A Roman Dish

Name: A Roman Dish
Yield: Serves Four
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 3 slices wholemeal bread made into breadcrumbs; 1 small tin anchovies in olive oil; 1 clove garlic; 2 cups (200 g) fresh honey fungus, cleaned and chopped into bite-sized pieces; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 tablespoon finely chopped lovage (or celery)

Preparation info

Serves
Four

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Wild Food

By Roger Phillips

Published 1986

About

This recipe is based on the oldest-known cookery book by Apicius, the Roman cookery writer; there were three men who wrote under the name Apicius from 92 BC to AD 50, all were famous gluttons.

Ingredients

2 cups (200 g) fresh honey fungus, cleaned and chopped into bite-sized pieces
3 slices

Europe
Italy
Side dish
Pescatarian
Spicy
Mediterranean

Method

Purée the breadcrumbs, anchovies and their oil in a blender, put to one side. Melt the butter in a shallow pan, gently sauté the mushrooms, garlic and lovage until the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the breadcrumb mixture and heat for about 2 minutes to allow the flavours to amalgamate. Serve with plain boiled fish or meat.

As an alternative to the anchovies use Chinese fish essence if y