The latest lovage recipe is a simple one from Apicius, brought to my attention through a redaction by Leoba.
It is recipe 7.17.3 in the Grocock and Grainger edition of Apicius: Sauce for soft-boiled eggs: pepper, lovage, soaked pine nuts; pour on honey, vinegar, flavour with liquamen.
I disagree with Leona’s interpretation that lovage seed should be used (as noted my recipe for Parthian Chicken). Instead, I used a handful of lovage leaves. Otherwise, I followed Leona’s recipe quite closely.
The result was tasty, but it’s not something I would make again for myself. However, it might be nice as a starter or snack at an event.
A boiled egg sliced in half, topped with a greenish sauce, sitting on a wooden plate.
In an attempt to use up some of my overly-abundant sorrel, I came across this post by my good friend Michelle.
The original recipe comes from A Book of Cookrye, by A. W., London, 1591. Originally published 1584. STC 24897 — Early English Text microfilms reel 1613:9. Transcribed by Mark and Jane Waks.
Chicken with Sorrel (1591) To dress chickens upon sorrell sops. Take sorell and beat it in a mortar, and put in verjuice and strain it through a strainer, then cut fine sops of white bread and lay them in a dish, and put the sorrel sauce to the bread, put cinnamon, ginger, and sugar, with butter to your sauce, then roast your chickens and serve them forth.
I mostly followed Michell’s redaction, though I think I used more sorrel than she called for, and I halved the amount of spices and sugar.
I had expected a much more tart sauce, and was pleasantly surprised at how the spices mellowed out the sorrel juice.
My bread was quite dry, so I ended up using half the sauce for just one piece of chicken spread over two small slices of bread. I have just enough left to pour over a single chicken thigh.
Two pieces of chicken on bread, on a blue and white plate. A thin green sauce can be seen on the chicken and on the plate.
My lovage plant is very productive this year so I decided to make Parthian Chicken, a recipe found in Apicius.
Very large lovage plant in my garden. Ignore the horseradish to the left and the grape vine to the right (and trying to take over the lovage’s space).
From the translation by Christopher Grocock and Sally Grainger (p 231): draw the chicken from the rear and cut it into quarters. Pound pepper, lovage, a little caraway, pour on liquamen, flavour with wine. Arrange the chicken pieces in a ceramic dish (Barbara Flower and Elizabeth Rosenbaum translate it as earthenware), put the sauce over the chicken. Dissolve fresh laser in warm water and put it straightaway on the chicken and cook it. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Parthian laser is also known as asafoetida, a plant native to Afghanistan. I didn’t have access to fresh laser so I used powdered asafoetida, also known as hing.
I chose to use lovage leaves rather than seed because – although at least one author has argued for seed – Grocock and Grainger note that what is often called lovage seed is actually amni, known today as ajwain. It looks a bit like celery seed but has a flavour more like thyme. Amni is mentioned in Apicius, but not in this recipe.
I chose to use white wine rather than red as the Romans used both but white wine was more of a high class drink. Since the recipes in Apicius are clearly for the wealthy classes, white wine makes sense. In addition, one recipe I found as a substitute for liquamen uses it.
Liquamen, a fish sauce that may be the same as garum, shouldn’t have as much of a fishy taste as Asian fish sauces. A sweetened dark soy sauce is a possible substitute, as is salt added to white wine. There is also an interesting vegetarian version made with pears from a late Antique agricultural treatise. You can read more about it here.
Ingredients:
1 lb chicken thighs (because I didn’t have a whole chicken)
1 cup lovage leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp coarsely ground pepper
1 tsp caraway seed
1/2 tsp salt mixed with 50 ml white wine
1/2 cup white wine
1/8 tsp asafoetida dissolved in water (I used about 1/8 of a cup)..
Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the chicken pieces in an earthenware pot. Grind the caraway and pepper in a mortar and pestle, then add the chopped lovage and grind some more, until it is a paste. Add the salt/wine mixture, then the wine. Pour/spread this mixture over the chicken. Top with the asafoetida, cover the pot and put it into the oven.
Chicken pieces topped with a sauce made of lovage, spices and wine.
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. sprinkle with more pepper and serve.
The verdict? This is a bold dish. I’m happy with the spice levels I used but depending on your love of caraway, you might want to reduce the amount. Similarly, you might want to increase the amount of pepper.
Blue and white plate filled with pieces of chicken topped with cooked greens.
Once again, I am grateful to Volker Bach of Culina Vetus for publishing this recipe and his interpretation.
The fourth course, then, was served in the middle of a sizzling pan (sartago fervens) in which lay such a mixed dish (compositum … cibum) that was made of beaten (conlisis) eggs quickly (parumper) mixed with flour, which is customarily adorned with pieces of dates and the roundness (rotunditatibus – slices?) of olives.
2 eggs
1 tsp flour
1 Tbsp olive oil
6-8 dates, chopped small
1/4 c sliced green olives
I beat the eggs and then added the flour beat it again until all the flour was blended in. Then I heated the oil in my smallest frying pan. An even smaller pan would have given a thicker egg dish, but sometimes you work with what you have.
Once the oil was hot, I poured in the egg mixture and allowed it to cook. As the bottom and edges solidified, I reduced the heat and sprinkled in the dates and olives. Since Gregory described it as being “adorned”, I decided to make a cross of dates and fill in the rest with olives. This allowed me to taste the difference between sweet, salty and mixed sweet/salty bites. To ensure the op was cooked through, I put a lid on for about a minute before removing from the pan.
I’m particularly pleased that I was able to slide the dish out of the pan and onto a plate with minimal damage around the edges.
The verdict? Not bad at all. I’m more of a savoury person so I expected to like the olive bites best. However, the date portion was also nice. The mixed sweet and salty portions were particularly delicious and surprisingly turned out to be my favourite.
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