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I would love to host a dinner party and invite George Balanchine, Bill and Hillary Clinton, John and Jacqueline Kennedy, Julia Child, Eleanor Roosevelt, Picasso and a few others. The guest of honor would be William Shakespeare.
This great bard (1564-1616) is one of my favorite authors, and food and drink were prominently featured in his plays. Elizabethan England was a jolly old time, especially if one was rich and could afford top-quality ingredients and fine wine.
April 19, Francine Segan, author of "Shakespeare’s Kitchen: Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook," will host a special dinner at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel honoring the 10th anniversary of The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival. The dinner will benefit the festival’s Open Door Project, which places dozens of teaching artists in area schools and brings students to festival matinees for little or no cost each year. The four-course Elizabethan dinner, with wine and beer pairings, is $150 per person. To make a reservation, call 215-523-8221.
Renaissance fare is English food that is easily recognizable in the New World. Apple pie, roast beef, capon and duck, watercress, prawns and oysters are enjoyed on both sides of the Atlantic. We may not cook in cauldrons, hot boxes or fireplaces anymore, but the techniques used to produce banquets or everyday foods are the same. A roast is a roast.
The following recipes are from "Shakespeare’s Kitchen."
Oyster Stew
Ingredients:
1 small red onion, diced
1 tablespoon of butter
1 cup of white wine
12 small oysters, liquid reserved
1 cup of milk
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg
Salt, to taste
1/2 teaspoon of freshly milled pink peppercorns
1/2 cup of coarsely cut toasted bread
Directions:
Saut� the onion and butter in a saucepan over medium for 10 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Reduce to low, add the oysters and their liquid and cook for four minutes. Add the milk, nutmeg and salt and cook for three more minutes.
Ladle into a serving bowl and top with the peppercorns and bread.
Serves four.
Note from Phyllis: Every literature buff remembers "Why, then the world’s mine oyster, which I with sword will open" from "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
Watercress with Roasted Parsnips
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of almond oil
3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
3/4 teaspoon of salt
Dash of freshly milled black pepper
1 teaspoon of light brown sugar
2 parsnips, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
Butter, for coating
2 bunches of watercress
2 tablespoons of chopped mint leaves
2 tablespoons of chopped flat-leaf parsley
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Whisk the oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and brown sugar together in a small bowl.
Place the parsnips on a buttered baking sheet and roast for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender. Toss with half of the vinegar mixture and then arrange around the edges of a serving platter.
Toss the watercress, mint and parsley with the remaining vinegar mixture and place in the center of the platter.
Note from Phyllis: Segan writes parsnips were brought to England by the ancient Romans.
Pur�ed Carrots with Currants and Spices
Ingredients:
2 cups of salted water
8 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch rounds
1 teaspoon of verjuice
1 tablespoon of butter
1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of ginger marmalade
1 tablespoon of currants
Salt and freshly milled black pepper, ;to taste
Directions:
Bring the water to a boil. Add the carrots, cover and cook for 25 minutes, or until tender. Drain. Pur�e with the verjuice, butter and cinnamon until smooth. Add a tablespoon of the cooking water if too dry. Stir in the marmalade and currants. Season with the salt and pepper.
Serves six.
Note from Phyllis: "Let me see; what am I to buy for our sheep-shearing feast? Three pounds of sugar, five pounds of currants" ("The Winter’s Tale").
Segan writes currant is an Anglicized version of the Old French "raisin de Corinthe," referring to the Greek city from which the dried fruit was imported to Britain.
Verjuice, sometimes called verjus, is a sour liquid made from unripe grapes and may be found in gourmet stores.
Chicken and Artichokes
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
1 chicken (about 4 pounds) cut into eight pieces
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of chicken stock
3/4 cup of white wine
1 lemon, unpeeled, diced, seeds removed
1/4 teaspoon of ground mace
6 dates, pitted and chopped
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
5 to 6 artichoke bottoms, cleaned and parboiled
Directions:
Heat the oil in a large saut� pan over medium-high. Dredge the chicken in the flour and brown in the pan on all sides. Remove and add the stock, wine, lemon, mace, dates, brown sugar and salt to the pan. Bring to a boil and add the chicken and artichokes. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook for 15 minutes or until fork-tender.
Serves six.
Note from Phyllis: The recipe calls for Renaissance stock, which is Segan’s homemade chicken stock with a myriad of ingredients. Chicken stock also works well here.
I do not think a 4-pound chicken serves six people. In my house it serves two to three.
