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So, a lot of cookery went on this week. We have a final menu for the Winter Feast and the last trial run dishes got served on Sunday for the potluck. We’ve done enough of the “alternate grain” breads now to set up a page for those which should start happening this week. Brined apples are going and we have worked out an alternative if they don’t turn out as planned.

As served

Yes, we had a good potluck on Sunday. We may put them off to the later time more often, since it’s easier on everyone’s schedules. Next one is schedule for 1/21/

So, this week all of the regular meetings are planned. We have no clue if anyone will show up for Project Day since it’s Christmas eve. We’ll see.

  • Sewing Night – At Ancient Light, Thursdays, 6-8pm
  • Caraway Rye loaf

    Herb Bunch – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 11am-1pm

  • Sewing Time – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 3-5pm
  • Project Day – At Ancient Light, Sundays, Noon to 6pm
  • Cheese & Wine – Watch the schedule or the Facebook group! This is going to be irregularly scheduled for when tasks need to occur.
  • Next Potluck – 1/21

Here is the direct Portfolio link which has all the past Project Day reports and various projects, original here:  https://housecapuchin.wordpress.com/portfolio/  and new one here:  https://housecapuchin2.wordpress.com/portfolio/ and number three is here: https://housecapuchin3.wordpress.com/portfolio/

Early Week

Loren decided to get a jump on this week’s food things by making a loaf of rye bread Sunday evening after Anja got the report out. It was solid rye, so it didn’t rise the way he expected and was more of a batter than a bread dough…and then it scorched. Anja wanted it for the bread soup, so that was perfect. It had a wonderful flavor and scent. (more on bread soup below….)

On Monday the mushrooms were dry, so they got put away.

Cookery

Test run on pork roasts on Monday. 1 peeled and quartered onion, 2 1/2 pound boneless butt, 1/4 cup caraway, 1/2 cup water, sprinkle well with salt. Crockpot at 4pm on high. Flipped at 6pm. Perfect at 10pm. I mean perfect as in it’s the consistency of butter…. Wow…. At a lot of this at the potluck

On Friday, we made the starter for the brined apples. Pretty simple. 1 cup flour, 1 cup warm water, 1 tsp yeast, mix well. It needed to sit overnight. Saturday morning we harvested mint, thyme, lemon thyme and a few last raspberries to go with the apples. Loren got the apples and mint washed and then Anja assembled the box. She used a Tupperware box because we didn’t have a big enough jar. Next was the broth, which was: 4 tablespoons rye flour, ½ tablespoon salt, ½ cup honey boiled together and left to cool. 2 tablespoons of the starter were added and then the whole poured over the apples. Yes, we used a Tupperware box. That’s not usually recommended. … On Sunday the apples were under pressure and were burped at 11, 2, 3 and….

Sewing Time – Thursday – Anja finally finished an embroidered band that she’s been working on since 1996, what with it and the off-brand/off-color floss that she used taking turns hiding themselves when she was looking for them, it only happened this week…. minus parts of one motif…. she’s out of floss! The band is about 36 inches long, so she’s looking for ideas on how/where to use it. Amy has more of the yarn for the lucet cords for the feast, so those are up and running again.

Sewing Time – Saturday – Was just Anja, so she worked on a new pouch with a snap top, trying to sort out the pattern….

Herb Bunch was all the brined apples above. …oh, and “ends” of turnips, carrots and sprouted garlics are getting planted in the buckets as we go. We have some greens, but most are being saved for the feast.

Project Day – The shop smelled delicious as we were walking in and that was just from the chicken broth that was going all night. We got it strained and set aside to cool. The brined apples were under pressure, at least a little, but dunno about that starter…. We fed it in the morning and hopefully, that will get it going again.

Amy and Stella both came in between 1 and 2pm. Amy needed to study at the library and told us that she has two more lucet cords done. Stella was going to a concert (Wind and Waves doing medieval recorder music), but she offered to pick up Jay on the way back and we decided to put the potluck off until 5pm, so everyone could get back. So, cookery and cleanery <grin> happened during the afternoon. It gave Loren and Anja a little time to get ahead of some of the clean-up at least, and Anja got a few licks in on the pouch that she’s doing. Loren started the caraway-rye for the feast at a bit after 2pm.

The chicken stew got the chicken and veg from the broth added to it and then it was set to heat back up. Apple got cooked. It’s a remnant of just one of the apples that went into the brine and a trial run of a dish that has no recipe, just a description of apples cooked with honey and then cream put on top. Then pecans got started…, then the fennel got set up. …and then the broth for the bread soup. At which point first Amy came in and then Stella with Jay. Anja was still working on the bread soup for the first 20 minutes or so, and then afterwards, the fennel, which mostly just needed to stew.

We ate from 5pm to 6:30. 🙂 Stuffed people…. By 7pm Anja and Loren were putting away leftovers. Everyone had headed out.

Potluck Menu

  • Caraway Pork Roast – Pork butt, salt, caraway, onion
  • Bread/Cheese soup – Chicken broth (celery, herbs, garlics, salt) rye bread crumbs, aged cheddar
  • Vegetables stewed with chicken – brussels sprouts (leaves and stem) celery, carrot, turnip, misc herbs, salt, onion, dill
  • Bacon blue butter – butter, bacon, blue cheese
  • Caraway Rye Bread (didn’t get finished until after the feast)
  • Barley Bread
  • Apples with honey and cream – (just that)
  • Fennel stewed in wine (same as last week)
  • Spiced pecans (sugar, egg white, pecans, nutmeg) (didn’t get finished until after the feast) (will put recipe in newsletter next week)
  • White cheddar (no pic)
  • Mango spears (no pic)
  • Lemon pound cake
  • Clover rolls (no pic)

Other dishes

Vegetables stewed with chicken – brussels sprouts (leaves and stem) celery, beet tops, carrot, turnip, misc herbs, salt, onion, dill, turnip, parsnip, chicken – This was actually two batches, a bunch of cut-up veg bits from other cookery early in the week, with two chicken breasts added and water to cover, cooked overnight in the crockpot and put by. A 2nd batch which was 3-4 pints of water, 3 chicken breasts and 1/2 a bunch of celery, cooked overnight on Saturday. When the latter was strained on Sunday, the broth went into two quart jars and the “bottom bits” were another cup that got added to the bread soup. The “strainings” got added to the stew with dill and a little too much salt. Two of the chicken breasts were chopped and put by separately, since there was really too much meat for the stew!

Cheese Soup – Loren and Anja watched a Townsend’s video about a cheese soup, made from a bread soup base (in his case, pancotto) and went, “Ooh!”. Bread soups are huge in Central European cookery, so we decided to try this simple one, even if his recipe is 1755. Video is below…. the one problem with is is that the recipe wasn’t given for the bread soup base, so Anja tracked down this recipe (Italian….) https://food52.com/recipes/33081-pancotto-tuscan-bread-soup to give her an idea of where to start, even though she had watched her grandmother making it.

…and we finally tracked down the period recipe that Anja was certain was there. http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec15.htm

Ok, 1/2 pound of bread crumbs to 4 cups of broth, a bit of salt and some herbs….then add the grated aged cheddar cheese, just long enough before serving to let it all melt.

Loren made the rye bread Sunday night and grated it on Friday, so to “stale” the crumbs.

Anja made broth from chicken, celery and garlic in a crockpot over Saturday night.

Sunday morning she strained the broth and set it aside to start cooking at about 4:30, after the cheese was grated.

Cheese Rye Bread Soup

  • 2 ½ cups rye bread grated to crumbs and dried over a couple of days, at least (this is from loaf above)
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • the “bottom bits” from the straining in about 1 cup liquid
  • 1 egg yolk
  • Small shallot
  • Thyme (3 springs)
  • Oregano (5 sprigs)
  • Basil (1 sprig)
  • ½ pound aged cheddar cheese
  1. Starting from cold broth, put in soup pot.
  2. Whisk in “strainings” (small bits) from what settled when you made the broth.
  3. Whisk in egg yolk.
  4. Heat to boiling, whisking occasionally.
  5. Once it boils, turn to medium and simmer until shallots are no longer crunchy.
  6. Add bread crumbs and stirring at least once each minute, let cook until bread is softened and mostly broken up.
  7. Divide grated cheese into 4 batches, and add to soup 1 batch at a time, making sure each is stirred and melted before adding the next.
  8. Serve immediately or this will “hold” in a crockpot on low for quite some time.
  9. Refrigerate leftovers and use within a day or two. Reheat in the microwave.

 

Music

Links

Leather tooling examples links:

 

Funnies 

Loren, Anja, Amy, Stella, Jay

divider black grey greek key

Largesse Item Count – (includes gifts, prizes, auction items, etc.)

    • ASXLVII = 24
    • ASXLVIII = 88
    • ASXLIX = 794
    • ASL = 2138
    • ASLI = 731
    • ASLII = 185+70=255 plus 25 pouches for block-printing, 14 (plus 26 unfinished)
    • except for bone needles), varnished stuff (124)

Total as a Household = 3614 handed off

moving writing pen motifIn ministerio autem Somnium! Anja, graeca doctrina servus to House Capuchin
Page Created 12/4/17 & published ??/??/17 (C)M. Bartlett
Last updated 12/17/17