Tuesday, 14 December 2010 17:27
Written by Madelaine Bullwinkel

A ROMAN HOLIDAY

Let me be the first to wish you “Lo Saturnalia”! I’m sending this holiday greeting with recipes for sweets inspired by the cuisine of Julius Caesar’s Rome. If you didn't take Latin in high school, it may seem a stretch to add the Roman god of agriculture to your holiday roster. But consider this: in the ancient world, Saturnalia was a wildly popular December observance before Christmas and Hannakah arrived on the calendar. Central to the celebration was feasting and the exchange of food gifts. Are you with me?

Now for the back story: In a moment of frustration, I pulled my only Roman cookbook off the shelf. I had searched through this December’s issue of several food and life style magazines for inspirational recipes and found nothing new or interesting. Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome came to the rescue with unusual treatments both sweet and savory that balance sweet, sour and salty flavors. The Clove Cake with Cranberry Compote and Fruitcake Biscotti recipes my version of Saturnalia treats. I will send more if time permits.

CLOVE CAKE

Ingredients:

3 cups unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

5 large eggs

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

2-1/4 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk

Garnish: 1/4 confectioners' sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 8-10 cup Bundt pan or tube mold.

Measure and sift together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt and baking soda. Beat the eggs together until they are lemon yellow in a small servecc bowl.

Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in the eggs, slowly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in 1/3 of the dry mixture and then 1/2 of the butter milk. Alternate between wet and dry ingredients mixing just long enough to blend the ingredients.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour or until a cake tested inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minute, then turn out on a rack to cool completely. Sprinkle Clove Cake with confectioner's sugar before serving.

CRANBERRY COMPOTE

compoteing Ingredients for 4 cups

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup cool water

12 ounce bag fresh cranberries

2 pears, peeled, quartered, cored and chopped

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, quartered, cored and chopped

1 cinnamon stick

1 cup currants

Directions:

Bring water to a simmer with sugar in a heavy saucepan stirring occasionally.

Rinse and pick over the cranberries removing bruised ones. Add the berries to the sugar syrup and cover the pan. Cook over medium heat until you can hear the berries begin to pop. Uncover and add the pear and apple pieces along with the cinnamon stick

compote
Return the mixture to a simmer and cook slowly for 15 minutes until the fruit is tender and the mixture has thickened. Off the heat stir in the currants.

Pour into preserving jars and seal as directed in the Meyer Lemon Marmalade blog. http://www.chezm.com/welcome-to-recipes/62-preserves/401-meyer-lemon-marmalade

Serve with poultry and alongside holiday cakes.

FRUITCAKE BISCOTTI

biscottiing
Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole almonds

½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

¾ cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 – 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon each: allspice and nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup diced dried and candied fruit: dried cherries or cranberries, crystallized ginger; currants, apricots, figs

White Chocolate Glaze:1 - 4 ounce white chocolate bar

slicing

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a bake sheet with a
non-stick surface or butter and flour.

Beat the butter with brown sugar in the work bowl of a food mixer for 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Sift together the flour, spices, baking powder and salt. Add this mixture 1/2 cup at a time mixing just until the ingredients are incorporated. Add the finely chopped fruit

icing

assortment and almond pieces and blend well

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Dust the dough with flour and divide it in half. Shape the dough into 2 squared-off logs: 2" wide and 1" high and 12" long. Bake for 30 minutes, until firm, lightly browned, with an internal temperature of 200 degrees. Allow them to rest in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Lift the loaves onto a bread board, slice logs 1/2" thick at a 45 degree angle with a serrated knife, and return to the sheet pan standing up. Bake another 10 minutes.

White Chocolate Glaze: Break the white chocolate bar into ½” pieces. Melt in the microwave on full power for 1 - 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Drizzle the warm glaze over the top of each biscotti. Let them cool and dry on a rack before sealing in a jar or tin

SEASONING TIPS FROM IMPERIAL ROME

A ROMAN HOLIDAY

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