Category: Dairy Free

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Ratatouille Recipe

This past weekend, Alice the Cook and her assistants were busily preparing food for the villiagers at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.  Keep in mind, each weekend during the run, I prepare enough food to feed 85-120 people each day.  It’s very hard work.

On Saturday, we prepared Kielbasa Stew and Ratatouille.  Since Ratatouille is not in either of my cookbooks, many of my fans asked me to post it so that they can recreate it at home.  I took the recipe and recalculated it for a more personal setting.

Ratatouille is a French peasant dish that has been around since the 11th century in one form or another.  Below is a more modern interpretation of the recipe.  I hope you like it.

Ingredients:
1 medium sized onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium or large eggplant, diced
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 medium zucchini diced into large chunks
2 medium yellow squash, diced into large chunks
add herbs as desired (try basil)
olive oil (enough to sauté onion/garlic)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until tender.  Add the eggplant and tomatoes and bring it to simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the zucchini and yellow squash and simmer for another 10-15 minutes until the vegetables are tender and remove from the heat.   Stir in the herbs and let sit to cool a bit for 10 minutes before serving.  This will allow the herbs to add flavor to the dish.  For my recipe this past weekend, I added several button mushrooms that were diced for more flavor.

NOTE:  Avoid copper or steel pots when making this dish as the tomatoes will absorb the acids of the tomatoes.  I prefer using a well seasoned cast iron pot, but you may have other seasoned pots that you may use.

This recipe can be served over rice, pasta, or potatoes and can be served hot  or cold.  I hope you enjoy it.

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Oxtail Soup Recipe

Below is the recipe as it appears in the May issue of Renaissance Magazine.  

 

Oxtail dishes are found across cultures.  From Northern Europe, across the British Isles, Ottoman Empire, Mediterranean, Arabic, and Far Eastern cultures have all used oxtail in a variety of dishes.  Some dishes were primarily delicacies, but secondarily offered homeopathic cures to various ailments including back and hip pain.

 The Chinese added shredded cabbage mushrooms, and carrots, among other vegetables to provide a heart stew.  Arabic and Mediterranean cultures added tomatoes and chickpeas, while European cultures, including Italy even added wine or brandy to the dish during the post-Restoration period. 

Oxtails were once inexpensive, but with their increased use in many cuisines, the price of oxtails has become expensive.  Asian grocery stores offer oxtails at about a third of the cost of main stream grocery stores. 

 

The dish below is hearty and alcohol was not added as I wanted to keep the dish true to its original roots in Britannia.  This is a favorite among my male friends as oxtails, when cooked properly, can take on a prime rib flavor and texture. 

Oxtail Soup


Oxtail Soup
Oxtail Soup

Ingredients:
3 lbs of oxtails
1 lbs of beef shoulder soup bones.
2 lbs red potatoes, thinly sliced
3 parsnips, peeled and shredded
1 lbs of leeks, cut into rings
3 sprigs of rosemary
1/4 cup of butter or oil
2 lbs carrots, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small can of tomato paste (optional)
Kosher or sea salt
Black pepper

Begin preparing the dish by adding the beef shoulder bones in a large pot with enough water to cover the bones and add 1 tsp of sea or kosher salt.  Bring items to a boil for a half an hour.  Remove and dispose of the bones and reserve the broth. 

Heat oil or melt butter in a different soup pot.  Once heated, add the oxtails to brown and slowly add the leeks and garlic; continuing to cook. Once browned, add enough of the new broth to cover the cover the oxtails by an additional 3 inches, water may be added to increase the amount of liquid.  At this moment, one may add optional tomato paste.  Let cook for 1 hour and stir occasionally.  After an hour, remove the soup bones, but leave in the oxtails.  Begin adding the potatoes, carrots and rosemary.  Cook for an additional 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.  

This dish is very rich and if one’s constitution prefers a less rich version, one may choose to put the soup in a cooler and remove the excess fat from the top before reheating.  Add additional salt and pepper to taste.  

Serves 6-8.

The photograph, prepared by Chris Olsen, was presented this way as it was more appealing than a bowl of soup.  Traditionally, this dish is served in a bowl with vegetables, broth, and all.


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Two Recipes for the Blog of One

At times, life will get the best of me.  Like others, I become distracted with life, work, and other pursuits.  I was reminded that fans come to this page for more historical cooking and recipes.  To make up for this oversight, I’ve posted two pheasant recipes for the viewer.  Chicken may be a lesser substitute for the pheasant, but the game bird is preferred. 

Like many during the Renaissance, the rich or poachers were able the luxury of meat.  Pheasant, like fish, was abundant and tasty.  The first recipe is French influenced and the second recipe is from the New World with Spanish influence.

This recipe calls for 5 pheasants – a meal “borrowed” from the French and popular with the Feast of St. George.  Celebratory in nature, the dish should be for special occasions. 

 

Roast Pheasant With Sauce Bigarade
Serves 10 people

Ingredients:
5 pheasants
Add salt and pepper as needed
15 parsley stems
5 thyme sprigs
5 bay leaves
8 fl. oz. brown duck or chicken stock
1 tsp fresh orange zest, julienne, blanched
30 pieces orange meat

Rinse and trim the pheasant (removing spare fat and wing tips), removing fat from body cavity. Place the phesant, breast side up, on a rack. Season it with salt and pepper. Place 5 parsley stems, 1 thyme sprig, and 1 bay leaf into the cavity of the pheasant. Roast the birds at 425 degrees until the juices run barely pink and the thigh meat registers 170 degrees. Remove the birds from the pan and rest for at least 10 minutes before carving.

Sauce Bigarade
10 portions
Ingredients:
3/4 oz. sugar
1 tsp water
1 tsp white wine
1 fl. oz. cider vinegar
2 fl. oz. orange juice concentrate
2 oz. red current jelly
1 qt. Demi-Glace (can be purchased at a higher-end grocery)
salt and pepper as needed

To finish the sauce for service, degrease and deglaze the pheasant roasting pan with stock and strain the drippings into the bigarade sauce. Return the sauce to a simmer and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Finish the sauce with the zest and the orange meat. Carve the pheasant for service by cutting away the breast from the rib and cutting the leg away from the body. 

 

New World Pheasant:

Ingredients:
2 pheasants
6 oz of orange juice concentrate
3 oranges
3 sprigs of rosemary
Kosher or sea salt
Black pepper 

Cut the pheasants in half lengthwise (neck to tail).  Marinade pheasants in orange juice for two hours with crushed rosemary*. While marinading, zest 3 oranges. Once done marinading, trim bird (remove excess fat and remove wing tips), and sprinkle orange zest in cavity and add remaining zest to top of the birds. Spring lightly with kosher or sea salt and black pepper (not too much).

Grill birds, the pheasant fat carmalizes with the orange juice for a sweet and smoky flavor. Compliments well with wildrice with hazelnuts and crandbury salad (just cooked wildrice, dried craisins, and toasted hazelnuts). this easier recipe provides a high lean protein, complex carbs, with fruit influences. 

* The three sprigs of rosemary may tribute to the Christian God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, popular in Spanish culture.  Many of the older Spanish and French recipes will call for three sprigs of rosemary as a way of blessing the dish.  The three sprigs of rosemary were also found in floral arrangements and hat decorations in Catholic cultures during the Renaissance. 

First recipe circa 1602 France
New World recipe circa 1680, (Americas with Spanish influence)

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Chicken and Apple Stew

Chicken and Apple Stew:
One whole chicken, skin removed and deboned
2 lbs of carrot, cubed
2 lbs of red potatoes, cubed
1 Sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 leek, cut up
1.5 lbs of apples (use a firmer apple like a Harrleson), cored and cubed
1 cup of apple cider (optional)
1 TB cinnamon
1 tsp of kosher salt
1 tsp of cumin
2 TB of cooking oil
water

Dice the boneless chicken into 1″ cubes and sauté in the oil on medium heat for about 3 minutes. The outside of the chicken should be browned. Add half of the apples, the leeks, and sprinkle the cinnamon and cumin. Stir occasionally for a minute and add enough water to cover the chicken. Stir again.

Add the carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, and hard cider to the pot. Add enough water to cover mixture and place lid on pot. Stir every 4 – 5 minutes until potatoes and carrots are tender. Remove from heat for five minutes and it is ready to serve.

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Orange Rosemary Chicken

I recently wrote an article for Renaissance Magazine on historical cooking.  The first recipe was Orange Rosemary Chicken.  My assistant, Nicholas Childs (Brandon Thielen), cooked and photographed a phenomenal dish.  Below is the original submission including photos.

With summer nearly here, I wanted to offer readers a recipe that imbues warmth of the season, tastes great, and embraces the family spirit.  I selected Orange Rosemary Chicken, a dish that was popular among nobles throughout the southern European and Mediterranean regions during the later renaissance period.  Oranges were consider a delicacy and well-sought after.  The recipe is fairly easy to follow with the most challenging part is creating the zest from the oranges.  It is important to use fresh zest for the recipe, as dried orange peel will not offer the same intense flavors and offer a blander version.

 

The Indian and Mediterranean overtones in this recipe encompass garam masala and cinnamon which were brought to Europe via trade along the Silk Road.  Garam masala is a collection of spices that have been combined, roasted and ground by hand.  Each region would have its own variation of this spice.  The basis of this spice usually comprises cloves, green or black/brown cardamom, cinnamon, mace and nutmeg.  Commercial versions of this spice may also include dried red chili peppers, dried garlic, dried ginger, sesame seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric, coriander, bay leaves, star anise, and/or fennel.  My assistant and I will often begin the first weekend at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival preparing our own batch of garam masala over a roaring fire using iron pots.

 

Root vegetables were commonplace in most of the cuisines throughout Europe during the renaissance.  Although turnips were used frequently, most modern tastes are not accustomed to the taste and texture of turnips. 

 

I realize that potatoes were brought to Europe with the discovery of the New World and were not commonly used; they have been added as a suggestion to this recipe for the modern American and European tastes.   Sweet potatoes may also be used to add additional color and a sweeter flavor to the dish.

 

I hope you will like this recipe, as it has been a favorite among my family and friends.

 

 

Orange Rosemary Chicken

3 chickens (cut into pieces)

4 cups of orange juice

2 TB olive oil

1 tsp garam masala

6 oranges

2 large leeks, diced (a very mild onion flavored vegetable)

4 sprigs of rosemary

2 turnips, peeled and cubed or 4 large white potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 parsnip, cleaned, peeled and thinly sliced

7 large carrots, cleaned and cubed

Black pepper (to taste)

Serves 12

 

Marinate the chicken in 4 cups of orange juice for at least 4 hours.  While marinating, remove the zest and juice four of the oranges (you may eat the other two of use the juice).  In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil up and remove the chicken from the marinade and begin to brown the chicken. At this time, dispose of the marinade. 

 

Once browned and without removing the chicken, add the majority of the zest (reserve 2 TB of orange zest) and fresh juice along with enough water to cover the chicken.  Add the turnips (or potatoes), parsnips, leeks, and carrots.  Tear the rosemary in half and add to the mixture.

 

Cook until the vegetables are tender.  Pull off the heat and let set for 5 minutes before serving, sprinkling the 2 TB zest and garam masala to the dish and serve family style along with some rustic bread and red wine.

 

 


 

Orange Rosemary Chicken
Orange Rosemary Chicken