We’ve been to Les Medievales de Bayeux twice now – it’s a three day event with stalls, parades, music, re-enactments and displays of medieval crafts. One of the displays we saw this time was cooking, specifically for the upper classes. We got to taste a most delicious concoction of chicken in a lemon sauce thickened with ground almonds. I tried to follow all the instructions the demonstrator gave out but I probably missed something vital! Here’s an approximation that I cooked tonight – it was really good if not quite as delicate as the original, cooked in a ceramic pot over an open fire.
- 600g chicken breast or thigh, skinned
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 100g lardons
- 25cl chicken stock
- juice of 2 lemons
- 50g ground almonds
- pepper to taste (poivre long in the original recipe – it has more heat than black pepper, so I compromised with a mix of white & black)
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
Roast the chicken parts and shred the meat (alternatively, chop into large chunks and fry in a pan). Add the lardons and onion to a large heavy pan and fry until the onions are translucent. Add the shredded chicken, the stock, the lemon juice, the spices, and the ground almonds. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the liquids have reduced somewhat. Taste and adjust the pepper, and add salt if necessary.
If you’re interested in more medieval recipes (in French), check out Le Monde Medieval website.
Our family recipes 