Tahiniyya: Carrots and Leeks in Sesame Paste

Carrots and leeks with sesame Paste 

from Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World

Tahiniyya, the original name of this recipe, derives from tahina, the term still used today to refer to
sesame paste. Tahini can be found ready-made in the international section of many markets, as well as in shops stocking Arab or Asian products.

Get some carrots, [the] white [part of some] leeks, sesame butter [tahina], wine vinegar, and atraf tib.
Slice the carrots and boil them. Take the [green] tops of the leeks and boil them separately, then drain
them and soften them in sesame oil. Put the tahina in a dish, sprinkle it with boiling water, and mix
honey, and soe atraf tib. put the drained carrots and leeks in a serving dish and add the tahina. You must do [this] in such a way that the quantity of carrots and leeks suits that of the condiments.

I made my own tahini using this modern recipe:
1 T soybean oil
2 T Water
1 T lime or lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T oregano, minced
1 T sesame seeds

I no longer have the link where I got this recipe. I used a cup of everything, used 1 and not 2 cups of
water and used dried oregano. I guessed on the amount of garlic and it tastes like I guessed right.
I dry toasted the sesame seeds ground them to a powder. Then I blended all of the ingredients together in a food processor. It takes about a week in the refrigerator before the bite of the garlic dies down and the flavors blend and the tahini starts to taste good. It makes a great salad dressing so I will have to make more. The original recipe using a tablespoon of the ingredients makes 4 servings. I made several cups.
I may have to use onions instead of leeks for this recipe for the June since leeks are in season from
September through March so June is right in the middle of their off season and I may not be able to get them, but it tasted great with onions.

6/16/2012 The Thursday before the meeting (3 days before) I had the chance to see the prepared Tahini (sesame butter) at Kabul Market, it looks like toasted sesame seeds ground into a butter with no other ingredients. Since I already had some I made prepared to use in the Tahiniyya I chose to just use it and when I was making the dish I realized that the recipe said you need wine vinegar but didn't say what to do with it, I guessed you are to mix it into the Tahina with the other ingredients for the sauce and since it already contained lemon juice I left the vinegar out. It was great but the addition of the flavored salt that Erin brought made it even better. Next time I make Tahini I will probably just grind the toasted sesame seeds and add any other flavoring to whatever portion I am using at the time. I did see leeks at the grocery store but probably because they are out of season they were very expensive. I chose to use onions since I had tried the dish with that before and knew it would still be good and much easier to afford.

Brouet Vert d’Oeufs et de Fromage (Eggs in Green Sauce)

Lady Elli's May Eggs #1
Brouet Vert d’Oeufs et de Fromage
Take parsley and a little cheese and some sage and a very little saffron,
mixed with bread and moistened with puree of peas or boiling water; grind
and strain and take ground ginger moistened with wine, and put it to boil,
then put some cheese in it, and eggs poached in water, and it should be
bright green. Le Menagier de Paris


I like to make a prettier presentation out of this, so instead of just
dropping eggs into the sauce, I cut hard-boiled eggs in half and lay them on
top of the green sauce and sprinkle with cheese, trying for a “daisies in the
grass” effect.
Three hard boiled eggs
1/3 cup fresh or frozen green peas
¼ cup fresh or 2 Tbsp dry parsley
¼ tsp. crumbled sage
one or two saffron threads
1 Tbsp. bread crumbs or as much as needed to thicken the puree (use rice flour for gluten free)
¼ tsp. ginger
1 tsp. white wine
¼ c. shredded Cheddar cheese or cheese of your choice.
Cook peas, wine, and herbs together. Puree with the bread crumbs and 1
Tbsp of the cheese. Spread sauce on serving plate and arrange halved eggs
on top, sprinkle with remaining cheese.

No photo is available at this time.

Links to Period Bread recipes

Period Bread Links:

http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Misc9recipes.pdf
multiple different recipes, starts on Pg 10:
Bread, Ain i Akbari
On Bread, Platina pp. 13-14 (Book 1)
Rastons, Two Fifteenth Century p. 52/63
Recipe for Folded Bread from Ifriqiyya, Andalusian p. A-59
Para Hazer Tortillon Relleno: To Make a Stuffed Tortillon, Diego Granado, Libro del arte de
cozina, 1599, Tr. Lady Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann)
Preparation of Qursas, Andalusian p. A-72
Loaf Kneaded with Butter, Andalusian p. A-24

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/historical/ant-rom-coll.html
must rolls (roman unleavened bread) and other roman recipes

http://recipewise.co.uk/manchet-bread-recipe
Manchet bread was late period and was made with the yeast left over from brewing alcohol, it isn't as
sour as sourdough, my orange yeast works well since it it a type of wine yeast.

http://www.food.com/recipe/period-style-almost-white-bread-332098
Period-Style almost-white bread, a recipe to approximate what manchet bread might have been like,
I've made this following the recipe and also using yeast cultured from orange peel. I don't have the
photo of it yet.

http://www.coquinaria.nl/english/recipes/Rombread.htm
I used this recipe in May, the photos and recipe are attached to the e-mail (you probably remember it)

Black Appetizer

Black Appetizer

From Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, Pg 64.
This dish is called black barida for the color of the pulp of a dark raisin variety. It is very similar to the sauce today to season cold fish in Bizerete and salted fish in Sfax. Both cities in Tunisia (see recipes 160 and 161.) I looked at these recipes and saw no real similarity between those recipes and this one so they were no help in doing this redaction.
Carefully crush some black raisins, mix with a little vinegar, strain, and add [to the liquid thus
obtained] a little cinnamon, just enough galangal, and a little ginger, oil, and chopped rue. Pour {this
sauce} over the chicken.

I did a slightly different approach than the recipe because first of all it seemed like some of the liquid
may have been coming from the raisins as if they weren't as dry as what we buy these days, that is my
guess because it says “carefully crush some black raisins” and I'm not sure why you would need to do it carefully unless they might squirt out some juice, I am no authority in medieval cooking so it was just my guess. This is what I did.

2 c dark raisins
¾ c + 2 T red wine vinegar
2 pinches dried rue
¼ tsp galangal powder (I got it at The Herb Pantry, 1 oz for $1.67. It comes in chunks of dried root so I ground it to a powder in my spice grinder)
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
2 T extra virgin olive
enough water to thin to a pourable consistency (since I guessed the raisins in the medieval recipe may
not have been as dried as much as the raisins we buy today It seemed like adding a little water
was the way to go, plus I didn't strain it since I pureed it so there was extra fiber to dilute)
Place all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree. Add water little by little until you reach a pourable consistency. Making the sauce is as easy as that. At first I didn’t want to try this sauce.
For months each time I saw it I would think, “a sauce of vinegar and raisins, yuck!” But then looking
for different sauces I realized that the raisins are sweet and the vinegar is sour so this would be a sweet and sour sauce, and it is not yuck! Many of us at the June Cooks Guild meeting, if not all of us, really enjoyed it. I'm still eating it.
This is one of the sauces I made for the June Cooks Guild meeting on Sauces and Condiments. Since we weren't able to do outdoor cooking for our July subject because of the Outdoor Burn Ban we chose to go with Cold Dishes for both July and August. I took the sauce that I had left from the June meeting since most of it was left and thinned it a little more with some Apple Cider Vinegar. Since I couldn't grill a chicken I cooked 5 chicken leg quarters under the oven broiler and then finished cooking them in a 350 degree oven, cooled them and tore them into smaller pieces and refrigerated them until the next day. At the Cooks Guild meeting I piled them on a serving plate and poured the sauce over them. The recipe just appears to have the chicken served whole but I thought it would be easier served in pieces.

8/5/12 My guess about the “black raisins not being fully dried may have some confirmation. Last week

we went to the grocery store and I was looking at their different varieties of grapes and I noticed the

black grapes had a Spanish labeling below the main label “(Raisins Negro)”, so it looks like the term

“raisins” and grapes can be somewhat interchangeable in Spanish and let's not forget that Andalusia

was one place where Spanish speaking people and the Islamic peoples intermingled.

Since I had some lamb meatballs and Rummaniyya Sauce in the freezer left over from the June meeting

I cooked the meatballs in beef broth and warmed the sauce. I took them in a cooler to keep them warm

and served them at the July meeting. As you can see I forgot to take photos until after people started

digging in.

Beef Torte

Beef Torte

from The Art of Cooking by Maestro Martino of Como
Veal, Kid, or Young Capon Torte
Take whichever of the meats listed above that you wish, boiling them first, and making sure that the
meat is lean and fatty [??]; and once you have removed every nerve, finely chop with a knife; then
crush slightly in a mortar; and take some fresh cheese, and little bit of good aged cheese; likewise a
little parsley and marjoram, finely chopping the one and the other, and ten or fifteen eggs with a pork
belly or veal udder that has been well boiled and very finely chopped, adding a bit of pepper, some
ginger, some cinnamon, some saffron, and cook the same way you would a white torte.

Lady Ellie's Redaction:

I used roast beef, not veal. I think by "nerve" he means tendons or gristle, which I really should have

attempted to extract, but it isn't easy to do. The pork belly or veal udder would be a fatty tissue; I used

cooked suet from the steer.

crust—flour, tallow, salt

3 c minced roast beef

1/2 c minced suet

1 c Ricotta cheese

½ c Romano cheese

3 eggs

2 TBSP parsley

½ tsp each marjoram, pepper and ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

pinch of saffron

The crusts for all these tortes were made by the hot water method suggested in the link his Excellency

offered a few months ago (boil water and suet or lard and beat the flour into it) I find it works quite

well.

Barbecued Pork

http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Misc9recipes.pdf

Barbecued Pork

Ni Tsan no. 47
Wash the meat. Rub spring onion, chinese pepper, honey, a little salt, and wine on it. Hang the meat on
bamboo sticks in the saucepan. In the pan put a cup of water and a cup of wine. Cover. Use moist
paper to seal up the pan. If the paper dries out, moisten it. Heat the pan with grass bunches; when one
is burned up, light another. Then stop the fire and leave for the time it takes to eat a meal. Touch the
cover of the pan; if it is cold, remove the cover and turn the meat over. Cover it again and seal again
with the moist paper. Heat again with one bunch of grass. It will be cooked when the pan cools again.

15 oz pork tenderloin 
1 T honey 
1 c rice wine
1 T chopped spring onion 
1/2 t salt 
1 c water
1/2 t pepper 
1 T wine

Mix onion, pepper, honey, and 1 T wine. Rub them on the pork. Let stand one hour. Put 1 c rice
wine and 1 c water in a pot. Arrange skewers so the pork tenderloin can lie on them and you can
still put the lid on; I did it by putting a lower pan inside the pot with the skewers lying across it.
Put on the lid, sealing with wet paper towels. Simmer about 1 hour 25 minutes. Take off heat, let
cool about an hour. Turn over the pork. Reseal. Bring back to a boil, simmer five minutes,
remove from the heat, let sit another half hour or so. Slice.

I made this the day before we left for Raptor War because my husband said that we were not hauling up a bunch of cooking stuff for a day trip and because I had no idea how much dry grass I would need to cook this.

I marinated it for about an hour following the amounts in the redaction and using ground white

pepper because I felt it would be more appropriate than black pepper. I first tried using the cooking

directions from the original text, I put a pie pan in the bottom of a heavy Aluminum pot, put bamboo

skewers across the top for the meat to be suspended on and poured the wine and water mixture into the pan. I was going to put our portable fire pit on the edge of the parking area so that I could reach it on level ground, but my husband said since it was a shared area we couldn't use that. He set it up about 3 feet from the sidewalk (I moved it closer to the step but I couldn't get it close enough to reach easily). I managed to put the pot inside it on 3 river rocks that were about 1 ½ inches tall and put a bunch of dry grass in the space between the stones but after the grass was set on fire I couldn't reach the area to put more grass under it unless I fell on top of it since I'm not good at walking on uneven ground yet. Since my husband was getting more upset at the fact that I was attempting to do it the medieval way (which he feels is no longer done because “those ways didn't work, that's why we've invented better ways of doing things.” I decided it wasn't worth the fight and I would follow the stove top directions. I took it inside and set the pot on the burner and lifted the lid to check that the meat was still positioned properly. A whiff of steam rushed up as soon as I lifted the lid. Even though I didn't get to complete the process I could see how cooking with dry grass could work. I followed the stove top directions but since I had put a probe thermometer into the meat I only cooked it for about a half hour and it was done so I didn't go the full 1 hour and 25 minutes because that would have been too long. I decided to just let it cool and do the second heating the next day at Raptor War unless we chose to eat it cold. I decided that heating it the first time gets it mostly cooked and when you turn it off it finishes cooking with the residual heat in the pot. After it cools you turn it over and basically reheat it. At Raptor War we chose to eat it cold. It was well liked by all. You couldn't really tell it was cooked in rice wine (I used Sake) but it did taste good, the children had some of the leftovers (pictured) and they both liked it. It was moist and tender. I may try this recipe again but I would like to do it when I can move better on uneven ground so that I can try cooking it with dry grass again because I feel it would be an interesting experience that we wouldn't often get.

Atraf at-Tib: The spice blend used in Rummaniyya

Atraf at-Tib: the spice blend used in Rummaniyya (Meatballs in Pomegranate Juice)

My ground meat dish for the April 2012 meeting was Rummaniyya: Meatballs in Pomegranate
Juice. But I didn't get the meatballs made before the meeting. Instead I fried them after the April
meeting and froze them to use for the June meeting since they are really more about the sauce and the
condiment Atraf tib. This gave me plenty of time to try the recipe before the meeting...They were
delicious! I will be very happy to make them again.
I pieced my rendition together from several recipes, The one listed for Rummaniyya in my book
Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, from this modern recipe for Lamb meatballs in Pomegranate
Sauce http://www.food.com/recipe/lamb-meatballs-with-pomegranate-sauce-368333
and from the instructions on how to make Andalusian Meatballs from
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Misc9recipes.pdf
I also got the ingredients for atraf at-tib from http://home.earthlink.net/~altabbakhah/Misc_ME_Food/SpiceboxBaghdadi.html but unfortunately there is some confusion on a couple of the spices used and as in most Medieval recipes no amounts are mentioned. It does however say that it seems to be a pre-version of Ras El Hanout so I looked up how to make that figuring that I could use only the ingredients mentioned in atraf at-tib. That recipe I found here
http://www.ochef.com/587.htm but since most spices are best when toasted I used the instructions for
making it from here http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Ras-El-Hanout-Spice-Blend
This is the recipe I came up with.
To make atraf at-tib:
The name ras el hanout, by the way, translates as "top of the shop," which some have taken to mean
"best of the best," but which others believe may simply mean that it was made in the front of the shop.
Ras el Hanout (Moroccan Seasoning)
From Couscous and Other Good Foods from Morocco, by Paula Wolfert.

Ingredients:
2 whole nutmegs
5 rosebuds (dried)
6 cinnamon sticks (I used cassia or Chinese cinnamon since that is what I have and most of the recipes
for Medieval Islamic Cuisine that I have call for Chinese cinnamon)
1 Tbsp whole fresh ginger root
3 cloves
12 allspice berries
10 white or green cardamom pods
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
3 long pepper or ½ tsp
6 blades of mace (you can’t buy blades of mace locally but I found the info to substitute a heafty pinch
of ground mace for each blade called for, it then suggests to taste and adjust accordingly since the
blades vary in size http://www.apinchof.com/cookingqanda.htm)

Dry fry (toast) the seeds and peppercorns in a heavy-based frying pan for one minute. Pour the seeds
and peppercorns into a mortar and pestle or processor for grinding. Add the remaining spices and salt.
Grind or process the seeds, salt and spices until smooth.

At http://lists.ansteorra.org/pipermail/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org/2009-January/023086.html
it lists all 12 ingredients of Atraf al-Tib:
“Atraf al-tib contains twelve ingredients. Which they are depends in part on the translator:
-- A.J. Arberry, p. 132, Medieval Arab Cookery;
-- Charles Perry, p. 21, Medieval Arab Cookery;
-- Nawal Nasrallah, pp. 643-644, Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens, listed in the index as afwah al-tib.
Unfortunately, the one book that lists ingredients, the 'Abbasid "Kitab Wusla ila al-Habib", gives no
proportions.
Nine of the ingredients are the same regardless of translator. But there are three on which they differ. I
am confident about two of them, but the last remains a mystery.
1. betel nut (Piper betle) (tanbul)
2. green cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) (hal)
3. cloves (Syzygium aromaticum) (kibash qaranful)
4. ginger (Zingiber officinale) (zanjabil)
5. long pepper (Piper longum) (dar fulful)
6. black pepper (Piper nigrum) (fulful)
7. nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) (jauz al-tib)
8. mace (Myristica fragrans) (bisbasa)
9. bay laurel leaves (Laurus nobilis) (warq rand)
10. rose buds (Rosa damascena) (zir ward) (Arberry & Nasrallah)
-- Perry gives rose hips, which is unlikely in my opinion, given how common rose petals are in cooking
and how rarely rose hips appear.
11. spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) (sunbul) (Perry & Nasrallah)
-- Arberry gave lavender, but we now know that this is inaccurate. Lavender does not appear in recipes
from the Eastern Mediterranean and not in the medicinal manuals i have from the region, although it is
frequently used in savory dishes in al-Andalus.

And finally the mystery ingredient:
12. lisan al-'asafir”

The 3 translators gave differant translations most of which are questionable to unlikely. Since the
ingreadient is undecided I didn't include it.
I added the cinnamon sticks and allspice berries even they were not in the original recipe for Atraif tib
because they sounded good and were available in that area at that time period and since there were two
ingredients I didn't add it kept the ingredients to the same amount. The other ingredient I didn't use was
Betel Nut. The research I did on it gave me this info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areca_nut

"The Areca nut is the seed of the Areca palm (Areca catechu), which grows in much of the tropical
Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. It is commonly referred to as "betel nut" as it is often chewed
wrapped in betel leaves.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has concluded that chewing areca nut is carcinogenic
to humans. It made this conclusion after reviewing the published scientific studies related to health
effects of chewing areca nut...Chewing the mixture of areca nut and betel leaf is a tradition, custom or
ritual which dates back thousands of years from South Asia to the Pacific. It constitutes an important
and popular cultural activity in many Asian and Oceanic countries, including India, Pakistan,...
Areca nuts are chewed with betel leaf for their effects as a mild stimulant,[3] causing a mild hot
sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness, although the effects vary from person to person.
The effect of chewing betel and the nut is relatively mild and could be compared to drinking a cup of
coffee. The areca nut contains tannins known as arecatannin, gallic acid, a fixed oil gum, a little
terpineol, lignin, various saline substances and three main alkaloids: Arecoline, Arecaidine and
Guvacine which have vasoconstricting properties....
In the Indian Subcontinent the chewing of betel and areca nut dates back to the pre-Vedic period
Harappan empire.[6] Formerly in India and Sri Lanka it was a custom of the royalty to chew Areca nut
and betel leaf. Kings had special attendants carrying a box with the ingredients for a good chewing
session. There was also a custom to chew Areca nut and betel leaf among lovers because of its breathfreshening
and relaxant properties. Hence there was a sexual symbolism attached to the chewing of the
nut and the leaf. The areca nut represented the male and the betel leaf the female principle."

So it's easy to see why this ingredient was so popular and why I chose not to use it. Being carcinogenic
to humans I don't know if I would be able to purchase it in the U.S. and it would be dangerous to take
internally.

Armored Turnips

http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Misc9recipes.pdf

Armored Turnips

Platina p. 147 (book 8)
Cut up turnips that have been either boiled or cooked under the ashes. Likewise do the same with rich
cheese, not too ripe. These should be smaller morsels than the turnips, though. In a pan greased with
butter or liquamen, make a layer of cheese first, then a layer of turnips, and so on, all the while
pouring in spice and some butter, from time to time. This dish is quickly cooked and should be eaten
quickly, too.
1 lb turnips (5 little) 2 T butter 1/4 t ginger 1 t sugar
10 oz cheddar cheese 1/2 t cinnamon 1/4 t pepper

Boil turnips about 30 minutes, peel and slice. Slice cheese thinner than turnips, with slices about
the same size. Layer turnips, sliced cheese and spices in 9"x5" baking pan, and bake 20 minutes
at 350°.
We have modified this recipe in accordance with the more detailed version in Martino’s
cookbook, which calls for “some sugar, some pepper and some sweet spices”. Martino was
apparently the source for Platina’s recipes.
I used about twice the amount of turnips called for here so doubled the entire recipe. I had to leave
before the turnips had boiled their full 30 minutes so they only got about 15 minutes and then sat in the
hot water till I got back, I thought they were done but after I made the dish realized they had needed
more cooking time. I decided that I liked the stronger flavor of leaving the skins but my family didn't
so I got to eat the whole dish by my self, which I didn't mind. I already had some powder douce made
up left from my March pasta dish ingredients. It had all of the ingredients called for except pepper and
had some nutmeg and sugar added. I didn't measure how much cheese I used but it seemed about right.
I thought it was good except for the turnips being under done and needing more salt and pepper. My
family doesn't like turnips so their comments would not be helpful here.

A Mazawwara. (A Lentil Dish)

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/islamic_w_veggies.html#21

A Muzawwara made by Lady Esther
(Vegetarian Dish) Beneficial for Tertian Fevers and Acute Fevers
Andalusian p. A-52
This recipe is also listed at
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Misc9recipes.pdf
And under the Sources for Recipes it states:
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteenth Century,** a translation by Charles Perry
of the Arabic edition of Ambrosio Huici Miranda with the assistance of an English translation by
Elise Fleming, Stephen Bloch, Habib ibn al-Andalusi and Janet Hinson of the Spanish translation
by Ambrosio Huici Miranda, published in full in the 5th edition of volume II of the cookbook
collection. Referred to below as “Andalusian.”
Take boiled peeled lentils and wash in hot water several times; put in the pot and add water without
covering them; cook and then throw in pieces of gourd, or the stems [ribs] of Swiss chard, or of lettuce
and its tender sprigs, or the flesh of cucumber or melon, and vinegar, coriander seed, a little cumin,
Chinese cinnamon, saffron and two ûqiyas of fresh oil; balance with a little salt and cook. Taste, and if
its flavor is pleasingly balanced between sweet and sour, [good;] and if not, reinforce until it is
equalized, according to taste, and leave it to lose its heat until it is cold and then serve.
2 c lentils
5 c water
1/4 c cider vinegar
3/4 t ground coriander
3/4 t cumin
1 1/2 t cinnamon
6 threads saffron
1/4 c oil
1 t salt
one of the following:
1 1/2 lb butternut squash
1 lb chard or beet leaves
1 lb lettuce
2 8" cucumbers
melon (?)
Boil lentils about 40 minutes until they start to get mushy. Add spices and vinegar and oil. Add one of
the vegetables; leafy vegetables should be torn up, squash or cucumbers are cut into bite-sized pieces
and cooked about 10-15 minutes before being added to lentils. Cook lettuce or chard version for about
10 minutes, until leaves are soft. Cook squash or cucumber version about 20 minutes. Be careful not to
burn during the final cooking.

I used squash because none of the other options sounded like they would taste good. Butternut squash
in from the new world and I didn't have any or the money to buy one since I spent most of this months
food money on meat and a good sized pumpkin. On this sight Duke (Sir Master Master) Cariadoc explains:
“ Pumpkin, Squash, Gourd
It seems to be well established that at least three of the four cultivated species of Cucurbita (C.pepo, C.
moschata and C. maxima) existed in the New World long before Columbus; the fourth
(C. ficifolia) is “ordinarily not thought of as a cultivated plant” (Whittaker), but apparently has
been cultivated in the past. Whitaker argues, on the evidence of the absence of these species in
the fifteenth century European herbals and their presence in the sixteenth century ones, that they
were introduced into Europe from the New World. A variety of C. pepo similar to the squash
now known as “Small Sugar” is illustrated in an herbal of 1542. What appears to be a field
pumpkin is illustrated in 1560, with other varieties appearing in later herbals during the century.
Whitaker concludes that “none of the cultivated species of Cucurbita were known to the botanists
of the Western world before 1492.” If so, all varieties of pumpkins, squash, and vegetable
marrows are inappropriate before 1492; some were known in the sixteenth century, but may or
may not have been sufficiently common to be used in feasts.
There is, however, a plant translated as “gourd” in both Italian and Islamic cookbooks before
1492. The Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti, which is 14th century, shows a “Cucurbite” that
looks exactly like a green butternut squash–a fact of which Whitaker seems unaware when
asserting the absence of all varieties of Cucurbita from pre-sixteenth century sources. It seems
likely, however, that his conclusion was correct, and that what is shown in the picture and used
in the recipes is not C. pepo but Lagenaria sicereia.
“The white-flowered gourd, Lagenaria sicereia,” seems to “have been common to both Old and
New Worlds” (Whitaker). I am told that the Italian Edible Gourd is a species of Lagenaria and
available from, among others, J.L. Hudson, Seedman (P.O.Box 1058, Redwood City, CA
94064). Simoons describes a Lagenaria still used in modern Chinese cooking. We have obtained
what we think is the right gourd from a Chinese grocery store and used it in period recipes with
satisfactory results. The taste and texture are somewhat similar to zucchini but less bitter. The
Chinese, or perhaps Vietnamese, name for one variety, which the grower assured us had white
flowers, is "opo." ” http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Misc9recipes.pdf

Since the purchase of the period type of gourd was even more out of the question I used some of the
large pumpkin I had bought since I like eating pumpkin and it gave me the push to make sure I didn't
let it spoil like last year.
I did not use saffron because I didn't have any. The oil I used was extra virgin olive oil. In the middle
east and the Mediterranean the two main oils they had were olive oil (referred to as oil of good quality)
and sesame-oil (which was from un-toasted sesame seeds). I chose to use the olive oil because it is
easier for me to purchase and costs less and I thought the taste would be better.
I chose to do this recipe because I couldn't afford to buy any more meat this month, most period recipes
for the ill are meatless because it is harder to digest meat and because the recipe contains coriander
which is one of the three spices that I am featuring which were used to try to fight the Plague. It is good
to see how coriander may have been used and this recipe is for the ill. I have done my own redaction
several times but any time I do use one of Duke Cariadoc's redactions I find that he quotes the original
recipe and does not deviate from the instructions if at all possible and the results are always delicious.
It was suggested by a friend that I photograph the steps to make a dish for competition but since middle
eastern dishes were made on burners or in tanur's (clay ovens) and I had to use my modern day
equivalents I felt that would not be a necessary step since I was not doing anything out of the modern day ordinary way of cooking.
10/16/12 We tried this dish at the meeting and it was very bland, perhaps when it was redacted that was
the intent since sick people can't eat anything too spicy. If I were ill I would have trouble getting it
down being so bland, I will work on increasing the amounts of spice and vinegar and oil to make it
taste better but still where a sick person could eat it. I'm also trying it with something more like lettuce
since my Plantina dish with lettuce and carrots went over well and I have gotten over my aversion to
cooking lettuce.

May Sallet of Wild Greens

A May Sallet of Wild Greens
by Lady Esther
Used for May 2012 Cooks Guild Meeting

This month I asked the ladies in Cooks Guild to come over and do the very period task of foraging for
salad greens. We went into my back yard (more like back jungle of weeds) and I was surprised to find
out that most of what was growing wild was edible. To the purchased salad mix I had gotten we added some dandelion leaves, wild mustard plant, leaves of common mallow which I grew up only knowing as morning glory and a lot of lambs quarters, plus the seeds of a type of grass. Lady Ellie added some of the herbs she had brought and I had some peas. Although not seasonal we also added some carrot and celery slices. I have been eating this “salad of weeds” for almost a week now in several variations and it is perhaps the best salad I've ever eaten. We dressed it with extra-virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar and kosher salt.

A June Sallet of Greens and Rose Petals

A June Sallet of Greens and Rose Petals
By Lady Esther

This month I asked anyone who could to bring something to add to the salad. I had a mix of salad very
similar to what we did in May ready to be added to. It contained mostly a purchased spring mix of
young salad greens, a few peas, some lambs quarters, mustard greens, and leaves of common mallow
(the flowers of which are also edible but they weren't in this one). Lady Ellie brought some purslane
which doesn't grow at my house due to lack of watering. Erin was kind enough to pick some of my
roses (which I think may be of the Gallica variety), wash them, spin them dry and pluck off the bitter
yellow-white base on the petals so that the rest of the petal could garnish the salad. That was a tedious
task which she was happy to do. Thank you to everyone who helped to make this beautiful salad.

2 July Sallets with Flowers and Herbs

2 July Sallets of Greens and Flowers

We decided since it would be hot in July having salad would be good. I had 3 kinds of mint ready to be harvested, but because there is a gentleman who is allergic to mint who usually attends Fighter Practice and we were going to have our Cooks Guild meeting at Fighter Practice in July I chose to make two salads.

Both salads had a small amount of purchased iceberg lettuce mix added to some shredded

cabbage (which is not exactly in season but it worked as a filler and I had it). Then I added a good

amount of Lambs Quarters and Common Mallow leaves. I sliced some carrots which were not very

large (carrots will not reach full size until late Fall). The week before I had found where some purslane was growing at the park so a while before the Cooks Guild meeting I went and gathered it, thoroughly washed it and added it to the salad. Zianna brought some more mallow leaves and yarrow from home. We separated that into two salads and in one was mixed chopped basil and parsley. It was

topped with a layer of a different kind of Mallow flowers, four cucumber blossoms and one large

squash blossom in the center. No one ate that one and I was later told it was because it was too

beautiful.

The second salad was mixed with a mixture of chopped mint, orange mint, and chocolate mint.

It was topped with a sprig on mint in the center surrounded by mallow flowers. I remembered to take

photo's a few minutes after we all started taking food and that salad had obviously had some taken from it so the photo doesn't completely reflect how it looked in all of it's beauty.

To dress the salads I brought salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, rice wine vinegar and a rose

infused apple cider vinegar. The recipe for the rose infused vinegar I found in a magazine called The

Herb Quarterly. This is the recipe:

Collect enough red rose petals to fill a quart jar (use very young petals: a rosebud that's just

about to open is ideal. Shake the petals to remove debris but do not rinse them under water. Even the

smallest amount of water clinging to the petals will make the vinegar murky and unattractive. Loosely pack the petals in a clean quart jar. Pour in apple-cider or white-wine vinegar and agitate with the handle of a wooden spoon to dislodge bubbles.

Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm area. Shake twice daily for at least four days. Strain

out the petals and add one tablespoon brown sugar to the rose vinegar. Try it on fresh greens. Store in a cruet or a clean, recycled salad dressing bottle.

I only made about half the recipe, put it in a jar with a lid instead of covering it with plastic

wrap and didn't add the sugar. The apple-cider vinegar looks very similar to red wine vinegar when it is done and that was using the dark pink roses I have instead of red roses. Although the recipe was from a modern source roses were used for flavoring in the middle ages and Renaissance much like vanilla or other flavorings are used today so a rose infused vinegar could have been period.

Where to buy hard to find ingredients

A list of Ethnic Markets and where to buy hard to find items in the Boise, Idaho area

Kabul Market
5751 W Overland Rd
Boise, ID 83705
(208) 322-6660

* they sell goat for stew meat
* good selection of herbs and spices
* extraordinarily helpful staff

10-7, 7 days a week
Comment from Lady Esther: Their clock seems to run slower than ours so don't expect them to open exactly at 10 am. The Goat is a good price if you want bone in chunks for stew. Every time
I go in they have added to their selection of spices, herbs, etc.
----------------------------------------------
Middle East Market
5811 W Franklin Rd
Boise, ID 83709
(208) 344-0754
Haven’t answered the phone, message mailbox is not yet set up. I've never made it there to see what they have but I've heard good things from others.
------------------------------------------------
Thana's Little Market
4109 W. Overland Rd
Boise, ID 83705
(208) 331-3033
OPEN 7 DAY’S A WK
10-7, wed 12-6
www.thanasworldmarket.com/

 They moved into a new, cleaner and larger location directly across the parking lot from where they used to be located on Overland so if you pull in and see it's the old location just look to your right.
Every Friday and Saturday fresh fish arrives, they also have chunks of lamb and goat both with and without bone.
They also sell palm oil, hard to find dal for Indian food making, anise in bulk for cheap, cheap, pure and local honey, kaffir lime leaves, curry leaves, galangal, lemongrass, whole nutmegs, whole coriander, peeled fava beans and I've seen taro root and fresh green fava beans. They also have a lot of bean, rice and seed flours.

There is not just one kind of ethnic food represented here, but the variety of all different grocery items from around the world.
-------------------------------------------------
India Food
602 N Orchard St
Boise, ID 83706
(208) 387-0000
Hours:
Mon, Sat 9:30 am - 8 pm
Sun 9:30 am - 7 pm
Comment from Lady Esther: Has a little bit of fresh produce, carries dried goods including lentils and types of flour that are difficult to find, large packages of spices, rose and orange blossom waters, rose and quince syrups, rose petal preserves, and quite a few non-food and decorative items. Their food section is at least twice as large as the Ishtar Market, although Ishtar Market is much closer to home it is worth driving half way across town to India Foods.
----------------------------------------------------
Ishtar Market and Restaurant
4516 W Overland Rd
Boise, ID 83705
No phone # is listed and no business hours are listed on their door but since they have a restaurant I would guess they are open during dinner and probably lunch times. They were closed when we stopped by between 9 and 10 AM. The grocery section is maybe a third the size of India Food but they do sell Lamb out of a freezer.
------------------------------------------------------
Asia Market on Fairview near Mitchell
9975 West Fairview Avenue Boise, ID 83704
(208) 321-4502

Asia Market is a source for many spices, dried mushrooms, coconut milk, Asian produce and specialties. Prices are very good, but selection of produce can vary tremendously, I haven't figured out the shipment schedule. That's where I usually get my kaffir lime leaves.
------------------------------------------------------
Meats Royale
http://www.meatsroyaleinc.com/
6300 W Overland Road
(208) 375-1341
When buying meats for medieval dishes don't forget Meats Royale on Overland near Cole, they have elk, rabbit, etc.
------------------------------------------------------
Just tonight I saw that the Co-op (8th and Fort) had quail in their meat freezer. "small brids" anyone?
http://www.boisecoop.com/
888 W. Fort St.
Boise, ID 83702
(208) 472-4500
7 am to 10 pm, 7 days a week
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Herb Pantry
2012 Canal Street
Boise, ID 83705
433-1882
Wednesdays and Thursdays 10am-6pm
Their catalog shows Safron, and Saflower to name a few period ingredients. Don't get your rosebuds here, these are for decoration and have rose sent added.
http://www.theherbpantry.com/index.php/Herbs-and-Specialities/bulk-herbs-and-specialities.html
http://theherbpantry.com/the-herb-pantry-catalog.pdf

Kardhabaj, A Medieval Middle Eastern Spit Roast Chicken

Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens, Page 372

A recipe for delicious kardhabaj that Abu al-Tayyib, Chamberlan of Mu'nis al-Muzaffar, gave to his master Mu'nis as a gift on a hot summer day:

Choose big and plump pullits, scald them [to remove feathers], clean them, and fumigate them (yubakhkhar) with moistened aloe wood ('ud nay'). Brush them with olive oil and almond oil then submerge them in a mixture of murri (liquid fermented sauce) stirred with rosewater, black pepper, and cassia.

     Insert the pullets into the roasting spit and rotate them on the fire until they brown and almost fall off the bones. Put them whole in sauce (sibagh) made by mixing sour juice of unripe grapes, thyme, basil (badharuj), parsley, and a bit of good qualityanjudhan (dried asafetida leaves). Finally crush on them some ice. It is a refreshing summer dish.

I worked this recipe out to be:

Make the marinade:

*In a measuring cup mix 1 1/2 cups inexpensive soy sauce (I used Kikkoman) or to make it Gluten Free use Tamari

1 tsp rosewater (I used Alwadi brand)

1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (the common spice called cinnamon in the U.S. is Chinese Cinnamon or Cassia.)

*Soy sauce (murri was made in Mercia, Spain starting in the month of March and taking 3 months to complete the process. They would mix water with barley flour to make lumps of dough, wrap them in palm leaves and leave them in the shade to mold. Then there was scraping, re-wraping, more molding. It was a long, involved process which produced a brown fermented liquid used as a condiment. Murri ceased to be made centuries ago. In the 20th century food writer Charles Perry traveled to Mercia, Spain and followed the medieval procedure to make murri. He wrote that a successful batch tastes kind of like soy sauce.)

1 whole frozen chicken, ( I used a 1.75 lb, free range, organic) defrosted and rinsed. Pat dry and rub with enough olive oil to coat. (I didn't have any almond oil). Place in a gallon sized zip lock bag and pour the marinade in. seal, put in a container and store in the fridge for at least an hour, moving the condense of the bag around so all of the chicken gets marinaded.

The cooking:

Slide the chicken onto a spit and cook it over medium flame till browned and well done. Place the whole chicken into a wide serving bowl or deep platter on top of the sauce. Then add crushed ice on top for a hot/chilled effect.

If you have never spit roasted a chicken the instructions can be found here:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2105337_roast-chickens-spit.html

The Sauce:

I had ordered sour grape juice (also called virjuice) online but it didn't arrive in time, so I substituted with lemon juice. Here's where I ordered the sour grape juice:

http://www.kalamala.com/products/unripe-grape-juice

$6.99 + $5 S&H

Here's the instructions for making it if you have access to unripe grapes:

http://www.giverecipe.com/homemade-fresh-verjuice.html

1 cup + 2 tsp Sour grape juice (virjuice) or 1 cup lemon juice + 1 tsp Merlot + 1 tsp Chardonnay

1 tsp of chopped fresh basil (I used 1/2 tsp dried basil because my attempts to grow it keep running into issues...and squirrels this year.)

1 TBSP stripped thyme leaves

1 TBSP chopped parsley

1 tsp asafetida powder or 1/2 tsp granulated garlic and 1/2 tsp granulated onion

Put the ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake to mix. Pour the sauce in the bottom of the serving dish and place the roast chicken on top.

Side Dish: Pickled Carrots

Side: Pickled Carrots

I was given a big bag of carrots...more than I could fit in the crisper so I needed to find something to do with them fast. I also needed a side to take with the chicken dish for the Cooks Guild Meeting. I looked in my new book Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens for a recipe for them. The only recipes I found were for carrot jam, carrot juice, carrot pudding and the like but nothing that would work well as a side dish. I did however find in the glossary on page 786 this info: It describes 3 types of carrots; red-orange, yellow and white. Then goes on to say "Carrot is bloating and slow to digest. However, it is extremely effective in stimulating coitus, especially when eaten pickled in vinegar (murabba). Prepared like this,it can warm up the stomach, stimulate the appetite, and help dispel gasses. (Ibn al- Baytar 164; al-Nuwayri 1176)."

Health effects aside, pickled carrots sounded good with spit roast chicken. There was no recipe so I found this modern recipe with period ingredients ( I left the smallest carrots whole and sliced the rest to the same size. I added the coriander because I love it, especially in pickling.) I had just over 2 lbs of carrots after they were washed and trimmed but it took 3 batches of the pickling solution to mostly fill the jars.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pickled-carrots/print

Pickled Carrots

The trick to pickled carrots is cooking them just long enough to retain a harvest-fresh "snap." These tangy treats are terrific for perking up a buffet table or relish tray or serving alongside a hearty sandwich.

6-8 ServingsPrep: 20 min. + chilling

Ingredients

• 1 pound carrots, cut into 3-inch julienne strips
• 3/4 cup water
• 2/3 cup white vinegar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick (3 inches), broken
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon mustard seed
• 1 1/2 tsp whole coriander

Directions

• Place 1 in. of water in a saucepan; add carrots. bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until carrots are
• crisp-tender. Drain and rinse in cold water. Place in a bowl and set
• aside.
• In a saucepan, combine water, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, whole cloves, coriander and mustard seed. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Cool; pour over the carrots.
• Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Discard cloves and
• cinnamon. Serve carrots with a slotted spoon. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Nutritional Facts: 1 serving (1/2 cup) equals 103 calories, trace fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 20 mg sodium, 25 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 1 g protein.

Here's a picture of one I made (along with ingredients I'm saving to make another batch of Atraf at-Tib.)

Skinless Beef Meatballs

Skinless Sausages (with a few more spices added to enhance flavor).
Based on the recipe from Denmark, early 17th century

To the original recipe I ordered fennel, sage and garlic powder.

1 lb ground beef

2 eggs

1 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp finely ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

2-3 tsp whole fennel seed

1 TBSP dried sage

2-3 tsp granulated garlic

Mix ground beef, eggs and spices. Scoop up approximately 1 tsp of beef mix. Roll into a ball then keep rolling to form a sausage shape (this works better with wet hands.) Drop a few at a time into boiling water to cook. Continue To roll out and cook until all the beef is used. 

Here is the original recipe:
http://greneboke.com/recipes/balls.shtml

Serving the sausages with the Cauli Verdi made it similar to the recipe for "Saulcisses en Potage" but the sausages could be served on the side so it could still be a vegetarian dish.

http;//feastofthecenturies.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/sauages-in-pottage

Cauli Verdi, a Winter Vegetable Soup

Made for the March 2014 Soups and Breads Fundraiser Lunch at Coronation.
(Shown served with Skinless Sausages)

http://lilithsapothecary.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/cauli-verdi-medieval-pottage-recipe-fit-for-a-lord/

Because they went into left field in their redaction I did my own redaction sticking closer to the original recipe. Here is what I did:

2 TBSP olive oil

1/2 fennel bulb, sliced

1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced

2 medium yellow onions, quartered and thinly sliced

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and thinly sliced

3 tart red cooking apples, cored and thinly sliced

enough of the saved cooking liquid from the cabbage to make a thick stew consistancy

1 tsp ground cardamom

2 tsp ground coriander

Place the sliced cabbage in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 3 minutes. Remove cabbage and drain, saving the boiling liquid and keeping it hot.Heat the oil in a second pot at medium heat, then add all of the vegetables, apple and salt and cook, stirring until tender. Add broth until you reach the desired consistency (or let continue cooking at low heat or in a slow cooker, adding more broth as needed). Mix in spices just before serving.

German Pea Soup, Erbsensuppen

Made for the Cooks Guild meeting January 2014.

A German pea soup. Recipe found in Ein New Kochbuck by Marx Rumpolt, a 16th century collection of German Recipes. I would try to type out the German name but I don't have all of the letters on my keyboard, so I found it typed out online.) 

Erbsensuppen - Pea Soup

http://sites.google.com/site/medievalcuisine/Euriol/recipe-index/erbesssuppen

I made this following the redaction of the person who posted it except I left out the saffron because I'm not that wealthy and we don't want to lose money on the March event lunch because of one ingredient. It tasted like a pea soup you might get at any restaurant today--no ham or pork. I thought it was delightfully salty so many people might find it has too much salt. I later found after turning off the crock pot for several hours, turning it back on to reheat, doing this several times, then leaving it off overnight that it develops a mild smokey flavor as if you had put smoked ham in it, but it's still vegetarian.

1 lb. split peas	1 small onion
2 tsp. olive oil	1 qt. vegetable broth
1 qt. water	½ tsp. ground black pepper
20 threads saffron	2 tsp. salt

Mince onion. Sautee onion in bottom of stock pot with oil until translucent. Then add broth and water, saffron, pepper, salt, and peas. Bring to boil. Simmer for 2 hours until peas are soft. Then use an immersion blender to the soup to make it creamy. Then serve.

Chicken and Rice Soup

This is the chicken soup I created for the March 2014 Soup and Bread Fundraiser Lunch at Coronation:

Chicken and rice soup

(All the ingredients are period, fit into this season and seem to be grown in the Mediterranean.)

4 chicken leg quarters

2 TBSP kosher salt

10 cups water

Put ingredients in a large slow cooker (I used a 7 quart) on High heat and cook until the chicken is well cooked. Remove the chicken. Throw away the skin, cut up the meat and refrigerate for later and place the bones back into the broth and continue to cook at least overnight.

The night before you plan to serve the soup add 4-6 cups water and allow to get hot. Add:

1 medium-large onion, chopped 

6-8 medium carrots, chopped

1/2 tsp finely ground black pepper

The cooked chicken pieces

The center stems and leaves of one stalk of celery

The stalks, leaves and 1/2 bulb of fennel that was left over from the Cauli Verdi recipe

2-3 cups Crimini mushrooms, sliced

Cook on high 3 hours or until done. This will make approximately 2 gallons.

Medieval Middle Eastern Lentil Dish_Adasiyya

I made this Dish for the March 2014 Cooks Guild Meeting on Lenten Foods. Lent during the middle ages Lent lasted for 40 days and during that "fast" no eggs, meat, or dairy was to be eaten. It was essentially a Vegan diet except that seafood was permitted. A lot of beans, almond milk and winter fruits and vegetables were eaten.

I think it was the first time I put saffron into a dish. As soon as you add it the color suddenly changes and becomes bright. I liked this dish and will probably make it often.

http://www.fearlesskitchen.com/2012/07/recipe-medieval-lentil-dish-adasiyya.html

... No medieval source from the Islamic world, at least no medieval source from the Islamic world that I've found, has the incredible volume of legume recipes that al-Warraq has left us.  As a result, I couldn't help but refer to him, over and over again.  I'm going to try to space out the recipes over a very long time here in order to minimize the impression that this blog devotes itself to tenth century Baghdadi cuisine, although that is a very tempting option sometimes.  

As a side note, I wonder why al-Warraq has given us so many more vegetarian recipes than other sources.  Vegetarianism was never a popular option in this time period in this part of the world, although I suspect that many poorer people followed a vegetarian lifestyle out of necessity rather than choice.  Legumes certainly find their way into other recipes from other places, and into other recipes from other times in the same place.  Why are so many of the vegan recipes only found in al-Warraq?  It probably doesn't matter, it certainly works out to my benefit, but I am curious.

Anyway, this is the first of the recipes I served at this year's Maine celebration.  It is the first because it starts with the letter A.  Like all split-lentil dishes it cooks up very quickly.  I needed to make quite a lot of it, but I learned in a previous disaster that lentils don't scale up well.  They burn a lot.  For that reason, I made three smaller batches at the same time.  If you're not cooking for an indeterminate but large-sized crowd, feel free to reduce all amounts by about a third.  I have to admit that I could not add the sugar.  I just couldn't make myself do it, and I realize that I sacrificed authenticity but I just couldn't stomach the thought of making this dish sweeter than it already was.  I felt that the onion was very sweet as it was. 

Adasiyya (serves about 20; approx. $0.33/serving)

3 onions, chopped, divided

6 tablespoons olive oil, divided

6 cups split lentils, divided

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

6 tablespoons vinegar, divided 

3 pinches saffron, divided

Water

Equipment:

• 3 medium saucepans

1. Combine 2 cups lentils with 1 chopped onion, 2 tablespoons oil and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt in each saucepan.  
2. Add water to amply cover and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for a while.
4. When the lentils are about half cooked - they will begin to disintegrate, but about half of them will still look whole and they will not be quite tender - add the vinegar and the saffron.  Continue to cook until they are almost dry and the lentils are tender.  
5. Cool and serve.