Writings: Katira al-Maghrebiyya (aka Kay the Innocent of Bel Anjou)

Cynagua Investiture A.S. XXXIV
Copper Spoon
Category - Herbal Foods
Entry: Herb Soup
Documentation

Source: The Medieval Kitchen, Recipes from France and Italy, by Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban, & Silvano Serventi. Translated by Edward Schneider. The University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Original Recipe: Menestra d'herbette - Togli le foglia di viete, et un pocha di borragine et fagli dare un boglio in acqua chiara bogliente quando le mitti dentro; dapoi cacciale fore et battile molto bene col coltello. Et togli un pocho de petrosillo, et di menta cruda, et similmente le batti co le ditte herbe. Dapoi macinale bene nel mortale, et mittile in una pignatta con brodo grasso et falle bollire un pocho. Et se ti pare mettevi un pocho di pepe. (Maestro Martino, Libro de arte coquinaria 146)

Translation by Edward Schneider: Menestra of Greens. Take Swiss chard leaves and a little borage; cook them in boiling clear water until the water comes back to the boil; then drain them and chop fine with a knife. And take a little parsley and raw mint chop them along with the greens. Then pound everything in a mortar, and add to a pot with rich broth and boil briefly. If you like, you can add a little pepper.

Notes: I am not a fan of greens as such, but the first batch convinced me that I like chard and this soup is going into my personal cookbook.

The authors suggest spinach, romaine lettuce, arugula, or other greens as substitutes for the borage and I used spinach, but next summer when my borage is back, I will use it. They also recommend using beef broth, but my preference was chicken broth and I wasn't disappointed.

I used the mint available in the market because my mint bed was in hibernation. I used the more flavorful flat leaf parsley but either kind could be used. Their redaction included salt. I did not. When preparing this yourself, I feel that much will depend on you preferences (tangy arugula or milder spinach, salt or not, etc.) . I'll bet you can't go wrong with this fifteenth century soup.

Recipe

4 cups chicken broth (made from scratch with aromatic vegetables & herbs)
1 bunch chard, washed and trimmed of tough stems
1/2 bunch spinach, washed and trimmed of stems
2 T minced mint leaves (1 bunch produced 6 T after leaves trimmed from stems)
3 T minced Italian flat leaf parsley (1 bunch produced 9 T after cutting off long stems)
pepper
salt - optional

Clean chard, trimming any tough stems.
Clean spinach and trim stems. Use about a third as much as the chard.
Heat water to boiling and add cleaned and drained greens.
Bring back to the boil and simmer just a few minutes (until almost tender).
Drain well and finely mince (can use molter or food processor).
Heat broth to boiling and add cooked greens bringing back to a simmer.
Add minced herbs. Add additional minced herbs to taste. Season to taste with pepper; add salt if broth is bland.
Serve immediately.

Final Preparation Notes: For this competition, I prepared the greens, processed the herbs and made the broth the night before and on site proceeded from "Heat broth to boiling".
Note: This was one of my two entries and there still was no competition!

Last updated 01/03/2007