Turnip Greens, Fennel, & Sweetgrass Salad

“She stared at the supper set before her: trout wrapped in bacon, salad of turnip greens and red fennel and sweetgrass, pease and onions and hot bread.” -A Clash of Kings

Catelyn’s Salad – turnip greens, fennel, apple, lemongrass, walnuts, and raisins

Thoughts:

Let me start by saying that I don’t especially care for fennel, or any of the flavors on the anise/licorice spectrum. However, when combined with the other ingredients in this salad, especially the apples, even I found it bright and refreshing. The crunch of combined fennel and apple, along with the walnuts, counters the sort of ordinary salad element of the turnip greens. Overall, it’s on the sweeter side, from the fruits and balsamic, and a really nice, unique salad for summer.

Catelyn’s Salad

Cook’s notes: as with all salads, feel free to meddle and mix to suit your tastes. Turnip greens can be difficult to find, so baby spinach is a good substitute.

Ingredients:

2 cups turnip greens
1/2 cup fennel, julienned
1 Tbs. lemongrass, sliced very thinly
1/2 apple, julienned
1/4 cup golden raisins
fennel tops
1/4 cup walnuts (candied is even better!)
balsamic for dressing
edible flowers (optional)

Combine the all ingredients except the dressing and edible flowers, and toss to combine. Drizzle with balsamic, and sprinkle with flowers, if using. Enjoy!

Salad of turnip greens, fennel, apple, lemongrass, walnuts, and raisins

closeup of Catelyn’s Salad

Vintage Vegan: Eggless, butterless, milkless cake

Thoughts:

With a hand-typed recipe and a name like that, how could I resist? This is the latest recipe from the very cool family cookbook, The Way to a Man’s Heart (link), and like the others, is a quirky look back in time. In my book, the recipe is typed onto a small piece of paper, and pasted onto the back cover. However, my Google-fu skills led me to a very similar recipe in Dr. Price’s New Cookbook, from 1921. That recipe calls for a good deal more baking powder, which I think would not go amiss.

On its own, this cake is not going to win any beauty contests. However, a good layer of icing serves to really spruce it up. The cake itself is also helped by the icing, because as you might expect, it’s a little on the dense side. The raisins and nuts are evenly distributed throughout the cake, giving each bite a little bit of interest and moistness.

Although it’s not going to be a a new staple in my kitchen, it’s a fun historical experiment that’s delicious with tea!

Recipe for Eggless, Butterless, Milkless Cake

Put into a sauce pan the following and boil together three minutes, then cool:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
2 cups seeded raisins
1/3 cup lard or shortening
1/4 grated nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon

When cool, stir in

1 cup English walnuts
1 tsp. soda, dissolved in 1 Tbs. water
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. full of baking powder

Grease a round pan and gently spread the elastic batter in it.

Bake at 300F for 45 minutes to an hour.

If you like, ice the cake with:

1/2 cup confectioners sugar
enough water to bring it together

Relish of Carrots, Raisins, and bits of Lime & Orange, to be served over Capon

““How far have we come?” the dwarf asked him as they stuffed themselves with cold capon and a relish made of carrots, raisins, and bits of lime and orange.” -A Dance with Dragons

Modern Relish

Our Thoughts:

Capon is just subtly different enough from chicken to give this meal a slightly foreign feel. Because of the higher fat content, capon is generally richer and a bit more decadent than your average hen.

I poked around for several months for a suitable historical recipe, but came up short. It seems this is one of those recipes that, like Athena, sprang fully formed from GRRM’s head. And since the modern version was so surprisingly yummy, I’ve left it at that.

The modern relish has a nice crunchy texture, The citrus is the first taste to hit your tongue, followed by the fast tang of the vinegar, then finishes with the carrots and raisins. The carrots stay crunchy, vying for texture with the tender raisins. When paired with a bite of the capon, the combination is excellent, entirely gobbleable.

It’s equally delicious served hot from the oven, or as cold leftovers, as described in the book.

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Stuffed Grapeleaves

“The kid had been roasted with lemon and honey. With it were grape leaves stuffed with a melange of raisins, onions, mushrooms, and fiery dragon peppers. ’I am not hungry,’ Arianne said…After a while, hunger weakened her resolve, so she sat and ate.” -A Feast for Crows

Stuffed Grape leaves

Our Thoughts:

These beauties brought rave reviews even from those of our taste testers who claim to dislike grape leaves. The filling is tender and flavorful, with each taste taking a turn on your palate. The savoriness of the lamb vies with the sweetness of the raisins, while still allowing the heat of the peppers out to play.

Get the recipe in The Cookbook!

Buns with raisins, dried apple, and pine nuts

Elizabethan buns

“‘Eat,’ Jon told him. ‘There’s no knowing when you’ll have another chance.’ He took two buns himself. The nuts were pine nuts, and besides the raisins there were bits of dried apple.” -A Storm of Swords

Modern Buns

Our Thoughts:

The Elizabethan buns look cute, if a little strange, but they taste very good. The sherry gives them an innate sweetness that is only increased if you have a bite with a raisin in it. I was fairly unimpressed when I first tried them, but found that the more I ate, the fonder I became of these little buns. And if you imagine yourself to be on the Wall, facing down dangerous threats and overwhelming odds, they’re even better.

Check out this entry in The Cookbook for another historical recipe, as well as a delicious modern version!

Get the Recipe!

Honeyed Chicken

“‘Hungry again?’ he asked. There was still half a honeyed chicken in the center of the table. Jon reached out to tear off a leg, then had a better idea. He knifed the bird whole and let the carcass slide to the floor between his legs. Ghost ripped into it in savage silence.” -A Game of Thrones

Thoughts:

Yum. The sauce reduces down to a thick, syrupy consistency, which melts ever so slightly when drizzled over the hot chicken. The raisins soak up the sauce, and become absolutely delicious little morsels. Combine a bite of the chicken, dripping with the juice from the plate, with a plump raisin, and you’re golden.

Bottom line? Omnomnom!

Medieval Roast Chicken Recipe

This was a recipe that gave us some difficulty; Absurd, when it seems so straightforward. However, there appear to be no recipes for “honeyed chicken” from a surviving period cookbook. At last, we found a recipe that we could work with. Thank you Ancient Romans! Now, you say that ancient Rome is not the Middle Ages, and you are correct. However, we use what we can. And really, it’s honeyed chicken. Are you really going to hold that against us?

Our changes: Since this dish is mentioned in The North, we took out a few things that were more Roman than Stark. We started with Apicius’ recipe for Chicken in Honey and Dill Glaze (Apicius, 6.8.2). Instead of white wine vinegar, we substituted apple cider vinegar, and added raisins, assuming that raisins are easier to come by in The North than are grapes. We eliminated the dill and date syrup for the same reason. Also, absolutely no fish sauce with our chicken. This left us with ingredients as follows:

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken for roasting
olive oil/butter (~1 Tbs)
salt

Sauce:

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup honey
Dash of mint, dried or fresh (abt. 1 tsp.)
Small handful of raisins
~1 Tbs. butter

Rub the chicken down with olive oil/butter and salt. This makes the skin crispy and delicious. Cook in an oven at 450 degrees F for approximately an hour, or until the juices run clear, and the thick meat of the breast is no longer pink.

While your chicken is roasting away in the oven, combine all ingredients in saucepan and allow to simmer until the raisins plump and the sauce reduces slightly. Remove from heat, and when the chicken is done, spread the sauce and raisins over the bird.

Enjoy!