The Art of Foraging | An Ancient Roman Recipe
We weren't lying when we said foraging has been around - and cool - forever!
Welcome to our fresh new Cabinet of Curiosities, the source for your monthly food digest and discovery of all things curious about the world of Italian food culture!
This year, alongside the newsletter, you’ll find short Morsels of stories and insights on Instagram. Both the social Morsels and the newsletter will follow a monthly theme that has the purpose of focusing our narration and uncovering even more in-depth stories.
April is the month in which tender green leaves break through the bleak and barren surface of winter, when the first fruits of the year appear and trees burst in blossom. In Italy, April marks the beginning of primizie season - all the tender fruits and greens, from peas to asparagus, wild nettles and garlic. This month’s Cabinet of Curiosities is dedicated to the art of foraging, an ancient practice, perhaps one of the most ancient, as it is a method of gathering food that humans have adopted since the beginning of our existence, and that has thankfully survived to our times.
Asparagus Patina from Ancient Rome
By Flora Igoe: Graciously greedy - Irish born, Italy based - human, with a knack for discovering good food.
Cream-coloured chickweed and crispy brown morel,
Pig nuts, scotch thistle, the flowers of sorrel,
Dandelion, lime leaves, wild garlic in spring,
These are a few of my favourite things...
Foraging in the Irish countryside has always made me feel like a witch, a so-called ‘Cailleach’ in Gaelic language, which is coincidentally associated with the creation of the landscape. Gloved, booted and pruners at hand, I’d set out to fill my cauldron. It wasn’t until recently however, that I felt a Roman Legionary more appropriate.
Asparagus, Alexandar and more, the Romans did in fact forage it first. Roman legions sustained themselves on their conquests in three main ways: foraging, requisition and pillaging. Frumentatores, the foragers of the Legions, brought with them to the British Ailes an array of indigenous Mediterranean plants to cultivate, many reaching Ireland and growing there wild today.
Upon this discovery and recently settled in Rome, I set myself the task of living like a Legionary for a day. This did not mean sneaking around the city and stealing wild rocket from Circo Massimo (illegal in a legion's time too)! It did mean venturing outside the city walls on an early spring day, to forage for wild asparagus. With this I recreated a simple version of ancient Rome’s Asparagus Patina.
Wild Asparagus Patina Recipe
6 Eggs
2 Dozen Wild Asparagus Shoots
180 ml White Wine
25 ml Liquamen (or Fish Sauce)
40 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Lovage or celery seed
1/2 Small Onion
8 Sprigs Fresh Coriander
Chop away the woody ends of asparagus and bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook for 5 minutes or until the shoots are deep green. Drain off the water and leave the asparagus to cool.
Cut away the tips, about the top two inches, and add to a mortar. Grind and soak in wine for a couple of minutes and then strain off the remaining liquid in a colander. Roughly chop the remaining stems and put aside for later (use store-bought asparagus stems which are more tender).
Return to the mortar and add the coriander, liquanem and remaining wine, pepper and lovage seed. Grind together to form a pulp.
Mince the onion and add to a pan with olive oil. Sauté until soft and translucent.
Crack and beat the eggs in a bowl, stirring in the onion, chopped asparagus and herb mixture until smooth. Pour into a lightly greased baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes at 190°C, until the eggs have set.