Stierbach Cooks Guild

from http://www.florilegium.org/
A translation of a 17th Century Romanian Cookbook by Lord Petru cel paros Voda

Take eggplants and remove their dark skin thinly, then boil them, and after boiling dry them well of water and chop small, then fry with oil and onions chopped small, in a pot. Then add water, salt, pepper, cinnamon, a handful of chopped herbs, a little nut milk and verjuice, if in season, and if not, lemon juice, in the same pot where you fried them, and then boil. And when you serve, sprinkle with cinnamon.

1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
olive oil
2 bunches of green oinons
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup fresh herbs (parsley, basil, thyme)
1/4 cup almond milk
2 Tbs lemon juice

Scald the eggplant slices in boiling water for one minute, drain, cool and pat dry. Do not stack which cause further cooking time. Chop into 1/2 inch pieces and brown in olive oil over medium high heat, cooking until au dent but not soft. Place in sauce pan with seasoning, almond milk, and lemon juice and cook another 5 minutes. Serve with sprinkle of cinnamon on top.

Alesia

adapted from The Balkan Cookbook by Inge Kramarz

1 large onion chopped
1/2 cup of fresh marjoram chopped
2 lb beef sliced into strips about inch long, 1/4 inch wide
3 Tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup bacon chopped
2 heaping Tbs of sour cream

Saute onion in oil until golden. Add meat, marjoram, salt and pepper. Saute for 5 minutes. Add wine and simmer for 30 minutes or until meat is tender. Saute bacon separately until crisp. Add to the beef along with the sour cream. Simmer until warm through. Serves 4

This was a quiet month. You could bring any recipe that you wanted to try out. Maeve did a wonderful rabbit and onion stew and a bean dish. Alesia redid her Hungarian dishes – Marjoram Beef Stew and Eggplant. Iustinos provided bread, cheese and a wonderful night out on the back deck.