In the Redwall universe, this is actually made from a red-colored root with a hot flavor (seen in Outcast of Redwall). I'm not sure such a plant exists in real life, so I've blended different peppers and spicy roots to make this spice.
cayenne pepper
black pepper
ground ginger
ground horseradish
paprika
Combine equal amounts of the spices.
I added the paprika to make it a more red color. Most paprika available is sweet and not very spicy, but there are spicy kinds available, so use that if you can find it.
To make hotroot essence, mix the powder with cold water to make a thick liquid, let it sit a few minutes, then add a small amount of vinegar.
4 plums, pitted
1 Tbsp arrowroot powder
1 ½ cups water
Puree together the plums, arrowroot and ½ cup water, until it is smooth. Pour into a pot and stir in the remaining water. Cook over medium heat, letting it simmer without coming to a true boil, stirring, until it has thickened.
4 cups water or vegetable stock
2 cups diced potatoes
1 cup chopped carrots
1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced celery
¼ cup oil
1 cup chopped leeks
1/3 cup minced onion
3 Tbsp cornstarch or flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
In a medium pot, bring the water, potatoes, carrot, and celery to a low boil.
Meanwhile, mix the oil, garlic, leeks, onion, cornstarch/flour, salt, and pepper in a skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cornstarch browns. Stir into the stew.
Add the rest of the seasonings and allow to simmer over low heat until the potatoes and carrots are soft and the stew is thick.
2 cups chopped tomatoes
½ cup candied ginger, minced
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup apple cider or juice
2 Tbsp raisins or other small dried fruit
½ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp fennel seed
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp rosemary
½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp arrowroot powder
Combine all ingredients in a pan. Let sit for 5 minutes. Put over medium heat and simmer for a few minutes until thick. Let it cool completely to continue to thicken.
2 cups water or veg. stock
1/3 cup diced onion
1 cup roughly chopped carrots
2 ½ cups roughly chopped beets
2 cups milk or nut milk
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1/8 tsp dried mint leaves
1/8 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp thyme
Boil the beets, carrot, and onion in the water, until beets and carrots are soft. Transfer to a blender and blend until it's a thick liquid. Return to stove, over low heat. Add the milk and seasonings. Stir until heated through.
½ cup farina (if you can't find plain farina, use unflavored cream of wheat or malt-o-meal)
1 cup water
1 Tbsp pine nuts
2 Tbsp blanched almonds
2 Tbsp raisins
¼ cup prune juice or grape juice
dates
figs
extra nuts of desired variety
Simmer the juice over low heat until it is reduced to half. Set aside.
Over low heat, whisk together the farina and water. Add the pine nuts and almonds. Cook, stirring, until it reaches desired thickness. (I like it really thick and solid, some want it thinner.)
Stir the raisins and juice into the farina.
Mince the dates and figs, and crush the nuts. Serve in bowls with the fruit and nuts on top.
I got together with a friend to do some experimental Roman cooking.
The recipe we used interpreted apothermum as a pudding. I found a second recipe that considers it a sauce for meat. However, in the original text, apothermum is in the minced dishes chapter, not the sauce chapter. The two different translations are interesting. One recipe comes up with forcemeats, the other says nuts and fruit. (Latin is weird because isn't it all, “We're pretty sure this word means this” because there are no original speakers?)
Boil spelt with Tor. pignolia nuts and peeled almonds1[G.‑V. and] immersed in boiling water and washed with white clay so that they appear perfectly white, add raisins, flavor with condensed wine or raisin wine and serve it in a round dish with crushed2nuts, fruit, bread or cake crumbs sprinkled over it.3
1V. We peel almonds in the same manner; the white clay treatment is new to us.
G.‑V.:and — which is confusing.
2
The original: confractum — crushed, but what? G.‑V. pepper, for which there is neither authority nor reason. A wine sauce would go well with it or crushed fruit. List. and Goll. Breadcrumbs.
3
This is a perfectly good pudding — one of the very few desserts in
Apicius. With a little sweetening (supplied probably by the condensed
wine) and some grated lemon for flavor it is quite acceptable as a
dessert.
For clarification, the blue text in the first recipe are extrapolations added to the recipe by the translator. The footnotes are also by the translator, and some refer to the text of a different translation.
Sauce recipe To make Apothermum: Boil spelt with small nuts and blanched almonds.
The almonds should previously been have been soaked in water with the
chalk used as polish, so that they are perfectly white. To this add
raisins and defritum or raisin wine. Sprinkle with ground pepper and
serve in a bowl [with prepared forcemeats].
Latin text: 10. Apothermum sic facies: alicam elixa nucleis et amygdalis depilatis et in aqua infusis et lotis ex creta argentaria, ut ad candorem pariter perducantur. cui ammiscebis uvam passam, caroenum vel passum, desuper ‹piper› confractum asparges et in boletari inferes.
As you see, the first recipe says that it's spelt or farina. Not sure where they're getting the farina bit, but, in my opinion, that would provide a way better texture than the boiled spelt berries that we tried the first time.
I looked up raisin wine to determine exactly what I needed to try for (because I don't use alcohol), and it's a sweet dessert wine. Defritum is a sweet syrup made by reducing grape juice (hence the translation into “condensed wine”).
I like that the second recipe says small nuts, which may not need to be pine nuts. Is “small nuts” the actual ancient Roman name for pine nuts? The translator for the first recipe seems obsessed with pine nuts because he specifies them pretty much anytime nuts are mentioned.
The nuts, fruit, bread or cake crumbs bit from the first recipe is hypothesized by the translator; so apparently no one really knows what the crushed stuff is that goes on the dish. I like the nuts/fruit idea.
I liked it. It is like eating fancied-up cream of wheat, which is basically exactly what it is.
Cut the apples into medium-thin slices, removing the core. Soak them in water for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425° F. Drain the apples and coat them with cornstarch. Arrange in a single layer, not touching, on a baking sheet. Drizzle with at least 2 Tbsp of oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Bake for 15 minutes. Flip the slices and rearrange, then bake for 5 more minutes.
1 9” pie crust, baked
4 cups strawberries, sliced
½ cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder
¾ cup water
Put half of strawberries in the baked pie crust.
Combine remaining berries with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Mash the berries.
In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch/arrowroot and water. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, stirring constantly. Pour mixture over berries in pastry shell.
1 lb cherries, any variety, pits and stems removed
2 Tbsp apple juice, as desired for sweetness
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
A pinch of ground cloves
1 cup milk or nut milk
If using canned cherries, drain out and discard the syrup. If using fresh cherries and juice comes out from pitting them, use the juice!
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Be sure to blend it thoroughly. Strain the skins out if necessary.
