Contributed by Phaedra Kenz-el Khafi
Crustade Lumbard also called “Lombardy Custard Pie” has long been a featured dish at my winter holiday season feast. It is a unique combination of prunes, dates, and bone marrow set in a custard made from cream and eggs, all baked within a pastry crust.
It was most likely a luxury item during its time, given the inclusion of ingredients like bone marrow and sugar, which were expensive and less accessible. The mixture of meat and fruit is characteristic of medieval cuisine. I leave out the bone marrow for a vegetarian version.
In period, the crust was probably free-standing (i.e. not put in a pie dish). A version of the original receipt (recipe) is as follows:
Take gode Creme, & leuys of Percely, & Eyroun, the yolkys & the whyte, & breke hem ther-to, & strayne thorwe a straynoure, tyl it be so styf that it wol bere hym-self; than take fayre Marwe, & Datys y-cutte in or & Prunes; & putte the Datys an the Prunes & Marwe on a fayre cofynne, y-mad of fayre past, & put the cofyn on the ovyn tyl it be a lytel hard; thanne draw hem out of the ouyn; take the lycour & putte ther-on, & fylle it vppe, & caste Sugre y-now on, & Salt; than lat bake to-gederys tyl it be y-now; & yif it be in lente, lef the Eyroun & the Marwe out, & thanne serue it forth.*
Ingredients
Pastry dough for 1 nine-inch pie crust
1 1/2 C each pitted prunes and dates, cut in halves or thirds
1 C heavy cream
1/4 C bone marrow, in small chunks
2 T parsley, minced fine
2 eggs
2 T sugar
Pinch of salt
Directions
1.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees f.
2.
In a bowl, mix the prunes, dates and marrow together.
3.
Line a pie pan with the pastry dough. Fill it with the fruit and marrow. Put it in the oven for tenminutes to harden it. Remove from the oven and reduce oven temperature to 375°.
4.
In a blender or food processor, or on a cutting board, chop the parsley fine.
5.
In a bowl, combine cream, minced parsley, eggs, sugar and salt. Beat them well together.
6.
Pour the egg, parsley and cream mixture into the pie crust with the fruit and marrow. Put it in the oven and bake it for twenty-five minutes, or until a toothpick draws out clean. Refrigerate before serving.
Serves eight to twelve.
Enjoy!
*Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.
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