In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates fake fish - a medieval apple pie for Lent.
In the Middle Ages, people were instructed not to eat meat during Lent. Yet the ban didn’t apply to fish – in fact, Dutch gourmets enjoyed serving up ‘fish’ dishes so much that they devised this fish-shaped apple pie. With no animal products, it’s every bit as virtuous as it is delicious.
Ingredients For the dough:
500g flour 125g oil (I used olive oil)
40g ground almonds
300ml water
1tsp salt
Saffron (optional)
Whole/sliced almonds to make scales
For the filling:
3 apples, chopped
90g cane sugar
1tsp ginger
½tsp cinnamon
½tsp saffron
2 slices gingerbread, lightly toasted and crumbled, or 40 ground almonds
Method For the dough:
Mix all the ingredients together, adding more liquid/flour if required, and knead it all until it’s reasonably smooth. Put the dough in the fridge for an hour before you need to use it.
For the filling: Add the ingredients into a blender or mash by hand using a potato masher.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Divide the pastry in two. Roll out the first part and cut out an oval shape. Place the fish on a baking tray with toasted breadcrumbs sprinkled on the dough. Put the apple filling on to the oval, roll and cut out a second oval and place over the filling, pressing the top layer to the bottom. Cut out an eye hole and a hole near where the tail will go. Add fins, gills, scales. Bake for 45mins.
Difficulty: 3/10
Time: 90 mins
Recipe courtesy of Coquinaria
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