Tart/Pastry Crust

Take fyne floure and a curscy of fayre water and a dysche of swete butter and a lyttel saffron, and the yolkes of two egges and make it thynne and as tender as ye maye. (16c English)
 
3/4 c flour
1 T + 1 t water
1/2 stick = 4 T butter
6 threads saffron
1 egg yolk
Cut butter into flour, then crush saffron into 1 t of water; mix that and the rest of the water with the egg yolk and stir it into the flour-butter mixture. Roll out.

A Tart of Strawberries

Take and strain them with the yolks of four eggs, and a little white bread grated, then season it up with sugar and sweet butter and so bake it. (16c English)
 
2 c strawberries
4 egg yolks
1/2 c bread crumbs
1/3 c sugar
4 T butter
9" pie shell

Force strawberries through a strainer or run through a blender, then mix with everything else (the butter should be melted). Bake crust for 10 minutes, then put filling into the crust and bake at 375deg. for 20 minutes.

Brie (or Cheese) Tart

tart de bry (14c English)
Take a crust ynche deepe in a trap. Take yolkes of ayren rawe & cheese ruayn & medle it & pe yolkes togyder.

10-12 ounces of semi-soft cheese, such as brie, that's not too soft - you want to be able to cut it into tiny pieces
saffron threads (soaked in 1tsp warm water for 5 minutes)
1 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
3 egg yolks
1/2 - 1  tsp sugar
pinch of salt

Mix egg yolks and saffron (with the water) together. Add the cheese and spices, whisk until smooth and pour into the crust.  Bake at 375 25-30 minutes.  It might puff up a bit, but it does flatton out as it cools.

Tart for an Ember Day

TART IN YMBRE  DAY. XX.VIII. V. (14th c. cookery)  (also, Ember days are fasr days before feast days when meat was not allowed)

Take and parboile Oynouns presse out the water & hewe hem smale. take
brede & bray it in a morter. and temper it up with Ayren. do therto
butter, safroun and salt. & raisouns corauns. & a litel sugur with
powdour douce. and bake it in a trape. & serue it forth.

6-8oz of cheese, grated
1lb onions (about 4 medium)
2 tbs fresh sage or 1 1/2tsp dried
3 tbs butter
4 eggs
1 tb sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
4 tbs currants
9" pie crust

Chop and boil onions 10 minutes, drain well. Mix everything, put in pie crust and bake at 350 until done (about 50 minutes--knife inserted in center comes out clean)

Bubblie Pies from Pern

"The Dragon Riders of Pern" was my first set of fantasy novels and I still enjoy reading stories of Pern.  In "The Harper Hall" trilogy we get some of the best looks at what they call "gathers" and a popular dessert snack called "bubblie pies".  As an adult I decided I wanted to try and create these bubblie pies myself, only to find out it had already been done.  "The Dragon Lover's Guide to Pern" by Joan Nye with Anne McCaffery included this, as well as other recipes from Pern.

The recipe falls into the "medivelish" catagory.  The ingrediants were all available as was the method of cooking.  To prove this, I once entered this into a medieal cooking contest as a joke. (my real entry was lamb roast stuffed with gingered apples). Unfortunately (sort of) the judges of our event that year had sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) and I was named "Grand Champion" for my bubblie pies and not even a nod to my roast. (I was a bit disappointed, to say the least.  The bubblie pies were a JOKE, for heaven's sake :P)

This recipe makes 6 tarts, that are 5" in diameter.

Crust
1/2 cup of butter
2tb sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 ts salt
1/2 cup cold water

Cut butter in chunks.  Combine dry ingredients. Work in butter with a fork.  Sprinkle with water, mix in. Divide into 12 balls and roll out.

Filling
5 cups blueberries (or 20oz frozen) or any berry [I used a mixture of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries]
1 cup sugar
1/4 ts cinnamon
2ts lemon juice
1-2 tb butter

Gently toss berries with sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Sprinkle juice over mixture.  Spoon into crust, dot with butter. Cover with top crust.  Bake 15-20 minutes at 350.  Serve hot.

Hot Pies!

I love pies!  Not just the sweet dessert kind, but the savory dinner kind as well.  Cooking medieval food, I have come across dozens of varieties of meat, egg, cheese, fruit and vegetable pies. Pies are often called "tarts" and if something is served in a "coffyn" then it is a pie with a top crust.

Many of the pies listed below are also part of the "Feasts of Ice and Fire"  collection (Hotpie is actually a minor, but very popular character in the books) but some are from other fantasy books or are modern recipes that are "medievalish"--that is to say they are made with ingredients available in medieval Europe and cooked in a style common then, but no recipe from the middle ages is found.

Bubblie Pies (from Pern)
Spinach Tart
Dothraki Blood Pies
Onion Tart
Tart for an Ember Day
Brie (Cheese) Tart
A Tart of Strawberries

Tart/Pastry Crust

Spinach Tart

10oz spinach, chopped
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
8 oz  of  cheese (I normally use cheddar and/or mozzarella)
1/2 t ginger
1teaspoon cinnomon
1 tablespoon sugar
9" pie crust

Cook the empty pie cust for 10 minutes at 400 degrees;
Mix the ingredients and pour into the crust; bake for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

This is adapted from a 14th centruy French recipe.  My son will not touch "spinach" so I tell him it is an "oregano pie" and he loves it.