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[] Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France & Italy, O. Redon, F. Sabban, S. Serventi, P. Smith |
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Erbowle. Take plums and boil them with wine, then put them through a strainer; put them into a pot. Clarify some honey and add it, with strong spices and rice flour. Salt it and garnish with white anise seeds, and serve. (Fc HB 119)
Here is another very nice English recipe: a puree of plums cooked in wine, thickened with a little rice flour, sweetened with excellent honey, and flavored with spices. Yellow plums and white wine yield a golden-colored mousse, while purple plums and cabernet sauvignon form a quite different but nonetheless harmonious marriage. Make both and serve them with Rice Pudding with Almond Milk (recipe 133): the heraldic effect of gold and red on a field of white even looks medieval.
142.
Spiced Plum Mousse with Honey
| Imperial | Metric | Ingredient |
| 3¼ pounds | 1.5 kg | yellow plums (such as mirabelles), or other ripe plums |
| 4 cups | 1 liter | white wine (or red if using purple plums) |
| 2 tablespoons | 2 tablespoons | acacia honey or other high-quality honey |
| 1 pinch | 1 pinch | salt |
| 1 pinch | 1 pinch | Strong Black Spice Mixture (see below) |
| 1 tablespoon | 1 tablespoon | candied anise seeds, preferably white |
| ========= | ============ | ===================================== |
| Strong Black Spice Mixture | Only pinch of this mixure!!! | |
| ¼ cup | 30 g | freshly ground black pepper |
| ¼ cup | 30 g | ground long pepper (or additional black pepper) |
| ¾ teaspoon | ¾ teaspoon | ground cloves |
| 1 | 1 | whole nutmeg, grated |
Candied anise seeds can be purchased inexpensively in Indian groceries or, at great cost, in fancy French groceries as anis de Flavigny.
Wash and pit the plums. Meanwhile, bring the wine
to the boil in a stainless steel or other nonreactive pan. Add the plums
and simmer for about 5 minutes. Drain, reserving the wine. Puree the plums
in a food mill or press them through a sieve into a heavy saucepan. Place
this saucepan over low heat and stir in the honey. Stir the rice flour
into 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking liquid, then stir this mixture into
the plum puree and add the salt and spices. Cook over low heat for about
10 minutes, until thickened. Pour into a serving bowl and cool before serving.
just before serving, decorate with the candied anise seeds.
Strong Black Spice Mixture
Black, strong spices to make sauces: take half
a quarter of cloves and two onze of pepper, and take the same amount of
long pepper and two nutmegs; this will serve for all spices. (Fr 40)