Baian stew
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Baian Stew (Apicius 433)
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 20 Oysters
- 20 Venus Clams
- 40 Mussels
- 8 small squid cleaned and cut into thin rings
- 30-40g roasted pine nuts roughly chopped
- 2 celery stalk & tops finely chopped
- 1 handful fresh rue (finely chopped)
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 10 pitted dates, chopped
- 1 tbs. garum
- 1Tbs passum
- 1Tbs olive oil
- pepper, coriander and cumin to taste
Directions
Soak the mollusks (not the squid) in cold salted water for a few hours to force them to open and purge any sand inside. Change the water after the first hour.
Place the olive oil in a large sauce pan and add all the ingredients, except the wine, rue and passum and cook gently without burning.
After a few minutes of cooking raise the heat to full and add the drained and rinsed mollusks and squid and stir. Then add the white wine and allow to evaporate for a minute before adding the passum and rue.
Cover and cook on medium heat until the mollusks open and are cooked. (about 5 minutes should be enough. Season with pepper and serve.
You may wish to cut down on the amount of rue in this recipe and replace it with chopped coriander leaves or flat leaf parsley.
Source
Adapted from "A Taste of Ancient Rome" by Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa ISBN 0226290328
Originally published in Aquila
