14th c French sweet rice recipe.
“Tailles to serve in Lent. Take fine raisins, boiled milk of almonds, scalded, cakes and crusts of white bread and apples cut into small cubes and boil your milk and add saffron to colour it and sugar and put all in together until it is thick enough to be cut. It is served in Lent, instead of rice.” – Le Menagier de Paris, translated by Janet Hinson
My Version
The dish is described in the original as having been served instead of rice but when I made it at home it seemed to be better suited to be served as a dessert. I took almond milk, chopped applies, raisins, saffron, and sugar and cooked it until the raisins plumped. Then I stirred in ground shortbread and white breadcrumbs and once it was thick like a bread dough I pressed it into a loaf pan and let it sit until just before serving. It was served in slices like a pound cake.
Sources
– Le Menagier de Paris (France, 1393 – Janet Hinson, trans.)
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html