Monthly Archives: March 2013

Jazariyya (Soup with spinach, Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Plain Dishes (Sawadhij)

Jazariyya (Soup with Spinach, Walnuts and Parsley)

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We’ve had a bit of a stomach bug going around at the house and I had a yen for some chicken soup.  I decided it was time to do a little research and see what I could find that would cover the basics for a mellow soup on the most tender of stomachs.  This soup is nice and meaty with good flavor but not to heavy.

Jazariyya

(Chicken (or beef) Soup with Walnuts, Parsley and Spinach)

 

Translation:

Boil meat with a little water.  Put carrots, garlic cloves and peeled onions in it, then put crushed garlic in it.  Some people put spinach with it also; some make it with out spinach.  Walnuts and parsley are put in.  (Rodinson, pp. 471)

Ingredients:

1 chicken or equivalent chicken parts i.e. chicken thighs (if using skinless/boneless thighs or breast cook in low sodium chicken stock or preferably home made chicken stock)

OR

2 ½ lbs beef, lamb or goat

 

3 carrots   8 garlic cloves   1 onion   3-4 C baby spinach roughly chopped

1 handful parsley   1 handful roughly chopped walnuts

 

Redaction:

When I did this recipe I changed things up slightly.  I made this as a chicken soup even though this soup can encompass any type of meat.  Don’t think of this as one type of soup only.

This just looks so fresh from the garden!  The carrot and parsley were plucked minutes before tossing everything together.

I cut up the chicken thighs, still slightly frozen for ease in slicing into bite sized pieces and threw them into the water.

In period, a whole chicken would have been used not just pieces like we can get modernly.  If using skinless/boneless chicken parts use a low sodium broth or a home made broth.  This will really kick up the flavor.  You can use a broth for other meat if you like however beef lamb and goat are all marbled with fat while modern chicken pieces have been stripped of skin and bones that add to the richness of a broth.

Add in the carrots,

I know this looks sort of like a turnip or parsnip but it’s a carrot from my garden.  Not the common orange but a white variety.  Most of the time, I use the baby carrots.  Some times I chop them in half but usually I leave them whole as this is a time savor.  Period wise for ME cooking that the carrots (either yellow or purple) be cored to remove the woody pith and the outer portions chopped for the dish being prepared.  They didn’t have the selection of carrot varieties we do today.

4 peeled garlic cloves

and the chopped onion.

Here everything is put into a pot bit by bit!

I did add spinach.  I’ve been adding handfuls of this wonderful veggie to give an extra vitamin and fiber boost (and not just to my period recipes).

The spinach was roughly chopped and cooks down.

I did not want to just throw spinach leaves in as they some times are a bit unwieldy if not cut into smaller pieces.

Once these have been added take the remaining garlic cloves and chop them up pretty fine.

When the recipe calls for crushed garlic I believe this is meant crushed in a mortar and pestle.  Chopping the garlic fine is close but not exact, we just want as much flavor as we can get so the more surface area exposed to the forming chicken broth the better!

I simmered everything for about an hour and added roughly 1 ½ tsp of salt (to my taste).

Once the soup was served I added parsley and walnuts.

I was unsure whether to add the parsley and walnuts during or after so I erred on the side of caution and used as a garnish.  I did add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt to the dish for extra flavoring.  This is a very mild soup but very filling.  The rye bread was an extra bonus for the day.  Pairs very nicely together!

 

This is a very warm and tasty soup with lots of health foods too!

 

Roman Cookery, Roman Duck Sliders (Faux Peacock), Roman Meats

Roman Duck Sliders (Faux Peacock)

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Now that Gulf Wars is over and all the laundry has been done, I have a moment for more postings!  This next recipe was done for Kingdom A&S (one of three) for a Peacock recipe using duck for an alternative meat.  This recipe is my favorite.  I’ve made the patties with beef but duck beat out the beef hands down.  So if you have the time, use duck!

Roman Duck Sliders (Faux Peacock)

“Grind chopped meat with the center of fine white bread that has been soaked in wine.  Grind together pepper, garum and pitted myrtle berries if desired.  Form small patties, putting in pine nuts and pepper.  Wrap in omentum and cook slowly in caroenum.”  (Giacosa, pp. 90)

The ground meat patties of peacock have first place, if they are fried so that they remain tender… (Apicius, 54/Giacosa, pp. 90).

On a side note, the peacock was so expensive (roughly 50 denarii a bird) that some peacocks were stripped of their skin then cooked (roasted) in aromatic resinous substances until the meat was effectively mummified. Afterwards it was redressed and reserved at another banquet later that week or month without fear of rotting. (Toussaint-Samat, pp. 38)

This recipe, for ground patties, was probably used for peahens past their reproductive cycle, and at 50 denarii per bird, this would still be a very expensive and luxuriant dish to serve to nobility and emperors.

Ingredients:

1 peacock        1 cup ground bread crumbs        1 tsp ground pepper        ½ red wine (pinot)

1 tsb fish sauce        ½ cup pine nuts          ½ lb bacon strips

Redaction:

First cut as much meat off the thawed duck as possible with a bit of skin.

This is the start of the meat cutting.  Even though a young duck doesn’t look like it has a lot of meat there should be enough after everything blended you should have roughly 8 patties, so don’t worry unless you are making dinner for 20.  Then you have your work cut out for you!

Place all the meat with some of the skin into a Cuisinart and hit grind.

I know…not very appetizing but the dish does get better!

Gather all your spices into one spot.

First add a little of the wine to the bread crumbs with out making a soup.  2-3 TBS should do it.  Next mix in the pepper.

Then mix the spices into the ground duck meat.

Here we have a Roman meatloaf, but we aren’t done yet!

Form patties from the duck mixture, roughly the size of your palm.  If you have really large hands, you will want to trim the patties down a little.  If your hands are a bit small you will want to add to the patties so they are a bit larger.

Here I managed to get 8 patties roughly 3 inches in diameter.

Take the patties and wrap them in a slice of bacon.

Step one…place pattie on top of the bacon.

Next cover with the bacon.  You shouldn’t need a tooth pick.  The bacon grips pretty well to it’s self.

Finally for the cooking portion, place the bacon wrapped pattie in a pan with red wine.

Here you can’t see the wine, as the patties are on top.  The wine should come almost all the way to the top of the patties not just cup the bottom of the patties as seen here.  So when in doubt…add more wine!  This is a Roman dish after all.

Then put the pan in the oven at 350 for roughly 25-30 minutes.

As seen the bacon held to the pattie and the pattie is thoroughly cooked.

Here is a single pattie.

Oh my!  This is soo tasty.  The duck is a wonderful rich meat with the wine and pine nuts.  The bacon a great salty meaty counter point to the sweet wine the meats are cooked in.  This is a definite must for the Roman cook to try at least once!