter a month or so ago. It was enough to make me curious and so I hopped on over to their website (which you can access via my affiliate link here on this blog) to see what all the fuss was about.

For $10-15 a month (depending how many months you sign up for), you will receive a little red box, filled with food samples. Each month has a different theme or guest host. At the same time, for each box sold, a meal is donated to a food bank. But there is more. I can earn points each month I order a box and those points can accumulate to give me a month free or to donate more meals. AND if you like the samples, you can buy the product through their website.

Food samples and helping a good cause? I was sold and so happily signed up for a three month subscription to try it out. And last week, my first box arrived.

I mentioned that each box had a theme or guest host; April's selection of goodies was chosen by the fab Mr. Zimmern. Open Arms of Minnesota was the donation recipient.

So my goodies this month (all non-GMO, organically-grown):

Air Popped Sorghum Grain from Mini Pops. You've heard of popcorn, so how about pop...sorghum? These tiny little grains are an interesting alternative to America's favorite movie snack. I am not a huge popcorn fan anyway and the butter flavor was a little lacking. However, I would definitely try these again in one of the other flavors, possibly the Itsy Bitsy Chili Cheese.

Cocomels from JJ's Sweets. When I was young, my mum would give me caramels or toffees whenever I had a lose tooth. As a result, I have grown up with a certain degree of fear about eating these chewy sweets. In my mind, they are forever associated with pulling teeth out. That said, I loved the taste of the sea salt cocomel, a dairy-free caramel made with coconut milk. Flavorful, creamy, and INCREDIBLY chewy!

Organic Fennel Pollen from Pollen Ranch. I could smell this as soon as I opened my LoveWithFood box. Wow! I have not yet tried this but plan to use it later this week as a seasoning for pork.

Another product I have not tried yet is the Creamy Buffalo Ranch Dip from Buff Lo Dip. I'm thinking it will make a nice burger topping.

Lemony Lover Olives from Oloves. Olives are one of those things my tastebuds have grown into. Much like goat's cheese, I used to loathe them as a child; now I adore them and can't get enough. So these lemony, garlicky green olives are absolutely wonderful as a snack on their own, on a salad, a pizza,... anywhere you like olives.

Salty Pepper Nuggets from Somersault Snacks. I should point out that my husband has been sampling these products with me, and he has a tendency to hear "blah, blah, organic, blah,blah, tasteless". So I was quite surprised when, before I'd even opened these, he was raving about how good they were because he had tried them on a recent flight. I expected a granola/Chex mix type of deal, but instead, these were nice little round crackers of grain, seeds, and seasoning. Hubby has even asked me to order more, so you know they're good.

Speaking of ordering more, we both could not get enough of the Smoky Chili and Lime Chickpeas from The Good Bean. Roasted chickpeas seasoned with smoked paprika, chipotle chili, and lime juice. The flavor on these is intense! Spicy chili, zesty lime. These were definitely my favorite snack in this month's box.

So there you have the rundown of April samples. I'm already looking forward to May's delivery and wondering what the theme will be.

If you're interested in signing up for monthly samples, head over to www.lovewithfood.com or click on the link on my blog (Full Disclosure: if you sign up through my link, I get points).

Tired of Risotto? Try a Farrotto!

Farro makes a great alternative to rice in traditional risotto.

Last week, I shared how the folks over at Tuscan Fields were kind enough to send me some of their organic Italian farro to try, and I used one pack to make an Italian twist on Southern favorite Hoppin' John.

Since I had another package to try, I decided to try a recipe for Farrotto (risotto made with farro) that I found over at Italian Food Forever. I used a mix of regular button, oyster, and dried porcini mushrooms. The results were delicious withe farro providing an interesting, slightly nutty alternative to rice.

It looks like I'm a farro convert.

Who Says You Shouldn't Play With Your Food?

...Especially when they're ninjabread cookies!

An Italian Twist on a Southern Favorite

The folks over at Tuscan Fields were recently kind enough to send me some of their organic Italian farro to try.

I knew little about farro, except that it was a grain, so for the uninitiated... farro is an ancient grain member of the wheat family. Often confused with spelt, it is a different variety in its own right. A stable in the Tuscan diet since the days of the Caesar, farro is:

• high in protein
• high in fiber
• low in fat
• low on the Glycemic Index

Furthermore, the farro from Tuscan Fields is 100% organic and contains no genetically modified oddities. 

Hmmm... maybe it was time to rethink my obsession with pasta. 

As I considered what to make with my farro, I decided that I will use one pack as an alternative to rice in a traditional Italian dish, so expect to see a farro risotto here in the next few days. With my other pack, I wanted to combine Italian and Southern-style cooking, a Southern twist on an Italian ingredient, or perhaps an Italian twist on a Southern favorite. And what could be more Southern than Hoppin' John? But that's not a very Italian name, is it? And searching online, I already found several uses of the name Hoppin' Gianni for a risotto, which my dish is not.

Finally I settled on a name that reflects the South, the Italian, and our household here in Lexington. I present to you...

HOPPIN' GIANNI BROWN (serves 4)

Note: You will see that I used canned black-eyed peas in my recipe. It was a crazy hectic day and low-sodium canned beans are a wonderful time saver. If you use dried beans, remember to soak them, as per packet instructions, and adjust cooking times accordingly.

1 tbs olive oil

1 smoked ham shank

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 can low-sodium black-eyed peas

low-sodium chicken stock

fresh basil

2 cups fresh spinach

about half a bunch of fresh asparagus, broken into pieces an inch or so in length

salt and pepper to taste

shaved Parmesan

1 pack Tuscan Field Organic Farro alle Verdure

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Remove the meat from the ham shank and add to the pan with the onion and garlic. 

(You can use regular ham hocks but I loved the smokiness that this added to the overall flavor).

While the onion and garlic are softening, bring a pan with 3 cups of water to the boil. When boiling, add the farro, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 18-20 minutes.

To the ham and onion, add the asparagus, spinach, and some chicken stock. The amount of stock you add is largely according to preference. Some people like a very soupy dish so add more. I used about 1 cup. Add some salt and pepper to taste, although note that the ham shank may be quite salty so you won't need much seasoning. Also shred a few fresh basil leaves and add to the pot. Leave to simmer gently.

Serve the ham and vegetable mix with the farro, and topped with a few shavings of fresh Parmesan.

This was a big hit in our house. The farro has a slightly chewy texture and a nutty flavor, a little like that of brown rice but with an extra heartiness. The ham shank provided a good smokiness without being overly salty, and it was balanced by the fresh veggies. The verdict: a good combination of Southern and rustic Italian tastes. 

Thanks again to Tuscan Fields. I'm now looking forward to my risotto.