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Thorion ex Oryza (Goats' Cheese with Rice in Vine Leaves)

Thorion ex Oryza (Goats' Cheese with Rice in Vine Leaves) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a dish of vine leaves stuffed with rice and goat's cheese. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Thorion ex Oryza.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

65 minutes

Total Time:

85 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : Cheese RecipesAncient Roman Recipes

Original Recipe

Thorion ex Oryza (from an Ancient Commentary on Aristophanes' Knights)

The commentary shows that this is originally a Greek recipe; however as many of the Roman cooking slaves (and cooking sources) were Greek in origin (and a similar dish is known from a number of Roman murals) I think that it's fair to include it in this list as a Graeco–Roman dish.

Translation

Thrion is wheat groats or rice or finest wheat flour boiled in sufficient quantities. Then pour off the water and knead the mixture with soft cheese and a few eggs. Then it is enclosed with fig leaves and tied up with hemp or papyrus or flax and placed in a stock of boiled meat until it has been sufficiently cooked. Then take out, remove the leaves, put in a new frying pan with fresh honey and cook. Turn it until it is properly done and is brown. Remove and serve with honey poured around it, either from the boiled honey or another lot of honey. It is called thiron because of the fig leaves which are called by the same name.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

100g basmati rice (Jasmine rice would also do)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 beef stock cube
100g goat's cheese
20–25 vine leaves
1 egg
60ml clear honey
sea salt to taste

Method:

Add the olive oil in a pan and heat. Fry the rice in this for a minute or two, stirring continuously to ensure that the rice does not burn. Remove the pan from the flame and set aside.

Dice the cheese finely and beat the egg. Add both to the rice. Take a heaped tablespoon of this mixture and lay it on the bottom third of a vine leaf. Bring the bottom part of the leaf over the mixture. Fold the sides of the leaf over to form a parcel and then roll down the top part of the leaf to make a neat bundle. Repeat until all the rice mixture is used up.

Pack the vine leaves tightly into a baking dish. Meanwhile dissolve the stock cube in 300ml of boiling water and pour over the vine leaves. Place the dish in an oven pre-heated to 170°C (325°F/Gas Mark 3) and cook for an hour. When these are done pour the honey into a large frying pan. Heat until it becomes runny and transfer the vine leaf parcels to the pan. Turn the parcels until they are coated with honey. Transfer to a plate and serve.