Recreating Midas' feast

King Midas' spicy lamb and lentil stew.

When we recreated the feast, we spit-roasted the lamb and then added the meat to a lentil stew that we had already prepared. The meat and lentils were then simmered for a few minutes to allow their flavours to mingle, and served with bread.

You can also serve the lentil stew alongside the roasted lamb, or even make the two recipes separately (the lentils make a great vegetarian dish, and the lamb a delicious and unusual Sunday roast).

Lentil stew

The only spice we used in the feast was fennel seeds, but the archaeologist Pat McGovern suggested that we give it a more feisty aroma. That's why I've added some other spices to this final recipe. They are all spices that we think would have been available to the cooks of King Midas' time.

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

300g (12 oz) green or brown lentils
1 decent-sized onion
3-4 cloves garlic
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp aniseeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
60ml (2-3 fl oz) olive oil or lamb dripping
1 litre (1¾ pts) stock or water
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp pekmez
1 good sprig of thyme
salt to taste

Method

If possible soak the lentils in cold water for a few hours, or simply give them a good rinse.
Peel and finely chop the onions; peel and slice the garlic; and roughly crush the whole spices using a pestle and mortar.
Fry the onions in the olive oil or lamb dripping until they are soft and yellow. Add the garlic and fry until you can smell its fragrance. Add the crushed spices and sizzle for a minute or so until you can smell their aromas too. Drain the lentils, add them to the pan and stir them around in the spicy oil for another minute or two.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Stir in the honey and pekmez, and the thyme, and then reduce the heat and simmer for 1½ to 2 hours, until the lentils are tender. Towards the end of the cooking time, season with salt to taste.

Roast lamb

Don't forget you need to marinate the lamb for several hours or overnight before you roast it.

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

1 leg of lamb (about 2.5kg, or 5 lb)

For the marinade:

1 small onion
1 bunch thyme
150ml (5 fl oz) white wine
60ml (2-3 fl oz) olive oil
coarse salt

Other ingredients:

2 tbsp runny honey
2 tbsp pekmez

Method

Peel and grate the onion or whizz it to a mush in a blender.
Use a sharp knife to make small, deep cuts all over the lamb, digging in towards the bone from all directions. Use your fingers to stuff salt and sprigs of thyme into each hole. Place the lamb in a large glass or ceramic dish. Rub the whole leg with the onion and its juices and the olive oil, and then pour over the wine. Leave to marinate in a cool place for a few hours or overnight.
Before roasting, set the oven to 230°C/450°F/gas mark 8.
Remove the lamb from its marinade and place it in a roasting pan. Cover lightly with a piece of foil. Pour the marinade juices into a jug and set aside for basting.
Place the lamb in the pre-heated oven, then turn the heat down to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 and leave to roast for 2 to 2½ hours, until the meat is done to your liking.
As the lamb roasts, baste it from time to time with the cooking juices and the reserved marinade. About 20 minutes before it is ready, remove the foil, smear the meat with the honey and pekmez syrup and return to the oven to glaze.
Leave the meat to rest for 20 minutes or so before you begin to carve. If you wish to serve the whole Midas funeral dish, carve the meat into the prepared lentil stew and heat for a few minutes to allow the flavours to mingle. Do also add the juices from the roasting pan, after skimming off as much fat as possible. Otherwise simply serve the roast lamb alongside the lentils, with a drizzling of the rich, sweet juices from the pan.

Funeral halva

The funeral sweetmeat has a tempting, treacly aroma and a sweet, comforting taste. You can find the unusual ingredients, mahleb and pekmez, in good Turkish or Middle Eastern shops.

Ingredients (makes 30-40 balls of halva)

125g (5 oz) butter
40g (1½ oz) pine nuts
20g (¾ oz) walnuts
20g (¾ oz) sesame seeds
200g (8 oz) plain flour
40g (1½ oz) mahleb
40g (1½ oz) sultanas
400ml (14 fl oz) pekmez
45ml (3 tbsp) runny honey
250ml (9 fl oz) water

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the nuts and sesame seeds and fry gently until fragrant and a little crunchy, taking care not to burn the butter.
Add the flour and mahleb and stir in. Turn the heat up to medium and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until the flour is cooked and biscuity.
While the flour is cooking, heat the pekmez, honey and water together in a separate saucepan, stirring from time to time. Do not allow the mixture to come to a full boil.
When the flour is ready, add the sultanas and then pour in the heated pekmez mixture, stirring all the time. There will be a rush of steam when you add the liquid, and the mixture will thicken very quickly. Keep stirring for a few seconds until the mixture starts to come away from the pan, and then turn it into a bowl.
While the halva is still warm, shape it into small balls with your fingers.

Archaic humus

Lemon juice is traditionally used as a flavouring in humus, but we were trying to recreate dishes from a time and a place where lemons were not available. Instead we added pomegranate juice and sumac to lighten up the dish and give it a slightly sour, fruity taste.

Ingredients (serves 6-8 as a starter, with bread)

100g (4 oz) dried chickpeas
100ml (4 fl oz) tahini
Salt to taste
Garlic to taste (2-3 cloves, crushed)
1 pomegranate
4 tsp sumac (and a little more for a garnish)

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of cold water.
Rinse the chickpeas and then bring them to the boil in a good panful of fresh water. Skim, then turn down the heat and simmer for 1 to 1½ hours until they are tender. Leave the chickpeas to cool, reserving their cooking water.
Place the chickpeas in a blender with just enough of their cooking water to reduce them to a paste. (We crushed them and then pushed them through a sieve as we did not have access to any modern equipment.) Turn the paste into a mixing bowl.
Stir the tahini into the chickpeas. Add salt and garlic to taste.
Cut open the pomegranate and place all its juicy seeds on a clean piece of muslin. Gather up the edges of the cloth and squeeze the juice into the chickpea mixture. Stir well.
Finally, stir in the sumac, reserving a little to scatter over as a garnish.

Fava broad bean paste

In the ancient world, broad beans were associated with death and the spirit world, which is why we included them in a dish for the funeral feast. You can buy split broad beans in Turkish and Middle Eastern food shops.

Ingredients (serves 6-8 as a starter, with bread)

200g (8 oz) split broad beans
1 small onion
1 large clove garlic
olive oil
2 tsp runny honey
2 spring onions, green parts only
1 bunch fresh dill
salt to taste

Method

Rinse the broad beans and then place them in a saucepan with a litre of water. Bring to the boil, skim off any scum and then turn down the heat to a gentle simmer. Finely chop the onion and garlic and add to the beans with a good slug of olive oil and the honey. Cover the pan and leave to simmer for about an hour, until the beans are completely tender.
When the beans are nearly ready, fine-chop the spring onions and a small handful of the dill. Add them to the beans and season with salt to taste. Simmer for a few minutes more.
Take a shallow bowl large enough to take the broad bean mixture and lightly oil or line it with clingfilm.
When the bean mixture is ready, place it in a blender for a few minutes until it is smooth, and then turn into the prepared bowl. Leave to cool.
The mixture will solidify as it cools, and can eventually be turned out onto a serving dish and garnished with the rest of the dill.

If you've enjoyed these dishes, you may like to try some more of Fuchsia's recipes, this time from Southwest China:

Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop (Michael Joseph, 2001) £20.
A comprehensive introduction to the cuisine of Sichuan Province in Southwest China.