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 and roasted and crushed with honey. Mix in, beat well pepper, broth, milk, eggs, a little honey2 and oil. Thicken slowly on fire without boiling, fill in moulds, taking care that the nuts do not sink to the bottom, bake in 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 until you have a coarse texture. Combine with the pepper, milk, wine, honey, fish sauce and the eggs and beat 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.