Peas -- A side dish
		Redaction by THL Dagonell Collingwood

This recipe is taken from "Two Fifteenth Century Cookbooks", pg.83
It can also be found in "Take a Thousand Eggs or More" and 
"Cariadoc's Miscellany".

Original:
Perre.  Take grene pesyn, and boile hem in a potte;
And whan they ben y-broke, drawe the broth a good quantite
thorgh a streynour into a potte, And sitte hit on the fire;
and take oynons and parcelly, and hewe hem small togidre, And
cast hem thereto; And take pouder of Canell and peper, and
caste thereto, and lete boile; And take vynegur and pouder of
ginger, and caste thereto And then take Saffron and salte, a 
litull quantite, and caste thereto; And take faire peces of 
paynmain, or elles of such tendur brede, and kutte hit yn fere
mosselles, and caste there-to; And then serue hit so forth."

Translation:
Peas.  Take green peas, and boil them in a pot;
And when they are broken, draw the broth a good quantity through
a strainer into a pot, And sit it on the fire; and take onion
and parsley, and cut them smalle together, and cast them thereto;
And take powder of cinnamon and pepper, and cast them thereto, 
and let boil; And take vinegar and powder of ginger, and cast
thereto; And take fair pieces of paindemaine, or else of such 
tender bread, and cut it in fair morsels, and cast thereto; And
then serve it so forth.

Substitutions:
Vinegar: Like most SCA cooks, I have a wide variety of flavored vinegars
that I've made, bought, bartered for or been gifted with.  I used a
home-made basil and rosemary flavored vinegar for this recipe.  White
vinegar is stored with the other cleaning supplies.

Saffron: Saffron is the stamen of the crocus flower.  It must be hand
picked and it takes, literally, a quarter of a million crocuses to make
one pound of saffron.  It is the most expensive spice in the world and
is literally worth more than its weight in gold.  It has a delicate 
flavor which is overpowered when mixed with other herbs and spices.  I 
used tumeric instead of saffron

Paindemaine: Paindemaine is a soft crust bread.  Think 'fondue bread'
and you've pretty much got it.  I used half a round loaf of a soft
crust French bread.  I delibrately made this recipe so that smaller
quantities of it could be made, all ingredient amounts can be divided 
evenly by three.  If you're making different quantities than listed here, 
use about two slices of white bread for each pound of peas.

Redaction:
3 lbs frozen peas
3 cups water
3 large onions
3 Tablespoons parsley flakes
1-1/2 teaspoons powdered cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 Tablespoons vinegar
3/4 teaspoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon tumeric
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 loaf French bread

Bring three cups of water to boil.  Add three pounds of frozen peas.  Bring
back to a boil and boil for about 45 minutes.  Drain the peas and keep the 
liquid.  Mash the peas.  Dice three large onions.  Put the peas back on the
heat, add half the liquid, onions, parsley, cinnamon, pepper, vinegar, ginger
tumeric and salt.  Bring to a boil for fifteen minutes, or until the onions
are cooked.  The leftover pea juice is good for you, drink it. :D  Tear half
a loaf of french bread into small pieces and add it to the mixture.  Heat
briefly, then serve.  For a smaller quantity, use one-third the amount of
all the listed ingredients.