Felicem diem natalem, Hadriane! 🎂

Happy 1941st birthday, Hadrian!

For this year’s birthday cake, I chose to cook Apicius’s recipe for Patina versatilis vice dulcis (nut omelette). 🎂

Patina versatilis vice dulcis (recipe from LacusCurtius):

Pignolia nuts, chopped or broken nuts (other varieties), are cleaned, roasted and crushed with honey. Mix in and beat well pepper, broth, milk, eggs, a little honey and oil. Thicken slowly on fire without boiling, fill in moulds, ensure the nuts do not sink to the bottom, and bake in a hot water bath when cold, unmould.

Modern recipe from Sally Grainger’s Cooking Apicius:

Ingredients:

• 30 g flaked almonds
• 30 g walnuts or hazelnuts
• 30 g pine nuts
• 40 ml milk
• 40 ml white wine or dessert wine
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp garum (fish sauce)
• pepper
• olive oil

Combine all the nuts and roast them in a medium oven until lightly coloured. Shake them a few times to ensure an even colour. Grind them or process them until you have a coarse texture. Combine with pepper, milk, wine, honey, fish sauce, and eggs and beat them together. If you baking the patina, grease a ceramic dish with the olive oil and pour the ingredients in. Bake in a medium oven (350 °F, 180 °C, gas 4) until firm to the touch. Take out and cool slightly before cutting into wedges. Serve with a little runny honey poured over them and sprinkled with freshly ground pepper. Alternatively, cook the mixture in an omelette pan and finish the process under a grill to set the top.