The Thorngrove Table

Fifteenth Century Frugality: Stewed Cold Cuts

Other people send you chocolate-flavoured candy - or if you're really lucky, real chocolate - for Easter. My mother sent me a leg of New Zealand lamb. Is she not awesome?

(There was also a bottle of lovely rosé champagne, some baby potatoes & a bunch of mouthwateringly tender asparagus, but as this post is about the lamb they don't really get a mention. Though yes, I definitely have a wonderful mother.)

As my housemates had swanned off to Czech for a fortnight however, I was left to consume the whole leg of lamb by myself. Of course this meant I could cook it to my preferred level of 'medium rare to medium', rather than the 'well done to briquette' that Mark prefers, but still, no easy task. After seeding it with garlic, covering it in rosemary & oil and roasting it, I was left with a lovely dinner - for several nights. I did visit friends for Easter Monday, but as they're vegetarians I couldn't really share any roast lamb with them!

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After a couple of nights of reheated roast and cold cuts, I was tossing up whether or not to make Shepherd's Pie, when I remembered a rather tasty dish, "Stewed Roast Mutton or Chicken", which I'd served at a medieval re-enactment feast, and made a couple of times since. I used cold roast chicken for the feast, and roast beef leftovers the other times, and both results were very nice.

This is a good 'example' recipe - the sweet and sour taste of meat, wine & vinegar, laced with cinnamon & saffron gives you a dish characteristic of the flavour of C.15th English cuisine. The recipe comes from Harleian MS 4016, a manuscript in the British Library and is very typical of medieval stews, which as I've previously mentioned, consisted of little more than meat, onions, spices and/or herbs, and liquid.

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Original Receipt
Harleian MS 4016
Take faire Mutton that hath ben roste, or elles Capons, or suche other flessh, and mynce it faire; put hit into a possenet, or elles bitwen ij siluer disshes; caste thereto faire parely, And oynons small mynced; then caste there-to wyn, and a litel vynegre or vergeous, pouder of peper, Canel, salt and saffron, and lete it stue on the faire coles, And then serue hit forthe; if he have no wyne ne vynegre, take Ale, Mustard, and A quantite of vergeous, and do this in the stede of vyne or vinegre.

My Transcription
Take good Mutton that has been roasted, or else Chickens, or other such meat, and mince it finely; put it into a possenet* or else between two silver dishes; add to it good parsley, and onions minced small; then add to it wine, and a little vinegar or verjuice, powder of pepper, cinnamon, salt and saffron, and let it stew on the good coals, and then serve it forth; if he [you] have no wine or vinegar, take ale, mustard and a quantity of verjuice, and use this instead of wine or vinegar.

*A possenet was specifically a small, three-legged metal cooking pot, usually with a handle and used for boiling and stewing.


Modern Redaction
About 400 g cold roast lamb (or other meat)
2 tsp chopped parsley
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp cinnamon, preferably freshly ground
salt & pepper
1 large pinch of saffron strands
1 Tb lukewarm water
2 tsp wine vinegar
150 ml wine (I used Shiraz)

1. First leave the saffron strands to soak in a tablespoon of lukewarm water, to soften them and release the flavour. This will take about 15 minutes and the water should be yellow by then.
2. Dice or chop the meat into small pieces
3. Put in a heavy pot or frypan.
4. Add the parsley, onion and cinnamon stick.
5. Season to taste.
6. Sprinkle the saffron strands (and their water) over the meat.
7. Pour the vinegar and wine over the meat.
8. Bring to the boil.
9. Reduce temperature to a simmer and cook until the onion is soft and the meat heated through.
10. Add a little extra wine if the 'stew' looks like drying out, but do not make it sloppy.
11. When served, the liquid should be almost reduced to a syrup or glaze.

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Bibliography
AUSTIN, Thomas, ed. "Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016" London: Oxford University Press, 1964.
Available online here at The University of Michigan's Middle English Compendium.

Photo: Cassava Cake

Another delicious test recipe from Pat's forthcoming "The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook", this time using an ingredient I'd never tried before - cassava root. I won't go into my traumas in finding the stuff, which is actually quite easy if you skip the experience of 'Lack of English' meets 'Strong Kiwi Accent' and problems resulting thereof.

The condensed milk on top got a bit toasty (my fault), but still tasted fantastic (yes, I also like my toasted marshmellows "black as the Earl of Hell's waistcoat", as my dad used to say) and the cake is moist, coconut-tinged and a delightful texture. There's actually two variations - the piece in the middle had added grated coconut and no milk topping. I made another batch of this sort to take to a friend's place over Easter, where it was declared "the Win!".

Leaving off the optional topping, the Cassava Cake is wheat-, gluten- and dairy-free, so is excellent for coeliacs and the gluten or dairy-intolerant. It practically has my Mum's name written on it! Definitely one for the 'repeat' file.

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Cherry Cupcakes & Chocolate Sour Cherry Cupcakes

If it had been me in the Garden of Eden, I would have cheerfully passed up all other fruits for a cherry. Offer me anything from an August Heart to a Zweitfruhe, and the Apple of Knowledge doesn't even get a look-in.

One of my Christmas treats every year when I was a child was a bowl of cherries, which as Christmas in New Zealand is the height of summer, were stupidly expensive. Sadly I had to share the fruit with the rest of my family, but it was a foregone conclusion that I would end up eating half of them. My adoration even extends to those little sweetened balls of artificial colour, maraschino cherries (but not, I must assert, to Cherry Coke, which is an abomination to my tastebuds).

In my recent baking adventures I have, naturally, been baking cherry cupcakes. The two recipes I like the most are quite different, although both (obviously) have cherries. The first is like an abbreviated version of my favourite cake, Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cherry Cake). The second is a light, faintly-scented cake with little nuggets of sugary cherry goodness in it.

Both recipes originate in Feargal Connolly's "500 Cupcakes & Muffins" , but I've changed the recipes somewhat. They can be halved with few problems, as long as you increase the flour to make sure the batter isn't too runny. Personally I think these are both fantastic without icing of any kind except a light dusting of icing sugar, but YMMV, so I will leave you to decide for yourselves.

(and yes, the reason there are only 2 cupcakes in the photos is because I ate most of them before I remembered to take shots)

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Schwarzwalder Kirschkleinekuchen
(or, more easily remembered and with better grammar - Black Forest Cherry Cupcakes)
This is a truly decadent little cupcake. Brandied cherries are good also, but I especially like it with sour cherries, as the taste contrast with the sweet, sour and faintly bitter is deeeelicious!

225 g / 8 oz unsalted butter, softened
4 Tb Dutch processed (i.e. alkalised) cocoa powder - I use Green & Black's Organic Cocoa Powder
225 g / 8 oz caster sugar
225 g / 8 oz self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
100 g / 3.5 oz sour cherries

1. Preheat the oven 175C/350F/GM4 & place 18 paper baking cases in cupcake/muffin tins, or - as I usually do - organise 18 silicon cupcake cases.
2. Sieve together the self-raising flour, cocoa and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until smooth.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well.
5. Fold in the flour mixture and the cherries, and stir until well combined with as few strokes as necessary.
6. Spoon the batter into the cases. I find filling them to 2/3 is best.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Remove and check. A toothpick should come out clean from the centre. If there are any crumbs, put the cupcakes back in the oven for another 3 - 5 minutes. Repeat until cupcakes are cooked.
9. Remove cases/tins from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
10. Remove the cupcakes from the cases/tins and cool on a rack.
11. Dust with icing sugar (Connolly suggests a dollop of sweetened whipped cream), or decorate with icing if you wish.

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Very Cherry Cupcakes
This second recipe is quite light, sweet and kinda girly to be honest! Sure to be a hit with your inner diva.

225 g / 8 oz unsalted butter, softened
225 g / 8 oz caster sugar
225 g / 8 oz self raising flour
50 g / 1 ¾ oz maraschino cherries, chopped in half
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 tb kirsch

1. Preheat the oven 175C/350F/GM4 & place 18 paper baking cases in cupcake/muffin tins, or - as I usually do - organise 18 silicon cupcake cases.
2. Combine all ingredients except the maraschino cherries together in a bowl.
3. Beat until smooth.
4. Mix in the maraschino cherries, with as few strokes as necessary.
5. Spoon the batter into the cases. I find filling them to 2/3 is best.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Remove and check. A toothpick should come out clean from the centre. If there are any crumbs, put the cupcakes back in the oven for another 3 - 5 minutes. Repeat until cupcakes are cooked.
8. Remove cases/tins from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
9. Remove the cupcakes from the cases/tins and cool on a rack.
10. Dust with icing sugar, or decorate with icing if you wish.

Photo: Hot & Sour Soup

Currently I am doing some testing for Pat Tanumihardja of Edible Words. She is writing The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook and I'll be trying out some of the recipes for her.

My favourite so far has been a very delicious Hot & Sour Soup, which has served me for lunches this week. My workmates have been deeply envious.

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"Guardian" Arbroath Smokies photo essay

The Guardian has a lovely little 7-shot picture essay by photographer Murdo MacLeod of Iain R. Spink making his Arbroath Smokies, a traditional smoked haddock.

The Arbroath Smokie is now officially a protected 'Geographical Indication', much like champagne or Roquefort cheese, and must be manufactured within 8 km of Arbroath, a small town northeast of Dundee, Scotland.

Click here to go view the photo essay:

Iain Spink smoking.
Image: Murdo MacLeod.

Savoy Coleslaw with Avocado Cream

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When I was about 10 or 11 my uncle Rocky, a chef at the time, told me that mixing coleslaw together with their hands was how chefs cleaned their fingernails. After that, I refused to eat coleslaw for years.

I no longer suffer from 'coleslaw reluctance' (although I still don't know - and have little desire to be illuminated either - as to whether Uncle Rocky was lying or not), and with the discovery of the delicious Savoy Cabbage in latter years, have even jumped on the I Love Cabbage bandwagon. Admittedly White Cabbage still raises childhood memories of over-boiled & tasteless limp leaves and I never buy it, but as an adult I can avoid particular vegetables without censure. Yah for being an adult!

Coleslaw has a lot going for it however. Firstly - look at those colours! Aren't they gorgeous? You want to eat that dish. Secondly; taste. Scrumptious fresh vegetables, a touch of sweet, a tang of sour and delicious cream. Mmm. Thirdly; texture. Slightly crunchy vegetation in a creamy sauce. Perfect match. Fourthly; much easier to digest than raw vegetables. Personally I have trouble digesting fruit and vege au natural, so coleslaw is easier on my tum than a normal salad. The dressing and blanching breaks down the vegetables enough that digestion isn't so much of a Big Thing. Fifthly, it keeps well. Always a bonus for those of us who make our own lunches and/or work late. There's probably a dozen other reasons why coleslaw is a big 'YES', but really, who needs more than that?

The coleslaw recipe I use is an amalgamation of various recipes, and can of course be played around with depending on what you have in your chiller at the time. I'm fond of avocado coleslaw however, as it adds just an extra little fillip of flavour. You can of course use a cream dressing, but I like the simple tastes of this version:

Coleslaw with Avocado Cream
1 head Savoy Cabbage
1 red onion, sliced finely
1 red capsicum (pepper), sliced finely
1 carrot, rough grated
1-2 Tb flavoured vinegar
1-2 Tb walnut or other salad oil
1 tsp sugar
pepper & salt to taste (about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp each usually)
1 cup creme fraiche, sour cream or cream
1 avocado

1. Wash and shred the cabbage.
2. Blanch the Savoy Cabbage in boiling hot water for a couple of minutes, until it is a bright bright 'just call me Green Lantern' green.
3. Drain the cabbage and press out all excess water. I squeeze it together in my hands in a locking grip, and it's amazing how much extra liquid you express like that. Doing it manually rather than with a tool means the leaves tend to spring back into shape better.
4. Mix the shredded cabbage with the onion, capsicum and carrot.
5. Beat together the vinegar (I used a mix of Forum red wine vinegar & white balsamic vinegar, which results in a slightly sharp & fiery but sweet flavour), oil, sugar, salt and pepper.
6. Pour dressing over cabbage and stir in.
7. Chop up the avocado and beat together with the cream/creme fraiche until smooth and lumpless. Alternately use a kitchen whizz - I use my Bamix processor for this.
8. Add avocado cream to cabbage.
9. Voila! Coleslaw with Avocado Cream. Eat and enjoy.

Hummingbird Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Even the most devoted Musaphile must tire of eating banana bread eventually, and last week I realised I had reached the point where the prospect generated disinterest rather than delight in my heart. So, searching for a new cake + banana recipe ensued.

The wonderful Tastespotting photo-link blog (one of my favourite ways to waste a lunch hour) led me to Cheryl Porro's excellent food blog, Cupcake Bakeshop, which concentrates on (no prizes for guessing) cupcakes.

In addition to gorgeous photography, Cupcake Bakeshop does a very thorough job of inventing, testing and listing recipes. These range from the Americacentric (S'mores Cupcakes) to the exotic (Adzuki Bean Paste Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Matcha Green Tea Frosting) to the healthy (Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting - one for my mum) to the OMG-I-definitely-hafta-try-that-one (Lime Custard Cupcake with Meringue Frosting).

On the banana front I was tempted by the Peanut Butter-Banana Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Glaze and a Caramelized Banana Disk, but eventually decided to tone my ambitions down to match my abilities, and instead chose to make the Hummingbird Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, a banana, pineapple & nut mixture. Apparently this is a common Southern US recipe, but as a NZ/English cook I'd never heard of it before.

This was a nice quick put-together (unlike the banana bread recipe) and as specified, made about 24 cupcakes. Eleven of these were in my 1" deep cupcake tray, but the rest were in my 2" deep individual silicon cups. The only deviations from the recipe were the substitution of mixed nuts for pecans, and the baking time; rather than 25 minutes at 350ºF/180ºC/GM4, the cupcakes in the tray took 30 minutes to cook and the individual cupcakes took 45 minutes. As I've mentioned before though, I believe this is a problem with my decrepit oven rather than inaccuracy on the recipe's part.

I only made half the amount of cream cheese icing (ooh - cream cheese icing!) listed, and found that was quite enough to give each cupcake a generous topping and still have a spoon or so to lick from the bowl afterwards (oops, I'm not supposed to admit to things like that, am I?).

Taste-wise, I'm really happy with the cupcakes. The outside is a little sticky (I assume from the pineapple juice/banana mush mixture), but browned really nicely with a good even surface denseness. The inside is light and moist, and the little bursts of flavour from the pineapple bits contrast nicely with the overall 'banana-ness' - a combination I wasn't sure about initially, but am now totally sold on. It's a sweet cupcake, especially with the addition of the (very yummy) cream cheese icing, but it isn't sickly, and the nuts provide a bit of textural interest to offset it too.

So, in summary - quick & easy to make, and very tasty. Definitely a recipe to repeat and I'm sure Tanya, who ends up with half the baked goodies, will agree. Of course Mark, who's allergic to bananas and can't partake, might not! But I've promised to make him non-banana cupcakes for my next batch of baking. I just have yet to decide what...

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Raspberry Semi-Freddo/Parfait, Ginger Glass Cookies & Raspberry Sauce

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For the current WTSIM's theme of "Terrines" I have no historical recipes to offer you, as Terrines and Pàtes per se are absent from the repertoire of the medieval cook. There are dishes which might - with a rather large leap of the imagination - be considered forebears (in the same way primordial slime might be considered our forebear) but the earliest definitive reference I could find in my bookcase was in my rather battered 1911 copy of the redoubtable Escoffier, which leaves a rather gaping hole of several centuries. So I shall leave it to experts such as Carolyn of C.18th Cuisine to illuminate the mysteries of terrine genesis, and concentrate on the modern era.

I make chicken liver pàte with some regularity during summer. It's an excellent lunch dish, in addition to keeping well, and it's easy to vary the recipe to stave off taste monotony and tailor to my food obsession of the moment (capers, peppadew, jellybeans, etc). However chicken liver pàte recipes are a dime a dozen, so I decided to stretch my wings a bit and attempt as my terrine something I wouldn't normally. Which with me, usually equates to a dessert that requires more than just basic assembly.

My final choice was a recipe from Gordon Ramsay's "Just Desserts" cookbook. Originally a guilty pleasure I bought just so I could read the recipes, look at the pretty food-porn pictures, and drool, I didn't actually expect to ever use this book. But I was wrong! I'm happy to say these are the fourth and fifth recipes I've now tried from Just Desserts (an astronomically higher number than from any other dessert recipe book I own!) and my first parfait recipe ever; the Strawberry and Vanilla Semi-Freddo.

The Parfait and the Pàte â bombe
This is a two-part recipe. First you make a pàte â bombe base (a mixture of 'hard boil' sugar syrup and egg yolks) and then you make the fruit and vanilla cream parfait, and put the two together. The recipe is for strawberries, however there was a box of raspberries in the freezer that were heading towards freezer-burn, so I thought I'd use those instead. I drained off the excess liquid and got about 300g solid weight fruit to use in the parfait. This was my only deviation. The pàte â bombe and parfait recipes were fairly straight forward and the end result was a gorgeously rich raspberry creaminess, quite heavy on the tongue.

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Strawberry [Raspberry] and Vanilla Semi-Freddo
1 quantity Pàte â bombe [see below]
250g hulled Strawberries & 125g Redcurrents or 500g box frozen Raspberries
200ml double cream
1 vanilla pod

1. Make the pàte â bombe. Purée the [fruit] in a food processor or blender until smooth, then sieve to remove the seeds if preferred. Fold the purée into the pàte â bombe. Cover and chill the mixture for 1 hour.
2. Pour the cream into a bowl. Slit open the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife, adding these to the cream. Three-quarters whip the cream until softly peaking.
3. Fold the vanilla cream into the [fruit] mixture, then freeze in a 1.2 litre loaf tin or individual moulds.
4. To unmould a large parfait, dip the mould into warm water for a few seconds, then invert on to a board and soften at room temperature for 5 - 10 minutes before slicing. Turn out individual parfaits straight on to serving plates.

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Pàte â bombe
100ml Water
150g Caster Sugar
5 large free-range Egg Yolks

1. Heat the sugar and water until clear.
2. Beat egg yolks until creamy.
3. Bring sugar to 'hard ball stage' or 120°C.
4. Drizzle sugar into yolks, whisking all the while.
5. For ice creams and parfaits, whisk until mixture is a thick foam.
6. Use at room temperature or chill for up to 2 days, whisking again before use.
   
   Paraphrased from Gordon Ramsay's "Just Desserts" - buy the book! It's worth it.

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The Ginger Glass Cookies
I thought these pretty cookies would make excellent side pieces for dessert - they have a nice spicy kick to them. They're simple to make and the substitution of Golden Syrup for the Liquid Glucose/Clear Corn Syrup didn't go too badly. I'll try the other syrup another time. The recipe comes from "The Cookie Book" by Catherine Atkinson, and I've paraphrased it:

Ginger Glass Cookies
50g unsalted Butter
40 g Liquid Glucose/Clear Corn Syrup (I used Golden Syrup)
90 g Caster Sugar
40 g plain Flour
1 tsp ground Ginger

1. Put the butter and liquid glucose in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted together.
2. Sift flour and ginger into the sugar.
3. Stir into the butter mixture.
4. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 25 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/GM4.
6. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment, or like I did, use a flexible silicon baking sheet.
7. Roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls and place them on the baking sheet.
8. Flatten them to as thin as possible. The book suggest laying another layer of parchment/silicon on top and using a rolling pin, but I found flattening the second lot with my fingers worked just as well, didn't show in the end result, and was a lot less fiddly!
9. If you want, stamp the cookies into rounds with a cutter or glass.
10. Bake for 5-6 minutes, until golden brown and lightly bubbling.
11. Leave on baking sheet a few minutes to firm up slightly, then either fold over or leave flat.
12. Leave to cool completely, then store in airtight container.

Note that I found the oven temperature too low to properly bake the cookies and had to turn my oven up to 190°C/375°F/GM5 to achieve success. This is probably because my oven is old, decrepit and anything but airtight, so your mileage might vary. I suggest doing this in two lots, as I did, and adjusting the heat accordingly if necessary.

The Raspberry Sauce
The sauce was made using the leftover raspberry juice (waste not, want not!), a cup of sugar syrup base, a tablespoon of cornflour and a shot of Bramley & Gage's delicious Blackcurrant Liqueur. Tasty, and the colour, as you can see, was glorious!

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And last, but definitely not least, Happy Birthday Johanna!

Sunday Lamb shots & silicon glee

Lamb roast for dinner this weekend. On which I got to try out my new camera. It's an Olympus EVOLT 510, which What Digital Camera recommended as the best of the entry level DSLRs. The last time I owned an SLR was almost ten years ago, a trusty old Praktika I'd owned since I was 16. It's somewhat amusing to note that digital SLR cameras don't help one shoot any faster. But so far I'm having great fun playing around with it - and realising just how much I'd come to rely on the autofocus...

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Please note underneath the lamb my spiffy new silicon roasting rack I got from Anne & Michel for Christmas. Thanks guys! Another excellent bit of kitchen kit that's so much easier to clean.

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