This is a night we all know, the night we step out into, dressed in dark finery and brimmed in anticipation of the events to come; a night bound in tradition, dancing, masking and the Lord of Misrule. It is also a night mired in love, blood, history, psychic floods and honor. This night we gather into circles to celebrate and commemorate our rituals of Samhain.
Follow if you wish, take my velvet bound hand and place a mask over your day-bound features in order to delve into this sharp edged and lush lapped time. It is only a short journey to the edge of this feature, but chaos and the infinity of history offer you ever so much more....
The night air is anything but still. Tonight it carries on its swift, cool gusts the breathy whisperings of ancestors loosed from the veils of time and space; those memories of other lands and lives whipping by our ears with the leaves and brief scent of hunting birds, only to be caught up in the crests of trees or the special sight we carry on this night. See, do you see? Do you hear that? That rush of wings, that thrumming of drum song in your veins? Of course, you are a pagan, your senses are born for nights such as these.
You and I have walked down a long, vaguely lighted road that is bounded by tall, old houses. We come to a special house, familiar and gathered with other pagan folk. At the gate you glance up and see the moon briefly reflected in a window. Someone has cracked it open to admit the ancestors. Jack-O-Lanterns guard and guide us to the door with fire-light grins, and we are pulled inside by music and the sound of friendly voices.
In this grand old house the walls sigh and the timbers speak in intimate tones. The hosts have lighted the halls with silver candlelight and draped the chairs in velvet. Someone greets you with a kiss; a shining glass of something wonderful appears in your hand, the taste of berries slips across your mind as you take a sip and your lips are stained deep red. Then the music gathers to a dark rush and subsides. Silence. When all are present the circle is cast, the rite performed, the masks removed before the gods, and the ancestors called to dance....
As part of the night's ritual (before we return out into the evening sky to roam) a banquet is held; a dumb supper, the silent-lipped dinner in honor of our beloved dead. The hosts have set a long table in ivory linen and burgundy-black roses. Each of us pauses to acknowledge the places at the table held empty for the ancestors; they have been set with food and drink and our personal mementos and messages to them.
Welcome to The Dark Feast Menu:
Caviar and Black Olive Tapenade on Black Bread
Marbled Eggs
Black Cherry Borscht
Tea-Smoked Duck
Venison Marinated in Marsala and Black Pepper
Smoked Salmon
Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms
Wilted Greens
Provençale Roasted Blue Potatoes
Eggplants Baked in Their Skins with Mushroom Au Jus
Black Grapes, Plums, Cherries, and Stilton Cheese
Lapsoung Souchong and Russian Caravan Teas
Turkish Coffee
Cranberry Mulled Cider
Guinness and Champagne
Burgundy Wines and Port
Black Forest Cake
Late Summer Pears Poached in Red Wine
More Chocolate
Ah, well...it seems a bit much. And while the menu is only a suggestion of possibilities, I imagine most of us could suffer through. It could well be changed to reflect the culinary backgrounds of our many varied ancestral cultures; as well as our own present tastes and preferences, such as vegetarianism. Such a luscious, dark and silent feast is bounded in Celtic traditions of this night in several facets. Part of the menu contains references, both actual and metaphorical to what was called by ancestral Europeans the Blood Moon. As pastoralists, it was impossible to attempt to keep an entire herd fed through the winter, so during October they would cull the herds back to the breeding stock and put up stores of salt-preserved meat. They would also hunt for wild meat and make sure the final harvest from the field was complete, laying in all that the family or tribe had to survive the winter with. Anything not harvested by October 31st was abandoned to the fields and considered the due of spirits. In Ireland, the Pucas laid claim to any harvest leavings, destroying or contaminating them against any further human use.
Ritual sacrifice or propitiation practiced at this time also ties the feast to the blood theme. In earliest times it was of kings or criminals, and later only in symbolic forms. Prophecy, fertility, and honor were important aspects to the feast as well. Janet and Stewart Farrar write of this time in their A Witches Bible Compleat: "Originally the Druids were 'surfeited with fresh blood and meat until they became entranced and prophesied', reading the omens for the tribe for the coming year." The "first fruits" of the slaughter and the harvest were offered to the gods, the dead, and used by the priesthood for divination; the remainder providing a feast for the tribe. Ritual food called "sowens" was prepared as well and consisted of boiled, partially fermented and buttered grain, much like the Scottish "them" or oat porridge. Other offerings in the Dumb Supper (so called because it was eaten in silence so as to not stifle the voices of the dead) varied from a dark brown bread called "barm brack," tobacco and porridge left by the hearth-side, a portion of the best of the feast set at an empty table place, or simply, a candle and some buttered bread left on a windowsill.
The inclusion of chocolate, berries and red wine in the menu is meant to be aphrodisiacal as well. Like Beltaine, this was a time when fertility and a heady sexuality filled the air. Both gods, heroes, and other mortals were expected to participate in sexual freedoms. It was overall, on this eve of wandering spirits and prophecy "a partial return to primordial chaos...the dissolution of established order as a prelude to its recreation in a new period of time," as Prosnias mac Cana relates in his Celtic Mythology. The air of uncertainty at the edge of winter and the new year was well met with the certain presence of a feast in the here and now.
The recipes: (all are for 13 servings, unless otherwise indicated).
Black Cherry Borscht
12 cups vegetable broth, or 6 cups broth with 6 cups simple
kvass (see below)
1-1/2 lbs. medium to small beets in julienne strips
2-3 cups thinly shredded purple cabbage
2 cups tomato sauce
1 thinly sliced medium onion
1 bay leaf
3-4 cups pitted, quartered black cherries
salt and pepper
sour cream and fresh dill, optional
Bring broth/kvass, tomato sauce, cabbage, onions and the bay leaf to boil in a large kettle. Turn to a low heat and skim off any foam from soup. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes until vegetables begin to turn tender. Add beets and simmer 5 minutes, then add black cherries, salt and pepper to taste and simmer 5 more minutes. Turn into a heated soup tureen or individual bowls. Serve hot with sour cream, fresh dill and Russian black bread.
Simple Kvass for Borscht
Kvass is a traditional Russian beverage, mildly alcoholic and
pleasantly tart, that was originated by the peasants as they found
a way to use up any hard bread. Beer or cider can be substituted
for it in the recipe. This is a kvass used only for cooking (the
drinking version takes use of honey, raisins, and yeast).
Cut or break 1 lb. stale black bread into pieces and cover with 10-13 cups of boiling water in a large, non-aluminum bowl. Add 8 large raw beets, peeled and thinly sliced, mix well. Cover with a towel and set in a warm place for 2-3 days until mixture ferments. Strain through a few layers of cheesecloth or a fine sieve, pressing out as much liquid as possible. It should have a mild, tart taste. (From The Russian Tearoom Cookbook by Faith Stewart-Gordon and Nika Hazelton, Marek Pub.)
Marbled Eggs
13 eggs, can also use quail eggs. If so, triple the number.
4-1/2 cups strongly brewed Lapsong Souchang black tea
2 Tablespoon (T.) tamari or dark soy sauce
2 teaspoon (t.) dry sherry
4 star anise pods
ground Szechuan peppers and sea salt
Place eggs in a pan of cold water and bring to a boil, timing them for 2 minutes past first boil. Remove eggs from pan and cool in a dish of cold water. Lightly tap the eggs all over to craze the shells, but do not peel. In a saucepan bring the tea, tamari sauce, sherry and anise pods to a boil. Add the eggs again and re-boil for another 15 minutes. Remove eggs and cool, then carefully peel away shells. Arrange on a serving dish and serve with an equal mix of red peppers and salt for dipping. (Adapted from The Ultimate Vegetarian Cookbook by Roz Denny, Annes Pub. Ltd.)
Black Olive Tapenade
2 cups Niçose or black Greek olives, rinsed and pitted
4 T. capers, optional
2 pressed garlic cloves
1 cup pine nuts
2 T. olive oil
2 T. lemon juice
1 t. thyme or basil
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1-1/2 cups stemmed, chopped parsley
Chop, blend, mash, process...whatever it takes, until mixture is smooth enough to spread. Flavors marry better over a period of a few days left covered in the fridge.
Venison Marinade
For a 3 lb. venison roast
Boil together in a saucepan: 1-1/2 cups of dry red wine or marsala, 2 T. olive oil, 10 crushed juniper berries, 1 T. ground black pepper, 1 sliced onion, a bouquet garni, 3 T. tamari or soy sauce. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, then allow to cool. Place venison roast in a deep earthenware bowl and pour marinade over. Allow to marinade for 2 days in the fridge, turning and basting occasionally.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (F).Drain and dry meat, reserving the marinade. Dredge the roast in about 4 T. flour. Melt some butter in a Dutch oven and sear the outside of the meat. Stir any remaining flour into the reserved and strained marinade, pour over the top of the venison in the Dutch oven, top with more cracked pepper, then cover and bake for 2 hours.
Wilted Greens
For each two bunches of spinach and chard greens, washed and picked,
patted dry: heat together 2 T. olive oil, 4 T. dark beer, a scant
pinch each of brown sugar, pepper and salt. Pour hot dressing
over greens, toss and serve warm.
Provençale Style Blue Potatoes
Blue potatoes are a gourmet variatel found in organic or farmer's
markets - very beautiful in color!
12-15 small blue potatoes, rinsed of any soil
ground black pepper and coarse sea salt
rosemary and sage
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup shelled walnuts
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1-2 T butter
Pierce the skin of the potatoes with a fork, coat lightly in the olive oil, place in a lightly oiled baked pan and sprinkle liberally with the pepper, salt, and herbs.
Bake in a 375 degree (F) oven for 1 hour, turning occasionally. In a small sauté pan heat the butter, garlic and walnuts, stirring until the walnuts begin to brown. Remove from the heat, crunch up the walnuts slightly and stir into the potatoes after they are finished baking.
Late Summer Pears Poached in Red Wine
(serves 6-8)
4 firm pears, Bosch or Red Barletts
1-1/2 cups red wine, preferably young and slightly rough
2 T. sugar
½ cup heavy cream
2 T. fresh rosemary, hint of black pepper, several cloves
Halve the pears lengthwise, leaving the stem intact on one half. Scoop out and discard the seeds and string in the center. Peel one half-side of the pear, if you wish. In a skillet large enough to hold all the pears in a single layer, bring the wine and 1 T. of sugar to a boil, stirring. Cook over high heat for 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat, add pears and several cloves and the pepper and poach until pears are just tender, about 15-20 minutes. Transfer pears and liquid to a glass or ceramic bowl and let stand at room temperature for several hours, turning occasionally. In a small bowl, whip the cream until it gains a little body, but not stiffness; mix in the rosemary and remaining 1 T. of sugar. To serve, put a few spoonfuls of cream onto a desert plate, add a pear and a single spoonful of poaching liquid.
Black Forest Cake
This is basically any rich chocolate cake that rests its first
layer (optionally) on a baked pastry base, filled with:
1-1/2 lbs. black cherries, pitted
1 cup sugar
4 cups (1 liter) whipping cream
5 T. Kirsch or sherry
Place the cherries and one-half cup of the sugar in a saucepan and heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Slowly bring to a boil, remove from heat. Drain the cherries, returning the juice to a boil and stirring until it reduces to a thick syrup. Pour the syrup over the cherries and allow to cool. Beat the cream, remaining sugar and Kirsch until stiff. To assemble: Cut the cake in half horizontally. Place pastry base on a serving dish, top with a thin layer of whipped cream, one half of the cherries, a cake layer, more whipped cream and cherries, the top layer of cake and then spread the remaining whipped cream over the whole, piping an edge decoration if you wish. Decorate the top with a few reserved cherries.
[Home Page | Other Articles in This Issue | FAQ | Local Resources]