Tomorrow is the Ides of March and I am having a Food Odyssey dinner - I have been unable to source any silphium or make any garum - but I'm hoping to do something reasonably authentic.
Roman dinners were 3 courses of mixed dishes: first some hors d'oeuvres - a variety of little dishes, then the middle course was roast meats of various kinds, the third course had both sweet and savoury elements - which might include snails. Dormice were served as a starter.
There is an earnest temptation to make the food more civilised: I remember making a Roman cake once which wasn't very nice, because I think it had no fat/oil in it. I think when I make it tomorrow I will put some in. Similarly there are some Roman fish balls that I'm going to make which are really rather like the Turkish fish sticks I sometimes make, only missing an ingredient - and some of the date pastries are not unlike something in Claudia Roden's book.
This evening I prepared a little, first by straining yoghurt - to make some soft cheese, and by soaking some dried chestnut to make a chestnut and lentil dish, also defrosting some fish (for fish sticks) and some chicken livers for a salad.
I think the menu will be roughly:
1: Olives, radishes, cheese dip, pork morsels al'Apicius, fish balls
2: Pork in wine honey sauce, Chicken in a fruity sauce, chestnuts and lentils, mussels?, green beans, a Roman salad
3: Roman cake, apples, pears, nuts, yoghurt cheese, custard
I think I've left something out. And lots of nice bread (I am trying to make sourdough and it's not working - too cold I think, although I made some 2 weeks ago). I bought some fresh yeast so I'm making a starter tonight, hope that will help. The most challenging thing about these are that the methods are slightly different, and the ingredients and combinations ditto. I will have to be chained to the cookbook.
All this means that cooking for my mother-in-law on Mother's Day will be very laid back in comparison.
Roman dinners were 3 courses of mixed dishes: first some hors d'oeuvres - a variety of little dishes, then the middle course was roast meats of various kinds, the third course had both sweet and savoury elements - which might include snails. Dormice were served as a starter.
There is an earnest temptation to make the food more civilised: I remember making a Roman cake once which wasn't very nice, because I think it had no fat/oil in it. I think when I make it tomorrow I will put some in. Similarly there are some Roman fish balls that I'm going to make which are really rather like the Turkish fish sticks I sometimes make, only missing an ingredient - and some of the date pastries are not unlike something in Claudia Roden's book.
This evening I prepared a little, first by straining yoghurt - to make some soft cheese, and by soaking some dried chestnut to make a chestnut and lentil dish, also defrosting some fish (for fish sticks) and some chicken livers for a salad.
I think the menu will be roughly:
1: Olives, radishes, cheese dip, pork morsels al'Apicius, fish balls
2: Pork in wine honey sauce, Chicken in a fruity sauce, chestnuts and lentils, mussels?, green beans, a Roman salad
3: Roman cake, apples, pears, nuts, yoghurt cheese, custard
I think I've left something out. And lots of nice bread (I am trying to make sourdough and it's not working - too cold I think, although I made some 2 weeks ago). I bought some fresh yeast so I'm making a starter tonight, hope that will help. The most challenging thing about these are that the methods are slightly different, and the ingredients and combinations ditto. I will have to be chained to the cookbook.
All this means that cooking for my mother-in-law on Mother's Day will be very laid back in comparison.
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