How to Milk an Almond Stuff an Egg And Armor a Turnip A ...

¼ head cabbage = ⅜ lb ⅓ c raisins
1 bunch parsley = 1 ½ oz 1 T oil
¼ lb spinach 2 c almond milk
2 oz turnip greens (p. 7)
1 oz collard green 1 t sugar
6 oz onions ½ t salt
Wash greens, remove stems, cut up
cabbage and onion. Make almond milk.
Parboil vegetables 2-3 minutes, drain. Fry
raisins in oil until they puff up and turn light
brown (a few minutes). Put greens back in pot
with raisins, add almond milk. Simmer 10-15
minutes, adding sugar and salt near the end.
Gourd in Juice
Platina p. 123 (Book 7)
Cook a gourd in juice or in water with a few
little onions and after it is cut up, pass it through
a perforated spoon into a kettle in which there is
rich juice, a little verjuice and saffron. Take it
from the hearth when it has boiled a little. After
it has been set aside and cooled a little, put in a
little aged cheese ground up and softened with two
egg yolks; or keep stirring it with a spoon so that
lumps do not spoil it. After you have put it into
saucers, sprinkle with spices.
2 ¾ lb zucchini squash 5 oz Parmesan
4 T verjuice spices (cinnamon,
or 2 T wine vinegar ginger or nutmeg)
½ c beef or chicken broth 2 egg yolks
7 threads saffron ½-¾ lb onions
Peel squash, remove seeds, slice; coarsely
chop onions. Cook 10 minutes in water to
cover. Drain and mash. Mix broth, verjuice,
and saffron and add mashed squash. Heat,
then add egg yolks and cheese. Sprinkle with
one of the spices: cinnamon was considered
best.
We have also made this using opo gourds
from a Chinese grocery store which we
believe were bottle gourds (Lagenaria
siceraria), our best guess at the gourd used in
period; see the discussion at p. 143 below.
The recipe we worked out is: Double the
quantity of onions and beef broth, keeping the
other proportions as in the version with
14
squash. Peel the gourd, boil it with whole
small onions for an hour, then discard the
onions (which seems to be what the original
recipe implies). Slice gourd, mash through
strainer (or use a potato ricer). Add beef broth
and verjuice, heat 15 minutes on low, let cool
10 minutes, add grated cheese and egg yolks.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.
Fried Gourd
Platina p. 119 (Book 7)
Scrape off the skin from the gourd and cut it
sideways in thin slices. When it is boiled once
transfer it from the pot onto the board and leave
it there till it has dried out a little. Then roll it in
salt and good white flour and fry it in oil; when it
is done and put on a platter, pour a garlic sauce
over it, with fennel blossoms and breadcrumbs so
dissolved in verjuice that it looks thin rather than
thick. It would not be amiss to pass this sauce
through a strainer. There are those, too, who use
only verjuice and fennel bloom. If you like
saffron, add saffron.
1 ⅛ lbs gourd (p. 4) 1 t salt
1 c flour olive oil
Peel gourd and slice very thin, boil in
water 7 minutes, spread out and let dry for 40
minutes. Mix flour and salt, dip gourd in it,
and fry for ~4 minutes per batch in a pan with
at least ¼" hot olive oil. See under sauces for
Platina's garlic sauce (p. 66).
On Preparing Lettuce
Platina p. 61
... . Sprinkle them with ground salt and a little
oil and pour a little more vinegar, and eat it
right away. There are those who add a little mint
and parsley to this preparation, so that it does
not seem too bland; and so that there is not too
much chill from the lettuce to harm the stomach,
put cooked lettuce, with the water squeezed out, in
a dish when you have dressed it with salt and oil
and vinegar, and serve it to your guests. There
are those who add a bit of cinnamon or pepper
well-ground and sifted.