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Contributed by Marcvs Moravivs Horativs
Piscinvs
Tradition held that
the early Romans used acorns as their meal. Acorns contain tannins
and must first be boiled in several changes of water before the nuts
are dried and ground into a meal. Acorn meal was then prepared in a
pottage or gruel. Later the Romans began to use a variety of grains
for their pottages. From the early second century, Cato’s De
Agricultura then offers a few recipes for simple rustic breads,
none of which were leavened with yeast. Arriving as slaves shortly
after Cato, Greeks introduced the use of yeast to the Romans.
Leavened breads were found at Heracleum and molds for leavened
breads have been found in other parts of southern Italy. Martial,
among others, mentions pastries and breads, but where we would hope
to find recipes for these, none have survived. Apicius’ De Re
Coquinaria mentions bread and pastry dough in some of his
recipes, but apparently the chapters that might have contained these
recipes are lost. The tradition of bread making of course continued
and there are today a variety of wonderful breads found in Italy.
Some of the recipes below are taken from Roman sources. Others are
Italian breads, pasta, and pastries that developed from the Roman
tradition.
Steamed Wheat
This is
a simple gruel done in a manner that the Romans may have used. This
recipe is still used today in the Balkans.
1
cup cracked wheat or Bulgar wheat, 2 cups water or broth, salt, 4
tbs. butter or olive oil.
Melt
butter or heat oil in a skillet. Stir in the grain so that they
become coated with the oil. Add in water or broth and salt. Stir
and cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Variations: first sauté onions, garlic, scallions, peppers and
herbs, with a little salt, in the oil before adding grain.
Panem depsticium
Cicero mentions that the bread of the Roman
forefathers was made simply of flour, water, and salt. Cato’s
panem depsticium is a simple bread recipe that
excludes even the salt: “Wash the hands and kneading board well.
Put flour on the kneading board, add water gradually, and work it
thoroughly. When you have worked it well, mold it, and bake it
under an earthen cover (De Agricultura 74).” Proportions of
flour to water will vary according to the type of flour used and to
certain conditions. Humidity and the elevation of your location
will alter the heat needed to make any bread, so it is only through
experience that you can find the proper consistency of dough
required for your locale. The dough should be smooth with a slight
glisten. If too sticky, add more flour. If not smooth add more
water.
Sala Cattabia
Apiciana
Some of Apicius’ recipes are potted bread salads,
sala cattabia, which call for Picene bread. This
was probably a name he used for the kind of breads that were common
throughout
Italy before the
Greek introduction of leavened breads. Cato’s
panem depsticium is the simplest variety, to which
other ingredients could have been added for extra flavor. These
kinds of breads are very hard and must be further prepared after
they are baked before using them. Turkish yufka ekmek
is the same type of bread, coming out in stiff sheets that have to
be watered and pressed before using. The Romans would use vinegar
and water to first soak a panem depsticium. The
bread is then pressed to remove excess water, then torn or crumbled
by hand. (You can use hard, stale Italian bread in place of a
panem depsticium.) The bread is then strewn in a pot, covered
with a layer of cheese, then a layer of cucumbers. Then the layers
are repeated two or three more times before a salad dressing is
poured over the salad. The sala cattabia Apiciana
calls for layers that include Picene bread, boiled chicken, onions,
pine nuts, and goat cheese. A modern Italian equivalent is
panzanella that is made of stale bread soaked in water then
pressed and crumbled, tomatoes (peeled, seeded and diced), minced
red onions, pitted black olives, fresh basil leaves, artichokes
hearts, and tuna fish, covered with a dressing of oil and balsamic
vinegar with salt, pepper, and minced garlic.
What makes a salad is
the dressing. One of Apicius’ dressings for a
sala cattabia is pepper, mint, celery, pennyroyal,
pine nuts, wine vinegar, honey, water and cheese. Another used
celery seed, dried pennyroyal, and dried mint, fresh cilantro,
ginger, raisins, honey, vinegar, olive oil, and wine. Roman
dressings used a lot of pepper with honey that modern tastes might
not find palatable. Remember too that Romans watered their
wine. As a substitute for honey, you can use brown sugar. Romans
did have sugar but used it in medicines rather than in their
cooking. Mix equal parts of vinegar with a mixture of water and
wine. To the liquid add an equal amount of brown sugar over a low
heat in order to melt the sugar. Turn off the heat and add in your
herbs and spices. Use crushed black pepper corns and minced dried
chili peppers to make a spicy sweet and sour flavor, adjusted
according to taste. Allow cooling to room temperature, or even a
little warm, before serving the dressing over the sala cattabia.
Placenta
Cato’s placenta was a layered cheese
and honey pie that was offered to Jupiter (see
Recipes for Offerings).
It is something like a precursor for lasagna, but closer to Greek
pitas made with filo. The amounts that he gives in
his recipe, 8 pounds of flour and 14 pounds of cheese, are quite
sizeable. Cutting the recipe to 1/8 its original will make it more
manageable. Easier still would be to buy sheets of filo,
although they are not the same as what Cato used.
A bottom crust is made with 1cup
farina and enough water to make dough. The dough is rolled out as
thin as possible. Then use 2 cups of white flour and 1 cup of spelt
flour, again with just enough water to make dough. This latter
dough is also rolled out as thin as possible and cut into strips.
Next make a filling by mixing two pounds of feta cheese and ½ pound
of honey. Mash the feta in honey until creamy and smooth. Lay the
farina dough in a large deep-sided baking pan. Cover it with strips
of the flour and spelt dough. Spread a layer of cheese filling, and
then cover with more strips of the flour dough. Alternate the
layers of cheese filling and strips of dough. For the top use one
large sheet of flour and spelt dough to cover the entire pie. Bring
up the bottom layer of farina dough and pinch it together with the
top layer. The pie should be baked slowly at a low temperature, 250
F, until the crust is golden brown and crispy. Then drizzle more
honey over the top of pie.
A
variant of placenta given by Cato is called scriblitam.
It is made in the same way, although without the honey. Cato’s
erneum mixes the honey and cheese into the dough itself. The
erneum is poured into a mold. The mold is then suspended in a
pot of hot water, acting as a double boiler to bake the bread.
Casunezei
This is Italian pasta that is similar to ravioli. I
include it here as it is used much in the way Romans may have used
placenta. Whether a small farmer or a legionnaire
on campaign, Romans relied on foraging wild foods to supplement
their diet. Casunezei is one way to make a
very filling meal out about anything you would find while foraging.
1½ cups flour, 2 tbs. water, 2 eggs, and 1 tbs. olive oil.
The flour is mounded, and hollowed. The other
ingredients are then poured into the center and worked into somewhat
sticky dough. The dough is then rolled out thin and cut into
circles.
Casunezei
filling:
3 heads of
radicchio or greens, ½ cup Parmesan cheese, salt.
Any bitter green will
do. I have used dandelion greens,
cress, stoce (young leaves of hollyhocks), sorrel,
chervil, among other weeds and plants that happen to be at hand, or
from the garden radicchio, cabbage, collards, mustard greens,
carubbia, or spinach. The Romans grew nettles in their kitchen
gardens. Nettles grow wild and can be foraged (I have a large patch
in the alley behind my house.) They have to be boiled and the water
poured off. Other greens are best made in this manner. First heat
a little olive oil in a skillet, and sauté garlic or onions. Wild
varieties found while foraging are best. They are smaller but
sweeter than commercial varieties. Then rinse off your greens and
with the water still clinging to the leaves place them into the
skillet and cover. Cook until wilted. Do not over cook or allow to
burn. Squeeze out the excess water and finely chop the greens.
Salt can be added when cooking the greens (I don’t because the
Parmesan is usually salty enough.) Pepper is not necessary, as many
of your wild greens will have a peppery flavor. Also this is a
peasant dish and pepper would have been very expensive for a
Roman. Mix the chopped greens and cheese together as a filling.
Then place some filling on one side of each dough circle; fold over
and press together the edges using a fork. Be sure to seal the
edges so that the filling will not seep out while boiling the
casunezei. In a large pan of boiling water add a few
drops of olive oil or salt to prevent sticking. Add the
casunezei and cook the pasta until al dente, about 15
minutes. Drain and place on a platter.
Sauce:
4 tbs. unsalted butter, 2 tbs. poppy seeds.
Fresh crushed poppy seeds, or else from a can, are
very sweet. This sauce makes a very nice contrast to the bitter
greens. Another sauce that could be used would be olive oil and
garlic, then season with salt and pepper. The idea here though is to
make the best of whatever you have at hand or can find.
Globula
These are Cato’s sautéed cheese balls found at De Agricultura
79. Use a soft goat cheese like feta, broken up by your fingers
and then crushed smooth with a fork. Soak spelt grits in water
until soft, then place them on a kneading board and press them out
to dry. Combine about two parts cheese with one part spelt grits to
make a sticky dough. Form balls and sauté in hot oil, using batter
sticks to turn them frequently and keep their shape. When golden
brown drain the balls of oil, then place on a platter. Drizzle them
with honey and sprinkle them with poppy seeds.
A
variation of globula, De Agricultura 80, is a
poured pancake called encytum. The batter
needs to be soupier than for globula, so the spelt
grits are not pressed as dry. Heat a small amount of oil in a
skillet and pour in your cakes, flipping them over to ensure they do
not burn. Drizzle honey over them to serve, or else use a mixture
of honey and wine. For a variation on the flavor, add cattail
pollen into the batter.
Frappe
Frappe is a deep fried Italian pastry.
2
cups flour, ½ cup sugar, 2 tbs. unsalted butter cut into ½” bits and
chilled, 3 eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 3 tbs. dry Marsala wine,
oil and confectioner’s sugar.
Blend
the flour, sugar and butter. Blend in one egg at a time, then add
the vanilla and wine and beat. Work the dough briefly, then roll
out. Cut the dough into diamond shapes, or 8” strips tied in a
loose knot, or into 4”x3” rectangles with three slits cut into
them. Deep fry in hot vegetable oil, drain and dust with
confectioner’s sugar. Serve with wine in which to dip the frappe.
Focaccia
Focaccia, from the Latin focus, means
“hearth bread”. When the Greeks brought leavened bread they also
brought their custom of using flat breads as a platter on which to
serve cooked vegetables and meat. This recipe for focaccia
was brought by my grand parents from Abruzzia in the 19th
century.
5-5 ½ cups flour, 1 tbs. sugar, 1 tbs. salt, 2 pkg. yeast, 2 cups
warm water. Topping: olive oil, salt, pepper, and slivers of garlic.
Dissolve
the yeast in tepid water. Shift together 5 cups of flour, sugar and
salt, then pile it into a crater into which the yeast-water is
added. Coat your hands with flour and mix the ingredients together,
then knead it to form smooth, elastic dough with sheen to it. More
flour may be added as needed to gain the right consistency. Place
the dough into a warm bowl, cover with a cotton cloth and allow to
rise until double in size, about two hours. Then punch the dough
down, gathering it from the sides to make a ball. Allow the dough
to rise a second time, about 1-½ hours. Punch the dough down and
form into a ball. Cut the ball in half. Spread out the dough onto
oiled baking sheets, using your fingers to spread it to the edges.
Otherwise, to bake on a stone, roll the dough out on a surface
dusted with flour, and then place on a wooden paddle, or “peel”, on
which you have scattered some corn meal. The corn meal allows the
dough to slide off the peel onto the heated stone. Drizzle with
olive oil and insert slivers of garlic into the dough, then sprinkle
liberally with salt and pepper (you can also sprinkle on dried
basil). The
focaccia is then baked at 350 F = 180 C until golden brown
(baking temperature may vary due to elevation), roughly 30 minutes.
It can be baked in the cookie sheets, or if on a baking stone first
scatter cornmeal to place the dough on.
Focaccia is best served with slices of
mozzarella and arugula, or dipped in wine. The dough may be used as
a pizza crust, just top with a tomato sauce and toppings before
baking. How the Romans would have used a focaccia
would have been as an edible platter. Cooked greens or potherbs,
with cheese, maybe nuts or mushrooms, would be served on the
focaccia.
Peasant Bread
The same recipe given for focaccia
above can be made into bread.
Otherwise:
6-61/2 cups flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tbs. olive oil, and 2 pkgs. yeast,
2 ½ cups tepid water.
Mix and knead into a dough as above. After allowing the dough to
rise twice, punch down, cut in half, then form loaves or else place
into oiled bread pans and allow to rise a third time. While heating
the oven place a bowl of water in the bottom. If using a baking
stone, spread cornmeal on your peel before placing the dough. Bake
at 350 F =180 C until golden brown. Cool on a rack
Herb Bread
This
is a heavier bread, made in two parts.
2
cups sifted white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup barley
flour, 2 pkg. yeast, 2-3 cups water, ¼ cup honey.
Dissolve
the yeast in tepid water and then stir in honey. Add in the flours
and beat with a spoon. Allow to rise for one hour. Then fold in:
1 tsp. salt, ½ cup
oil, 1 cup white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, garlic salt, basil,
crushed mustard seed, and anise seed.
Knead
the dough on a floured board and allow to rise for 50 minutes.
Punch dough down and allow to rise for another 40 minutes. Divide
and shape into loaves, and let rise another 20 minutes. Bake at 350
F =180 C for one hour.
Sweet Bread
6 cups flour, 1 tbs.
salt, 1 tbs. sugar, ¼ cup butter, 2 pkgs. yeast, 1 egg, 2 ½ cups
water.
Dissolve the yeast in tepid water and sugar. Melt the butter. Fold
the flour into the water and yeast mix, and then add the other
ingredients. Work into a dough and knead. Form into a ball and
allow to rise until double in size. Punch down and allow to rise a
second time. Form into loaves and allow to rise until almost double
in size. Bake at 350 F = 180 C until golden brown.
Roman Toast
Use
thick slices of Italian peasant bread with the crust removed. If
the bread is a little stale it helps. Dip the bread in milk and
allow it to soak up the milk (vanilla extract can be added to the
milk). Saute both sides of each bread slice in olive oil or
butter. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, or
pepper.
Mustacei
Cato’s
De Agricultura 121 offers a recipe for must
rolls that sounds similar to a dough we use to make wine crescents.
In rough measurements, Cato has
5
cups wheat flour, 1 cup wine must, 2 tbs. Cumin seeds, 2 tbs. Anise
seeds, ½ cup olive oil, ½ cup grates cheese, and bay leaves.
The
must of a wine is the thicker parts of the fruit juice that settles
to the bottom of a wine barrel. Modern recipes that try to
duplicate Cato usually say to substitute grape juice in its stead.
Another method would be to boil grape jelly down into a liquid.
Also boil 2/3 cups of wine until reduced to 1/3 cup. Then add to
the wine 2/3 cups of the boiled grape jelly. Either way, this will
result in a sweeter dough than Cato had in mind. Cato says to pour
the wine must over the flour, it might work better to add the flour
slowly into the wine must. Hold back a cup or two of flour before
folding in the cumin, anise, and oil. Then add in the cheese and
the remaining flour. Work this into a dough. Roll the dough out
flat, then begin at one end and roll the dough up into a log. Cut
off pieces about an inch and a half to two inches thick. Place each
roll onto a baking stone with a bay leaf under each roll. Then
cover the rolls with a ceramic pot. This will prevent the bay from
burning into the rolls. Bake at 350 F = 180 C for about 30 minutes.
Wine Crescents
Cato’s mustecei reminds me of a kind of wine cookie we
would make for our holidays.
Dough:
5 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup wine, 1 cup oil.
Filling:
boiled grape jelly,
chopped walnuts, 1 orange peel grated.
Topping:
wine, sugar.
First
the ingredients for the dough are mixed together and worked. The
dough is rolled out thin, then cut into circles using a wineglass.
The jelly is boiled down into a soupy consistency, to which
coarsely chopped walnuts and the grated orange peel is add, in order
to make the filling. Place a teaspoon of filling onto a circle of
dough, then fold over and press the edges together with a fork. Be
sure to seal the edges well so that the filling will not seep out
while baking. Bake on an oiled cookie sheet at 350 F =180 C for
about 15 minutes, trying not to burn the bottoms. Remove from the
oven and while still hot sprinkle the cookies with wine, then
sprinkle with sugar.
Panettore
This is
a sweet Italian bread. Made with chopped hazel nuts and candied
fruit, it is traditionally served during the winter holidays. The
recipe given here uses only white raisins and is served during the
spring holidays.
3 ½ cups flour, 4
tbs. Sugar, ½ tsp. Salt, 1 tsp. Nutmeg, 1 egg, 4 egg yolks, 1 cup
milk, ¼ cup melted oleo, 2 pkgs. yeast, and white raisins.
Topping:
1 tbs. flour, 1 tbs. sugar, 1 tbs. oleo, 1 tbs. vanilla extract.
In a
small bowl mix ½ cup of milk and 2 tbs. Sugar, then add 2 packages
of yeast and allow to ferment. Mix the remaining ½ cup milk with
the melted oleo. Sift together the dry ingredients. In a separate
bowl place one whole egg and 4 egg whites, reserving the yolks for
later. Stir the eggs together in order to break the one egg yolk
but not so much as to whip the egg whites. Add the milk mixtures
and eggs to the dry ingredients and work into a dough. Place the
dough into oiled coffee cans, about half full. Bake at 350 F =180 C
for 20 minutes. Meanwhile mix together the ingredients for the
topping. After the bread has been baking for 20 minutes, remove
from the oven, brush with the reserved egg yolks and top thickly
with the topping. The topping will melt and drip down the sides.
Place the tins back into the oven and continue baking, to a total
baking time of one hour, until the crust turns dark brown and begins
to separate from the tin, but not so long as to burn the topping.
Pane di Pasqua
all’uovo
This
is a woven circle of bread that looks much like that seen in some
Roman paintings. When decorated with coloured eggs and candies it
is served as an Easter bread, thus its name. The recipe requires
several steps but it is well worth the effort.
6
cups flour (or more), 2 pkg. yeast, ½ cup water, ¾ cup shortening, 2
tbs. lemon juice, 1 tbs. grated lemon peel, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp.
salt, 2 eggs and egg white; for the topping: 1 egg yolk and 1 tbs.
milk; 5 coloured eggs, candy sprinkles.
1.
Mix yeast in ½ cup tepid water and add 1 ½ cups flour. Beat
smooth and let stand for two hours.
2.
Cream a mixture of shortening, lemon juice, lemon peel,
sugar, and salt until fluffy.
3.
Beat 2 eggs and one egg white, and then add eggs to the sugar
and lard and beat. Add in the yeast mixture.
4.
To your mixture add half the amount of flour and beat
smooth. Then add the remaining flour gradually and work into a soft
dough.
5.
Knead the dough on a floured surface, shape into a ball,
smear olive oil over surface, cover with a cotton cloth and allow to
rise until double in size, about two hours.
6.
Divide the dough in half and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
Roll each half out
into a strand of 36” long, 1-1 ½” thick. Using the two long
strands form a loose braid, then form the braid into a circle to
make the corona di nove. Between the braid leave spaces for
coloured hard-boiled eggs. Allow to rise until double in size,
about 1 ½ hours. Reaffirm spaces for coloured eggs.
Preheat oven. Bake at 350 F = 180 C for 10 minutes.
Brush with a 1 egg yolk and 1 tbs. milk, and sprinkle with candies.
Bake 40-45 m |
