Category: recipe

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Individual Shepherd/Cottage Pies

When I was younger and visited various renaissance festivals and rendezvous, I would always look forward to a few dishes.  One of which was cottage or shepherd pies.  This dish is great and with some creativity, can be utilized and adjusted for making leftovers a more tasty treat.

Cottage Pies
Ingredients:
1 tb extra virgin olive oil
1 cup carrots, julienned
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 tb garlic, minced
1 lb sirloin steak, chopped into small pieces (left over turkey or venison can be used instead)
3 cups of beef demi glace (3 cups of hot water blended with concentrated store bought demi glace)
2 tsp fresh rosemary, snipped
2 tsp fresh thyme, snipped
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp crushed peppercorns or fresh ground pepper
1 tb flour
1 lb of mashed potatoes
1 tb fresh Italian parsley, snipped
1 tb unsalted butter, melted 

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat; stir in the carrots, onion, celery, and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened (about 5 minutes).  Add the sirloin and increase the heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until beef is browned (about 5 minutes).  

Add the beef demi glace, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper; reduce heat to low.  Demi glace can be purchased at higher-end and specialty grocery stores.    Simmer the pot with the beef, demi glace, and vegetables until the beef if cooked through (10 – 15 minutes); whisk in the flour until thickened.  

With the mashed potatoes, stir in the parsley and blend.  Pre-prepared boxed mashed potatoes do work for this recipe, but with anything that you cook, food made from scratch tastes significantly better.  Divide the beef and vegetable mixture into 4 portions in 1 cup ramekins.  Spread the mashed potatoes over the top and brush with the melted butter.  Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven until the potatoes are lightly browned (approx 20-25 minutes).

Serves 4

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Sometimes experiments work, and sometimes they don’t

Just like many cooks, I enjoy experimenting with different recipes, techniques, and flavors.  Some things have worked and other have been disastrous.  Several years ago, an experiments Nicholas and I tried worked out wonderfully.  We created cedar smoked pork and it was heavenly.  The recipe is simple, but not easily done in the safety of one’s own kitchen.

You will need a cast iron dutch oven, a holed cast iron plate (this can be picked up at a sporting store that carries cast iron cookery), dried cedar chips (other wood chips are fine if untreated).  Some may prefer oak or wood from fruit bearing trees.

In a ceramic bowl, soak the wood chips in water for 4 hours.  The dried wood chips will soak up the moisture  and you will be ready to use them after the 4 hours.  At the four hours, start your fire pit or barbecue  so that it is nice and hot.

Cooking in 2008 (MRF)
Cooking in 2008 (MRF)

Remove the excess water from the bowl and add the re hydrated wood chips to the bottom of the cast iron pot.  This should be no higher than an inch and a half from the bottom.  Place the cast iron plate on top of the chips.   It’s best that you brush the top of the cast iron plate with oil to keep the meat from sticking.  Add the pork (I prefer pork shoulder as it is well marbled) and sprinkle fine sea salt and fresh ground pepper and add the lid.  Place the cast iron pot on the grill or fire pit to begin the cooking process.

Visit the pot every 15 minutes.  The heat will quickly boil off the water and cause the wood to smoke.  You do not want the wood to burn or catch fire so when you notice that the wood is beginning to emit a lot of smoke, add a cup of water to the wood. Make sure you keep the lid on the pot to keep the smoke in the pot and the heat in.  After 45 minutes to an hour check the temperature of the meat; it should read about 170 degree.

The smoking of the meat will keep it moist and flavorful.  Friends have enjoyed the pork with barbecue sauce, but I like it just the way it is.

*  This recipe can be done with fish, chicken, and turkey as well as wild bird game.

Wild rice and wheatberry salads and side dishes best complement this dish.

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Vegetable Pie

Many cooks will take shortcuts to make the cooking process easier.  Below was a surprisingly easy dish that is vegetarian. You can make it vegan very easily.  In the recipe, I utilize a soup (courtesy of Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods) and a premade pie crust (Marie Callendars makes a nice vegeraian one, but if no worries Pillsbury makes a pie crust that uses animal shortening).
The pie makes a nice side item or a main dish and is served traditionally as a thanksgiving or harvest festival feast dish.  I do have a roasted carrot soup recipe in my second cookbook.  If you are interested in my cookbooks, you can visit my recommended pages section and click on MacGregor Historical Games site, they sell my cookbook online. 

Ingredients
4 large carrots, julliened
4 cloved of garlic, minced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and julliened
2 leeks, diced
8 medium red potatoes, julliened
3 eggs, scrambled (or for vegans use 3 TB of corn starch or arrowroot)
1 can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 TB oil
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger (optional)

Begin sauteing the vegetables (carrots, garlic, leeks, sweet potatoes, and potatoes in oil). When leeks are transparent, add chickpeas and soup and continue to simmer. When carrots are tender, add the eggs to thicken pie filling. If eggs are not desired, gradually add the corn starch to thicken.

Follow the directions on box to pre-bake the pie crust. When pre-baked, pull out and and let cool. Add pie mixture to crust and contiue to bake until pie crust is golden brown. 

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do! 

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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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Working with What You Have

After preparing the segment for Renaissance Magazine, Brandon and I had a lot of left overs – about 3/4 lb of pieces of roast pork (uncooked), carrots, leeks, and a few other ingredients.  I put them together to create a lovely curry pork and vegetables.

Utilizing the ingredients above and adding a few, I created a dish that was quoted as, “tastes like it came from a ‘nice’ Asian restaurant” from a Chinese national. 

Below is the recipe I came up and I have been enjoying it for my lunches. 

one cup of leftover braised carrot and leek dish
3/4 lb of roast pork, cut up
one onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1 tbsp of yellow curry powder (store bought)
1 tsp ground cumin
2 pinches of sea salt
ground pepper to taste
1 tbsp of cooking oil (sesame or sunflower)

In a heated wok, add the oil and when hot enough begin adding the pork to begin cooking.  Turn the pork every two minutes so that it begins to brown nicely and add the onions. 

Continue to cook and add the left over braised carrots and leeks.  Continue to cook and add frozen peas.  Continue to stir when cooking and add the curry powder and cumin.   Finish with the salt and pepper. 

I did not need to use rice or noodles with this dish.  It should be sweet and savory, not spicy.   Sadly, I ate it all before I could photograph the plate.