Book of Days Tales

Today is the birthday (1670) of Maria Margaretha Kirch (née Winckelmann), a Saxon astronomer, and one of the most famous astronomers of her time due to her observations of the conjunction of the sun with Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter. She was also the first woman astronomer to discover a comet. Maria Kirch could well serve as the poster child of what women in the 17^th and 18^th centuries had to endure to be recognized as competent scientists.

Kirch’s home town, Leipzig, is famous for many dishes including Leipziger Allerei (Leipzig Hodgepodge). It is basically a vegetable stew enriched with crayfish and butter. The latter are often omitted in modern versions. Here is a traditional version.

Leipziger Allerei

Ingredients

9 oz/250 gm carrots
9 oz/250 gm kohlrabi
9 oz/250 gm asparagus
9 oz/250 gm cauliflower
9 oz/250 gm morels
18 oz/500 gm fresh peas in pods
vegetable broth
4 crayfish
10 tbsp/150 gm butter at room temperature
3 eggs
⅛ tsp nutmeg (or mace)
dried bread crumbs
1.7 oz/50 gm flour
milk
salt and pepper

Instructions

Clean and peel the carrots and kohlrabi and cut them evenly into long strips. Shell the peas. Cook these three vegetables together in salted water until they are barely al dente.

Peel the white asparagus, cut the spears into pieces about 2”(5 cm) long. Simmer them in a light vegetable broth.

Cut the cauliflower into florets and cook in milk, adding butter and salt to taste.

Cut the morels into halves and sauté in butter.

Boil the crayfish, and split into pieces, carefully removing the meat from the tails. Rub the head of the crayfish with salt.

Whisk about 2 ounces of the butter until light. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites until foamy. Fold the egg yolks, egg whites, mace and breadcrumbs into the whisked butter and fill the crayfish head with this mixture. Form the remaining mixture into dumplings and cook these in boiling salt water for 5 minutes.

Put about 3½ ounces of the butter and the flour in a skillet over medium-low heat to make a roux, stirring constantly.  Add a little of the asparagus and cauliflower water, and whisk to make a thick sauce.

Brown the remainder of the butter over medium heat in a small pan, and set it aside.

Place the mixed vegetables, except the morels, into a serving bowl. Add some of the roux sauce, then the crayfish tails and dumplings, sprinkle with browned butter, and add the morels, crayfish legs and heads. Pour the sauce over it. Then add the dumplings and crayfish tails. Drizzle everything with brown butter, and arrange the morels, and crayfish heads and claws on top.