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.
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| 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
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| 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."
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| Ready to cook. |
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| Pulpy. |
I used a stick blender to puree the dates in the pan:
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Smooth enough!
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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.
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| About 2 inches in diameter and 15 inches long. |
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| 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.
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| Exterior view of the mold. |
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| 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.
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| Just add water. |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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This was too big for the mold. Reduce by half.
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| 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.
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| Done! |
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| Honestly, the filling was better distributed than this in many of them. |
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...
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