You want me to eat what?

Don't get me wrong, I like to be adventurous when trying food, but I also like my food a bit... normal. OK I get that what is normal for me may not be normal for the next person, but really, garlic and orange juice?

OK, story goes like this. I was looking for simple vegetarian alternative recipes for the feast I am creating in April. I am using only 1 book for this feast and that is Opera. I already know there can be some strange food combinations in there but this one so far has taken the cake. The recipe is "To prepare a layered omelet" from Book 2 recipe number 235 page 254 of the translation I am using.

Original:
Beat fourteen eggs. Get a spoon that will hold 2 eggs, fill it with the beaten egg and make a small omelet the size of the pan - which pan should not be much larger than the dish in which the omelet is to be set. When the little omelet is made, set it in the dish - minding that, to do it well, is enough for the bottom of the pan to be greases with rendered fat. Sprinkle the omelet with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, splash it with orange juice and set small slices of provatura or a creamy cheese on it. and on that little chunks of butter, cloves of garlic that have been steeped and crushed, and raisins. Cover that with another omelet. Go one making omelets, putting one on top of the other until all the egg is gone.


I will stop here as next he offers an alternative meat filling which I will not be making at this time.

What we did. First we did not use 14 eggs, this would have been too much for just the three of us. No, first I read the recipe wrong and made 2 omelets. One with the OJ, cinnamon sugar and nutmeg with mozzarella cheese, the other with creamy cheese, garlic and raisins. We thought that each of them was a little "flat" and the garlic one was better. Then we realized I was reading the recipe wrong and all the ingredients should be in one omelet... Um... OK, I guess. This sounds strange and dubious at best but off we went back to the kitchen. We were all damned surprised when it tasted good! Real good! Don't believe me? Try out what we did.

What I did:

6 large eggs well beaten Butter for the pans to cook the eggs

Filling: 4 Tbsp ricotta 4 large cloves of garlic (blanched until soft and crushed) 2Tbsp Raisins (measure before plumping with either hot water or OJ) 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 - 1 tsp sugar with cinnamon (make it sort of strong) 1 lg pinch of salt

OJ for splashing

cook 1/2 cup of egg at a time in a well buttered 6" frying pan (you should get 3 omelets)

mix the filling together and spread 1/2 between the 1st and 2nd omelet dotting with tiny pieces of butter and splashing with OJ

Now go forth and try this crazy creation that somehow works real well, next time I want to try it with fresh mozzarella.

It is officially a menu! (edited)

I have been prepping for Known World Dance Symposium and have now completed the menu.

Thursday:
     Lunch:
          A pie of colworts
          Meatballs
          Compost
          Green Salad
   
     Supper:
          Chicken crowned with eggs
          Tarts of eggs
          Mushrooms and leeks
          Pears in confection

Friday:
     Lunch:
          Meat Pasties
          Mushroom pie
          Another compost
          Green salad

     Supper:
          Douce Anne (chicken with milk and honey)
          Lasagne layered with cheese
          Frumenty
          Perry of pesoun
          Cherry pottage

Saturday:
     Lunch:
          Assorted cold roasted meats
          Tart de bry
          Compost
          Green salad

     Feast:
          1st course:
               Stuffed leg of mutton  (Vegetarian substitution, Layered omelets)
               Fried common squash
       
          2nd course:
               Breseola                       (Vegetarian substitution, Gilded bread fried in butter)
               Thick soup of asparagus in meat broth (Vegetarian version available)

          3rd course:
               Goose with rice or noodles ( Vegetarian option, Genovese onion gattafura)
               Stuffed kohlrabi
         
          4th course:
               Milk pies


This menu does not contain the "side items" that will be served at coffee time and on the sideboard, something has to be a surprise :)

       

Why the radio silence?

Greetings readers!

It sure has been quiet around here lately, and there are a few reasons why. One is I am working on a big project (that should mean more posts right?) and two life has been kicking me while I am down (but whining about that is not what this blog is for).

I have a HUGE project coming up, cooking for Known World Dance Symposium in April www.kwds.org/ . This should mean more traffic but alas, no. I have sooooo much going on with it that it is hard to write about any of it, but that will change and soon. We have the lunch menu (Thur, Fri, Sat)  and the supper menu (Thur, Fri) under control and mostly set, These ( at the very least) will be announced in December, at that point redactions will begin to follow. Though some things will be kept til after the event. the redactions of feast and the sideboard for the Masque and ball will follow after the event with the sideboard not even being announced until the event. I have to keep some things a surprise!

So, what I am saying is fear not, there will be posts about food forth coming.

Revision of a recipe and more notes

I love fresh food, when I plan a feast I do not make my dishes ahead and freeze, I do not pre cook and reheat, I make it fresh! This has in the past included fritters which frankly are a pain in the but to do that way. So, while revising my recipe for the chicken fritters I am also experimenting with keeping them on the fridge and re heating them in the oven. This would make it so much easier when cooking for a large crowd. I am not a fan of this way of cooking as I believe it changes the texture and the flavor of the food but I also want to be able to serve some pretty cool things!

My recipe today
3 breasts of chicken boiled (these are 1/2 breast not pairs)
2 (125 gm balls) of Mozzarella (total of 250 gm)
1/2 cup of fresh grated Parmesan (and I am thinking of upping it)
1 Tbsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup of Turbinado sugar
2 large eggs (might cold have gotten away with one)

I was able to better blend the ingredients together by using my kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment.

For the coating I used 4 large eggs and 2 oz of flour.

The original calls for 6 eggs and 2 oz. I know the oz was not the same but have not yet found a conversion that I find accurate to the time, also the eggs might have been smaller as well, especially depending on time of year and type of hens.

I found that my mixture worked quite well even though to me it was a little on the thin side.

They have been fried (I had to shallow fry them which meant turning them over, I do not recommend this, I recommend deep oil!) and now are cooling on paper towels, I will place them in the fridge and try heating them in the oven at various times and temps later this evening as well as some tomorrow to try and gauge how it affects the texture and taste as well as appearance of the fritters. Stay tuned!


Edit: Re heat at 220 for 15 min, Hot through and crispy enough. Still tasty even though fresh is best.

Back to the grindstone

After a nice vacation and some time in the US with my family I am ready to get back to work on the task at hand, food for KWDS. So far, lunch is now done. Not final redactions but the skeleton of what we have. Now all I have left is coffee time, suppers, feast and side board. I have recipes on a list but need to narrow it down. I also have a few questions out there that need answers before i can truly commit to what is being served. I have one dish that is a "for sure" for feast, and hopefully it is my only repeat dish Though I am toying with repeating another dish (no it isn't the turkeys).  I know i am being vague here but I don't want to commit to anything until I am 100%. So it is back to the books and the lists and the narrowing down. My personal deadline is December. Wish me luck!

To prepare sops with various dried fruits

Scappi: page 369 book 3 recipe 257

Get prunes and let them soak in warm water. After that cook them in white wine with sugar, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon ground together. When they are done, have slices of toast ready in dishes, and put the prunes on them with the decoction. Serve them hot with sugar on top.

You can also do dried visciola cherries or halved dates or dried figs the same way.

I have no amounts written down, mostly it was a test and see as we go. I used only enough liquid to cover the dried fruit. In my case I used figs. Cooked and boiled down in my pot. I served it with a dense bread instead of toast and it seemed to be fine. Though re reading this as I am typing it out I think I will use more liquid next time to make it less of a mash and more of a "soup".

Fresh Cheese

I have been experimenting with fresh cheese. No rennet, just an acid. No heat, just reaction. So simple a 7 year old can do it, and he has been assisting. I wanted at Double Wars to make a simple fresh cheese recipe to serve at the Laurel's lunch. My failure on that was detailed earlier, even though the Kefir like milk stuff made great cheese it just took longer.

So my recent experiments have been, a batch with lemon juice, a batch with balsamic vinegar and a batch with Brantwein vinegar. The last has sort of an apple vinegar taste but it is not from apples. In each I used 1 liter of mild and in everyone added a bit of cream. In the lemon I added 100 ml of cream, the balsamic had only 50 ml cream and the Brantwein had 200 ml. When I made it at DW I too added cream to the Kefir, I believe it was 200 ml or there about. In each one The initial mixture sat for a minimum of 12 hrs some longer.
The DW mixture never really got heavy and initially when put in the cheesecloth drained a bit white then moved to clear. The lemon in my kitchen fully separated, became heavy and drained clear. The balsamic didn't get heavy but drained clear and the Brantwein, never separated, never got heavy and has not run clear. In fact I needed to change cloths as the curds had not pulled together enough and has blocked the holes in the cheesecloth so it would not drain at all. Currently it is hanging in a new cloth. It is possible that with heat the barntwein would do better.

Taste: All but the brantwein has been tasted and they are all good, even my 7 year old like it. With added herbs it has been great. I think the vinegar base would be best with herbs and the lemon could be sweetened with honey or fruits. A simple but elegant addition to any table.

I will continue to experiment with non rennet and simple methods of making cheese. When I have gotten comfortable with them I shall endeavor to move on.

 Cheese update: The white balsamic worked fine, lovely cheese. The Brantweinessig, not a complete failure but super super soft still. No longer runny though. No hint of vinegar taste at all, super creamy.