Tonight’s tart was a mashup of a modern onion tart (Deborah Madison’s onion tart) and a medieval tart in ember day (from Forme of Curye, ab. 1390 A.D, redaction by Cassandra Baldassano).

2 large white onions, chopped
2 T butter
~1 T ginger
~1 T basil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
3 eggs
~1/2 cup currants
~1/2 lb. Gouda

Sautée onions in butter w/ spices until sweet & golden. Let cool. Whisk milk & cream together. Beat in eggs. Whisk in currants, grated Gouda, cooled onion mixture. Pour into pie crust in tart or pie pan. Bake at 400ºF for 50 minutes.

Pie crust:
130 g. flour (1 cup plus 1 T)
1/4 t saffron salt
6 T butter
~4 T cold water

Whisk flour & salt together. Cut in butter (pastry cutter is your friend!). Stir in cold water until dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap, flatten into a disk, refrigerate for half an hour before rolling out into pie crust.

Serve w/ salad, bread, lemonade & wine.

Original redactions are found here: Iron Age Recipes. I made some changes — for one, the butter allotted to the oatcakes seemed woefully insufficient.

Oatcakes:

500g McCanns steel cut oats
250g spelt grains
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon sea salt
~1 cup water

Process oats & spelt until flour-like in consistency, with some graininess left for texture. Stir in salt. Pastry cut in butter until cornmeal-like-texture. Stir in water to make a stiff dough. Form flat cakes, cook on griddle until done. Cool. Serve with Irish cheddar. Yield: approx. 30.

Pork & barley stew:

2lbs. stew pork
6 colored carrots, chopped
1 box shredded red cabbage
2 scallions, chopped
~2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
~2 tbsp fresh parsley
3 bayleaves
~15 juniper berries, crushed
olive oil (or animal dripping)
2 bottles mead
~2 tbsp honey
1 cup pearl barley

Marinate pork overnight in mead, thyme, parsley, bay, juniper berries. Remove pork from marinade, strain out herbs & berries. In a dutch oven, heat up olive oil, brown pork, carrots, scallions, cabbage. Add marinade mead, honey, pearl barley. Simmer for 2.5 hours, partly covered & then fully covered, until tender.

Bean fritters:

3.5 oz. chopped, roasted, hazelnuts
1 box chopped rainbow chard
2 tablespoons horseradish
1 can black-eyed peas
2 cans fava beans
1 egg
~3 tablespoons salt
~1/2 cup bread flour
~1.5 sticks butter

Sauté hazelnuts & chard in butter until wilted. Move to bowl. Mix in peas, beans & horseradish. Beat in 1 egg, salt to taste, then enough bread flour to form a soft dough. Form into sausage link shapes (cylinders about 5 inches long). Fry in plenty of butter until done / browned. Yield: about 16.

Fruit in cream:

6 oz. blackberries
4.5 oz. blueberries
3.5 oz. hazelnuts, chopped
~1 cup heavy cream
honey
mint

Mix berries & nuts. Pour over cream. Drizzle with honey. Top with mint.

Reference URL: http://briwaf.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-menu-for-plausibly-12th-or-13th.html

These redactions are by Eulalia Piebakere. I urge you to visit her original work at the above link. Below are excerpted the recipes I used for our Evening in the Solar, April 21st, 2016.

(prep order in parentheses)

(7) Bread — purchased

(6) Salat — field greens in vinaigrette

(4) Chyches: Legumes such as fava beans, chick peas, lentils, and peas were widely eaten by medieval people. This particular recipe is based on later recipes, but adjusted to reflect the spices reported as common in the above-referenced 12th century recipe collection (which were parsley, sage, pepper, garlic, mustard and coriander). For 8 people:
·      2 (standard sized) cans chick peas, drained and rinsed
·      2 T olive oil
·      2 cloves garlic, minced [I used 4 cloves of garlic]
·      Coriander and pepper (to taste); salt optional depending on beans
·      Optional: 1 ounce fresh parsley, minced [I used ~2 oz. parsley]
Toss together all ingredients and bake in a ceramic dish at 350° for 30-40 minutes.

(3) Makerouns: Contrary to popular belief, Marco Polo had nothing to do with pasta in Europe. Pasta recipes appear in some of the earliest medieval cookbooks and are typically based around cheese and often include sweet spices. This particular recipe combines elements of several later period (14th and 15th century) baked pasta dishes. For 8 servings (as a side dish — these are smallish servings):
·      8 oz dry pasta (wide egg noodles), cooked per package directions
·      2 ounces fresh salty cheese, such as Queso Fresco or Queso Blanco
·      1 tablespoon butter
·      2 teaspoons granulated sugar
·      1 teaspoon powder douce (sweet spices: a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove) [I used mace instead of cloves, 1 tsp. of each]
Mix cooked noodles with butter, cheese, and sugar/spices. Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes. Note: the amounts of cheese and butter are easily adjusted. Consider this a starting point.

(2) Pottage of Rice: Spiced rice dishes with almond milk appear to have come to Western Europe by way of the Islamic Near East as a result of the crusades. While not based on one specific recipe, such dishes can be found across medieval recipe collections originating from many time periods and places. For 8 servings:
·      1 cup (before cooking) short grained brown rice
·      2 cups thick almond milk
·      1 tablespoon sugar (or honey)
·      1 teaspoon powder douce
·      Salt to taste
Cook the rice (I use a rice cooker) fully, then combine with remaining ingredients and cook very gently, stirring often, until liquid is mostly absorbed. This second cooking works extremely well in a slow-cooker on low heat.

(5) A dish of lekes: Leeks were a very commonly consumed vegetable in period and would have been one of the few vegetables still available in late winter. To make 8 servings:
·      5 large leeks
·      4 T butter
·      Spices: coriander, cumin, pepper, and salt
Slice leeks in half, rinse thoroughly, cut into 1” slices and rinse again (leeks are quite sandy). Place slices in a baking dish with butter and spices. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until leeks are tender. Or:  Melt butter in a large pan, cook leeks on gentle heat for 15 minutes or until tender, stirring only often enough to prevent burning.

(1) Small Tarts: These small tarts were intended to make use of ingredients that would have been readily available (in storage) at this time of year.
            Pastry:
·      1 ½ cups flour
·      1 stick butter
·      Pinch salt
·      2-4 tablespoons water
(This is a modern short-crust pastry; if you’re curious about how pastry was actually made in period, come to Kingdom A&S and talk to me about my research project!) Combine salt with flour and cut in butter with a pastry blending tool or two butter knives, then rub butter between fingers into flour until mixture resembles coarse sand. Add water a tablespoon at a time and stir gently until dough forms a ball.
Filling:
·      2 cups dried fruit (mix of dates, raisins, prunes, etc.)
·      1 cup red wine
·      2 T candied ginger, finely minced
·      Powder douce and salt to taste
Mix spices with dried fruit and let soak several hours or overnight. Mix in candied ginger. Roll out crust and use it to line 8 muffin cups. Scoop filling into cups. Bake at 350° for ~30 min (until edges of crusts just start to brown).

Drinks: lemonade, wine, water.

Reference URL: http://silverhorde.viahistoria.com/main.html?research/MostlyMongolianCooking.html

These redactions are by Keith Mondschein, known in the SCA as Lord Aburga Chagatai. I urge you to visit the original page at the above link. Excerpted below are the recipes I used for the Ostgardr Commons feast, April 15th, 2016.

Bal-po Soup (This is the name of a Western Indian Food)
        It supplements the center, and brings down ch’i. It extends the diaphragm.
        Mutton (leg; bone and cut up), tsako cardamoms (five), chickpeas (half a sheng; pulverize and remove the skins), Chinese radish.
        Boil ingredients together and make a soup. Strain [broth. Cut up meat and Chinese radish and put aside]. Add to the soup [the] mutton cut up into sashuq [coin]-sized pieces, [the] cooked Chinese radish cut up into sashuq-sized pieces, 1 ch’ien of za’faran [saffron], 2 ch’ien of turmeric, 2 ch’ien of Black [“Iranian”] Pepper [27B], half a ch’ien of asafetida, coriander leaves. Evenly adjust flavors with a little salt. Eat over cooked aromatic non-glutinous rice. Add a little vinegar.
Redaction:
1 leg of lamb [I didn’t have a leg of lamb, so I used chunks of lamb stew meat, instead]
5 tsako cardamoms (KALUSTYAN’S!!)
2 cans chickpeas
1 Chinese radish (daikon?)
1 tsp saffron
2 tsp each turmeric and black pepper
½ tsp asafetida (kasni) (KALUSTYAN’S!!)
Coriander leaves (aka, cilantro)
Salt and rice wine vinegar to taste
        Place the leg of lamb, cardamoms, chickpeas, and radish in a large stockpot. Cover with enough water. Boil until aromatic. Remove lamb and radish, cut into bite sized pieces (radish should be smaller so as not to overpower the lamb). Return lamb and radish to pot, add seasonings, adjust flavor. This will be ready when it has the consistence of a thick stew. Serve in a large bowl over basmati rice and add a splash of rice wine vinegar for extra flavor.

Poppy Seed Buns
        White flour (five chin), cow’s milk (two sheng), liquid butter (one chin), poppy seeds (one liang. Slightly roasted)
        [For] ingredients use salt and a little soda and combine with the flour. Make the buns.
Redaction:
5 lbs All purpose flour [I used 2.5 cups]
1 qt milk [I used 1 pint]
1 cup liquid butter (ghee) [I used 1/2 cup]
5 Tbls poppy seeds
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
        Combine dry ingredients, and add wet ingredients. Roll into balls and bake until golden brown.

Hummus
Ingredients:
2 cans chick peas, set aside liquid
½ cup lemon juice
6 oz. tehini (Telma brand is my favorite)
2 to 3 cloves of garlic (or more)
1 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Pita bread
Directions:
        Chop garlic in food processor then add chick peas. Blend until chunky. Drizzle in olive oil, lemon juice and blend. Add tehini and blend until creamy. There should be small yet visible pieces of the chick peas. Add liquid from chick peas if the mix is too thick and season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip pita bread into mixture and enjoy. Or sprinkle a dash of hot sauce on first.

Cold Noodles in Sesame Paste
Ingredients:
1 lbs Chinese noodles, but linguine works well
5 heaping table spoons well mixed sesame paste (tehini)
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot chili oil (or to taste) [omitted]
1-2 scallions
1-2 tablespoons sesame seeds.
Directions:
        Boil pasta, drain, run cold water over pasta to cool it while in colander. Lightly toss it with some sesame oil to prevent sticking. Mix other ingredients and remainder of sesame oil, preferably in blender. It should be somewhat thick, but runny enough to coat the noodles. Mix in cold water if it is too thick. Pour sauce over noodles, garnish with scallions and sesame seeds.