Harvest feast

A thanksgiving ceremony and celebration

Delicious harvest bread

2 cups cracked wheat
12 cups wheat flour
5 cups lukewarm water
1 tablespoon salt
Sourdough

Place the cracked wheat in a pot and cover with water. Leave to soak overnight.

Next day: Drain the cracked wheat and mix with sourdough and lukewarm water. Add salt and flour and knead well. The dough must not be too dry.

Leave the dough to rise until it is double in size. Knead once again. Take enough dough to form a small bun and set to one side. Form the rest of the dough into a round bread and place the small bun on on top. Brush with water and sprinkle with cracked wheat. Leave to rise for a while and then bake it in a warm oven for about 1,5 hours.

The extra bun on top is for the farmer.

Horse bean salad

Horse beans
Fresh onions
Mushrooms
Apples
Nuts
Cranberries
Salty cheese (feta)
A dressing of oil, apple vinegar, honey and salt

Blanch the fresh horse beens in slightly salted water and then transfer them to cold water. Peel off the skins.

Peel and chop the onions. Clean and slice the mushrooms. Remove the core from the apples and slice them. Crush the nuts. Mix all these ingrediences in a bowl.

Mix the dressing and pour over the salad. Sprinkle with cranberries.

Beef and chicken soup with root vegetables

1 kg brisket
1 chicken
Water
2 carrots
2 leeks
2 parsley roots
1 parsnip
Bunch of potherbs
Salt

Quarter the chicken and place it in a pot together with the brisket. Add enough water to cover the meat. Bring to the boil, let cook and remember to skim the soup to keep the liquid clear. 

In the meantime, clean the vegetables and dice into equally sized pieces.

When the meat is almost tender you may add the vegetables to the soup. Leave to simmer until everything is tender. Remove the meat, cut into bite sized pieces and put it back in the soup.

Add the dumplings to the soup and carefully heat them. They are done when they begin to float to the top. 

Serve the soup with the harvest bread.

Dumplings

300 g dry, old wheat bread
3 eggs
1 tablespoon wheat flour
1 tablespoon salt
50 g melted chicken fat

Remove the crust and crumble the bread. Mix the bread, eggs, salt, flour, chicken fat and a little broth to form a firm, smooth dough. Form small round balls with your hands.

Carefully add the dumplings to the soup, which is just below boiling point. The dumplings are done when they begin to surface.

Pancakes with fruit marinated in mead

2.5 cup wheat flour
3-4 eggs
4 cups milk
A little salt
1 tablespoon honey
Butter for the pan

Mix flour, milk, egg, salt and honey to form a smooth batter. Bake the pancakes on a hot pan over the fire.

Serve the hot pancakes with fruits marinated in mead, which must be prepared a few days ahead. You may use apples, plums, raspberries and blueberries etc. Cut the bigger fruits in small pieces about the same size as the berries. Dissolve the honey in mead, add the fruit and berries, cover and leave to marinate.

 

1 jug = 1 liter approx.
1 cup = 150 ml approx.

Ribe VikingeCenter's 2012 project 'Nordic food is Viking food' is supported by Region Syddanmark.