Here we are inspired by a reference in the beginning of what we have of Petronius. He says that students in school learn nothing but, "melitos verborum globulos et omnia dicta factaque quasi papavere et sesamo sparsa" which in english is, "honey-sweetened round globs of words and all things said and done as if sprinkled with poppy seed and sesame seed." Awesomely, there is a recipe for globuli in Cato's wonderful book on farming in section 79. Now this recipe calls for cheese mixed with flour, fried in lard and stirred with two wooden sticks and then sprinkled with honey and poppy seeds!
Ricotta
Flour (I recommend toasting your own barley and grinding it with a mortar and pestle, but I will cover this in another post)
olive oil
2 chopsticks
honey
poppy seed.
Mix the ricotta with flour until it is still enough to form balls. It does not take too much. Modern Italians put an egg in. Ancient Romans, well at least Cato, do not. Heat the olive oil in a pan - although Cato does specify lard ... I like my cheese fried in olive oil. Form the cheese mixture into small balls and drop into the hot oil. Periodically turn the globuli using the wooden sticks. When beautiful and brown, remove from oil onto a plate and then while still hot drizzle honey over it and sprinkle poppy seeds. Eat! Whoa, these are awesome! So, no balls of words lacking all nutrition instead of a good wholesome dinner, you! But, enjoy this wonderful dessert, or as a nice afternoon snack perhaps with a glass of moscato.
1 comment:
This stuff is so delicious! I made it for a class and everyone loved it. Now I'm adding it as a staple in my diet. I bought like ten pounds of ricotta cheese.
Post a Comment