A number of people have asked for the recipes that I used for the feast at Feria de Verano. I would like to, first and foremost, give credit where it is due: most of these recipes came from Cariadoc's Miscellany. What follows are the recipes that I used for the run-through feast, which made varying amounts of food each. The numbers of people that each feeds is based on having all of these dishes at once (so, for instance, Dusted Eggplant feeding 8 people means that it would probably feed 2 or 3 as a single main course). Where I have used soy sauce, the original recipes called for murri, in the same amounts. I used rice flour so that gluten-intolerant people could partake in the feast, but it made a major difference in the Eggplant, and I believe that that is why it was so crispy. The oil was always olive oil, cheap for frying and more expensive for not frying.

Dusted Eggplant

1 large eggplant
Enough water to cover eggplant slices
1 c rice flour
oil for frying

Slice eggplants crossways to about 1/4"-1/2" thick and then into quarters. Boil eggplant pieces about 4 minutes. Drain in strainer. Flour each slice on both sides.

Heat oil in frying pan at medium high and fry slices about 3 minutes on one side, a little less on the other, until lightly browned on both sides. Drain briefly on paper towel, then put on serving plate, pour sauce over and serve.

Sauce

4 T vinegar
4 T olive oil for sauce
2 T soy sauce
1 oz garlic (or more)

Mash garlic, simmer in vinegar, oil and soy sauce 20 minutes.

Serves 8, but everyone wants extras!

Zabarbada of Fresh Cheese (a Dip)

8 oz farmer's cheese (if you can't find farmer's cheese, use any soft, fresh cheese)
1 c loosely packed chopped green coriander
2 onions, chopped as finely as you can
1 t ground coriander seed
1 t cumin
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t pepper
2 T oil
1 T water
1/2 t salt
1 egg
2-4 T rice flour

Mix together cheese, green coriander, onion, and spices.

Put oil, water and salt in a large frying pan or a dutch oven

Put in the cheese mixture and cook on medium-high to high, stirring almost constantly, until there are no more cheese chunks and the cheese is liquidy. Remove from heat, stir in egg, sprinkle on flour and stir in. There is enough flour when it feels kind of like a sticky dough. Serve.

Serves 16 as part of a meal, 2 as a midnight snack! It does not refrigerate well.

Cooked Fried Chicken

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces.
olive oil for frying
1/4 c vinegar
2 T soy sauce
2 T olive oil
1 t pepper
4 sprigs cilantro, chopped
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t crushed garlic
3 threads saffron

Brown chicken in 1/4 c olive oil, over medium low heat, for approximately 10 minutes. Set chicken aside.

Add to a large pot vinegar, soy sauce, 2 T olive oil, pepper, cilantro, saffron, crushed garlic, cumin, and heat the pot on medium for 3 minutes.

Add chicken, simmer on low for 25 minutes with the lid on, stirring often.

Serves 8 as part of a meal, 2 as a main course by itself.

Cooked Dish of Lentils

10 oz dried lentils
2 1/4 c water
1 1/2 T oil
3/8 t pepper
1 1/2 t coriander
2 medium onions
3/4 t salt
12 threads saffron
2 T vinegar
4 T butter
more pepper

Slice onions.

Put lentils, water, oil, pepper, coriander and onion in a pot, bring to a boil, and turn down to a bare simmer.

Cook covered 50 minutes, stirring periodically.

Add butter in lumps and cook while stirring for about 5 minutes.

Add salt, saffron (crushed into 1 t water) and vinegar, and bring back to a boil.

Cook for another 30 minutes or longer-the longer you cook this dish, the mushier it will be. It tastes great either way.

Sprinkle with extra pepper before serving

Serves 24 or more people as part of a meal. You can probably reduce the amounts, but it saves really well in the refrigerator and can be microwave-reheated several times, so why bother?

A Roast of Meat

1 1/2 lb lamb or beef
2 15 oz cans chickpeas
3 small onions
1 t salt
spices:
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t black pepper
3 T olive oil
1/4 c green coriander, pressed down
more pepper
more cinnamon

Roast meat or cook under a broiler and cut into about 1/4" by 1/2" pieces.

Slice onions.

Put chickpeas, onion, spices, salt and oil in a pot and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 10 minutes, turning down the heat toward the end as it gets dry.

Add meat and cook one minute, add green coriander and cook another minute, and turn off heat.

Sprinkle with pepper and cinnamon and serve.

If you are making this for a feast or as part of a larger production, you can let it sit covered for up to 2 hours and the heat will be retained. For longer periods, keep it on a very low flame to keep it warm, and it only gets better.

Serves 16 as part of a meal, 4 for a main course.

Sukkariyya

2 c sugar
2 T rosewater
3 T water
5 oz almonds

Take slivered or sliced almonds, stir them in a hot frying pan without oil for about 3-5 minutes. Use a spatula, and stir continuously to avoid browning or burning. Crush in a mortar and pestle (or a food processor-much easier!), producing something between ground and chopped.

Cook sugar, water, and rosewater mixture on medium heat, stirring constantly, until it gets sticky but does not form a ball. It should look liquidy, be at the beginning of a boil, and, if you're brave enough to do it, when you touch it, your fingers feel sticky. Dump in nuts, stir, turn out on a pan. It's good hot or cold, and when it sits for a while, it can be broken up like candy. The original recipe called for 5 T rosewater, but I replaced 3 T of that with plain water because it tasted like perfume. If you don't like rosewater, you can probably replace it with orange water or some other fruit water.

Serves... well, a lot. For a feast, two batches makes enough for 100 people to have a small taste, because it's very very sweet. (The original called for being sprinkled with more sugar, but I thought that was too overdone.

Wow. That's a lot of food! If you make anything and make a change that works well, please let me know! Enjoy!!