2 lbs white turnips, peeled
10-12 oz. good Swiss cheese, minced
1/4 lb. butter, melted
pinch of allspice and/or nutmeg, to taste
salt and pepper, also to taste
If roasting meat, boil turnips 5 min., then add to meat and roast 10-15 min.; or just boil them until barely tender. Allow turnips to cool while mincing the cheese, then slice them. Place a layer of the cheese in a well-buttered baking dish, top with a layer of turnips, spices, and some butter; continue alternating layers, ending with more cheese. Place in a moderate oven just long enough to melt the cheese. You can cover and microwave it about 5 min. instead but that's really not authentic.
From: Hieatt, Hosington, and Butler, Pleyn Delit : medieval cookery for modern cooks. University of Toronto Press, w996. ISBN: 0802076327.
In recreationist circles, this dish is something of an "old standby," easy and popular. The boil-then-roast technique shows up a lot in medieval cooking; I'm told it was considered healthier than cooking with just one method. The medical science of the day held that combining wet and dry heat would balance the humors of the resulting dish.
Esperanta traduko: this post is also available in Esperanto, because Dana is a language geek.
