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Erbolates

Submitted by Sean Kelly

Erbolates is essentially a medieval English frittata that can be found in the Forme of Curye from around 1390 AD. 

Interpretations vary, but this is a great way of using up whatever herbs you have available if like me you always have plenty growing on your allotment. When I tried it I added milk to the eggs but the original recipe just uses eggs and herbs.

Erbolates

For those who can understand Middle English:

"Take parsel, myntes, sauerey, & sauge, tanse, ferbeiyne, clarry, rewe, dytayn, fenel, southrenwode, hewe hem & grynd hem smale, medle hem hem up wiþ ayron. do butter in a trap. & do þe fars þer to. & bake hit and messe hit forth."

​Approximate translation:

Take parsley, mint, savory, sage, tansy, vervain, clary, rue, dittander, fennel and southernwood, Chop them and grind them small, mix them up with egg. Place butter in a baking dish, pour in the mixture and bake.

A note on the herbs:

I actually have many of these herbs growing on my plot, and gathered many of them to use when I tried it. Savory is a nicely intense herb that I find grows well in Britain. I unfortunately lost my tansy this year but is a likewise flavoursome herb that does well in an egg meal. Vervain I always have growing (the native British verbena), though I would not say it is particularly tasty. Rue is an acquired taste but this grows well on my plot, I did not use it in the end. Dittander, or pepperwort, I am particularly fond of. This grows particularly well (though I grow it in a pot, as the roots really spread). It makes for a nice peppery alternative to horseradish, and I gathered plenty of the leaves when I made my erbolates. Fennel works nicely with this, and southernwood - sometimes called "cola plant" - is in the Artemisia or absinthe family. It has a similarly bitter taste to wormwood, though is less intense, and grows very well over here. 

So you can just bake this as you would a frittata or a deep omelette in the oven, using what herbs you have available in abundance, or you can add some dairy as I did using the following recipe:

 

(for four)

 

6-8 eggs

8 tbsp double cream or creme fraiche

4 tbsp of chopped mixed herbs (I used a little more than this as I had plenty of dittander)

8 tbsp finely grated parmesan

salt and pepper to season

Butter for greasing the dish

 

1. Mix and pour the ingredients into a baking dish greased with the butter. Alternatively, you may divide it up into four smaller servings to serve in ramekins or tapas dishes.

2. A recipe I found suggested steaming the ramekins in above a pan of lightly simmering water for 10-15 minutes. I just baked it at around 150℃ for 20-25 minutes, keeping an eye on it until it was nicely risen and browned. Divide and serve.

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