Ancient Roman Food

I love to cook so naturally we had to make a recipe attributed to Ancient Rome.  We tried this one:

Modern Roman Libum Recipe (serves 4)

I cup plain, all purpose flour

8 oz. ricotta cheese

1 egg, beaten

bay leaves

1/2 cup clear honey

Sift the flour into a bowl.  Beat the cheese until it is soft and stir it into the flour along with the egg.  Form a soft dough and divide into 4.  Mold each one into a bun and place them on a greased cookie sheet with a fresh bay leaf underneath.  Heat the oven to 425.  Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.  Warm honey and place the warm buns in it so that they absorb it.  Allow to stand 30 minutes before serving.

(Full disclaimer: I forgot the bay leaves and we didn't wait 30 minutes to eat them.)

I chose this recipe because I just learned how to make homemade ricotta cheese (HEAVENLY) so I had some on hand.

 This is a good recipe for kids because it is pretty simple.  We doubled it so that all the kids would get a good taste.

 Sadly, I wish I had tried a different recipe and used my luscious ricotta for eating plain with a little honey drizzled on top.  The buns were good, mind you, but not as good as the ricotta on its own.  I thought the buns had a gorgeous texture--just the right chewy moistness--but needed something.  Salt, perhaps?  The bay leaves I forgot?

 This pic has nothing to do with Ancient Rome and everything to do with present day snails.  Snails that eat plants in the garden.  Miriam is mashing egg shells to put around bean plants.

 Goopy hands from forming the buns.

 I like this recipe for kids because the buns are shaped in your hands and don't require rolling pins and other items that cause bickering.  Plus, the clean-up is minimal.

 There are the buns soaking in honey.  I might make these again (with salt) because they do have that lovely texture and they don't need to rise. If I do, I'll make them smaller so more of the dough gets honeyfied.  Honified?

 The buns are sticky from the honey so didn't feel like finger food and yet they are buns so they didn't feel like they should be cut in pieces.  My boys improvised.

Another delicious day of Ancient Rome study!