Laganophake: Roman Lentil & Red Wine Stew

If your entire idea of ancient Roman food and eating habits was formed by Caligula, then this healthy, hearty, and downright sensible lentil stew will certainly challenge that assumption.  And if you're thinking, "Laganophake? That sounds Greek. Who is she kidding with this Roman stuff?"  you get a gold star! Although this is a traditional Roman dish, its origins are Greek.

But wherever it comes from, this lentil stew has definitely withstood the test of time. The fragrant spices, wine, and onions come together to lend a subtle sweetness to the earthy flavor of the lentils; somehow it tastes simultaneously of the past and present.

Libum: Ancient Roman Cheese Bread

Let's see, my whole post-holiday "I'm not gonna eat any carbs for awhile" thing lasted, oh, what?  ... Two days? Two-and-half, if I'm being generous. Sigh.

In my defense,  there are extenuating circumstances. You see, Poppa Trix went and bought me a whole mess of cookbooks, most of which include irresistible bread recipes, like this one for libum, an ancient Roman cheese bread, from Mark Grant's Roman Cookery. And as long as I'm passing around some blame for my carb-o-mania, I might as well include The Winter Guest, a Madrid-based blog chock full of beautiful breads and starchy sundries that I absolutely covet. This was the site that introduced me to Roman Cookery, via a post about staititai, a scrumptious honey and sesame pizza.

Day 10: Fish in Erbage, Whole Snapper Stuffed with Oysters & Herbs in a Red Wine Butter Sauce

He hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his.

Shakespeare, Henry IV Part I

I have a confession to make: This is likely not the most perfectly historically accurate dish I have presented during the 12 Days of Medieval Feasting.  For one thing, the fish is supposed to be a pike, a popular fish in the Middle Ages, not a red snapper, but a whole pike was nowhere to be found.

The recipe itself is from Eating Like a King: A History of Royal Recipes, by Michelle Brown. The author says that pyke in erbage was served at the coronation feast of Queen Katherine, wife of Henry V, in 1419. That much I've confirmed - the dish was served, in fact, as a first course along with (among other things) "trought," "crabbys," and "tartys." 

Day 9: A Tart for Ember Day, a Luscious Cheese, Onion & Parsley Pie

Fasting days and Emberings be

Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie

old English rhyme

 

If I had to pick a favorite out of all the 12 Days of Feasting goodies I've made so far, this just might be the one.  After all, what's not to love about a fully-loaded quiche-style deep-dish pie?  Sure, there are some ingredients - currants, clove, and nutmeg, for example  -  that I probably wouldn't have thought to put in a savory dish before I started with all this medieval madness. But combined with the cheese, the onions, the parsley, and that buttery crust, it all works together beautifully.

Day 8: Fenkel in Soppes, or Fennel in Saffron and Ginger Sauce

Let us not forget to honor fennel. It grows on a strong stem and spreads its branches wide. Its taste is sweet enough; sweet too its smell.

from Hortulus, by ninth-century Benedictine abbot Walahfrid Strabo, trans. from the Latin by Raef Payne

I was initially attracted to making fenkel in soppes, or fennel in sauce, because I really can't think of anything else I've ever made where fennel was the center of attention. Sure, I've used fennel, most recently in my medieval salat, but I've never actually featured it as the main event.

But fennel was a big deal in the Middle Ages. Twelfth century mystic Hildegard of Bingen ascribed  medicinal properties to it, and believed it could treat coughs, colds, heart problems, and even body odor. My favorite supposed use for fennel was as an appetite suppressant and metabolism booster. I don't know about you, but after the holidays I think I'm going to eat fennel every day!

Day 7: Medieval Gynger Brede

An I had but one penny in the world, thous shouldst have it to buy ginger-bread

Shakespeare, Love's Labours Lost

You saw that this post was about gingerbread, and so you probably figured you'd see photos of cute little gingerbread men, or fancy houses with icing trim, or at the very least some nice, fluffy cake.  Well, this is medieval gingerbread, my friends, and it doesn't play like that. 

Day 6: Salat, a Crisp & Crunchy Medieval Salad of Herbs & Greens

Take persel, sawge, grene garlec, chibolles, letyes, leek, spinoches, borage ... fennel and toun cressis, rewe, rosemarye, purslarye; laue and waishe hem clene.

excerpt from recipe for salat from Forme of Cury, c. 1390

"Refreshing" may not be the first word that pops into your head when you think of medieval food, but that's exactly what this salad, or salat, is. After all, it's chock full of crunchy greens like watercress and fragrant herbs like the above-mentioned persel (parsley), sawge (sage), and rosemayre (rosemary).

It's also simultaneously familiar and surprising, insofar as greens with oil and vinegar are certainly not culinary news to anyone, yet the addition of the fresh herbs along with raw fennel, leeks, shallots, and garlic are not usually found combined in a modern salad, and it gives this dish a decidedly unique, yet pleasant, bite. I suspect that all the herbs and fennel were present not only for flavor, but perhaps for their breath-sweetening properties. I realize that the addition of raw leeks may tend to undercut my theory somewhat, but having eaten this salad, I found that the fennel really neutralized the onion breath quite a bit. (Others who encountered me that day may beg to differ!)

Day 5: A Dauce Egre, Fish with a Sweet & Sour Onion Sauce

Tak luces or tenches or fresch haddock, & seth hem & frye hem in oyle doliue. & pan tak vynegre & pe thridde part sugre & onyounnes smal myced, & boyle alle togedere, & maces & clowes & quybibes.  & ley pe fisch in disches & hyld be sew aboue & serue it forth.

Utilis Coquinario, fourteenth-century English culinary manuscript

The above text represents the entire recipe for dauce egre, or fish with a sweet and sour onion sauce, from the medieval culinary manuscript Utilus Coquinaro.  So now that you've got the recipe, what do you need me for? Kidding!  I don't know what I would have done without all the many excellent translations and interpretations that are available in print and online - though I must say that Middle English is starting to look a bit less foreign to me now, and I even rather enjoy reading it. (That said, I do not see historical reenactments in my future, as much as I do love a good wimple.)

I'm not going to lie, some of these dishes I've cooked up for the 12 Days of Feasting have been a little labor intensive, and at times I really have felt like an ancient serving wench or maid. (Or is that "mayde"?) Not that it hasn't been fun and worth it! Sometimes, though, it's nice to make something fresh and flavorful that's also simple. This dish totally fits that bill,  plus it tastes surprisingly modern.

Day 3: French Iowtes, or Peas Porridge with Onions

Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot, nine days old.
Some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it in the pot, nine days old.
Nursery Rhyme, origin unknown

Don't worry - these peas are not actually nine days old! In fact, they barely lasted one evening, with a little left over for lunch, as Poppa Trix and I gobbled them up in short order - they were that good.

This is another 600-year-old recipe from Forme of Cury, as interpreted by Gode Cookery. And while I haven't been able to find a direct connection between this dish and the modern British classic mushy peas, what with the mint, mashed up peas, and onion,  I find it hard to believe that none exists.

Day 2: Tart de Bry, a Medieval Brie Tart

Doesn't a nice cheese tart seem like the perfect thing for a Medieval feast?

What could be simpler? According to the fourteenth-century recipe collection Forme of Cury, all you have to do is, "Take a crust ynche deepe in a trap. Take yolkes of ayren rawe & cheese ruayn & medle it & pe yolkes togyder."

Got it? Luckily for those of us who aspire to actually try these dishes out,  there are many translations of these old texts available in print and online.  According to Gode Cookery, while the recipe title - Tart de Bry - seems to imply that the tart should be made of brie, in fact the "cheese ruayn" referred to in the recipe is actually rowan cheese, also known as autumn cheese, a semi-soft cheese that's not quite as soft as modern brie.  Oh - and as far as I can determine, it doesn't actually exist anymore.