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From Eggs to Apples Episode IV: Ancient Rome (Peach Patina with Cumin/Wine Sauce & Stuffed Dates)

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Did you know that the Western custom of starting a meal with salad and ending with a sweet dessert comes from the Ancient Romans? In this episode, we talk about Ancient Roman desserts and make two examples from the Roman cookbook Apicius: a patina (baked flat dish) of peaches with cumin/wine sauce, and honeyed dates stuffed with nuts.

Patina is a general term for anything baked in the flat, round dish of the same name, whether sweet or savory, and I’ve made two savory ones plus other Apicius recipes, on this blog before; I have also made the honeyed dates numerous times but never actually posted the recipe. They’re super easy–try them!

Peach Patina with Cumin/Wine Sauce

4-5 firm peaches, peeled and pitted
1 cup grape juice
½ cup Port or other sweet wine
¼ cup fish sauce (available at Asian grocery stores)
1 ½ tablespoons powdered cumin
2 tablespoons honey
3-4 sprigs of fresh mint (optional)
Olive oil

Cut peaches into slices and arrange in the bottom of an oiled, oven-safe dish. Bake peaches at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. While peaches are baking, prepare the sauce. In a saucepan over high heat, reduce grape juice, honey and wine to a syrupy consistency (about 25 minutes) along with mint leaves. Stir continually to prevent burning. Remove mint leaves. Add fish sauce and cumin and reduce, continuing to stir for a few more minutes. Take peaches out of the oven, drizzle with olive oil and pour the sauce over them. Garnish with mint if desired.

Stuffed Dates

1 cup dates, pitted
About ½ cup whole almonds (one per date)
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch of salt
Pinch of ground black pepper

Place an almond inside each date in the space where its pit originally was. Squish the dates around the almonds to conceal them. Place dates in a saucepan over medium heat and drizzle with honey. Heat until the honey begins to bubble, about 1 minute. Flip the dates so they are coated with honey on both sides. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, remove from the pan, and serve. (Optional: don’t tell your guests there’s an almond inside the date. At the Roman banquet, the element of surprise is everything.)

From Eggs to Apples is hosted by Andrew Coletti (@passtheflamingo) and Fiorella Di Carlo, RN, CDC (@fiorellaeats). Special thanks to Kevin Schreck, Henry Liu, Walden Wang, Huỳnh Nguyễn Tường Băng, Ismail Butera, and Kamilo Kratc. In memory of Bill Mullen.

One-Year Blog Anniversary

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Image result for ides of march

“Why, this is violence!”
~Some of Caesar’s last words, said when one conspirator grabbed Caesar’s clothing to signal the others to attack

March 15th, 44 BCE: Roman politician Gaius Julius Caesar is fatally stabbed 23 times by a conspiracy within the Roman Senate who fear his increasing power.

March 15th, 2017 CE (2062 years later): A descendant of ancient and modern Romans* starts a blog about the food of his ancestors, beginning with a substitute waterfowl.

Yes, I started this blog on the Ides of March, anniversary of Caesar’s assassination. I was born on the anniversary of Cicero’s assassination (December 7th, which is also Pearl Harbor Day), so it all works out. In honor of this momentous occasion, here’s my first post, in which I passed myself the titular flamingo, which was actually a duck, because, well, life isn’t perfect.

Thanks so much to everyone who has visited and followed Pass the Flamingo over this past year! Whether you’ve read one of my posts or all of them, I appreciate your support so much. Here’s to another year of ancient food history! Expect more recipes, more experiments, and more flash fiction. In fact, here’s some of that last one.

***

The queen took a bite of roast flamingo and winced. Sweet dates, bitter rue, pungent silphion against the strong flavor of the meat itself. Overpowering, an assault on the nostrils. She had never been fond of Roman-style cooking. Not on her first trip here, when she was a child following her exiled father, and not now. Yet they insisted on serving it to her. Nobody in Italy could recreate the flavors of Egypt, even if it was one of Egypt’s great rosy birds that now lay before her, flayed and sauced and spiced. She should have brought her own chefs from Alexandria, but Gaius had wanted to take care of everything. He loved to do things for her. Maybe he saw in her his long-lost daughter, even though she was a queen and a living god. Even though her son by Gaius was already learning to crawl. 

She was well-cared for, in truth. She and her servants had the run of the whole villa. She was invited to every banquet and function, she had gotten to meet all the most important people of Rome, senators, consuls and generals and their wives, even if most of them couldn’t stand her. Gaius had placed a statue of her in his family temple, beside the shrine to Venus. His wife had not been in attendance that day to see it, and the queen was glad of it. 

She knew what was whispered about her in the streets of this foreign city. She saw the way the Romans looked at her and her son, how vicious Fulvia and that ponce Cicero tittered to each other behind their fans, switching suddenly from Greek to Latin so that she couldn’t understand. Sometimes she felt like a flamingo herself: a proud and beautiful plumed thing, served up for the people of Rome to feast on.

From the corridor outside came the sound of running feet. She looked towards her doorway, puzzled.

“Where is the queen?” someone was shouting. “Where is Queen Cleopatra?! There has been news, from the Forum–” 

* My father was born in Rome, and my known family history is 100% Italian (with some of the Balkans mixed in way back, according to my DNA results from 23andme). I like to think I’m descended from Cicero and Apicius and Elagabalus, although more likely my ancestors were illiterate Alpine villagers. And before that, illiterate Alpine villagers.