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Aliter Sphondylos VI (Parsnips, Another Way VI)

Aliter Sphondylos VI (Parsnips, Another Way) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for an accompaniment of boiled parsnips pounded with spelt flour and bound with eggs that are mixed with ground nuts, shaped into sausages, covered in caul fat and fried. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Parsnips, Another Way (Aliter Sphondylos VI).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

15 minutes

Total Time:

35 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating: 4.5 star rating

Tags : Vegetable RecipesAncient Roman Recipes


Original Recipe


Aliter Sphondylos (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria) III, xx, 7


Aliter: sphondylos elixatos conteres et nervos eorum eximes. deinde cum eis alicam elixatam et ova conteres, liquamen, piper. isicia ex his facies cum nucleis et piper. in omento assabis, oenogaro continges et pro isiciis inferes.

Translation


Another Way: Take boiled parsnips and remove any hard fibres from them. Pound them and mix the pulp with boiled spelt, eggs, pepper and liquamen. Make this mixture into a stuffing by adding nuts and pepper. Wrap in caul [or stuff in casings], fry and serve as forcemeats with wine sauce.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

6 parsnips, peeled and sliced
200g spelt, boiled until soft (or substitute breadcrumbs)
2 eggs, beaten
black pepper, to taste
2 tbsp liquamen
250g ground nuts (about) [any nuts will work, but a mix of almonds and hazelnuts is good]
1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
caul fat to cover

Method:

Add the parsnips to a pan, cover with water, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for about 12 minutes, or until tender. Once done, drain the parsnips (reserve the cooking liquid) and remove any hard fibres from the parsnips.

Place the parsnips in a mortar and pound to a paste. Mix with the boiled spelt (or breadcrumbs) then work in the eggs, black pepper and liquamen. Add enough of the reserved parsnip cooking stock to moisten then work in the ground nuts and black pepper. By the end the mixture should be stiff enough to hold together when shaped.

Form into sausage shapes (about kidney size) and cover with caul fat. Heat butter or oil in a pan, add the sausages and fry until golden brown all over and cooked through. Serve with a simple wine sauce.
Find more recipes from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria, part of this site's Ancient Roman recipes collection.