Agalita (Garlic sauce) & honeyed carrots, recipes
The garlic sauce recipe came from a translation of Libro di cucina/ Libro per cuoco (14th/15th c.) (Anonimo Veneziano), which you can oogle here: http://www.geocities.com/helewyse/libro.html
III. "Agliata", roasted garlic sauce.
Agliata to serve with every meat. Take a bulb of garlic and roast it under the coals (substitute an oven in the current middle ages). Grind the roasted garlic and mix with ground raw garlic, bread crumbs and sweet spices. Mix with broth, put into a pan and let it boil a little before serving warm.
My version:
Take two heads (not clove, whole head) of fresh garlic. Cut off just the tops and wrap in tinfoil with a little water. Roast on a cookie sheet for about 45- 60 minutes at 350. Once cooled squeeze out of skin, thow out skins. Add 1/4 cup fresh raw garlic chopped or crushed, blend in either food processor or blender until perfectly smooth. Add liquid* and bread crumbs until desired consistency is achieved.
The original manuscript calls for broth, I've used both chicken or beef, and have also made a tasty vegetarian alternative with either vegi broth, or vinegar which adds a slight back-kick to the in your face garlic flavor. I'd start with adding 1/4 cup of both the liquid of your choice and the bread crumbs and keep going with one or the other until its the thickness you'd like. You can either make this quite pasty or fairly liquid. If it needs to travel you can also make up the paste and add the liquid on-site.
Serves 4 garlic lovers or up to 8 flavor weenies. :) Also great made in big batches. I used about 10 heads and went more heavy on the raw crushed garlic for the wedding and it served 100 with about 1/4 cup left over. For my brother's wedding I used about 4 heads, and one of the attendees decided it was a great chip-dip. You won't have the most romantic breath after eating it, but you probably won't get sick for at least a week either.
Honeyed carrots:
I can't remember the original sources, just that I saw a recipe for period carrots, the basic "take a goodly amount of carrots, cooke until they are don - add hony, butter and serve it forth" kind of a thing. :) I thought, HEY, I can do that and I need a tasty veggie, so I winged it. I can't believe we went through almost all 10 pounds.
My version:
This was for 100 people, so I'll put down what I did then break it down to smaller portions.
10 lb baby carrots, peeled. It would have been nice to cut them into cute little rounds, but I was limited on time and help so I ran them through my food processor with the slicing attachment. It sliced most of them long way instead of little rounds, but it worked well. I decided to make these vegetarian friendly (but not vegan) so I cooked them in vegi broth until they were still firm but not raw. I added 1/2 stick of butter to each 5 pound pot, and honey to taste (probably about 1-2 cups. Let flavors combine, drain most of liquid and serve.
Guesstimating for 6- 8 people, depending on how much they like veggies:
1 pound baby peeled carrots, 3 cups broth (veggie, beef or chicken your choice), 1T butter, 1/4 cup honey (honey to taste, add some, test, add more if desired).
This is really one of those dishes that is dependent on the individual cook, how done do you like your carrots, how sweet will you like them. It turns out even yummier than I had originally envisioned. :)
III. "Agliata", roasted garlic sauce.
Agliata to serve with every meat. Take a bulb of garlic and roast it under the coals (substitute an oven in the current middle ages). Grind the roasted garlic and mix with ground raw garlic, bread crumbs and sweet spices. Mix with broth, put into a pan and let it boil a little before serving warm.
My version:
Take two heads (not clove, whole head) of fresh garlic. Cut off just the tops and wrap in tinfoil with a little water. Roast on a cookie sheet for about 45- 60 minutes at 350. Once cooled squeeze out of skin, thow out skins. Add 1/4 cup fresh raw garlic chopped or crushed, blend in either food processor or blender until perfectly smooth. Add liquid* and bread crumbs until desired consistency is achieved.
The original manuscript calls for broth, I've used both chicken or beef, and have also made a tasty vegetarian alternative with either vegi broth, or vinegar which adds a slight back-kick to the in your face garlic flavor. I'd start with adding 1/4 cup of both the liquid of your choice and the bread crumbs and keep going with one or the other until its the thickness you'd like. You can either make this quite pasty or fairly liquid. If it needs to travel you can also make up the paste and add the liquid on-site.
Serves 4 garlic lovers or up to 8 flavor weenies. :) Also great made in big batches. I used about 10 heads and went more heavy on the raw crushed garlic for the wedding and it served 100 with about 1/4 cup left over. For my brother's wedding I used about 4 heads, and one of the attendees decided it was a great chip-dip. You won't have the most romantic breath after eating it, but you probably won't get sick for at least a week either.
Honeyed carrots:
I can't remember the original sources, just that I saw a recipe for period carrots, the basic "take a goodly amount of carrots, cooke until they are don - add hony, butter and serve it forth" kind of a thing. :) I thought, HEY, I can do that and I need a tasty veggie, so I winged it. I can't believe we went through almost all 10 pounds.
My version:
This was for 100 people, so I'll put down what I did then break it down to smaller portions.
10 lb baby carrots, peeled. It would have been nice to cut them into cute little rounds, but I was limited on time and help so I ran them through my food processor with the slicing attachment. It sliced most of them long way instead of little rounds, but it worked well. I decided to make these vegetarian friendly (but not vegan) so I cooked them in vegi broth until they were still firm but not raw. I added 1/2 stick of butter to each 5 pound pot, and honey to taste (probably about 1-2 cups. Let flavors combine, drain most of liquid and serve.
Guesstimating for 6- 8 people, depending on how much they like veggies:
1 pound baby peeled carrots, 3 cups broth (veggie, beef or chicken your choice), 1T butter, 1/4 cup honey (honey to taste, add some, test, add more if desired).
This is really one of those dishes that is dependent on the individual cook, how done do you like your carrots, how sweet will you like them. It turns out even yummier than I had originally envisioned. :)