Yay! New Project!

My copy of a Medieval Home Companion finally came in after much shipping drama. For those unfamiliar with the work, basically, an elderly man in Paris in 1393 married a 15 year old and wrote her a manual in how to be a good wife, since he would probably die soon and he wanted her to reflect well on him to her next husband. Yeah, I know, weird.

However, it is one of the most complete looks into housekeeping in the fourteenth century. The book also has some fantastic woodcuts, including a few of some dresses I would really like to make.

I plan to do a blog-along as I read. So you, too, can enjoy my reactions to the husband’s suggestions of his wife’s house-keeping.

 

Recipes for Leonete to eat

My persona project gets a little harder because while Leonete may be able to eat anything that she could get in Lyon in 1480, I have more strict dietary issues. I am trying to come up with a meal I could eat that is wheat and soy free, and preferably legume and grain free.

Obviously, this has been…. exciting.

I have found 2 vegetable dishes I can have, now I just need to figure out where cress might be available in my area. I’ve never seen it at the grocery store, certainly.

Cress in Lent with Milk of Almonds

Menagier p.M14

Take your cress and parboil it with a handful of chopped beet leaves, and fry them in oil, then put to boil in milk of almonds; and when it is not Lent, fry in lard and butter until cooked, then moisten with meat stock; or with cheese, and adjust it carefully, for it will brown. Anyway, if you add parsley, it does not have to be blanched.

Lenten version:

2 c cress = 1/3 lb
1/2 c beet leaves (or spinach)
1 T olive oil
1/2 c almond milk
1/4 c parsley = 1/2 oz
pinch salt

Fish-day version:

2 1/4 c cress = 6 oz
1 1/2 c (2 ounces) beet leaves
2 T butter
1 1/2 oz brick cheese
(3 sprigs parsley)
(1/8 t salt)

Meat-day version:

2 1/4 c cress = 6 oz
1 1/2 c (2 ounces) beet leaves
2 T lard and/or butter
1 1/2 oz brick cheese
(3 sprigs parsley)
(1/8 t salt)

Chop the cress and beet leaves. Dump them into boiling water, let the water come back to a boil, then drain them (about 2 minutes total in water). Heat oil or lard or butter in a skillet, add drained greens (and chopped parsley if you are using parsley). Stir fry for about 3 minutes. For Lenten version, add almond milk, let boil with greens about a minute. For fish-day version, add cheese, chopped up and stir until cheese is melted into the greens. For meat-day version, add meat stock and cook down 2-3 minutes. Add salt, serve.

Notes: Greens should be measured pressed down in the measuring cup. Use a mild cheese such as brick cheese. Substitute spinach for beet leaves if necessary; the Menagier regards spinach as a kind of beet leaf. We have tried several ratios of cress to beet leaves; all seem to work reasonably well.

Mustard Greens

Anthimus p. 37

Mustard greens are good, boiled in salt and oil. They should be eaten either cooked on the coals or with bacon, and vinegar to suit the taste should be put in while they are cooking.

1 1/4 lb mustard greens (including smaller stems)
1 t salt
3 T oil
4 slices bacon
4 t vinegar

Wash mustard greens. Boil stems two minutes, then add leaves, boil 6 more minutes and drain. Fry bacon (6 minutes in microwave). Heat oil, add greens and stir, then add salt and cook five minutes. Crumble bacon and put over greens with vinegar. Stir it all up and cook another 3 minutes.

 

These are recipes from Cariadoc’s Miscellany. The Miscellany is Copyright (c) by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook, 1988, 1990, 1992.