Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Alexandrian Sauce

Recipe Source: Anonymous.  The Treasure of Useful Advice for the Composition of a Varied Table.  Thirteenth century AD, probably Egyptian.  Published by Lilia Zaouali in Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, M. B. DeBevoise trans., University of California Press, Berkeley, 2007 p. 130

Just to make it clear, this recipe is for a sauce whose origins are in Alexandria, not a sauce made from Alexandrians, okay? That would be a very different website and probably would involve law enforcement in some way.

So, the main course for the big medieval feast we prepared up in Maine was roast beef with two sauces. This is not the way it was intended. I intended to serve three sauces. Unfortunately for me, I left one at home: the Alexandrian sauce. The two sauces I brought were certainly adequate and delicious, so I don't know that we needed this sauce, but I was kind of looking forward to it. I said a lot of bad words in the privacy of my tent that night.

So this recipe didn't get tasted that night, but I did sample a little of this in my kitchen before packing it up and putting it in the wrong place. This is a really simple sauce – really, really simple. I made the first version of the recipe. For the hot spices I used ground ginger and pepper. I probably could have included something else here too, but my brain was pretty fried by this point. In flavor it kind of reminded me of my husband's Lemon Sunshine Sauce. It would have been fine on roast beef, but I definitely think that this would go better on chicken or possibly even some kind of vegetable. It would probably make a decent salad dressing if you were so inclined. If you're not trying to be historically accurate, some kind of crushed red pepper would go really nicely here.

Alexandrian Sauce (makes about 1 cup; approx. $0.22/ounce)

4 ounces olive oil

8 ounces lemon juice

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon ground ginger

Equipment:

• Whisk
• Small bowl

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Whisk well to emulsify.
3. Re-whisk just before serving to ensure that the liquid and the oil have not separated.

Recipe: Horseradish Sauce

Recipe Source: de Nola, Ruperto.  Libro de Cozina.  1529 edition, translated by Vincent F. Cuenca.  Self-published by the translator in 2001, pp. 58-9

I promised you a while ago that I would post this recipe. It's from the same recipe as the sage sauce I posted a little while ago. Both recipes are recommended variations on a parsley sauce, and all three are vastly different sauces. The thing is, horseradish isn't something I really grew up with. It made an appearance once a year with the Easter ham and only the men in the family showed any interest in eating it. I don't remember it even being offered to us kids. This sauce, though, has got me craving horseradish in the worst way. And if you have friends who think that medieval food lacked heat, make them this sauce.

I made this in exactly the same way as I made the sage sauce, so I'm not going to re-post my thought processes behind the redaction. If you missed the previous post, please click the link above – I don't want to bore everyone by posting the exact same thing again. I'm serious, though. I thought the sage sauce would be my favorite of the two, and I loved it, but the horseradish sauce is really the way to go here!

Horseradish Sauce (makes about enough sauce for 15 servings; approx. $0.20/serving)

Approx. 1 ½ ounces grated fresh horseradish root

4 ounces fresh breadcrumbs

2/3 cup white wine vinegar

2 ounces honey

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Equipment:

• Small bowl
• Mini-prep food processor

1. Combine the breadcrumbs and the vinegar in the small bowl and let soak at least 10 minutes.
2. Combine all ingredients in the mini-prep and grind to a liquid consistency.
3. Serve with meat. I served this alongside beef, but if you like ham this would be a great accompaniment.

Recipe: Yogurt and Cayenne Dip (Acili Esme)

Recipe Source: Wright, Clifford A. Little Foods of the Mediterranean. Harvard Common Press, Boston, 2003 pp. 56-7

I served this dip at our Fourth of July party and I have got to tell you that I have rarely seen such an easy dish to make. Seriously – it just doesn't get any easier than this. You might be thinking, "Oh, cayenne. I can't serve that to guests, their mouths will catch fire, my drapes will ignite, there goes the house." Well, that's not the case. The yogurt really mitigates the heat of the cayenne, leaving only flavor behind. Even my most capsaicin-challenged guests were able to eat this. It was probably the most popular dip I served that day, much to my surprise.

I did make a few changes. I used all Greek yogurt instead of a mix of regular and strained. I omitted the dill and the olive oil. I also served it with crackers and carrots instead of with French bread. The scallions went into the dip instead of as a garnish. And as usual I increased the garlic. Again, this was much, much more popular than the other dips I served that day.

Yogurt and Cayenne Dip (Açili Esme) (Makes about 8 servings; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

12 garlic cloves

2 ¼ cups fat-free Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 scallions, sliced

Equipment:

• Mini-prep mini food processor
• Bowl

1. Combine the garlic and salt in the mini-prep and process to a coarse paste.
2. Scrape the contents of the mini-prep into a bowl and combine thoroughly with the remaining ingredients. Serve.

Recipe: Medieval Baba Ghannouj

Recipe Source: Recipe Source: Anonymous.  The Treasure of Useful Advice for the Composition of a Varied Table.  Thirteenth century AD, probably Egyptian.  Published by Lilia Zaouali in Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, M. B. DeBevoise trans., University of California Press, Berkeley, 2007 p. 66.

Okay, calling this "baba ghannouj" is probably a bit of a misnomer, because it's kind of different from a modern baba ghannouj. I think it's something to do with the sourness. I'm usually not the biggest fan of baba ghannouj, but this I liked. I made it to test a recipe before my class on bawārid, although I didn't wind up including this dip in the discussion that day. I did however serve it for our Fourth of July party, and no one realized that this was a medieval recipe.

As is usually the case with my medieval recipe redactions, I did not make many changes. (More garlic would have been welcome to my modern palate, but I digress.) I did have to make one change out of necessity. The original called for "sesame oil and oil of good quality." I had run out of regular sesame oil, and toasted sesame oil would have been all wrong. I decided to stick with all olive oil for this.

Medieval Baba Ghannouj (Makes about 16 ounces; approx. $0.28/ounce.)

1 large eggplant, cut into small pieces

3 small onions, peeled but left whole

½ cup olive oil

¼ cup water

1 garlic clove, crushed

¾ cup Greek yogurt (I used fat-free because that's what I have on hand, but full-fat would be more authentic)

About ¼ bunch parsley, finely chopped

1 pinch kosher salt

Equipment:

• Deep saucepan
• Immersion blender

1. Combine the onions, eggplant, olive oil, salt and water in the saucepan.
2. Cook over low heat until the eggplant is tender and cooked. You may need to add a little more water here and there; the measurement above is intended as more of a starting point since the original said "a little water."
3. Add the remaining ingredients and remove from heat.
4. Use the immersion blender to thoroughly puree the mixture.
5. Chill thoroughly before serving.

Recipe: Sage Sauce

Recipe Source: de Nola, Ruperto.  Libro de Cozina.  1529 edition, translated by Vincent F. Cuenca.  Self-published by the translator in 2001, pp. 58-9

My husband and I recently attended a gathering of medieval history enthusiasts. We go to this event every year. It is up in Maine and is a favorite summer tradition. It's one of very few dog-friendly events, so we bring the dog and everyone has a good time. We also cook a huge meal for this event, and all are usually welcome. We bring our Big Green Egg and my husband makes something nice and meaty. This year he made a huge amount of roasted beef and I served two sauces alongside, among other things. This was one of the sauces.

Both of the sauces we made were great – not at all heavy, very flavorful even in small quantities, and unusual enough that people were excited to try them. They were also both from the same source – the same recipe, really, just with one change. I'll post the second sauce at a later date because it was different enough to merit its own post. I interpreted "white vinegar" to mean "white wine vinegar" because regular distilled white vinegar – the kind you get in the giant industrial-sized tub – isn't very good. I omitted the part where you put two hot rocks into the mix as well – I wasn't entirely certain what the point of that was. I guess that it would cook the stuff just enough, but I thought it was just fine without cooking it.

Sage Sauce (makes enough sauce for about 15 servings; approx. $0.29/serving)

1 1/3 bunches fresh sage, minced

4 ounces fresh breadcrumbs

2/3 cup white wine vinegar

2 ounces honey

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Equipment:

• Small bowl
• Mini-prep food processor

1. Combine the breadcrumbs and the vinegar in the small bowl and let soak at least 10 minutes.
2. Combine all ingredients in the mini-prep and grind to a liquid consistency.
3. Serve with meat. I served this alongside beef, but this would work particularly well with poultry.

Recipe: Pasta with Buffalo Sauce

When I made the buffalo empanaditas for our Fourth of July celebration I found myself with quite a bit of excess filling. I could have made more dough and made more empanaditas, but that would have been a pain. I also didn't have time to do that. I decided to do something a little different with it: turn it into a pasta sauce and eat it later in the week. As sauces go, this one was okay. It could have been a little spicier, but of course I'd been making this for a large crowd of people who may or may not tolerate heat well. Still, it used up the leftovers and avoided food waste, so in that respect I'd call it a success. My husband was also very fond of this dish, so I guess it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Pasta with Buffalo Sauce (serves 4; approx. cost per serving not available)

3 cups leftover filling from Buffalo Empanaditas

2 cups tomato juice

12 ounces whole-wheat pasta, cooked according to package instructions.

Equipment:

• Medium saucepan

1. Combine the empanadita filling and the tomato juice in the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Reduce the juice until the color and consistency are just right – I didn't want mine to be too liquid.
3. Top the pasta with the sauce and serve.

Recipe: Onions with Almodrote

Recipe Source: Gitlitz, David M. and Linda Kay Davidson. A Drizzle of Honey. St. Martin's Griffin, New York, 1999 pp. 58-9

I intended to make this last year for a medieval enthusiast event we attended over Memorial Day weekend, but never got around to making the finished product. When I went to plan my menu for an event we attended this past July, up in Maine, I found that this recipe was still flagged. Well, I thought to myself, why not? It had vegetables, which was my primary concern at that point. I did make it and it worked well. About the only change I made was to use regular pearl onions instead of frozen. I did peel them. When it came to the chopped fresh mixed greens, I used a plain old salad mix from the grocery store to save on time. The salad was tasty, people really seemed to enjoy it and there wasn't much left over.

Onions with Almodrote (serves about 30 as a side dish; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 recipes Almodrote

4 tablespoons olive oil

24 ounces mixed salad greens

20 ounces pearl onions, peeled

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Heat the oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onions and cook 4 – 5 minutes, until there is only a very little bit of oil left in the pan and the onions are browned and tasty.
3. Allow the onions to cool. I actually made them a couple of days in advance and assembled the final salad on site.
4. When you're ready to serve, put the greens in a serving bowl. Top with the onions and the almodrote. Serve.

Recipe: Beef Bārida (“Meat Crackers”)

Recipe Source: al-Warrāq, ibn Sayyār. Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens, Nawal Nasrallah, trans. Brill, Leiden, 2007 pp 215-6

I was really kind of leery of this recipe at first. I made it mostly because I wanted to serve a beef bārida for my July class and I figured I should probably test it. This one required ingredients I already had on hand and looked relatively uncomplicated. I was kind of leery of the instruction to "cook the meat in water," which suggested boiling to me. It yielded a piece of meat that was a frankly unappetizing color and had a kind of solid texture. I thought, "Ick." Still, I had to test it out before I could talk about it in class and so out it went.

I'd expected the reaction from my test diners to be lukewarm at best. On the contrary, it was so well received that I had to sneak a piece for myself. The result was the same when I served it during the class in July. People loved this! It was easily the most popular of the four dishes I brought for people to try. Again, this dish is meant to be served cold or at room temperature, so it makes a great picnic or buffet dish.

Meat Crackers (serves about 12 as an appetizer or hors d'oeuvre; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 pounds beef brisket

20 walnuts

2 sprigs rosemary

Pinch of salt

½ cup soy sauce

¼ cup olive oil

4 hard-boiled eggs, quartered

Various herbs, to taste

Equipment:

• Mini-prep food processor

1. Put the beef in a large saucepan and boil until the internal temperature reaches 180. Remove it from the heat, let it cool and slice it into small rectangles.
2. Meanwhile, grind the walnuts, rosemary and salt together with about a tablespoon of vinegar in a mini-prep food processor. Transfer to a bowl and add the soy sauce and olive oil.
3. Transfer to a platter. Sauce with the sauce, garnish with the egg quarters and sprinkle with the herbs.

Recipe: Enjitomatadas

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick. Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen. Scribner, New York, 1996 pp. 176-7

We entertain a lot here in Fearless-land, especially during the summer. When we entertain we never know how many people are going to join us or who they'll be. I try to always have a vegetarian entrée on hand just in case we have vegetarians. (Er… that's an entrée for the vegetarians to eat, not an entrée made from vegetarians. That would be a completely different website.) This was the vegetarian entrée for one Sunday open house. We didn't get any vegetarians, but these little enchilada-like parcels were extremely popular nonetheless.

I made a few changes. I had to use a combination of fresh tomatoes and canned for the sauce, for which I also used serranos instead of jalapenos (preference), olive oil instead of lard (food allergy), yellow onion instead of white onion (no white onions were available that week), and Lemony Vegetable Broth instead of chicken broth. I used whole wheat sandwich wraps for the tortillas because I have yet to find store-bought tortillas that work for me and a combination of feta cheese and Parnassos cheese for the filling. I used more cheese than called for in the original because the wraps were larger than the tortillas and I wanted to fill them.

Enjitomatadas (makes 12; approx. $1.96/ea.)

2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes

6 plum tomatoes, chopped

4 Serrano chilies, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 ½ cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

12 whole wheat sandwich wraps

2/3 cup crumbled feta

Cilantro, for garnish

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Immersion blender
• Deep dish
• Baking sheet

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and fry, stirring often, until the onion is browned.
3. Add the tomatoes and serranos. Increase the heat to high and cook 5 minutes.
4. Decrease heat to medium-low, add the broth and cook 20 minutes. Let cool, then puree with the immersion blender.
5. Preheat your oven to about 300 ̊.
6. Ladle out about ½ cup of sauce into a bowl.
7. Dip the wrap into the bowl so that both sides have a bit of sauce on them. Lay the wrap on a plate.
8. Put a bit of both cheeses down the middle of the wrap, leaving about an inch of space at the top and bottom.
9. Fold the top and bottom down, then fold the sides over until the parcel looks kind of like an enchilada. Transfer to the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining wraps.
10. Bake about 5 minutes, then remove from heat and transfer to a serving platter.
11. Spoon some of the sauce on top of the parcels. Add a little cilantro and pass the remaining sauce on the side.
12. Serve.

Recipe: Scallops and Vegetables in a Thick Sauce

Recipe Source: Husain, Shehzad and Rafi Fernandez. Indian. Anness Publishing, London, 2003 p. 142

This make-ahead dish is relatively healthy, despite the little bit of cream. It certainly qualifies as a one-dish meal. The original recommended serving it with a fruity pullao, but I felt that the potatoes were quite starch enough. It reheats well and tasted great. It was very easy to make, made even more so by my poor planning. I needed tomato paste and discovered at the last minute that the empty case of tomato paste had been left in the pantry. I could find no normal substitute, but I did find a bottle of store-bought hot curry paste. The paste contained everything I needed from the tomato paste on down as well as some other ingredients. I will be quite honest. As a general rule I would prefer to make my own curry pastes. It gives me more control over the flavor and over what I'm putting into my body. On the other hand, there are worse fates than to open up a jar once in a while.

I made a few small changes in addition to the curry paste change. I used olive oil in place of corn oil, because that's what I keep on hand, and I used less of it. I omitted the onion seeds. I substituted more cauliflower in place of the carrots because I dislike carrots. If memory serves me correctly, I omitted the chili at the end and used scallops instead of shrimp.

Shrimp and Vegetables in a Thick Sauce (serves 4; approx. $4.55/serving)

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

2 curry leaves

1 cauliflower, cut into florets

6 new potatoes, thickly sliced

½ cup frozen peas

2 onions, sliced

2 tablespoons jarred Hot Indian Curry Paste

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 pound scallops

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Equipment:

• Large wok or sauté pan

1. Heat the oil in the wok.
2. Add the fenugreek, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Cook until the seeds are spluttering.
3. Add the cauliflower, potatoes and peas. Cook quickly until browned, then evacuate and drain on paper towels.
4. Add the onions to the remaining oil and cook gently until golden.
5. Add the curry paste and lemon juice. Stir until the paste dissolves.
6. Add the scallops. Cook until cooked through.
7. Return the vegetables to the pan and reheat thoroughly.
8. Deglaze the pan with the cream and mix well. Garnish with the cilantro and serve.