Convivencia, February 21, 2004

Jewish dish of Chard and onions

Inquisition report cited in A Drizzle of Honey

"Los viernes fasta . . su ama açelgas sancohadas en agua e despues ahogadas en aseyte e con çebollas, e allí, en el azeyte, reheruir; e despues echana allí su agua e pan rallado e espeçias y yemas de hueuos; e cozía fasía que se para muy espeso."
which Brighid ni Chiaran translates:
"On Fridays, her mistress made chard parboiled in water and then drowned in oil and with onions, and there, in the oil, boiled again; and then casting there her water and grated bread and spices and yolks of eggs, and cooked it until it became very thick."

• 6 large bunches of swiss chard
• 4-6 medium onions
• 6 cups breadcrumbs
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 10 egg yolks
• 1 tsp grains of paradise, ground
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 to 2 cups olive oil

1. Grind spices together
2. Wash and remove ribs from chard. (Reserve ribs for lentil dish)
3. Parboil chard in boiling water 1-2 minutes
4. Chop up onions into thin strips
5. In a large skillet or skillets, pour oil, add chard and onions. Fry until onions are translucent
6. Add water, followed by spices and enough breadcrumbs to season; mix in egg yolks. Add more breadcrumbs as necessary.
7. Bake in oven at least 1/2 an hour on 325 or 350

In order to come up with a spice mixture that didn't re-use the ubiquitous cinnamon, I've thrown together some spices mentioned in the Andalusian cookbook and de Nola: pepper, grains of paradise, ginger (which appears everywhere), cardamom, and coriander (also ubiquitous) in Moorish cooking.

From the files of Jadwiga Zajaczkowa (Jenne Heise), 2004