It is always a pleasure when the unexpected good happens, isn’t it?
If you are looking for a new purse and find exactly the size, price, color, and shape of the one you desired, it seems to be serendipity. If you have been thinking of a friend and suddenly see him at the store, it is an unexpected pleasure. Once I found a $5 bill in my bushes and thought how the wind had blown it my way.
So it was a cold Winter’s day when I went to a church bazaar and started looking through the books for sale. I pulled out a cookbook entitled “A Glorious Harvest” written by Henrietta Green almost 30 years ago. Did not spend much time perusing the content, but when I returned home and began to read, it was clear that this was an extraordinary find! Serendipity!
Intermingled with the recipes was the most amazing history and beautiful photographs that it took my breath away. What a find! The book offers “Robust recipes from the Dairy, Pasture, Orchard and Sea.”
And so we begin to delineate its contents for your reading pleasure.
In the 16th Century Henry IV of France wrote that he wanted no peasant in his kingdom to be so poor as to not have a chicken in the pot every Sunday. However, the birds were usually fattened for market rather than the farmers’ own tables. Fast forward to 1928 when president Herbert Hoover promised “A chicken in every pot and a car in every driveway.” Some historians debate whether he actually said this or if it was Franklin Roosevelt or Calvin Coolidge, but nonetheless, it was said again centuries later.
Some of the chicken recipes listed include chicken drumsticks with red pepper sauce, Poulet sorges, and chicken breasts with orange sauce. Chicken soup, richly-flavored, sometimes is called “Jewish penicillin” and it is so wholesome that it cures all ills.
When you make a chicken sandwich the following day, put a bit of mustard on it. English mustard is said to have been invented in 1720 by Mrs. Clements of Durham, England. She pounded a mixture of white and black seeds very firmly and then sifted the powder to remove the husks. Her mustard flour became the standard because of its smooth texture and fierce flavor.
French mustard was the grainy L’Ancienne which was made from a mixture of brown and black mustard seeds after the seeds are soaked in verjuice or wine vinegar before being gently crushed. Dijon mustard is a velvety textured, creamy condiment with a deep beige-brown color. It is made from a blend of presoaked brown and black seeds which are wet-ground. Recipes include a coarse-grain mustard and a tarragon version.
If you wish to have some cheese on your sandwich, there is an infinite variety of delicious cheeses available from around the world. I especially like the Blarney Castle natural cheeses produced from grass-fed cows in Ireland. Kerry Gold butter and cheeses. The butter is delicious. Bake a cheese and ham souffle served on a bed of mixed greens.
Or it may be time to bake a Tarte Tatin, a classic French tart. Some cooks prefer to peel the apples, others prefer the color and texture of leaving the skins on. I like to mix the kinds of apples used for either my pies or applesauce as I think it gives a very wonderful flavor. Above, is a photo from the cookbook of an apple Tarte Tatin. Perfectly tasty and beautiful to behold, isn’t it?
The cookbook contains unusual recipes including Ham in a Huff, Quillade soup, JambonPersille, Daube of Beef, duck legs with cabbage and spiced haddock. As the line notes of the book suggest, “a gorgeous tribute, an inspiring invitation to indulge. Come back to the land and savor A Glorious Harvest.”