Category: Italian
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Zuccarini
Historical Food for the Modern Palette This recipe caught my eye when I was researching ciambelle. It is in Bartolomeo Scappi’s The Opera in Book VI which was written for the sick or invalid. I don’t pretend to know the in’s and out’s of humoral theory but apparently sugar was good for the sick. When I realised what this…
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Stuffed Ciambelle
Historical Food for the Modern Palette I am including this recipe even though it is part of an ongoing research project of mine. This is another of Scappi’s inventions and I think it is a fantastic historical bite! It is fairly straightforward but the secret is in the Ciambelle Dough. Scappi has…
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Dough for Stuffed Ciambelle
Historical Food for the Modern Palette This is once again from my favorite historical chef, Scappi. The dough is unusual in that it uses warm goat’s milk and butter. The goat’s milk gives it a little tang but warming the milk gives the dough a phyllo-like finished texture. Using a warm liquid will denature the…
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Black Grape Must
Historical Food for the Modern Palette The following recipe is, again, from Scappi (1). This sauce has several steps but it is a delicious sauce and worth it. I developed this recipe quite a few years ago while planning a feast. I was intrigued by the similarities of this sauce and modern day barbeque sauce.…
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Epityrum or Olive Paste
Historical Food for the Modern Palette This is a dish from antiquity. In Greece and Rome this dish was typically served with cheese which is where epityrum gets its name: epityrum = over cheese. It is delicious served with bread as well. Original (1) Epityrum album, nigrum, varium sic facito. Ex oleis albis, nigris variisque…
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Anolini
This is the final pasta ripieni (stuffed pasta) from The Pasta Project. I used two recipes: the first is from The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570) and the second is from The Art of Cooking; The First Modern Cookery Book written by The Eminent Maestro Martino of Como in 1465 (1). I would like to mention that in 15th…
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Chicken Tortellini
This tortellini recipe is from “The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi 1570” and was part of the “Pasta Project”. It was written by Bartolomeo Scappi for his apprentice. Scappi was head chef for two popes; Pius IV (1559 – 1565) and Pius V (1566 – 1572) and the funeral for Pope Paul III (1534-1549) and the…
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Pasta Dough
Dough for Tortellini, Anolini and Other Formed Pasta Scappi uses this dough for a couple of recipes, specifically tortellini and anolini. I find it intriguing that he has so many different doughs for pasta. The dough we used for the Lobster Ravioli was softer, more pliable and contained white wine and olive oil. Most importantly, it was…
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Lobster Ravioli
Lobster Ravioli I was not sure how to organize this blog. Should I arrange the recipes cronologically or by original manuscript etc. I decided to jump in and do whatever recipes were intriguing me at the moment. So here is the first recipe. This recipe is part of a greater project, “The Pasta Project”. A…
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Medieval Pasta
The following research on the wheats and dough is credited to my husband, Ben. Any pasta recipe starts with the dough and any discussion of period pasta dough starts with a discussion of wheat. The nutshell version: the ancestor of modern wheat is einkorn wheat which is not a good bread wheat being that it…
Historical Bites 