Medieval Pie!

I was debating all yesterday to do the medieval meatballs or a medieval pie for the historical food fortnightly challenge. The meatballs one won. However, I forgot I left the frozen apple slices out (whoops!) and realized I either had to cook those or throw them out. So, I had pie for breakfast. It was good!

I got the recipe from Medieval Cookery but changed it up a bit to more follow the original recipe from From of Cury.

Source [Forme of Cury, S. Pegge (ed.)]: XXIII. For To Make Tartys In Applis. Tak gode Applys and gode Spycis and Figys and reysons and Perys and wan they are wel ybrayed colourd wyth Safroun wel and do yt in a cofyn and do yt forth to bake wel.

The modern version of the recipe didn't call for the apples, figs, raisins, and pears to be turned into a sauce.  So, I went with the original 15th C recipe.  See?

Yeah, I know, not exactly appetizing looking in the photo.  I used saffron, powder douce, and a bit of sugar (just a couple of tablespoons) in the fruity mix. The pastry shell is vegan - I used olive oil rather than butter. This is also period correct.

So the reason baking a pie might be terrifying? The powder douce. I hadn't used it before and I can really only get it once a year at Pennsic. It isn't super expensive but the fact I can only get it once a year is prohibitive in itself.

And yes, it made for an excellent breakfast. ;-)