Matelotte of Large Onions
Large onions, in beef gravy, with seafood. I thought it might be one of those odd sounding dishes that are great – read on to find out!
Tag: historic cooking
Sausage à la moutarde au gratin
We tried this sausage dish from From the Hearth for a quick weeknight dinner. We used breakfast sausages for this version. Ingredients 12 sausages 1 cup white wine 1 small onion, sliced Gratin: 4 tbsp bouillon (veal or chicken) 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese 1 …
Carrots à la Portugaise
The only carrot recipe in From the Hearth is a glazed carrot dish with a touch of floral flavour from orange blossom water.
We made this dish for Thanksgiving this year, along with fillet of beef pâté, dessert cream, and tarts (plus some delicious compote with rhubarb from our garden).
Ingredients
1 lb carrots, cut in sticks For clarified sugar: 1 cup water 1 cup sugar 1 egg white, beaten (if desired - modern sugar is free from impurities and does not require this step) Cheesecloth 1 egg yolk 1/8 tsp orange flower water 2 tbsp double cream
Instructions
Partially cook carrots by boiling (~10 mins). Drain well. In a large saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Stir in the egg white. Skim the top of impurities. When the surface remains free, strain the syrup through the cheesecloth. Return the syrup to the saucepan. Continue to boil uncovered until thick and caramel-coloured. Stir in the partly-cooked carrots to coat evenly. Mix the egg yolk, orange blossom water, and cream together, then stir into the carrots. Serve warm. (Parsnips can be cooked in the same manner).
The verdict
These were very good! I put in a bit more orange flower water than the recipe suggests, which made them quite floral. Probably would go with the stated amount in future, but I’d make these again!
Eggnog Pie
This is the first recipe we tried from Cook Away, a recipe book for rich people camping, basically. I like eggnog, so eggnog pie was intriguing. (Although why this recipe was specifically included in this recipe book is not clear – not sure I’d be …
New peas (fresh peas in cream sauce)
Most of the vegetable dishes in From the Hearth are kinda over-the-top. Cabbage stuffed with meat. Cucumbers stuffed with meat. Turnips finished in cream. This pea dish is no exception.
Ingredients
2 lbs fresh peas 2 tbsp butter 2 cups water 1 tsp salt 1 head lettuce, cut in quarters Bouquet garni: 2 sprigs parsley 2 scallions Sauce: 1 tsp sugar 2 egg yolks 1/4 cup whipping cream (double cream)
Instructions
Shell peas. Place in pot with water, salt, butter, lettuce, and bouquet garni. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered until peas are almost tender (about 10 minutes). Remove the herbs and add sugar. In a separate bowl mix the egg yolk and cream, and gradually blend in 3 tbsp of the hot water from the pot. Add the yolk and cream mixture to the peas, stirring gently until the sauce thickens. Adjust salt. Serve immediately, or place over hot water on a double boiler.
A lack of ingredients never stops me – we didn’t have lettuce, but we had kale. (Actually, sometimes in this recipe book, lettuce means “greens” more generally. Yeah, I’m going with that.)
New peas, freshly shelled, are wonderful things.
I was pretty proud of my bouquet garni (tied together with green onion).
Now, the original text from Menon suggests that the water will be almost all gone after cooking the peas. This … was not true. I tried adding the above egg yolks and cream to the pot, and it was really, really thin sauce. So, I dumped that out and re-added new cream and yolks. Then I got the sauce I’d been looking for.
I split the sauce, unfortunately (trying to cook other aspects of dinner and not paying enough attention to this), BUT it was delicious anyway.
The Verdict
Definitely will make this again. It was very tasty. Hard to go wrong with fresh peas and that much cream.
What do you like to do with fresh peas? Share in the comments!
Frangipan pie (cream, almond flour, and candied lemon peel)
A delicious and yet unusual pie – once you have the ingredients on hand, this is straightforward and popular with both kids and adults.
Eggs au fromage (soft-scrambled eggs with cheese and wine)
Like soft-scrambled eggs and cheese fondue in one amazing dish. Great recipe for weeknight dinner or weekend brunch!
Eggs à la jardinière (egg and Béchamel bake)
Another great egg dish from Louisbourg! Modified from the original in From the Hearth, this is a relatively simple dish that tastes outstanding. Basically, you take onions, Béchamel sauce and beaten eggs, mix them all together and bake it up.
This recipe is more effort than eggs à la bourgeoise, but still completely reasonable for a weeknight dinner along with a nice salad.
The original recipe suggests this dish serves 10-12 people, but if it’s your main dish expect it to serve 4-5.
Ingredients
4-5 onions (mild flavoured varieties), cut in thin strips 2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp flour 2 cups milk 10 eggs, well beaten salt and pepper to taste
Milder or sweeter onions, like Spanish, Walla Walla, or Vidalia, are best for this dish because it contains a LOT of onion. If you only have the standard cooking onions, you can make them less pungent by blanching them after cutting them up.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F. Melt butter in an oven-proof frying pan or French oven and sauté onion strips until translucent. Add flour to the butter and onions and cook briefly. Add 1/2 cup of milk and mix well to work out any lumps of flour. Add the rest of the milk and simmer until Béchamel sauce is thickened, stirring continually. Add salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Mix beaten raw eggs into pan with Béchamel and onions. Bake in oven at 350F for 20-30 minutes, or until eggs are done.
It was pretty easy to make this recipe all in one oven-safe pan or pot. It’s a little bit of work to get the Béchamel smooth with big strips of onions in there – you could put that together in a separate sauce pan, but then you lose that one pot advantage. Otherwise this is pretty straightforward.
The Verdict
I really enjoyed this dish! It has the texture of a frittata, but tastes like Béchamel as well as eggs. And the onions, despite their prevalence, were not too strong. They give a really nice texture to the dish.
Definitely one to make again!
Eggs à la bourgeoise (an easy egg/bread/cheese bake)
A very quick and very tasty dish – simply eggs, bread, cheese, butter, and seasonings, layered and baked. Try it!