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Fried Gourd, Fennel and Parsley Root

Posted on 03/21/202203/24/2022 by Murienne

14th C French savory vegetable recipe.

Take, around All Saints Day (November 1), large turnips, and peel them and chop them in quarters, and then put on to cook in water: and when they are partially cooked, take them out and put them in cold water to make them tender, and then let them drain; and take honey and do the same as with the walnuts, and be careful not to over-cook your turnips.

Item, when gourds are in season, take those which are neither too hard nor too tender, and peel them and remove the seeds and cut into quarters, and do the same to them as to the turnips. 

Item, around St. Andrew’s Day, take roots of parsley and fennel, and scrape them, and chop them into small pieces, and split the fennel and remove the hard part, and do not do this to the parsley, and prepare them exactly the same way as told above, neither more nor less. – Le Menagier de Paris (France, 1393 – Janet Hinson, trans.)

My Version

This dish is actually a combination of a couple dishes described in Le Menagier de Paris. The three above recipes are listed together with the first being the one that describes the method of cooking. I chose to use the gourds, fennel and parsley root that are described in the second and third recipes.

The calabash gourds I used are based off of the advice given by Master Cariadoc on the subject (see sources for information). 

The gourds were peeled, the seeds removed and they were chopped into large bite sized pieces. The parsley root and fennel were scraped clean and once the core was removed from the fennel they were both chopped into bite sized pieces. The gourds were added to water and put to boil, after about 4-5 minutes of boiling the fennel and parsley roots were added. once the vegetables were cooked but still a bit crisp they were removed and cold water was run over them to keep them from cooking further. When they were ready to be served honey was drizzled over the dish and chopped walnuts were used as a garnish.

Sources

Le Menagier de Paris (France, 1393 – Janet Hinson, trans.)

http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html

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