The Incipient Shire of Flinthyll with the sponsorship of the Shire of Deodar Melon Wars April 8-9-10 Langwood Educational Center 14001 H Avenue Grandview, IA 52653 (map) Back to main event page

Gustum

Breads – herb white and whole grain wheat

Butters – whipped and honey

*Pates – garlic & herb, olive & celery

*Catillus Ornatus (seasoned fritters)

*Tuna boats

Olives

{*salad with tangy dressing}

Mensa Prima I

*Pork Stew with Apples

*Country-style Onion Pie

Mensa Prima II

Baked Meats – Chicken & Venison

Dipping Sauces

Saffron Rice

Fried Carrots

{Asparagus}

Mensa Secunda

*Crostata di Ricotta (Cheesecake)

Fruit – fresh and/or dried

* - recipes follow

{} - optional menu items

Recipes

Pates:

Garlic & Herb (Roman Cookery, p.73)

4 bulbs of garlic

7 oz Feta cheese

3 celery stalks

large bunch of fresh coriander leaves

small bunch of fresh rue leaves (or fennel)

2 Tbsp olive oil

4 Tbsp white wine vinegar

sea salt

Break the bulbs of garlic up into cloves, spread these out on a baking tray and cook under a hot grill for 5 minutes, turning the cloves over 2 or 3 times to avoid burning. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes and then squeeze out the garlic flesh from the skins. Roughly chop the celery, cheese and herbs and put them in a food processor with the grilled garlic and blend until smooth. Add the wine vinegar and olive oil and blend again briefly. Transfer to a bowl and serve as a spread for bread, lagana, or catillus ornatus.

Olive & Celery (Roman Cookery, p.74)

1 leek

a sprig of rue (or fennel)

3 mint leaves

3 celery sticks

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar

1 Tbsp honey

2 fl oz olive oil

5 oz whole green olives

pepper

Trim, wash and slice the leek. Parboil it for 5 minutes. Raw leek does not, I think, titillate the palette even when pulverized. Put all the ingredients except for the olives in a blender and process until you have a smooth paste. First stone and then roughly chop the olives with a knife and stir into the puree. Pour the relish into a bowl and store in the fridge until ready to be served with bread or lagana.

Catillus Ornatus or Seasoned Fritters (Roman Cookery, p.67)

1 lettuce or large endive

5 fl oz red wine

1 oz lard or vegetable fat

10 oz spelt flour

black pepper

olive oil for frying

puree the lettuce in a blender with the red wine and vegetable fat. Ancient lettuces were more pungent in flavor than the rather bland varieties sold in stores today, so an endive can be used to give a more pronounced green background to this dish. When the lettuce or endive is a pulp, add the spelt flour and process until a soft dough has been formed. Season with plenty of black pepper. Working on a floured board, pat the dough flat until it is as thin as possible. The dough should not need a rolling pin. Dust the top of the dough with flour. Use a pastry cutter to make the individual fritters; this gives a neater and therefore more appetizing appearance to the fritters than the strips mentioned in the original text. Heat three tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the fritters, turning once so they are brown on both sides. Drain the fritters on kitchen paper when cooked. More olive oil will be required as each batch is fried. Grind a generous amount of pepper over the fritters before serving.

Tuna Boats (Genevieve Darroch, based on descriptions of “tuna garnished with egg”)

Dress flaked albacore or white tuna with lemon juice. Scoop tuna onto dried leaves of romaine or other stiff leaf lettuce. Garnish with chopped or sliced boiled egg.

Tangy Salad Dressing (Roman cookery, p. 134)
There are several recipes for digestive dressings, so called because certain vegetables like lettuce were thought to cause flatulence and which therefore required measures to render them safe for polite company. These dressings were generally diluted with vinegar.

1oz lovage or celery leaves
½ tsp raisins
½ tsp dried mint
1 tsp ground white pepper
2 Tbsp clear honey
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
sea salt (optional)

Finely chop the lovage leaves and raisins, then combine in a small bowl with the other ingredients. If you wish, salt can be added to taste, but with it's sharpness the sauce can stand on its own without salt. Stir and serve with a green salad.

**in practice, I dilute this vinegar dressing with olive oil to make it more agreeable-Gen

Pork Stew with Apples (Apicius 167; A Taste of Ancient Rome, p.94)

1 lb pork (or pressed ham)

¾ lb ground meat

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp garum

2 leeks, chopped

1 Tbsp minced fresh coriander

½ cup stock

1 lb cooking apples, cored and cut

For the sauce:

1 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp total cumin, coriander and mint

1 garlic clove, pressed for it's juice

1 Tbsp vinegar

1 tsp honey

1 tsp garum

½ cup defrutum

sufficient stock

1 Tbsp flour

You can use raw pork or pressed ham. If you use the latter, the cooking time should be greatly reduced. But if you follow the original recipe, you must first boil or roast the pork and then dice it as for a normal stew. The ground meat should be formed into small meatballs.

Heat the olive oil in a casserole, then add the garum, leeks and coriander. Add the diced pork and meatballs, letting it cook awhile to flavor the meat, then moisten with a bit of stock and continue to cook. When the meat is half done, add the apple pieces. Shortly before the cooking time is complete, add the sauce composed of the first eight sauce ingredients listed above, and thicken with flour.

Onion Pie (by M. Catherine Anne, with suggestions from M. Bronwyn)

1 crust pie pastry dough

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

3 bacon slices, diced

1 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped

½ cup chicken broth

½ cup sour cream

2 eggs, lightly beaten

salt

pepper

nutmeg

1 egg yolk, beaten

Preheat oven 350*. Line tart pan with pie crust. Blind bake the crust for 12-14 minutes. In a large skillet, saute bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels; reserve bacon Drain off bacon drippings except for 1 Tbsp. Add onions to skillet. Saute over medium heat, 5 minutes, until onions are tender and cooking juices are absorbed; remove from heat.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, egg and chives; stir into onions. Add bacon pieces and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Turn oven temperature to 375. Pour onion mixture into baked pie crust evenly. Brush with beaten egg yolk over onion mixture. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until onion mixture begins to brown. Remove from oven, let cool slightly, cut into wedges. Can be served warm or at room temperature.

**I referred to this as “country style” because we intend to wrap the edges around the filling and create a purse as opposed to a pie or serve in small tart-like shells.

Crostata di Ricotta (The Cooking of Italy, p.28)

Pasta Frolla:

2 cups unsifted all purpose flour

12 Tbsp lard or butter, room temperature but not soft

4 egg yolks

¼ cup sugar

3 Tbsp dry Marsala

1 tsp freshly grated lemon peel

½ tsp salt

Make a well of the flour. Drop in remaining ingredients and mix with fingertips until combined. Knead until dough is smooth and forms a ball, but do not work more than necessary. If dough is oily, refrigerate until firm but not hard. Reserve ¼ of dough for top decorations. Roll out and place into spring form pan that has been lightly buttered. Gently tuck dough into pan, covering bottom and corners without stretching, then trim excess.

Ricotta Filling:

2 ½ lb ricotta cheese

½ cup sugar

1 Tbsp flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp freshly grated orange peel

4 egg yolks

1 Tbsp white raisins, rinsed and drained

1 Tbsp each diced candied orange peel and citron

2 Tbsp slivered blanched almonds or pine nuts

1 egg white mixed with 1 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350*. Combine first seven ingredients until smooth. Stir in fruits. Pour mixture into pastry shell. Sprinkle the top with nuts then use remaining pastry dough to create a lattice of strips or other designs. Brush top with egg wash. Bake in the middle of the oven for 1-1¼ hour or until the crust is golden and the filling is firm. Remove from the oven and set atop a large can. Slide off the outer rim of the spring form pan and cool, leaving bottom disk in place.