Recipe: Morrocan Harchas (Semolina Cakes)

Period: 1200s, Spain, Morocco
Sources: About Morrocan Food, Medieval Spanish Chef

2 cups fine semola flour
3 tablespoons coarse raw sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup soft or melted butter
1/2 - 3/4 cup milk

In a mixing bowl, stir together the semola, sugar, and salt. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is like damp sand. Stir in 1/2 cup milk. The dough needs to be very soft, like very wet cookie dough. Add more milk if necessary. It will look too wet to a baker's eye.

Let the dough rest for a few minutes. It will stiffen as the semolina absorbs moisture.

Meanwhile, preheat the frying pan over high heat, then turn heat to medium-low.

Prepare a pressing folder by cutting open 3 edges of a plastic storage bag, or cutting a rectangle of baking parchment and folding in half into a square.

Form a small ball of dough, place on one half of the pressing folder, fold over the other half, and use a flat-bottomed plate to press the dough into a circle about 1/4" thick. Peel off the top half, flip the dough onto one hand and peel off the other half of the folder.

Cook them over medium-low heat for several minutes on each side until each side has patches of deep golden brown. try to flip it only once.

Serve with toppings as with pancakes or scones, such as butter, syrup, jam, cream, or savory with cheese and meat.

Recipe: Chicken & Fruit Pie

Period: 1200s-1600s, Europe
Sources: Gode Cookery, Serve Them Forth

Use a 9" deep dish pie tin. You also want a meat thermometer.

Pie crust:

3/4 cup butter
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt (if using unsalted butter)
beaten egg whites

Filling:

2 Tbls. honey 
1/2 cup dried fruits, minced (I used fancy raisins, blueberries, prunes, cherries)
1 Tbls. ground cinnamon 
2-3 egg yolks, depending on the size of eggs (I used 3 "medium")
2 Tbls. minced nuts (I used pecans)
1 cup carrots, finely chopped
3/4 cup fennel bulb, finely chopped
2 cups chicken, cut into about 1" cubes
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. mace

Crust: Cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly and there is no more dry powder. Dissolve the salt (if using) in the water, and stir into the flour to make a soft dough. Knead it a bit to get it all together. Form a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in fridge to chill until hard.

Mix the chicken pieces, salt, pepper, thyme, and mace. Set aside, let chill.

Stir together the rest of the filling ingredients.

When the crust dough is hard, divide it in half. Place a piece of waxed paper on the counter, and sprinkle with flour. Roll out half the dough to a circle big enough to fit in the pie tin. It should be somewhat thick crust. Place the tin upside-down on the dough, and flip it over with the dough and waxed paper to get the dough inside. Remove the waxed paper and press the dough down into the tin.

Around this time, set the oven to preheat to 350 F.

Stir the chicken mix into the rest of the filling. Spread the filling into the pie tin.

Roll out the rest of the crust in the same way, using the waxed paper to lift it and place it on the top of the pie. Trim the edge of the crust and pinch the top and bottom together.

Brush the beaten egg whites onto the crust. Make a cool design on the top crust with the remaining dough! Make sure there are some cuts in the top crust. Brush the design with egg whites as well.

Bake for about 1 hour, until the internal temperature reaches or exceeds 165 F.

Equipment Registry

Group camping gear:
Lord & Lady Creer have a large Viking tent.
Kolgríma has a medium Viking tent (in need of a new canvas, currently not usable).
Lady Christian has a small Roman tent.

Group camping cooking gear:
Kolgríma can steal dutch ovens from her parents, and has a large flat cast-iron griddle for fire cooking.
Lord & Lady Creer probably have dutch ovens?
Lady Christian probably has dutch ovens?

Garb:
Kolgríma can be consulted for patterns, and can provide sewing and weaving at her discretion.
Lady Christian can provide sewing and embroidery at her discretion.
Lady Creer can provide knitting at her discretion.

Recipe: Cecina (Farinata de Ceci)

Period: 1200s Italy
Sources: Chickpea Flour on Wikipedia, A Tuscan Foodie in America

1 1/2 cup chickpea flour
2 1/2 cup water
6 Tbls. olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Stir together the chickpea flour and water. Put in a covered container and let sit for 2-6 hours. It will start out very lumpy, but as it sits, the lumps will absorb water and dissolve.

Preheat oven to 450 F. Coat a 9"x13" baking pan with 2 Tbls. olive oil.

Stir the batter and mix in the salt and pepper. Pour the batter into the pan. Fold 4 Tbls. olive oil into the batter.

Bake for 15 minutes, then broil the top for 5 minutes.

Food Restrictions

Lady Christian can't eat wheat grown in the US, lactose, green beans, cooked whole fruit, oysters, dried fruit, mushy stuff, lumpy stuff, green olives

Lord Phelps can't eat beef or anything cooked with beef, mushrooms, olives, vinegar foods, mustard, invertebrates, dried fruits, bacon, (Non-period: avocados)

Lady Creer can't eat lactose, fish, spicy foods, greasy foods, peppers

Lord MacQuarie can't eat mushrooms, chicken

Lord Creer can't eat mushrooms, olives, mustard (non-period: kiwi, avocado)

These items must be cooked and served separately from the rest of the food (prevent cross-contamination):
Bread items
Beef
Mushrooms
Bacon
Chicken
Peppers
Olives

Recipes calling for wheat, rye, and barley flours must be adjusted to use imported semola flour and/or gluten-free substitute ingredients. Gluten-free oats must be used.

The Breakdown for Event/Camping Cooking

1. Figuring out how much food is needed.
 a. how many people need to be fed
 b. how many meals need to be provided
 c. how much food gets eaten per meal

2. Planning meals.
 a. choosing recipes
  -they have to be medieval
 b. accounting for people's food intolerances
  -providing alternates in each meal
  -having meals of separately cooked ingredients where they can put it together themselves
 c. putting recipes together into meals
  -morning meals need to be fast & easy
 d. figuring out overlap of ingredients, so there's enough variety of food, but not a million ingredients to bring
 e. creating the timeline of meals, so the more perishable foods get used first

3. Creating a budget.
 a. how much of each ingredient is needed
 b. how much each ingredient will cost, and a total of all the food
 c. revise recipes if necessary for expense
 d. people in the household can contribute money or ingredients

4. Storing and transporting the food.
 a. how long will each food item last
 b. how to store food safely

 c. what needs to be in a cooler and what doesn't
 d. how many coolers/bins do we need to store it all
 e. where are the coolers/bins coming from (eg, household members contributing)
 f. how to maximize packing of food
  -what's cold gets put together
  -meal ingredients are close to each other
  -accessibility of food organized according to the meal timeline

5. Figuring out cookware needs.
 a. everyone should have their own dishes & stuff
 b. cookware kept to a minimum for ease of transport, but covers the needs of the recipes
  -dutch ovens
  -tandoor skewers
  -iron griddles
  -utensils
  -mixing bowls
  -cutting boards
  -tables
  -dish washing bins
  -devices for supporting dishes over the fire
c. where are the cookware pieces coming from (eg, household members contributing)

6. Learning how to cook over fire/coals.
 a. research how to translate stove/oven recipes to cooking over fire