Recipes from Caerthen Twelfth Night 2007
For anyone who is interested, here's what we served at this year's Caerthen Twelfth Night.
Menu:
Honey Roasted Meat [Assaturatam]
“Assaturam: Assam a furno simplicent salis plurimo conspersam cum melle inferes.”
“Roasted Meat: The meat is roasted plain in the oven, sprinkled generously with salt. Serve with honey.”
-- Apicius 268 [7]
2-3 pounds beef roast
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup honey, divided
Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle the roast with salt, making sure to get all sides. Place in roasting pan and put in oven. Turn heat down to 325 degrees F. Cook for 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until done. One hour into cooking time, drizzle 1/4 cup of honey over the roast and return to oven. Serve with remaining honey on the side for dipping. Serves 8-12.
Cooked Sauce for Roast [Ius in Assaturae]
“Assaturas: Mirtae siccae bacam extenteratam cum cumino, pipere, melle, liquamine, defrito et oleo teres et fervefactum amulas. Carnem elixam sale subassatam perfundis, piper aspargis et inferes.”
“For Roasted Meat: Crush dried, pitted myrtle berries with cumin, pepper, honey, garum, defrutum, and oil; heat and thicken. Boil the meat and then roast it slightly with salt; pour the sauce over, sprinkle with pepper, and serve.”
-- Apicius 270 [8]
1/4 cup dried currants (substitution for myrtle berries)
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
3/4 teaspoons Thai fish sauce (garum)
1/4 cup white wine, boiled to reduce by half
2 teaspoons olive oil
Place currants, cumin, pepper, honey, fish sauce, reduced wine, and olive oil in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Makes approximately 1/2 cup sauce.
Roast Chicken With Pine Nut Stuffing [Pullus Farsilis]
Pullus farsilis: pullum sicut in iure cuminato, a ceruice expedies, teres piper ligusticum gengiber pulpam cesam aliquam elixam, teres cerebellum ex iure coctum, oua confringis et commiscis ut unum corpus efficias, liquimine temperas et oleum modice; mittis piper integrum, nucleos abundantes, fac inpensam et imples pullum uel porcellum ita ut laxamentum habeat, similiter in capo facies. Ossibus eiectis coques.
Stuffed chicken: the chicken (is prepared) as if (served) with a cumin sauce. Draw the chicken from the neck, pound pepper, lovage, ginger, chopped meat, boiled alica, pounded brains cooked in stock; break eggs and stir them all to make a smooth mixture. Flavour with liquamen and a little oil, add whole peppercorns and plenty of pine nuts. Make the stuffing and fill the chicken or piglet in such a way that some space remains. You can do the same with a capon. Cook with the bones taken out.
– Apicius 6.8.14 (250) [9]
1 cup bulgur, uncooked
2 eggs
2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
½ teaspoon peppercorns
1 chicken
¼ cup pine nuts
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon salt
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground ginger or 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ lb ground beef
Put bulgur, chicken broth, and 1 teaspoon of fish sauce in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. (Alternatively, place ingredients in a rice cooker and cook on a regular cycle.) Allow to cool.
Meanwhile, heat oven to 450 degrees F. Rinse chicken, removing giblets and neck. Pat dry with paper towel and set breast side down in lightly greased roasting pan. Rub chicken all over with olive oil, making sure to completely coat the outside of it.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine cooled bulgur, pepper, celery, ginger, ground beef, eggs, fish sauce, peppercorns, and pine nuts. Mix thoroughly. Stuff mixture into prepared chicken. Sprinkle with pepper and a generous amount of salt. Tent with foil.
Put chicken in oven, and immediately reduce heat to 350 degrees F. Cook for two hours, or until meat thermometer reads 180 degrees F. Remove foil during the last ten minutes of cooking so that skin will brown.
Carrots and Parsnips in Wine Sauce [Carotæ et Pastinacæ]
“Carrots and parsnips are fried with a wine sauce.”
--Apicius 122[10]
6 carrots
2 parsnips
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup sweet wine or sherry
Peel and slice carrots and parsnips. Place in a skillet with remaining ingredients except rice flour. Cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots and parsnips are done, about 20-25 minutes.
Squash in Cumin Sauce [Cucurbitas Elixatas et Frictas]
Aliter cucurbitas elixatas et frictas: in patina conpones; cuminatum superfundes; modico oleo super adiecto feruere facies et inferes.
Alternatively for boiled and fried gourd: put the gourd in a dish and pour on a cumin sauce, add a little oil, bring to the heat and serve.
-- Apicius 3.4.6[11]
1 lb. squash (yellow or zucchini)
1/2 cup white wine, boiled to reduce by half
1 tablespoon garum (Thai fish sauce)
2 teaspoons cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
Wash squash and cut into chunks. Bring two quarts of water to a boil and add squash. Boil for five minutes, just until squash begins to become tender. Drain well, squeezing water from squash.
Mix reduced wine, garum, and cumin and bring to a boil. Pour olive oil into a large skillet and bring to medium heat. Add drained squash, spreading to make an even layer across the bottom of the pan. Pour cumin sauce over sauce and let cook without stirring until squash is lightly browned on the bottom. Turn squash and cook, again without stirring, until the other side is also browned, adding more oil if needed.
Honeyed Dates Stuffed With Almonds [Dulcia Domestica]
Dulcia domestica: palmulas uel dactilo excepto semine, nuce uel nucleis uel piper tritum infercies, sales foris contingis, frigis in melle cocto, et infers.
Home-made sweets: take the stone from palm dates or ordinary dates and stuff them with nuts or pine nuts or ground pepper. Roll in salt, fry them in cooked honey and serve.
-- Apicius 7.11.1[14]
32 whole dates, pitted
32 almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
Stuff one almond into each date. Spread the dates on a greased cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt, then drizzle with honey. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes. Serve warm, if possible.
Cheesecake with Honey and Poppy Seeds [Savillum]
“Make a savillum thus: Mix 1/2 libra of flour and 2 1/2 librae of cheese, as is done for libum. Add 1/4 libra of honey and 1 egg. Grease an earthenware bowl with oil. When you have mixed the ingredients well, pour into the bowl and cover the bowl with an earthenware testo. See that you cook it well in the middle, where it is highest. When it is cooked, remove the bowl, spread with honey, sprinkle with poppy, put it back beneath the testo for a moment, and then remove. Serve it thus with a plate and spoon.”
--Cato 84[15]
Cheesecake:
1 15-oz. container whole milk ricotta
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup unbleached flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup honey
Topping:
1/3 cup honey
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
Sift flours together. Blend cheeses and mix well until no large lumps remain. Add flour, eggs, and honey and beat until smooth. Pour into two lightly greased 8” pie plates. Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned.
In a small saucepan, heat topping ingredients over low heat to thin the honey out. Drizzle the topping over cooked pies and return them to the oven for 3-5 minutes. Be very careful when removing them from the oven, as the honey becomes very thin and liquid, and can easily run off the top. Serve warm. Makes two 8" pies.
This interpretation by Tatiana Pavlovna Sokolova and Elaina de Sinistre, with tweaks by Arwen Southernwood.
Honey Custard [Tiropatinam]
Tiropatinam: accipies lac, aduersus quod patinam estimabis temperabis lac cum melle quasi ad lactantia, oua quinque ad sextarium mittis, si ad eminam, oua tria. In lacte dissoluis ita ut unum corpus vacias, in cumana colas et igni lento coques. Cum duxerit ad se, piper adspargis et inferes.
Cheese patina: take some milk and choose a dish of sufficient size to hold it; flavour the milk with honey as though for milk pudding. Put in 5 eggs to a pint or 3 to 1/2 pint. Dissolve them in the milk so that you have a smooth emulsion. Strain it into a Cumaean clay dish and cook over a slow fire; when it has set, sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Apicius 7.11.7[16]
1 pint milk
5 eggs
3 tablespoons honey
Pinch of pepper
Blend ingredients until smooth. Pour into a pan and bake at 300 degrees F for 30-40 minutes, or until done. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Note that the recipe is called a “cheese patina” even though there is no cheese in it.
Bibliography:
Edwards, John. Roman Cookery: Elegant and Easy Recipes from History’s First Gourmet. Revised edition. Hartley & Marks, Ltd. Washington, 1986. ISBN 0-88179-011.
Giacosa, Ilaria Gozzini (Herklotz, Anna, translator). A Taste of Ancient Rome. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1992. ISBN 0-226-29032-8.
Grant, Mark. Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens. Serif, London, 2000. ISBN 1-897959-39-7.
Grocock, Christopher and Grainger, Sally. Apicius: A Critical Edition with an Introduction and English Translation. Prospect Books, Great Britain, 2006. ISBN 1-903018-13-7.
Tannahill, Reay. Food in History. Stein and Day Publishers, New York, 1973.
Vehling, Joseph Dommers (translator). Apicius: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome. Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1977. ISBN 0-486-23563-7.
Notes:
The theme was Ancient Roman (since the food was originally going to be themed "Feasting Through The Ages," and Roman is soooooo good!). What follows is essentially the recipe booklet I prepared for the event.
Gustum:
Cheese Round With Herbs [Moretum]
Olive Paste With Herbs[Epityrum Varium]
Meatballs With Pine Nuts [Esicia Omentata]
Pita Bread
Mensa Prima:
Honey Roasted Meat [Assaturatam]
Cooked Sauce for Roast[Ius in Assaturae]
Roast Chicken With Pine Nut Stuffing [Pullus Farsilis]
Carrots and Parsnips in Wine Sauce [Carotæ et Pastinacæ]
Squash in Cumin Sauce [Cucurbitas Elixatas et Frictas]
Mushrooms in Sauce [Fungis]
Savoury Barley [Mystron]
Mensa Secunda
Honeyed Dates Stuffed With Almonds [Dulcia Domestica]
Cheesecake with Honey and Poppy Seeds [Savillum]
Honey Custard [Tiropatinam]
About Roman Meals:
In her book, “A Taste of Ancient Rome,” Ilaria Giacosa states that Roman meals were usually served in three courses: Gustum, an appetizer course designed to whet the appetite; Mensa Prima, the primary meat course, and Mensa Secunda, the smaller meats and sweets. Vegetables and side dishes could be served as part of either the Mensa Prima or the Mensa Secunda. Our three courses today are being served as close together as possible, so as to allow more time for revelry and enjoyment!
Regarding Fish Sauce:
Some of the recipes used today call for “garum,” or fish sauce. This does not mean that the dishes will have a fishy flavor; the main flavor of fish sauce is meant to be salt. Think of it as Roman soy sauce – a salty flavor with a little extra “body” to it.
Cheese Round With Herbs [Moretum]
Olive Paste With Herbs[Epityrum Varium]
Meatballs With Pine Nuts [Esicia Omentata]
Pita Bread
Mensa Prima:
Honey Roasted Meat [Assaturatam]
Cooked Sauce for Roast[Ius in Assaturae]
Roast Chicken With Pine Nut Stuffing [Pullus Farsilis]
Carrots and Parsnips in Wine Sauce [Carotæ et Pastinacæ]
Squash in Cumin Sauce [Cucurbitas Elixatas et Frictas]
Mushrooms in Sauce [Fungis]
Savoury Barley [Mystron]
Mensa Secunda
Honeyed Dates Stuffed With Almonds [Dulcia Domestica]
Cheesecake with Honey and Poppy Seeds [Savillum]
Honey Custard [Tiropatinam]
About Roman Meals:
In her book, “A Taste of Ancient Rome,” Ilaria Giacosa states that Roman meals were usually served in three courses: Gustum, an appetizer course designed to whet the appetite; Mensa Prima, the primary meat course, and Mensa Secunda, the smaller meats and sweets. Vegetables and side dishes could be served as part of either the Mensa Prima or the Mensa Secunda. Our three courses today are being served as close together as possible, so as to allow more time for revelry and enjoyment!
Regarding Fish Sauce:
Some of the recipes used today call for “garum,” or fish sauce. This does not mean that the dishes will have a fishy flavor; the main flavor of fish sauce is meant to be salt. Think of it as Roman soy sauce – a salty flavor with a little extra “body” to it.
Cheese Round With Herbs [Moretum]
“Four garlic cloves, celery, rue, coriander, salt grains, and cheese.”
--Appendix Vergiliana[1]
1 1/4 cup fresh cheese (or 1 8-oz package cream cheese plus ¼ cup ricotta cheese)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
2 tablespoons celery leaves, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, finely minced (to substitute for rue)[2]
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
Combine all ingredients and shape into a round. Serve with bread, crackers, or lagana. Makes 1 1/4 cup.
Olive Paste With Herbs [Epityrum Varium]
“You should make an epityrum of green, black and speckled olives like this. Press out the stones from green, black and speckled olives. Season as follows. Chop the olives, add oil, vinegar, coriander, cumin, fennel, rue, mint. Put in an earthenware pot. There should be olive oil on top. Serve like this.”
--Cato, On Agriculture[3]
1 cup assorted Greek olives[4], pitted
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground fennel seed OR 2 teaspoons fresh fennel, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, finely minced (to substitute for rue[5])
2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely minced OR 2 teaspoons dried mint
Put all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and chop until olives are finely minced. Serve with bread. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.
Meatballs With Pine Nuts [Esicia Omentata]
“Ground Meat Patties in Omentum: Grind chopped meat with the center of fine white bread that has been soaked in wine. Grind together pepper, garum, and pitted myrtle berries if desired. Form small patties, putting in pine nuts and pepper. Wrap in omentum and cook slowly in caroenum.”
--Apicius 48[6]
4 cups red wine (to boil down to 2 cups caroenum)
1 lb. ground pork or beef
4 slices of white bread
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce
1/4 cup pine nuts
Put the four cups of red wine in a saucepan. Boil over medium-high heat for about half an hour, or until the liquid has reduced by half.
Meanwhile, remove the crusts from the slices of bread and tear the bread into bits. Place in a large bowl and pour the 1/4 cup of red wine over them. Knead until the red wine is evenly distributed; the mixture should be pasty. Add meat and mix well.
Grind peppercorns; mix with fish sauce and pour over meat mixture. Add pine nuts and mix until spices and nuts are evenly distributed.
Poach dumplings in reduced wine for about 6 minutes, turning once while cooking. Remove meatballs and allow remaining liquid to reduce by half. Serve hot, with reduced liquid as a sauce.
Makes about 2 dozen meatballs.
I have chosen to omit the omentum (pork caul fat) and simply poach the dumplings in the caroenum. The meatballs seemed to remain quite moist without it.
For this recipe, a Cabernet Sauvignon works well.
This interpretation by Arwen Southernwood and Tatiana Pavlovna Sokolova.
--Appendix Vergiliana[1]
1 1/4 cup fresh cheese (or 1 8-oz package cream cheese plus ¼ cup ricotta cheese)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
2 tablespoons celery leaves, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, finely minced (to substitute for rue)[2]
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
Combine all ingredients and shape into a round. Serve with bread, crackers, or lagana. Makes 1 1/4 cup.
Olive Paste With Herbs [Epityrum Varium]
“You should make an epityrum of green, black and speckled olives like this. Press out the stones from green, black and speckled olives. Season as follows. Chop the olives, add oil, vinegar, coriander, cumin, fennel, rue, mint. Put in an earthenware pot. There should be olive oil on top. Serve like this.”
--Cato, On Agriculture[3]
1 cup assorted Greek olives[4], pitted
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground fennel seed OR 2 teaspoons fresh fennel, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, finely minced (to substitute for rue[5])
2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely minced OR 2 teaspoons dried mint
Put all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and chop until olives are finely minced. Serve with bread. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.
Meatballs With Pine Nuts [Esicia Omentata]
“Ground Meat Patties in Omentum: Grind chopped meat with the center of fine white bread that has been soaked in wine. Grind together pepper, garum, and pitted myrtle berries if desired. Form small patties, putting in pine nuts and pepper. Wrap in omentum and cook slowly in caroenum.”
--Apicius 48[6]
4 cups red wine (to boil down to 2 cups caroenum)
1 lb. ground pork or beef
4 slices of white bread
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce
1/4 cup pine nuts
Put the four cups of red wine in a saucepan. Boil over medium-high heat for about half an hour, or until the liquid has reduced by half.
Meanwhile, remove the crusts from the slices of bread and tear the bread into bits. Place in a large bowl and pour the 1/4 cup of red wine over them. Knead until the red wine is evenly distributed; the mixture should be pasty. Add meat and mix well.
Grind peppercorns; mix with fish sauce and pour over meat mixture. Add pine nuts and mix until spices and nuts are evenly distributed.
Poach dumplings in reduced wine for about 6 minutes, turning once while cooking. Remove meatballs and allow remaining liquid to reduce by half. Serve hot, with reduced liquid as a sauce.
Makes about 2 dozen meatballs.
I have chosen to omit the omentum (pork caul fat) and simply poach the dumplings in the caroenum. The meatballs seemed to remain quite moist without it.
For this recipe, a Cabernet Sauvignon works well.
This interpretation by Arwen Southernwood and Tatiana Pavlovna Sokolova.
Honey Roasted Meat [Assaturatam]
“Assaturam: Assam a furno simplicent salis plurimo conspersam cum melle inferes.”
“Roasted Meat: The meat is roasted plain in the oven, sprinkled generously with salt. Serve with honey.”
-- Apicius 268 [7]
2-3 pounds beef roast
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup honey, divided
Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle the roast with salt, making sure to get all sides. Place in roasting pan and put in oven. Turn heat down to 325 degrees F. Cook for 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until done. One hour into cooking time, drizzle 1/4 cup of honey over the roast and return to oven. Serve with remaining honey on the side for dipping. Serves 8-12.
Cooked Sauce for Roast [Ius in Assaturae]
“Assaturas: Mirtae siccae bacam extenteratam cum cumino, pipere, melle, liquamine, defrito et oleo teres et fervefactum amulas. Carnem elixam sale subassatam perfundis, piper aspargis et inferes.”
“For Roasted Meat: Crush dried, pitted myrtle berries with cumin, pepper, honey, garum, defrutum, and oil; heat and thicken. Boil the meat and then roast it slightly with salt; pour the sauce over, sprinkle with pepper, and serve.”
-- Apicius 270 [8]
1/4 cup dried currants (substitution for myrtle berries)
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
3/4 teaspoons Thai fish sauce (garum)
1/4 cup white wine, boiled to reduce by half
2 teaspoons olive oil
Place currants, cumin, pepper, honey, fish sauce, reduced wine, and olive oil in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Makes approximately 1/2 cup sauce.
Roast Chicken With Pine Nut Stuffing [Pullus Farsilis]
Pullus farsilis: pullum sicut in iure cuminato, a ceruice expedies, teres piper ligusticum gengiber pulpam cesam aliquam elixam, teres cerebellum ex iure coctum, oua confringis et commiscis ut unum corpus efficias, liquimine temperas et oleum modice; mittis piper integrum, nucleos abundantes, fac inpensam et imples pullum uel porcellum ita ut laxamentum habeat, similiter in capo facies. Ossibus eiectis coques.
Stuffed chicken: the chicken (is prepared) as if (served) with a cumin sauce. Draw the chicken from the neck, pound pepper, lovage, ginger, chopped meat, boiled alica, pounded brains cooked in stock; break eggs and stir them all to make a smooth mixture. Flavour with liquamen and a little oil, add whole peppercorns and plenty of pine nuts. Make the stuffing and fill the chicken or piglet in such a way that some space remains. You can do the same with a capon. Cook with the bones taken out.
– Apicius 6.8.14 (250) [9]
1 cup bulgur, uncooked
2 eggs
2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
½ teaspoon peppercorns
1 chicken
¼ cup pine nuts
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon salt
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground ginger or 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ lb ground beef
Put bulgur, chicken broth, and 1 teaspoon of fish sauce in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. (Alternatively, place ingredients in a rice cooker and cook on a regular cycle.) Allow to cool.
Meanwhile, heat oven to 450 degrees F. Rinse chicken, removing giblets and neck. Pat dry with paper towel and set breast side down in lightly greased roasting pan. Rub chicken all over with olive oil, making sure to completely coat the outside of it.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine cooled bulgur, pepper, celery, ginger, ground beef, eggs, fish sauce, peppercorns, and pine nuts. Mix thoroughly. Stuff mixture into prepared chicken. Sprinkle with pepper and a generous amount of salt. Tent with foil.
Put chicken in oven, and immediately reduce heat to 350 degrees F. Cook for two hours, or until meat thermometer reads 180 degrees F. Remove foil during the last ten minutes of cooking so that skin will brown.
Carrots and Parsnips in Wine Sauce [Carotæ et Pastinacæ]
“Carrots and parsnips are fried with a wine sauce.”
--Apicius 122[10]
6 carrots
2 parsnips
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup sweet wine or sherry
Peel and slice carrots and parsnips. Place in a skillet with remaining ingredients except rice flour. Cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots and parsnips are done, about 20-25 minutes.
Squash in Cumin Sauce [Cucurbitas Elixatas et Frictas]
Aliter cucurbitas elixatas et frictas: in patina conpones; cuminatum superfundes; modico oleo super adiecto feruere facies et inferes.
Alternatively for boiled and fried gourd: put the gourd in a dish and pour on a cumin sauce, add a little oil, bring to the heat and serve.
-- Apicius 3.4.6[11]
1 lb. squash (yellow or zucchini)
1/2 cup white wine, boiled to reduce by half
1 tablespoon garum (Thai fish sauce)
2 teaspoons cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
Wash squash and cut into chunks. Bring two quarts of water to a boil and add squash. Boil for five minutes, just until squash begins to become tender. Drain well, squeezing water from squash.
Mix reduced wine, garum, and cumin and bring to a boil. Pour olive oil into a large skillet and bring to medium heat. Add drained squash, spreading to make an even layer across the bottom of the pan. Pour cumin sauce over sauce and let cook without stirring until squash is lightly browned on the bottom. Turn squash and cook, again without stirring, until the other side is also browned, adding more oil if needed.
Mushrooms in Sauce [Fungis]
“For ash tree mushrooms: Pepper, caroenum, vinegar, and oil.”
--Apicius 311[12]
1 pound fresh mushrooms, mixed (white and Portobello)
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 cups white wine, boiled to reduce by half
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Wash, trim and slice mushrooms. Bring 2 quarts salted water to a boil and add mushrooms. Boil for 5-8 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender. Drain well and return to pan. Mix pepper, reduced wine, vinegar, and oil and pour over mushrooms. Heat through and serve.
Note that the original recipe does not state how the mushrooms are to be cooked; however, since the rest of the recipes in this section are for boiled mushrooms, I believe that these were to be boiled as well.
Savoury Barley [Mystron]
‘Nicander of Colophon is the author who employs the word mystron when describing the use of the word barley groats in the first of his two books On Farming. He writes: “But when you are making a dish of fresh kid or lamb or capon, put some barley groats in a mortar, pound them well, then stir in some ripe olive oil. When the stock is boiling hard, pour it over the pounded groats, put the lid on the pot and steam it; for when it is cooked in this way, the heavy meal swells up. Serve it when lukewarm in hollow mystra.”’
--Athenaeus, The Partying Professors[13]
2 cups pearl barley
1/3 cup olive oil
6 cups chicken broth
Place barley, oil, and broth in a modern rice steamer. Cook until done. Serve in hollowed out bread loaves (optional).
Makes approximately eight 1/2 cup servings
“For ash tree mushrooms: Pepper, caroenum, vinegar, and oil.”
--Apicius 311[12]
1 pound fresh mushrooms, mixed (white and Portobello)
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 cups white wine, boiled to reduce by half
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Wash, trim and slice mushrooms. Bring 2 quarts salted water to a boil and add mushrooms. Boil for 5-8 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender. Drain well and return to pan. Mix pepper, reduced wine, vinegar, and oil and pour over mushrooms. Heat through and serve.
Note that the original recipe does not state how the mushrooms are to be cooked; however, since the rest of the recipes in this section are for boiled mushrooms, I believe that these were to be boiled as well.
Savoury Barley [Mystron]
‘Nicander of Colophon is the author who employs the word mystron when describing the use of the word barley groats in the first of his two books On Farming. He writes: “But when you are making a dish of fresh kid or lamb or capon, put some barley groats in a mortar, pound them well, then stir in some ripe olive oil. When the stock is boiling hard, pour it over the pounded groats, put the lid on the pot and steam it; for when it is cooked in this way, the heavy meal swells up. Serve it when lukewarm in hollow mystra.”’
--Athenaeus, The Partying Professors[13]
2 cups pearl barley
1/3 cup olive oil
6 cups chicken broth
Place barley, oil, and broth in a modern rice steamer. Cook until done. Serve in hollowed out bread loaves (optional).
Makes approximately eight 1/2 cup servings
Honeyed Dates Stuffed With Almonds [Dulcia Domestica]
Dulcia domestica: palmulas uel dactilo excepto semine, nuce uel nucleis uel piper tritum infercies, sales foris contingis, frigis in melle cocto, et infers.
Home-made sweets: take the stone from palm dates or ordinary dates and stuff them with nuts or pine nuts or ground pepper. Roll in salt, fry them in cooked honey and serve.
-- Apicius 7.11.1[14]
32 whole dates, pitted
32 almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
Stuff one almond into each date. Spread the dates on a greased cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt, then drizzle with honey. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes. Serve warm, if possible.
Cheesecake with Honey and Poppy Seeds [Savillum]
“Make a savillum thus: Mix 1/2 libra of flour and 2 1/2 librae of cheese, as is done for libum. Add 1/4 libra of honey and 1 egg. Grease an earthenware bowl with oil. When you have mixed the ingredients well, pour into the bowl and cover the bowl with an earthenware testo. See that you cook it well in the middle, where it is highest. When it is cooked, remove the bowl, spread with honey, sprinkle with poppy, put it back beneath the testo for a moment, and then remove. Serve it thus with a plate and spoon.”
--Cato 84[15]
Cheesecake:
1 15-oz. container whole milk ricotta
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup unbleached flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup honey
Topping:
1/3 cup honey
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
Sift flours together. Blend cheeses and mix well until no large lumps remain. Add flour, eggs, and honey and beat until smooth. Pour into two lightly greased 8” pie plates. Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned.
In a small saucepan, heat topping ingredients over low heat to thin the honey out. Drizzle the topping over cooked pies and return them to the oven for 3-5 minutes. Be very careful when removing them from the oven, as the honey becomes very thin and liquid, and can easily run off the top. Serve warm. Makes two 8" pies.
This interpretation by Tatiana Pavlovna Sokolova and Elaina de Sinistre, with tweaks by Arwen Southernwood.
Honey Custard [Tiropatinam]
Tiropatinam: accipies lac, aduersus quod patinam estimabis temperabis lac cum melle quasi ad lactantia, oua quinque ad sextarium mittis, si ad eminam, oua tria. In lacte dissoluis ita ut unum corpus vacias, in cumana colas et igni lento coques. Cum duxerit ad se, piper adspargis et inferes.
Cheese patina: take some milk and choose a dish of sufficient size to hold it; flavour the milk with honey as though for milk pudding. Put in 5 eggs to a pint or 3 to 1/2 pint. Dissolve them in the milk so that you have a smooth emulsion. Strain it into a Cumaean clay dish and cook over a slow fire; when it has set, sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Apicius 7.11.7[16]
1 pint milk
5 eggs
3 tablespoons honey
Pinch of pepper
Blend ingredients until smooth. Pour into a pan and bake at 300 degrees F for 30-40 minutes, or until done. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Note that the recipe is called a “cheese patina” even though there is no cheese in it.
Bibliography:
Edwards, John. Roman Cookery: Elegant and Easy Recipes from History’s First Gourmet. Revised edition. Hartley & Marks, Ltd. Washington, 1986. ISBN 0-88179-011.
Giacosa, Ilaria Gozzini (Herklotz, Anna, translator). A Taste of Ancient Rome. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1992. ISBN 0-226-29032-8.
Grant, Mark. Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens. Serif, London, 2000. ISBN 1-897959-39-7.
Grocock, Christopher and Grainger, Sally. Apicius: A Critical Edition with an Introduction and English Translation. Prospect Books, Great Britain, 2006. ISBN 1-903018-13-7.
Tannahill, Reay. Food in History. Stein and Day Publishers, New York, 1973.
Vehling, Joseph Dommers (translator). Apicius: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome. Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1977. ISBN 0-486-23563-7.
Notes:
[1] Giacosa, pp. 54-5.
[2] Note that as rue has been known to cause adverse health effects, it has been omitted from this dish, and a reasonable substitution (Italian parsley) has been made.
[3] Grant, Roman Cookery, p. 75.
[4] I do not recommend canned California olives or green olives with pimientos for this recipe.
[5] Note that as rue has been known to cause adverse health effects, it has been omitted from this dish, and a reasonable substitution (Italian parsley) has been made.
[6] Giacosa, p. 89-90.
[7] Giacosa, p. 88.
[8] Giacosa, pp. 35-6.
[9] Grocock & Grainger, pp. 234-235.
[10] Giacosa, p. 89.
[11] Grocock & Grainger, pp. 162-163.
[12] Giacosa, p. 45.
[13] Grant, p. 96
[14] Grocock and Grainger, pp. 250-251
[15] Giacosa, p. 163.
[16] Grocock & Grainger, pp. 252-253.
[2] Note that as rue has been known to cause adverse health effects, it has been omitted from this dish, and a reasonable substitution (Italian parsley) has been made.
[3] Grant, Roman Cookery, p. 75.
[4] I do not recommend canned California olives or green olives with pimientos for this recipe.
[5] Note that as rue has been known to cause adverse health effects, it has been omitted from this dish, and a reasonable substitution (Italian parsley) has been made.
[6] Giacosa, p. 89-90.
[7] Giacosa, p. 88.
[8] Giacosa, pp. 35-6.
[9] Grocock & Grainger, pp. 234-235.
[10] Giacosa, p. 89.
[11] Grocock & Grainger, pp. 162-163.
[12] Giacosa, p. 45.
[13] Grant, p. 96
[14] Grocock and Grainger, pp. 250-251
[15] Giacosa, p. 163.
[16] Grocock & Grainger, pp. 252-253.
posted by Sheila @ 10:02 AM
0 comments
