Richmond Castle, Sunday Recipes

 Part two of the food we made at Richmond Castle

Garlic Soup

The herbs are all fresh, but if you can't get the fresh herbs you can use dried.  The olive oil can be extra virgin, but as it's for frying, I wouldn't worry about it too much - you could also use a rapeseed or sunflower oil.
The carrots I use are heritage varieties (depending on what it available - coloured varieties that taste very slightly different from normal carrots), but you can use just normal carrots.
The vegetable stock is from stock cubes or stock pots, but absolutely use fresh or home-made if you prefer.

Garlic, sliced
Shallots, finely chopped
Carrots
Double cream
Vegetable stock
Parsley, chopped
Thyme, chopped
Sea salt
Olive oil

Pan roast the garlic in olive oil, add the onions to brown slightly.

Put vegetable stock in a pot, and add the garlic, onions and carrots. Cook till tender.

Season to taste and add the herbs. Add the cream, and check the seasoning.

Pea Salad

The tins and frozen peas and beans are what I'm using at the event - any combination of fresh, frozen or tinned is fine, just make sure they're cooked to tender and cooled before you start.
The peas should be more petit pois kind if you can get them, because medieval people would have had the smaller 'field peas' not the modern marrowfat peas we have now.
When mixing the oil and vinegar, you want about three parts oil to one part vinegar.
I like to use Aspall's vinegar, because it's vegan, and I don't have to worry about sulphites (which is an allergen in most vinegars).  Also, it's just better than most.  You can also use verjus in place of the vinegar.

Tinned chick peas, drained
Frozen broad beans, defrosted
Tinned peas, drained
Fresh mint, chopped
Fresh chives, chopped
Fresh parsley, chopped
Olive oil
Cider vinegar
Sea salt
Black pepper

Drain and rinse the tinned veg.

Check whether the broad beans need to be cooked, if so, pre cook till tender and allow to cool.

Slightly squash the chickpeas and beans (not too much, we're going for different textures, not hummus).

Chop the herbs and mix into the beans. (I use my hands, a spoon is also ok.)

Sprinkle over salt and pepper to taste.

Mix together the oil and vinegar and sprinkle over.

Pancakes

These are not pancakes in the sense we mean in Britain (like crepes).  They're also not pancakes in the sense they mean in America (they're basically drop scones).
The closest thing to these pancakes that we have today is doughnuts.  If you've ever had fresh doughnuts from a van - that's what these are like.
This recipe does have quantities on it, which I use as a rough guide.  You can increase or decrease the amount as you wish, as long as you keep the ratio broadly the same.  
We have a coeliac, as I mentioned earlier, so I'm using gluten free flour - normal plain flour is fine too (plain because it's the yeast that does the work).  If using wheat, you can leave out the xanthan gum.  
The yeast I use is Allinson's Easy Bake dried yeast, because it's both really simple to use, and it's gluten free.
When I say 'deep fry', I don't use a deep fat fryer, I use a frying pan, but I do make sure there's a good pool of oil about 1-1.5cm deep.

Milk (750ml)
Yeast (1 tsp)
Egg whites (x6)
Plain flour (420g)
(Xanthan gum (1 tsp) - omit if not using gluten free flour)
Vegetable oil (something neutral with a highish smoke point, so rapeseed, or sunflower, etc) 

Sugar
Salt

Warm the milk slightly and dissolve the yeast into it.

Beat the egg whites, then mix the egg whites and the flour.  (If using the xanthan gum, add it to the flour.)

Add the yeast and milk to the mix a little at a time, beating till smooth.

'Deep fry' a dollop at a time, turn when lightly browned, and then drain.  (NB - they do not need to be perfect rounds - stray strands will crisp up nicely, just be sure to remove any burned bits.)

Sprinkle with a little sugar and some salt.

Elder sauce

This is a really easy fruit sauce.
I use foraged elderberries and blackberries. 
The blueberries are pretending to be our native British bilberries (or blaeberries), which are not grown commercially (I don't have any growing near me, so I can't forage them).  They're so closely related that they're effectively the same plant, but blaeberries are a bit smaller.

But the cool part about this fruit sauce is that you can use any fruit you want - I've even made it with apples and pears.
You can also use as much or as little of the sugar or honey as you like.

Elderberries
Blackberries
Blueberries (pretending to be blaeberries)
Brown sugar (or honey)
Water
(Sea salt)

Put the fruit in a small pan, with enough water to cover, and some sugar, to taste (or you can use honey).

Bring to the boil  and simmer till the fruit cooks down to a jammy consistency - add water if it boils dry, and give it a good mix every now and then.

Shortly before it's ready, check the flavour, and add more sugar / honey if it needs it, and a small pinch of salt.


Disclaimers -
If you're going to pick the yourself, make absolutely sure you know what you have before you eat it.  Check with multiple sources, books, websites (ideally not apps), Facebook groups, etc. 

Elderberries must be cooked before being eaten, because of the amygdalin that may be present that can convert to cyanide in your gut (cooking neutralises it).  Don't be scared by the word 'cyanide' - it's the same chemical present in apple seeds.

If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, skip the elderberries - there's no evidence that they're harmful, but equally no evidence that they're safe either.
Likewise, if you have any gastro-intestinal issues, best avoid, just to be safe.
And check drug interaction if you're taking medications - it's known that it can make certain drugs less effective.
Avoid if you have severe hayfever or allergic rhinitis.

Finally, I'm in the UK, where all our Elder trees are Sambucus Nigra, or the European Elder, and all are edible.  There are closely related members of the Sambucus family of plants in other parts of the world that have fruits that are toxic.  Make sure you know what you have before you consume it.

Pears in Brandy

Another simple one that's basically just a one pot simmer everything together dish.

Be aware, there may be alcohol in this dish after cooking (the brandy).


Pears, peeled, cored, and quartered
Water
Brandy
Honey
Brown sugar 
Galangal paste
Cinnamon, ground
Cloves, ground
Sea salt

Cook the pears in water, a little brandy and a very little sugar or honey.

Keep an eye on them, and if they boil dry before they're tender, top it up.

Once the pears are cooked to tender, remove them and set them aside.

Mix the honey, remaining brandy, and spices in another pot, and heat into a syrup - allow it to boil.

Serve with the sauce poured over the pears, and sprinkle a very little sea salt.

Prince Biskit

A simple medieval biscuit.  The original recipe says that the ingredients should be beaten together for one hour - it can be done in a food processor in a modern kitchen - just keep going till it won't mix any more.
I've included the xanthan gum in the recipe, which I've added because I'm using gluten free flour.  If you use normal wheat flour, this isn't needed.


Plain flour (500g)
Brown sugar (500g)
5 eggs
Caraway seeds (approx 6 table spoonsful)
Rosewater (approx 2 tablespoonsful)
(Xanthan gum, 1 teaspoon)

Beat together the ingredients.

Put spoonsful onto a baking sheet (spread out in case they spread)

Bake for 15 - 25 minutes at 160C.

Dandelion and Burdock

Dandelion and burdock has a much longer history than most people realise.  It started out as a fresh kind of mead.  That is, it was made and drunk within a couple of weeks, not left to mature and build the alcohol content.
This recipe may contain a little alcohol, because the alcohol is a by-product of the fermentation of the yeast, but it won't be that high.  If you want to know exactly how much you end up with, you can test it using a hydrometer and do the calculations to figure it out.
I use bottled mineral water to make this, but you can use ordinary tap water that's been left for a few days to allow any chlorine to evaporate (it won't work with chlorinated water, because the chlorine will kill the microbes).
The honey I use is Rowse brand ordinary runny honey, and their 'Dark and Rich' honey.
If you can't get fresh dandelion and burdock roots (and remember, if picking your own, be 100% certain it is what you think it is), you can buy dried, cut roots online - the burdock is often sold as 'burdock tea', and the dandelion as 'dandelion coffee'.  Just make sure it's only the root with nothing added.

The yeast I use is nothing special - ordinary Allinson's easy bake dried yeast.  It's gluten free, so I know I'm safe.  Any bread, beer or champagne yeast will do the job though.

4L water
Honey (approx 680g)
Burdock root, 150g
Dandelion root, 50g
Juice of one small lime
2.5 teaspoons dry yeast

Put the water in a large pan, with the dandelion root and the burdock root.  Bring to the boil and let it simmer for at least half an hour (steeping it longer will just increase the strength, like a tea).

Take it off the heat and allow it to cool.

Take a few spoonsful of the dandelion and burdock tea, and add it into the honey to make the honey more liquid and easier to mix in, then add it to the pan.  Add the lime juice too.

Strain the liquid into another big pan, or fermenting pot, so you get rid of all the bits of dandelion and burdock (they can now be discarded).  

Mix the dried yeast with a little warm (just above skin temperature) water, and let it stand for 10-15 minutes.  When it's started to foam, add it all into the pot, and mix it in.

Cover the pot loosely, and let it stand - ideally for a few days, but over night as a minimum.

Then you can decant it into bottles.  
NB - when you decant it, do NOT tighten the lid.  Ordinary bottles are fine (I clean then reuse the plastic water bottles that the water came in), but the yeast is still active, so if you tighten the lid, the bottle may explode.  The same goes for any bottle or container that does not have an air release cap on it.  
Check the bottle twice a day for the next week or so.  It will be ready to drink in a week or two.

(Note as this is a fresh mead, it is not be left to mature - as a result, the mead may still be cloudy after a week or two.  It won't have time to clarify, which happens after the microbes in the yeast die back, and the alcohol content increases.  The mead may still be cloudy.  This is perfectly safe to drink, and will not do you any harm - it's just the yeast in the mead.)