Leche Lombard, a medieval date roll, with a Chinese-style bonus!

Leche Lombard is a medieval English recipe on page 133 in A Taste of History by Maggie Black.  I made this dish once before, years ago, and recalled how much I enjoyed it.  When I came across the recipe again, I took the opportunity to make it.

ISBN 0-7141-1788-9

The word "leche" implies that something is thickened.  In this case, a spiced date puree is thickened with egg yolks and bread crumbs, turning it into finger food, and served as an appetizer or a dessert.  It is not hard to make, especially if you have modern kitchen tools like a stick blender or a food processor.  If you want to go more "medieval", you can use a mortar and pestle.

In this case, I was taking it to a social gathering where I knew the people would be willing to try something new.  

Leche Lumbard -- Date Slices with Spiced Wine

1 3/4 pound dates, pits removed

3/4 pint medium-dry white wine

3 ounces light soft brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

6 hard-boiled egg yolks

about 6 ounces soft brown bread crumbs **have more on hand just in case**

3 - 4 tablespoons Madeira heated with a pinch of mixed spices

My bread crumbs were not brown, but they were soft.

Break up the dates and simmer with the wine and sugar until pulpy.  Pound or put through a food processor until almost smooth.  Mix in the spices and sieve or work in the egg yolks.  In a bowl, knead in enough breadcrumbs to make the mixture as stiff as marzipan.  Form it into a 2 inch (5 cm) diameter roll, and chill until firm.  Cut into 1/4 inch slices.  Arrange in overlapping lines on a plate, and trickle a drop or two of cooled, spiced wine over each slice.

My Notes

This recipe and a different redaction of it, is also found on page 138 of Fabulous Feasts by Madeleine Pelner Cosman.  That is how I knew the original name, which is not part of A Taste of History.

Here are the pictures of cooking the dates "until pulpy."

Ready to cook.

Pulpy.

I used a stick blender to puree the dates in the pan:

Smooth enough!

Just for fun, I pounded the bread in the mortar and sieved it until it was little bits.  I also pushed the egg yolks through a sieve until it was tiny pieces.

Then I mixed everything together well.  It wasn't as stiff as I wanted or as I recalled when I made it previously, but I was out of breadcrumbs.  I had to take it as it was and hope for the best.

So I rolled into a log shape and wrapped it in waxed paper for chilling.

About 2 inches in diameter and 15 inches long.

This fit on a tray in my refrigerator.

It didn't firm up as much as I had hoped, even after 4 hours of chilling.  But I sliced it anyways and arranged it on a serving platter with the spiced wine on top.

The Verdict

They were sticky but not terribly so.  I could pick up a slice and eat it without losing much or any along the way.  I liked them -- the texture was interesting, the flavor was spices and dates and richness.  It was not too sweet, and the wine seemed to add a more "adult-like" feel to this dessert.

The people at the gathering I attended enjoyed it.  One thought it was good enough that maybe it was "healthy", which made me laugh.  No, not really, but it was fun to think so.  Most pieces were gone by the end of the evening and the host wanted me to leave some behind, which I did.

Success!  Although I would add more bread crumbs to make it thicker and not so sticky.

I also think that you could make the texture more interesting by kneading in some toasted nuts (I would use chopped almonds) before making the roll.  

And Now for the Bonus

What I took to the gathering was not all the date mixture.  I had a lot left over at home.  I decided it would be a good filling for a Chinese moon cake.  Completely non-traditional, I guessed, but I had been given a moon cake mold by YT and wanted to play with it.

Exterior view of the mold.

Interior view.

I used a recipe from Nyonya Cooking's website to make the golden syrup and the dough.  Click here to see it.  I already owned a bottle of lye water.  Golden syrup is just a simple syrup of water and sugar with a strong lemon flavor, and it was easy to make.

Just add water.

Simmered for 35 minutes to turn golden.

It tasted lovely!  I think I would make this just to have on hand for an ice cream topping or brushing on a cake or to put in my tea.  

To make the dough, which the site calls "foolproof", requires cake flour, for which I substituted 200 g all-purpose flour mixed well with 40 g cornstarch.  Also, the dough recipe author has never met this fool, as I managed to mis-measure the lye water, putting in too much.  I completed the recipe anyway.

Include the golden syrup!

I found that the mold could hold 25 g of filling with 25 g of dough comfortably.  It took a little practice to get it to work well in the mold, but it wasn't hard.  Weighing everything on a scale was a good idea.

This was too big for the mold.  Reduce by half.

Out of the mold, ready to bake.

First you bake them for 10 minutes, let them cool for 10 minutes, brush them with the egg wash, then bake them again for 10 minutes or until golden brown all over.  

Done!

Honestly, the filling was better distributed than this in many of them.

The Verdict

Nyonya's site says to let the cakes sit in a closed container for about 3 days for the oil in the filling to soften the crust.  Another website agrees but encourages tasting it while the crust is still crispy.  I did both.  

First, it was really obvious that I had put in too much lye water.  I could taste it and it was not a pleasant addition.  Even after the cakes had matured for a few days, the lye flavor was there.  However, I could get past that in order to judge the final result.  

I thought the leche Lombard filling was a very good idea.  It achieved similar results to the professionally-made moon cakes I have previously tried.  Tasty, not too sweet, and balanced with the crust.  My observation is that Asian desserts are very understated, and this was that.  But it was still flavorful enough to be interesting.  

Success again!  Just be careful in measuring the lye water...

Roast Turkey with Meat Stuffing - Two Pinedo recipes

It's time for a Pinedo recipe!  And this time, it is a twofer.  I had a turkey to roast and I wanted a different type of stuffing for it.  Miss Pinedo did not fail me.  (Look at the keyword "Pinedo" to see more of what is going on here.)

On page 113 is her recipe for roast turkey.

My Translation

The word "malbarda" I translated as being "albardar", which means to wrap in bacon.  Using the idea that "it can be filled with mince of all kinds", I looked at her mince or stuffing recipes.  I chose this one on page 226, because I have never tried meat stuffing before (it was always bread-based):

My Translation

While the oven was heating to 450 degrees F, I worked on the stuffing.

My Redaction of the Turkey Stuffing

1 lb, 5 oz pork loin, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)

8 oz. Roma tomatoes, chopped to about 1/2 inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)

2 teaspoons crushed garlic

4 oz ham, chopped (about 1 cup)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1 teaspoon capers, drained

10 black olives, chopped

3 tablespoons parsley, minced

1/4 teaspoon ground saffron

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

Mix the pork loin, tomatoes, and garlic.  Add the rest of the ingredients except the wine and the vinegar.  Mix well.

Add the wine and the vinegar.  Mix well.  

Stuff the interior of the turkey with as much as possible (it will shrink).  Include a lot of the liquids.  Any leftovers can go into a covered casserole dish to be baked separately.  

See the turkey recipe to finish this up.

My Notes

Chopping the pork meant trying to break up the big pieces into small pieces that would mix well with the other ingredients.

Pork before chopping

Chopped pork

Pork, tomatoes, and garlic

Everything but the liquids, pre-mixing.

Everything mixed.

My Redaction of the Roasted Turkey with Notes

1- 14 lb turkey, fresh or defrosted

1 pound bacon

1 batch stuffing

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Rinse turkey inside and out, removing the giblets and neck.  (Save or discard; they are not being used in this recipe.)  Dry the turkey with a paper towel.  Place in baking dish.

Stuff the interior with as much stuffing as possible.  It won't expand like bread stuffings do, so pack it full.  I used about 2/3 of the stuffing mixture to fill this bird.

This turkey did not have the usual flaps that would cover the stuffing, so I used Miss Pinedo's recommendation to cover the stuffing with a slice of bread.  

Tuck the wings under the back.  Cross the legs and tie them together over the bread slice.

Cover the outside of the turkey with slices of bacon, tucking the bacon ends into the sides of the baking dish.

A bacon mummy

Put the turkey in the hot oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F.

Cook until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 180 to 185 degrees F and the stuffing to 165 degrees F.  This *should* take 15 to 20 minutes per pound.  However, mine cooked a lot faster than that.  It should have taken about 4 hours.  I'm glad I checked it after about 2 1/2 hours, because it was done, almost overdone.  I noticed that the bacon smelled done after 2 hours, and I wondered if that was a good cue to check the bird for doneness.  (I really don't know.)

Too far?

Allow the bird to rest for 20 minutes before carving.  I used some of the juices in the pan to baste it while it was resting.  Cut off the string on the legs and use a spoon to remove the stuffing into a bowl.  Carve away!

The Verdict

The turkey meat was pretty good.  I thought it was a little overcooked, but my guest tasters disagreed.  We all agreed that the breast meat was moist and not dry.  The dark meat seemed a little dry.  I think I would douse it with pan juices before serving it, next time.

The bacon was crisp and much of it stuck to the skin.  I like chewy bacon, so this did not appeal to me.  I wasn't going to serve it, but my guest tasters really wanted to try it.  They liked it broken up and sprinkled on the stuffing.

We all thought the stuffing was dry.  I believe it needed more fat; it could have dried because the missing flaps weren't there to trap the moisture or I didn't get enough of the wine and vinegar liquids into the stuffing while I was filling the bird.  This is why I recommend specifically getting those liquids into the interior.  

But we did agree that the stuffing had a good flavor.  It was meaty, which was interesting because we all had experienced only bread-based stuffing.  In fact, the meat was the dominant ingredient; it overpowered the raisins and olives.  (We all thought it needed more raisins and possibly more olives.)  One guest taster said, "The raisins were good to find, but they didn't last long."  

The seasoning added a good depth.  It was not strong, but it was well-balanced, and we liked it.  The almonds added an important crunch.  When I focused on it, I could taste the vinegar, which was good.  The acid bite (slight as it was) was the right addition to keep it from being "just meat."

Success!  Twice!

Meanwhile the extra stuffing was placed in the oven at 325 degrees F.  I drizzled on some olive oil first (because I didn't want it to be dry), then covered it for the first 30 minutes of baking.  I uncovered it for another 15 or so minutes since it looked too wet.

Prebaking

Done and very moist

This was also good!  It was, most definitely, not dry.  I didn't need to put the olive oil on it.  The wine and vinegar flavors came through, and they made the whole mixture very moist.  We all liked this better than what came out of the turkey because we could taste the seasonings more, although it still needed more raisins.  I could taste the saffron and tomatoes more, too.  

I never tasted the capers, so I could probably have put more in.  Try it, if you like capers.

Success again!