14th/15th C Italian quiche.
XXXV Herbatella, a herb omelet, etc.
If you want to make a herb dish cooked in a frying pan. Take mint, sage, parsley, marjoram and every good herb that you may have. Grind everything together in a mortar with lard and temper with eggs, and cook it thus in a frying pan with fat.
XXXVI Herb omelet in lent.
If you want to make a herb omelet for lent with oil. Take the herbs, that is spinach, beet (leaves, or swiss chard), parsley, mint and marjoram, a little peeled (stems removed) and well washed and put them to boil. When they are almost cooked strain out the water and then squeeze it out with your hands, then chop them with a knife, and beat them with a mallet. Then put them in a pottery pan (pignata) and fry them with oil and with as much salt as is enough. Then put a little of the boiling water above, and close the vessel and see that it is well closed, and pull the pan to the back (of the fire) and let it rest. When it is ready to go to the table dish it up and powder with spices above.
XXXVII Lean dish or dish with “enula”
Take elecampane (Inula helenium, relative of chicory) peel it and then grind it with raw pork belly, add fresh cheese and temper with eggs. Make a (pie) crust, and put it (the filling) into the pan (pie case) and put some strained grease (oil or lard) and put it to cook (in an oven).
My Version
I used these recipes as a basis to make herb and cheese quiches.
For the herb quiche I used spinach, parsley, sage, marjoram, and basil. For the bacon cheese quiche I used grated farmers cheese chopped fried bacon. Each set of ingredients were added to eggs mixed with salt, grains of paradise. The egg mixtures were then put into crusts and baked in an oven until the eggs were set and the crusts were golden.
Sources
– Libro di cucina/ Libro per cuoco (14th/15th c.) (Anonimo Veneziano)
Translated 2003 to January 2005 CE by Helewyse de Birkestad, OL (MKA Louise Smithson) from the
transcription of Ludovico Frati (ed.): Libro di cucina del secolo XIV. Livorno 1899 prepared and made
available online by Thomas Gloning. Last updated March 28th 2005.