Garlic Torta

[lucianus]

Since the garlic tart recipe we made for Canterbury inspired vairavi to try her hand at making one, I thought I'd treat you to the recipe we used for the event in all its artery clogging goodness. It is from the Italian Libro per cuoco from the late 14th - early 15th c. Here is the text as translated by Frati:

CV. Garlic tart

Take garlic cloves, peel and boil them. When they are cooked put them to soak in cold water and then grind them and add saffron, enough fresh cheese, beaten lard, sweet and strong spices and temper the mixture with eggs, add raisins and then make the tart.

Here is a recipe sized for two pies:

Garlic Tart

6 heads of garlic
11oz pork belly
3/4lb Brie cheese
8oz cream cheese
4 egg yolks
4 threads saffron
1/2t salt
1/4t long pepper
1/4c yellow raisins, chopped

Grind the pork belly in the meat grinder, do not trim off any fat. Bake the heads of garlic in the oven and scoop out the roasted cloves when they are done. Soak the saffron in a tiny amount of water to draw out the color. In the food processor mix the garlic, cheeses, eggs, saffron, long pepper and salt. Turn that out into a bowl and add the pork and raisins. Spoon in pie shells. Bake for 45 minutes. Yield 2 pies.

Let's face it, this is not a recipe for people watching their fat intake. The pork belly, which should be ground up not just sent through the food processor, adds a smoothness and richness that only unadulterated fat can do. I had only brought the food processor to Canterbury so we ended up chopping up the pork fat that way and while it worked, it wasn't nearly as smooth as I would have liked it to be. I opted for a mixture of Brie and cream cheese for the fresh cheese. At some point I should make this with some of my own fresh cheese. I think the Brie would be much more flavorful. I've made it with boiled and roasted garlic and prefer roasted. The cloves just have so much more flavor. Your choice though as to how you would like to do it.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the garlic tarts for the feast were made by Khioniya, who was able to translate my recipe, a heap of ingredients and my scanty directions into a work of wonder!

Bon apetit!

 

Comments

[baronessv.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you for posting this.

Unfortunately, I own neither a grinder or a food processor. Any suggestions on how one might improvise? I'm not averse to elbow grease.

[lucianus.livejournal.com]

Some local Stop & Shops sell pork fat (trimmings from cut up shoulders), I assume for home sausage making, if you could prevail upon the butcher to ground some of that for you that would be appropriate. The fat from the S&S generally has a good bit of lean in it as well, that's ok so long as it is ground. You are aiming for smoothness.

[peregrinning.livejournal.com]

I told myself to try everything during the feast, so I had a bite of the Garlic Torte. I was amazed at the excellent flavor - Not garlicky as I expected, but sweet and pungent and good. Against my better judgment (knowing there was more food coming and limited space left in my stomach), I had two more bites before setting it aside.

This, and the fennel, were the things I was surprised I liked so much.

[lucianus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I was very pleased with the fennel as well. I doctored it with a bit of ground anise seed and I think it really helped to define the flavor.

Vegetarian

[svava.livejournal.com]

Any advise for making it veggie?

Re: Vegetarian

[lucianus.livejournal.com]

Not really if you want to stick to the period recipe. If you wanted to diverge from that you could add some butter I suppose, but if you did I would cut back on the added salt if you were using salted butter.

Re: Vegetarian

[lucianus.livejournal.com]

On further thought, if you were to use butter I wouldn't use near so much, at the most a stick, otherwise it would be gross.

Re: Vegetarian

[jdulac.livejournal.com]

yeah, butter wouldn't "set up" the way suet, pork belly, or bacon would do. And it would be so... buttery it could be rather, well, gross...

[kls-eloise.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this - it was one of my favorite thing from the feast. Despite being full to bursting I kept going back for one more bite of it...

I too made a point to try everything, even things I don't think I like. The fennel was good, but I was too full to really appreciate it. I still think that I don't like mushrooms. It may be a texture issue.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Speaking of fresh cheese, could you use farmer's cheese or queso fresco in place of the Brie + cream cheese? What's the most important quality?

[jducoeur]

Kudos to the cooks -- this was awfully good, even so late in the feast (when I was at the point of going, "I can't possibly eat any more unless it's really great"...)