What type of herbs were used by the ancient Romans to cook?

Answer 1

Herbs the Romans used for cooking included aniseed, basil, bay leaves, catmint, coriander, cumin, mint, hyssop, parsley, rosemary and savoury. They also used Elecampane (Inula helenium), the roots of which used to be candied and eaten as a sweetmeat.

Thyme was used purify rooms and to give an aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs. It was also thought that sleeping on it was a remedy for depression.

Answer 2

Columella Salad

100g fresh mint (and/or pennyroyal)

50g fresh coriander

50g fresh parsley

1 small leek

a sprig of fresh thyme

200g salted fresh cheese

vinegar

pepper

olive oil

Follow Columella's method for this salad using the ingredients listed.

In other salad recipes Columella adds nuts, which might not be a bad idea with this one.

Apart from lettuce and rocket many plants were eaten raw-watercress, mallow, sorrel, goosefoot, purslane, chicory, chervil, beet greens, celery, basil and many other herbs.

Soft-Boiled Eggs in Pine-Nut Sauce

for 4 small eggs

200g pine nuts

2 teaspoons ground pepper

1 teaspoon honey

4 tablespoons garum or anchovy paste

Soak the pine nuts overnight in water. Then drain and grind them finely in the blender or pound them in a large mortar. Add the pepper, honey and garum. Heat the sauce in a bain-marie. Meanwhile put the eggs into a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Let them cook for 3½ minutes, then take them off the heat, plunge them into cold water and peel them carefully. The outer edge of the egg white must be firm, but it must be soft inside. Put the eggs, left whole, into a deep serving bowl and pour over the sauce. Serve.

This recipe can be adapted easily to other eggs, such as quail's eggs. In that case keep an eye on the cooking-time: a quail's egg will be firm in 1 minute.

Lentils with Coriander

250g lentils

2 litres water

1 leek, trimmed, washed and finely chopped

75g fresh coriander

5g coriander seed

3g peppercorns, plus extra for finishing the dish

3g mint seed

3g rue seed

75g fresh pennyroyal, or mint

10ml garum

10ml vinegar

5ml honey

olive oil

Wash the lentils and put them into a saucepan with 2 litres of cold water. Bring to the boil, and skim off the scum. When the water has cleared, add the leek and half of the fresh coriander. Grind the spices and the other herbs, and add them with the garum, vinegar and defrutum to the pan. Let the lentils simmer until they are almost cooked. Check the pan every now and then to ensure that the water has not evaporated. At the last minute add the olive oil, the freshly ground pepper and the remainder of the chopped coriander.

Roast Wild Boar

Boar is cooked like this: sponge it clean and sprinkle with salt and roast cumin. Leave to stand. The following day, roast it in the oven. When it is done, scatter with ground pepper and pour on the juice of the boar, honey, liquamen, caroenum, and passum. (Apicius, 330)

For this you would need a very large oven, or a very small boar, but the recipe is equally successful with the boar jointed. Remove the bristles and skin, then scatter over it plenty of sea salt, crushed pepper and coarsely ground roasted cumin. Leave it in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, turning it occasionally.

Wild boar can be dry, so wrap it in slices of bacon before you roast it. At the very least wrap it in pork caul. Then put it into the oven at its highest setting and allow it to brown for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4, and continue to roast for 2 hours per kg, basting regularly.

Meanwhile prepare the sauce. To make caroenum, reduce 500ml wine to 200ml. Add 2 tablespoons of honey, 100ml passum, or dessert wine, and salt or garum to taste. Take the meat out of the oven and leave it to rest while you finish the sauce. Pour off the fat from the roasting tin, then deglaze it with the wine and the honey mixture. Pour this into a saucepan, add the roasting juices, and fat to taste.

Carve the boar into thin slices at the table, and serve the sweet sauce separately.

Ostrich Ragoût

For boiled ostrich: pepper, mint, roast cumin, celery seed, dates or Jericho dates, honey, vinegar, passum, garum, a little oil. Put these in the pot and bring to the boil. Bind with amulum, pour over the pieces of ostrich in a serving dish and sprinkle with pepper. If you wish to cook the ostrich in the sauce, add alica. (Apicius, 212)

You may prefer to roast or fry your ostrich, rather than boil it. Whichever method you choose, this sauce goes with it well. For 500g ostrich pieces, fried or boiled, you will need:

2 teaspoon flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

300ml passum (dessert wine)

1 tablespoon roast cumin seeds

1 teaspoon celery seeds

3 pitted candied dates

3 tablespoons garum or a 50g tin of anchovies

1 teaspoon peppercorns

2 tablespoons fresh chopped mint

1 teaspoon honey

3 tablespoons strong vinegar

Make a roux with the flour and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, add the passum, and continue to stir until the sauce is smooth. Pound together in the following order: the cumin, celery seeds, dates, garum or anchovies, peppercorns, chopped mint, the remaining olive oil, the honey, and vinegar. Add this to the thickened wine sauce. Then stir in the ostrich pieces and let them heat through in the sauce.

Roast Tuna

for the vinaigrette

3 tablespoons strong vinegar

2 tablespoons garum, or vinegar with anchovy paste

9 tablespoons olive oil

4 finely chopped shallots

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon lovage seeds

25g fresh mint

Put all of the vinaigrette ingredients into a jar and shake well to blend them together.

Brush your tuna fillets with oil, pepper and salt, then grill them on one side over a hot barbecue. Turn them and brush the roasted side with the vinaigrette. Repeat. The tuna flesh should be pink inside so don't let it overcook. Serve with the remains of the vinaigrette.

Fried Veal Escalope with Raisins

for the sauce

¼ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon peppercorns

½ teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon lovage

1 tablespoon dried onion

1 teaspoon defrutum

1 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoons white raisins

300ml dry white wine

1 dash vinegar

1 dash garum

Pound the cumin and the celery seed in powder, then grind the peppercorns. Mix all the ingredients together and leave the raisins to macerate for at least a few hours and up to a day. Beat the veal fillets with a rolling-pin or meat-tenderizer, until they are flattened. For Roman authenticity, the escalopes should be cut into small pieces or strips after frying-they didn't use knives at table. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then fry briefly on both sides in a hot pan with a little olive oil. Remove the veal from the pan. Put the sauce mixture, let it reduce, then pour it over veal and serve immediately.

Nut Tart

400g crushed nuts-almonds, walnuts or pistachios

200g pine nuts

100g honey

100ml dessert wine

4 eggs

100ml full-fat sheep's milk

1 teaspoon salt or garum

pepper

Preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F/Gas 9.

Place the chopped nuts and the whole pine nuts in an oven dish and roast until they have turned golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Mix the honey and the wine in a pan and bring to the boil, then cook until the wine has evaporated. Add the nuts and pine nuts to the honey and leave it to cool. Beat the eggs with the milk, salt or garum and pepper. Then stir the honey and nut mixture into the eggs. Oil an oven dish and pour in the nut mixture. Seal the tin with silver foil and place it in roasting tin filled about a third deep with water. Bake for about 25 minutes until the pudding is firm. Take it out and when it is cold put it into the fridge to chill. To serve, tip the tart on to a plate and pour over some boiled honey.

Answer 3

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