First Century Rome - Appetizers

Moretum

Moretum was a pesto or type of thick patè. We aren't sure if it was scooped up with bread, spread on something else or just eaten as is. The following recipe serves eight. By the way, the device the pesto is in is called a mortaria.

Ingredients

• 5 small bulbs of fresh garlic
• 2 1/4 pounds of feta (or other crumbly savory) cheese
• 10 celery stalks
• 5 bunches of coriander (cilantro [Mexican parsley] may be substituted) leaves
• 5 bunches of rue leaves (celery leaves may be substituted)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cups white wine vinegar

Directions

Depending on how strongly of garlic you want this to taste, do one of the following. Either roast the garlic bulbs until soft or peel and loosely chop the uncooked garlic. Roasting garlic first will reduce the strength of the garlic and make it sweeter.

* To roast garlic bulbs, cut the top of the bulb to expose the clove. Roast for ten to fifteen minutes or until the cloves become soft.

Add all of the above ingredients, except the cheese to the food processor. Pulse until a creamy consistency is reached. Add this to a mixing bowl and add the cheese. The cheese does not have to be feta, but for an authentic taste it should be made from goats milk and be a hard crumbly cheese. Ricotta can also be used, but this changes the taste substantially.

This stuff is great with toasted pita chips or other flat bread.

Roasting the garlic first will give this "pesto" a much less pungent and milder flavor. The fresh garlic version is for true (die-hard) garlic lovers.

Experiment, if you wish, by cutting this recipe in half and preparing it both ways.

Ingredients

• 1kg (2 pounds) firm just-ripe apricots or nectarines
• 200ml (1 Cup) white wine
• 15ml (1 Tablespoon) honey
• 250ml (1 1/4 Cup) sweet grape reduced juice, reduction is to half original volume before measuring
• dried mint to taste, a few sprigs should do it
• 1 teaspoon pepper or allspice or nutmeg (ground of course)
• 1 Tablespoon quarum (use Nam Pla fish sauce)

Directions

It is important to use just-ripe or barely ripe fruit. You do not want fully ripened or soft fruit for this recipe since the process of cooking will soften it considerably.

Cut in half and pit the fruit. Set the fruit aside, in cold water, until ready to cook.

In a mortar or food processor grind the pepper (see note below) and mint, add the fish sauce, honey, reduced grape juice, wine and vinegar. Pour blended ingredients into a skillet along with the fruit. Add a little bit of oil and cook at medium until the mixture just comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for roughly twenty (20m) minutes.

Remove to a serving dish and sprinkle with pepper (or allspice or nutmeg) just before serving.

Note that Roman "pepper" was likely nutmeg, allspice, or ground cloves. These three spices were common and often referred to as "pepper" before black pepper came into use.

This is a very simple recipe, but quite good. The addition of thyme, typically used in fowl dishes, makes for refreshing flavor.

Ingredients

• 500 ml (2 cups) fresh strawberries
• Juice of one-half a lemon (1/2 Tablespoon)
• Fresh thyme, leaves from 2 sprigs (use slightly more if dried thyme)
• Reduced grape juice (or sugar) to taste

Directions

After washing and removing the the stems of the strawberry, cut into bite sized pieces and add to a medium sized mixing bowl. Mince the thyme and add to the bowl along with the citrus juice. Toss well. Taste and add sugar or grape juice reduction to the desired sweetness.

Serve.

This list of recipes is necessarily limited. Attempting to translate the recipes attributed to Apicius is difficult at best due to the lack of quantities, methods, or times being mentioned.

In short what is written here has been tried with mixed results at best.