September 07
Elizabeth I of England's Birthday
 

When Elizabeth ascended the throne, she was twenty-five years old, inexperienced, and faced with the impossible task of ruling a bankrupt country tom apart by religious controversy and threatened with war by France and Spain. When she died forty-five years later, England was the world's greatest naval power, financially secure, politically unified, and the world's epicenter of culture. Elizabeth proved herself to be not only England's greatest monarch, but, according to many historians, one of the greatest rulers of all time.

Elizabeth was he daughter of Henry VIII and, she Anne Boleyn, who was executed three years after Elizabeth's birth, and Elizabeth was subsequently declared illegitimate. However,  in 1558 Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister, the Catholic Mary Tudor (February 18), during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.
 

  

'The Ermine Portrait' of Elizabeth I
by Nicholas Hilliard

Elizabeth inherited her intellectual and cultural gifts from her father, but she inherited her vanity and personal extravagance fran her mother.  Elizabeth indulged herself in all possible pleasures, from promiscuous sex, extravagant clothes, jewels, and grand food. She had an unfortunate sweet tooth and ate so much candy, especially manus christi, (the hand of Christ) a popular early seventeenth-century fondant with bits of gold leaf, that her front teeth eventually turned black, then finally rotted out. (In the eighteenth century, manus christi had become a cordial which was made with sugar, rosewater and occasionally violets that was a popular remedy for general weakness,) This is why there are seldom portraits of Elizabeth smiling.

Elizabeth has been a popular subject in films, television,  plays, and opera.  Some of her most memorable film and television portrayals include those by actresses (and one actor) with great teeth including Cate Blanchett in The Golden Age ( 2007) and again in Elizabeth (1998), Helen Mirren in TV's Elizabeth I  (2005), Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love (1998),  Quentin Crisp (who may have had false teeth) in Orlando (1992), Glenda Jackson in the 6-part TV miniseries -Elizabeth R (1971),  Bette Davis in The Virgin Queen (1955) and again in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex  (1939),  Jean Simmons in Young Bess  (1953), the superb Flora Robson in The Sea Hawk  (1940) and again in Fire Over England  (1937). There is also a filmed production of Benjamin Britten's opera, Gloriana (1984) with Sarah Walker as Elizabeth.

At the end of her life, Elizabeth still played the part of the eternal coquette, with an enormous, bejeweled, red wig, grotesque white makeup, and she stuffed cloth under her lips to fill out the space caused by her rotted teeth. She was a connoisseur of food, as she was of men, jewels, and clothes. Her favorite dish was roast goose (September 29)  which was only slightly ahead of chicken and veal pie, a pie that has since became known as The Queen's Pie.

The Queen's Pie
 


Ingredients
 

1/2 lb ground veal
1/4 lb ground ham
1 tsp minced shallots
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp minced parsley
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
2 boned whole chicken breasts
1/4 tsp mace

* See Appendix A
 

1/4 lb thick bacon, diced
6 TB butter
2 TB flour
1/2 cup white glace de viande*
1/2 cup dry vermouth
1/2 cup water
1/2 lb puff pastry
1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp of water (egg glaze)
salt and  freshly ground pepper to taste


 
Instructions
 
  1. Mix veal, ham, shallots, zest, parsley, breadcrumbs, and egg together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Roll into 1" balls. Brown in 2 TB of butter over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Set aside.
  2. Dice chicken into 1" pieces. Season with salt, pepper, and mace. Cook with baron in 2 TB butter about 5 minutes in a skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove chicken and bone and place in a 2 quart casserole, with veal balls.
  3. Make a roux with 2 TB butter and flour. Stir in glace de viande, vermouth, and water. Blend well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over chicken, bacon, and veal balls.
  4. Preheat oven to 350º F.
  5. Rollout puff pastry to cover casserole. Brush on egg glaze. Cut 2 - 3 air slits. Bake for 1 hour or until crust is golden brown.
Serves 6