Feast Menu + Recipes

Menu – First Course

Saffron and Leek soup (C14 English) 
Pommes (pork meatballs, C15 English) 
Genovese Cheese and Spinach tart (C16 German) 
Chickpea Salad (C16 Italian) 
Menu – Second Course

Beef and Wine Stew (C16 Italian) 
Roast Chicken OR Roast Beef
Almond and Garlic Sauce (C16 Italian) 
Honey Mustard Sauce (C15 English) 
Cheese Fritters (C16 Italian) 
Spiced Lentils with onion (C16 German) 
Carrots with Cumin (C15 English)
Menu – Third Course

Custard 
Gyngerbrede (C15 English) 
Poached Pears (C14 English)

Feast Recipes – First Course

Leeks with Saffron (C14 Engish)

To make blaunche porre.  Tak whyte lekys & perboyle hem & hewe hem smale with oynouns.  Cast it in good broth & sethe it up with smale bryddys.  Coloure it with saffferoun; powdur yt with pouder douce. (CI.IV.2)
To make golden leeks.  Take the white part of leeks and par-boil them and cut them small with onions.  Cast it in good broth and cook it up with small birds.  Colour it with saffron, and add powder douce.

Ingredients

  • 4 medium leeks
  • 2 brown onions
  • 500 ml vegetable stock
  • 1 tsp saffron strands
  • ½ tsp brown sugar
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon

Method

  1. Soak the saffron strands in a small amount of boiling water until the water is deep gold.
  2. Slice the leeks and onions finely.
  3. Put all the ingredients in a large pot and cook gently until the onions and leeks are soft (around 8 minutes).
  4. If serving as a side dish, drain off most of the stock.

Pommes (Pork Meatballs, C15 English)

Pompys. Take Beef, Porke, or Vele, on of hem, & raw, alle to-choppe it atte the dressoure, than grynd hem in a morter as smal as thou may, than caste ther-to Raw olkys of Eyroun, wyn, an a lytil whyte sugre: caste also ther-to pouder Pepyr, & Macys, Clowes, Quybibys, pouder Canelle, Synamoun, & Salt, & a lytil Safroun; & also choppe forth with Roysonys of coraunce; then take & make smale Pelettys round y-now, & loke that thou haue a fayre potte of Freysshe brothe of bef or of Capoun, & euer throw hem ther-on & lete hem sethe tyl that they ben y-now; then take & draw vppe a thryfty Mylke of Almaundys, with cold freysshe brothe of Bef, Vele, Moton, other Capoun, & a-lye it with floure of Rys & with Spycerye; & atte the dressoure ley thes pelettys .v. or .vj. in a dysshe, & then pore thin sewe aneward, & serue in, or ellys make a gode thryfty Syryppe & ley thin pelettys atte the dressoure ther-on, & that is gode seruyse. (Harl.279)
Take beef, pork or veal, one of them, raw, and chop it then grin them in a mortar as small as you may, then cast thereto egg yolks, wine, and a little white sugar; cast also thereto pepper, and mace, cloves, cubebs, cinnamon and salt and a little saffron; and also add chopped currants; then make small pellets round enough, and look that you have a fair pot of fresh beef or chicken broth, and throw them thereon and let them simmer til they be cooked enough, then take and draw up almond milk, with cold fresh broth of beef, veal, mutton or chicken, and mix it with flour or rice and with spicery, and at the dresser lay these pellets 5 or 6 in a dish, pour the sauce onward, and serve in, or else make a good syrup and lay these pellets at the dresser thereon, and that is good service.

Ingredients

The Meatballs
1 kg pork mince
2 eggs
1 L beef stock
½ cup wine
1 cup currants
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
Sauce
2 cups almond milk
3 tbs rice flour
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg

Method

  1. Mix pork mince, wine, egg yolks, currants and spices.
  2. Form into small balls, about an inch in diameter.
  3. Place in boiling broth and cook until done – about 15 minutes.  The meatballs will rise to the surface of the broth.
  4. Remove from broth and place in serving dish.
  5. In a separate pan mix almond milk, rice flour, cloves and mace.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer over medium heat until thick.
  6. Pour just enough sauce over the meatballs to thoroughly coat them and serve.

Genovese Cheese and Spinach Tart (C16 German)

30 Ain jenaweser torta zú machenn


Nempt 36 lott mangoldt oder spinetkraút, 6 lott geriben kesß, 5 lott bamel, 12 lott gerente milich, das keslin darúon, vnnd das kraút brien, aúch klainhacken vnnd als vnnderainanderrieren vnnd ain torta daraús machen mit ainer deckin.
Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin
30 To make Genovese tart

Take eighteen ounces of chard or spinach, three ounces of grated cheese, two and one half ounces of olive oil and the fresh cheese from six ounces of curdled milk. And blanch the herbs and chop them small and stir it all together and make a good covered tart with it.

Ingredients

  • 250g plain flour
  • 125g chilled butter
  • 2 egg yolks 
  • 2-3 tbs cold water
  • 80g parmesan cheese
  • 100g ricotta
  • 30 ml olive oil
  • ¼ tsp ground pepper

Method

  1. To make the pastry, cut the butter into cubes and put into a bowl with the flour.  Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until all the butter has been incorporated into the flour and the mix looks like bread crumbs.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks together, then add to the flour and butter, and mix well.
  3. Add 2 tbs of water and mix gently until it comes together.  If the mix won’t come together, add more water, a table spoon at a time.
  4. If you have a food processor, put the flour and butter into the bowl and process until it has come together, then add the eggs and water.  Process until the pastry forms into a ball in the bowl.  Add more water, a tablespoon at a time, if it doesn’t come together.
  5. Put the pastry in the fridge for around half an hour to rest and relax.
  6. Roll out the pastry to approx. 4mm thickness and line a greased pie plate with it.
  7. Blanch the spinach or silverbeet until the spinach has softened and lost most of its moisture.
  8. Add the cheeses, oil, salt and pepper, and mix well.
  9. Pour the mixture into the pie shell, and smooth off.
  10. Roll out a pastry lid and place on top of the pie. Trim the edges and press the lid into the tart rim. Cut a small incision into the lid of the pie.
  11. Bake the tart or pie in a 180°C oven for around 30 minutes for a tart, or 45 minutes for a pie, until the pastry is golden.
  12. Serve hot or cold.

Chickpea Salad (C16 Italian)

Ingredients

  • 50g dried chickpeas, red or white, or a mixture
  • 1L beef, vegetable or chicken stock
  • ½ bunch parsley, finely chopped
  • 30mL olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lemon

Method

  1. Soak the chickpeas for at least 8 hours in cold water.
  2. Drain the chickpeas and discard the water (on the garden).
  3. Put the chickpeas and stock into a pot, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Cook until tender, adding more water or stock as necessary.
  4. Drain the cooked chickpeas and allow to cool.
  5. Just before serving, mix together the lemon juice and oil, and mix thoroughly with the chickpeas.
  6. Sprinkle over the parsley and serve.

Feast Recipes – Second Course

Beef and Wine Stew (C16 Italian)

Ingredients

  • 500 g stewing beef
  • 500 ml red wine
  • 50 ml wine vinegar
  • 250g prunes
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cloves
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1 tbs coriander seeds

Method

  1. Grind the spices and add to the wine and vinegar and set aside.
  2. Cut the meat into chunks and put in the spiced wine to marinade.  Leave for at least 4 hours.
  3. Add the meat and marinade to a pot and bring to the boil.  Cover and reduce to a simmer.  Stir occasionally.
  4. Around 2 hours before serving, add the prunes and stir well.
  5. Serve the meat and broth together.

Roast Chicken OR Roast Beef

If you want to roast your meat yourself rather than buying it, rub the surface of the meat well with olive oil, lard or beef dripping, with salt and pepper.  My advice is to cook the meat for a longer time at around 150°C, both for the chicken and beef.  It will take longer to cook, but you will end up with a much more moist roast, rather than drying it out.  While it’s cooking, brush the surface of the meat regularly with more oil, lard or beef dripping.

Or, you could just buy your roast meat from the supermarket.

Almond and Garlic Sauce (C16 Italian)

White garlic sauce: Take some almonds that have been carefully peeled and crush; when they are half-crushed, add however much garlic you like, and crush together adding some cool water so that they do not purge their oil. Then take some bread white and soak it in lean meat broth, or fish broth if on a fast day; and you can serve this garlic sauce to suit all seasons, fat and lean, as you wish.

Ingredients

  • ½ loaf bread slices, torn
  • 60g slivered almonds
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • Water

Method

  1. Peel the individual garlic bulbs, and finely chop, crush or grate.
  2. Put the slivered almonds, torn up bread slices, and crushed garlic into a blender with just enough water to cover.  Blend until smooth, and add more water until the desired consistency is reached.

Lumbard Mustard (Honey Mustard Sauce – C15 English)

White garlic sauce: Take some almonds that have been carefully Take mustard seed and waisshe it, & drye it in an ovene. Grynde it drye; sarse it thurgh a sarse. Clarifie hony with wyne & vyneger& stere it wel togedre and make it thikke ynowgh; & whan thou wilt spende therof make it thynne with wyne. (CI IV.150)
Take mustard seed and wash it and dry it in an oven.  Grind it dry and sieve it.  Clarify honey with wine and vinegar and stir it well together and make it thick enough; and when you would use it make it thin with wine.

Ingredients

  • 150 mL honey    
  • 2 tbs wine vinegar    
  • 2 tbs mustard powder    
  • 50 mL red wine

Method

  1. Mix all ingredients, and heat just before serving.

Cheese Fritters (C16 Italian)

Fritters made with egg whites, sifted flour, and fresh cheese: Follow the directions and method described in the preceding recipe (below), but add neither milk nor elderflowers to these fritters.

Elderflower Fritters: Take some good fresh cheese and a little aged cheese, and crush well, adding a bit of sifted flour to them and the necessary amount of egg whites; likewise, a little milk and some sugar; and grind all these things well together, remove from the mortar, and add a sufficient amount of elderflowers at your own discretion; they should not be crushed or crumbled, so as not to make the mixture too clear, that is, too liquid, so that you can form the round fritters using your hands, or in whatever shape you like, and then fry them in good rendered lard or butter, or in good oil; and serve very hot.

Ingredients

  • 375g ricotta cheese
  • 70g parmesan cheese
  • 2 egg whites
  • 100g flour
  • Olive oil
  • Butter

Method

  1. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine the cheeses and flour, then incorporate into the egg whites.
  3. Shape the mix into small patties.
  4. Heat the oil and butter in a fry pan, then fry the fritters until golden.  Serve hot or cold.

Spiced Lentils with Onion (C16 German)

Boil lentils quite slowly, put a fried onion to it, sour it, spice it, add raisins, and serve it over toasted bread as an evening meal. Balthasar Staindl, Ain künstlichs und nützlichs Kochbuch, 257.

Ingredients

  • 200g Lentils    
  • 1 white onion    
  • 50g raisins
  • 30mL cider vinegar    
  • ½ tsp ginger    
  • ½ tsp pepper    
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon    
  • ¼ tsp cloves

Method

  1. Peel and finely dice the onion, then fry it until it softens and changes colour.
  2. Combine all ingredients in a pot, using enough liquid so ingredients are well covered.
  3. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.
  4. Cook until the lentils have softened, adding more liquid if necessary.
  5. Drain the lentils if needed.  Serve warm.

Spiced Lentils with Onion (C16 German)

Ingredients

  • Carrots
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Cumin

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to around 180°.  (Note: if you are already roasting meat in your oven at a lower temperature, the cooking temperature for the carrots won’t matter.  They will just take longer to cook.)
  2. If the carrots have particularly tough skins, peel them.  Remove the tops from the carrots, then slice them into quarters down the length of the carrot.
  3. Bring a pot of water to the boil, then boil the carrots for around 2 minutes before removing them from the water.  You aren’t trying to cook the carrots, you’re just softening them slightly before roasting.
  4. Drizzle the base of a roasting tray with olive oil, then put the carrots in the tray.  Sprinkle the salt, pepper and cumin over the carrots, then put the tray in the oven.
  5. Cook the carrots for around 20-30 minutes, or until they have softened and gone crispy at the edges.

Feast Recipes – Third Course

Custard

Ingredients

  • 250 mL milk    
  • 250 mL thickened cream    
  • 4 egg yolks    
  • 50g caster sugar

Method

  1. Combine milk and cream in a saucepan, and stir well to combine.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together well until you have a smooth, shiny paste.
  3. Over a medium heat, cook the milk and cream for around 5 minutes, until its very hot BUT NOT BOILING.  Stir it constantly while it’s cooking.  Remove from the heat when it’s cooked, but leave the milk and cream mix in the pan.
  4. Pour 3 tablespoons of the hot milk and cream mix into the egg and sugar.  Do this one spoonful at a time, and stir well before adding the next spoonful.  This will bring the eggs up in temperature, so they won’t curdle when you add the eggs to the hot milk and cream.
  5. Slowly pour the egg mix into the saucepan containing the hot milk and cream mix, and stir well while pouring.
  6. Put the saucepan back onto the stove, over the lowest heat you can manage, and stir constantly.  Gradually the custard mix will thicken.  It’s done when the custard coats a spoon, and you can drag a finger across the back of the spoon without the custard dribbling into the stripe you leave on the spoon.

NB: KEEP STIRRING THE CUSTARD CONSTANTLY, AND DO NOT LET IT BOIL AT ANY STAGE.  Otherwise you will wind up with weirdly flavoured and textured scrambled egg rather than custard.

Gyngerbrede (C15 English)

Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & throw ther-on; take grayted Bred, & make it so chargeaunt that it wol be y-lechyd; then take pouder Canelle, & straw ther-on y-now; then make yt square, lyke as thou wolt leche yt; take when thou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leves a-bouyn, y-stykyd ther-on, on clowys. And if thou wolt haue it Red, coloure it with Saunderys y-now. (Harl. 279)
Take a quart of honey and seethe it and skim it clean. Take saffron, powdered pepper, and throw thereon.  Take grated bread and make it so stiff that it will be cut in slices. Then take cinnamon powder and strew thereon enough.  Then make it square as though thou wouldst slice it.  Take, when thou have sliced it, and cast box leaves above, stuck thereon in cloves. And if thou will have it red, colour it with sandalwood enough.

Ingredients

  • 500 ml honey    
  • 500 g bread crumbs (approx)    
  • 1 tbs fresh or powdered ginger (optional)    
  • ½ tsp sandalwood (optional).    
  • ½ tbs cinnamon    
  • ¼ tsp white pepper    
  • Pinch saffron

Method

  1. Bring the honey to a boil and skim off any scum.
  2. Lower the heat underneath the pan, add the spices, and sandalwood if using, adjusting the quantities to suit your taste.
  3. Slowly beat in the bread crumbs. Add just enough bread crumbs to achieve a thick, stiff, well-blended mass. You will know you have enough bread crumbs when the mix becomes hard to stir; this may take more or less bread crumbs than the amount specified.
  4. Remove from the heat and turn the mixture onto a lightly greased shallow baking tray. Press the gingerbread evenly out into the pan.
  5. Leave to cool in the fridge.  When cool, gently ease the gingerbread out of the tray, and cut into small squares.

Poached Pears (C14 English)

Ingredients

  • 500g pears
  • 500mL red wine 
  • 500mL water    
  • 100g caster sugar   
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder    
  • 1 tsp powdered ginger

Method

  1. Peel the pears, then cut in half and remove the seeds and core.
  2. Combine the wine, water, sugar, cinnamon and ginger.  Stir to combine, then bring to the boil.
  3. Reduce the wine and water mix to a simmer, then add the pears.
  4. Continue cooking until the pears have softened, then remove from the poaching liquid.  This will take around half an hour.