All’s well that ends well when it comes to food fit for the Bard. Seren Evans-Charrington is the founder of Bubbling Stove Historical Recipes and has appeared several times on ITV’s Sunday Kitchen bringing the tastes of the past back to our stoves.
She is an expert on food from the Iron Age to the 1940s and has researched recipes from the reigns of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and the start of the reign of James I.
Evans-Charrington says: “This could be considered the Shakespearean Age and was a time of great excitement in culinary terms as it was when the first true recipe books were published and when modern cookery, as we know it today, started to emerge.”
She will be cooking Shakespeare-inspired recipes at the Stratford-upon-Avon Food FestivaI on September 14 and 15 and says there are lots of food references in the writer’s works like Warden Pie – filled with pears and spices in a rich, saffron-coloured pastry case – which is mentioned in both Romeo And Juliet and The Winter’s Tale.
For festival details go to www.stratfordfoodfestival.co.uk
Here are three recipes as they once were, and how to make the modern equivalents
A White Jelly of Almonds: Original recipe from Sir Hugh Platt’s Delightes of Ladies to adorne their Persons, Tables, Closets, and distillatories with Beauties, banquets, perfumes and waters. Reade, Practise, and Censure 1602.
Take Roewater, gum Dragagantdiolued, or Iinglaediolued, and omeCinamongroely beaten, eethe them altogether, then take a pounde of almonds, blanch and beate them fine with a little faire water.
Seren says: “This is a traditional Elizabethan recipe for a classic dessert of rosewater jelly that’s blended with pounded almonds and flavoured with cinnamon which is then set and sliced before serving. For special occasions, novelty items made from jelly would be created.”
Elizabethan Marchpane Tart: Original recipe from Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook
Take two pound of almonds blanched and beaten in a stone mortar, till they begin to come to a fine paste, then take a pound of sifted sugar put it in the mortar with the almonds, and make it into a perfect paste, putting to it now and then in the beating of it a spoonful of rose-water to keep it from oyling.
Seren says: “It’s not possible to talk about Shakespearian food without mentioning marchpane, the predecessor of modern day marzipan. Marchpane was often used to generate highly complex and ornate edible centrepieces such as marzipan fruits.
Gooseberry Fool: Part of original recipe from The Compleat Cook (1658)
Take your Gooseberries, and put them in a Silver or Earthen Pot, and set it in a Skillet of boyling Water, and when they are coddled enough strain them.
Seren says: “Gooseberry Fool is a traditional Elizabethan recipe for the classic dish that we still love and enjoy today. Some food historians consider fools to be the precursor to ice cream.”
Gooseberry Fool
Ingredients
450g gooseberries
350ml double cream
100g soft goats’ cheese
2tbsp runny honey
25g butter (softened)
2tsp rosewater
2tbsp sugar
20g flaked almonds (optional)
Method
Place the gooseberries and sugar in a heavy-based pan over a low heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover the pan and cook for 30 minutes or until the gooseberries are soft. Remove the fruit from a pan, add the butter and beat to a pulp with a wooden spoon or place into a liquidiser.
To remove the skin and seeds from the mixture pass the mixture through a fine sieve and discard the skin and seeds.
Set the bowl of sieved gooseberry puree aside and allow to cool completely.
When cold add the rosewater and mix thoroughly. Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold in the goats’ cheese and honey, whip until thick and smooth.
Combine with the cold gooseberry puree. Divide into small glasses and sprinkle with flaked almonds if using and chill in the fridge before serving.
White Jelly of Almonds
Ingredients
100ml rosewater
1 leaf of fine gelatin
50g honey
¼tsp ground cinnamon
300g blanched almonds
4 tbsp water
Method
Gently heat the rosewater and honey. When warm, mix in a bowl with the gelatin and ground cinnamon. Set aside until the gelatin has dissolved.
Grind the almonds in a spice mill or food processor before transferring it to a mortar and pound with the water until it resembles a smooth paste.
Scrape this paste into a double layer of muslin and squeeze out all the excess moisture. Take the almond solids and mix with the honey, rosewater and gelatin mixture. Pour into a pan, bring to a boil and cook for five minutes.
Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly then whisk to mix well before placing into moulds or glasses. Allow to cool completely, cover with clingfilm and then place in the refrigerator to chill until completely set.
Serve slightly chilled topped with a sprig of seasonal berries.
To create a chequered board look:
Divide the mixture into two, pouring one half of the mixture into a square cake tin lined with clingfilm and colouring the other half with a drop of cochineal before pouring into a another clingfilm-lined cake tin.
Set both tins aside in the fridge and when completely cold, cut both jellies into equal, symmetrical squares and assemble as a chessboard design.
Marchpane Tart
Ingredients
350g ground almonds
3tbsp rose water
175g icing sugar
4 wafers of rice paper
For the glaze:
Grated rind of ½ lemon
1tbsp rosewater,
1tbsp icing sugar
1tbsp rice flour
Candied peel for decoration
Method
Place the ground almonds in a food processor and process until it forms a smooth paste.
Add a tablespoon of rose water to this and blend.
Now add the sugar a little at a time using the pulse setting on your processor.
When about half the sugar has been added mix in the remaining rosewater and start adding the remainder of the sugar, mixing all the while (be careful not to mix too aggressively as the mixture will become oily).
The marchpane is now ready to be moulded or rolled into decorative shapes.
Once moulded into shapes it can be baked in a preheated oven (170°C) for 30 minutes until the marchpane becomes quite firm and once cooled it can be decorated.
A simple marchpane tart can be created by taking a blind baked pastry tart case and filling it with the prepared (unbaked) marchpane, a drizzle of honey and a scattering of almond slithers and baking at 170°C for 30 minutes or until golden.
Cool slightly before eating as this will be very hot and molten when first removed from the oven.
