Thinking spring, in 14th Century France style

I've been thinking about 14th Century French foods recently because our local Society for Creative Anachronism group http://www.scolairi.org/Scolairi1.html has an upcoming spring event http://www.atomicvole.org/AW24/ where there will be a feast.  Below are some recipes from my collection that are "thinking spring." I sent these recipes to my local SCA newsletter for an article to appear in the February edition.

Cameline Sauce, for roasted lamb, pork or veal, was a very popular sauce throughout W. Europe in the Middle Ages and it appears in more than one recipe source from SCA period. I adapted this recipe from the version in the 14th Century housekeeping guide by the man known as the Menagier de Paris. It yields about 1/2 cup sauce. Think of early flowers and mud under melting snow while preparing this sauce for spring lamb.

Cameline Sauce

2 Tbsp breadcrumbs
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 clove, ground to powder
1 tsp cinnamon
Blend all ingredients together. Serve without cooking, or simmer slowly for a few minutes or substitute 1/3 c red wine vinegar mixed with a little water if no-alcohol sauce is desired.

Another simple version of cameline sauce is provided at http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec13.htm, which provides a recipe based on another 14th Century French recipe source, Le Viandier de Taillevent.

A delicious sauce for fish days -- of which there are many, since Lent falls in late winter and early spring -- is the ubiquitous Sauce Vert/Verde, or "green sauce," also popular outside of France. At its simplest, the sauce is a puree of parsley mixed with vinegar-soaked breadcrumbs and salt. I've adapted a variation of the sauce in the 14th Century English source Forme of Cury that has garlic in it. It's delicious on fried fish because its vinegary-garlicky tang adds a nice countering note to the grease of fried food.

Green garlic sauce

about 1 cup sauce

100g parsley, stripped to leaves only
1 Tbsp ginger powder
4 Tbsp white wine vinegar
8 Tbsp water
1/2 Tbsp ground pepper
1/2 Tbsp salt
2 slices white bread, crusts removed, in chunks
1 clove garlic
pinch saffron, optional
Place all ingredients in blender and blend on very low speed, stopping blender to stir occasionally. When ingredients are well-mixed and moist, blend on high speed until smooth.

Spring pea pods that are young enough to be eaten whole are good in the following recipe, as are sugar snap peas. For both of these types of peas, pull off any stringy or potentially tough stemmy parts first.

Peasecods for six

adapted from Menagier de Paris

1 lb sugar snap peas
1 Tbsp butter
Bring pot of salted water to a brisk boil, cook peas five minutes or less until crisp-tender, then remove peas and dress with butter.