Pottage of Onions that is called Cebollada*

Categories:	Vegetable   16th century   onion   Spanish
Original Source:	Ruperto de Nola, Libre del Coch
Secondary Source:	Brighid ni Chiarain translation
Cook:	Ailis inghean Muirgen
Meeting Date:	2009-04-19

46. Pottage of Onions That is Called Cebollada
POTAJE DE CEBOLLAS QUE DICEN CEBOLLADA

You will take onions, peeled and well-washed and cleaned and cut them in large pieces; and cast them in a pot of water that is boiling; and when they have boiled once or twice in the pot, remove them from the pot and squeeze them between two wooden chopping blocks; and then gently fry them with melted good fatty bacon or with bacon grease, moving them about with a spatula, and stirring them in the frying pan with said spatula which is of wood. And if the onions become at all dry, cast in good fatty mutton broth until the onions are well-cooked. And then take almonds which are well-peeled and blanched. And grind them well in a mortar, and then mix them with good mutton broth and strain them through a woolen cloth. And then cast the almond milk in the pot with the onions. And mix it well. And then cook them well until the onions are cooked with the almond milk. And cast into the pot some good cheese of Aragon, grated, and mix them well with a haravillo as if they were gourds. And when they are well-mixed with the cheese, and you see that it is cooked, prepare dishes, first casting into the pot a pair of egg yolks for each dish; and if you wish, cast sugar and cinnamon on the dishes, and it is good.

Steps

1. Parboil onions, drain in colander
2. Render fat from bacon, discard bacon. Cook onions in bacon fat.
3. Add almond milk, bring to high simmer
4. Stir in grated cheese, bring back to high simmer.
5. Puree with immersion blender, adding egg yolks while blending, allowing heat to cook them in.

Note

From A Dinner of 16th Century Spain by Senhora Rafaella d'Allemtejo
Glossary note: Haravillo
A kind of implement for stirring/beating food. Its description and the meaning of its name are unknown. It appears in those recipes in which the food (such as boiled gourds and eggplant) is to be so well-stirred that it is nearly puréed, with not a lump remaining. Several of the parallel recipes in the Libre de Coch use the term estrijol, which in Catalan means a brush with iron bristles, used for currying horses.