Click on the image, above to submit to Pinterest.
Sala Cattabia (Potted Salads)
Sala Cattabia (Potted Salads) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a classic potted salad of layered bread, cheese and cucumbers with pine nuts that's soaked in a herby egg, honey, vinegar, liquamen and egg yolk dressing and which is chilled before serving. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Potted Salads (Sala Cattabia).
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
50 minutes
Total Time:
70 minutes
Serves:
4
Rating: 
Tags : Herb RecipesChicken RecipesBread RecipesCheese RecipesAncient Roman Recipes
Original Recipe
Sala cattabia: piper, mentam, apium, puleium aridum, caseum, nucleos pineos, mel, acetum, liquamen, ovorum vitella, aquam recentem. panem ex posca maceratum exprimes, caseum bubulum, cucumeres in caccabulo compones, interpositis nucleis. mittes concisi capparis minuti,... iocusculis gallinarum. ius perfundes, super frigidam collocabis et sic appones.
Translation
Potted salads: [For the dressing, mix] pepper, mint, celery, dried pennyroyal, cheese, pine nuts, honey, vinegar, liquamen, egg yolks and fresh water. In the pot arrange layers of bread previously soaked in vinegar and water, and pressed, cow's milk cheese, and cucumbers. Scatter nuts between the layers. Then add finely-chopped capers and a layer of small chicken livers. Pour the dressing over the top, chill in ice water and serve.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
For the Dressing:
1/8 tsp freshly-ground
black pepper
1/2 tsp fresh mint, chopped
pinch of dried
pennyroyal (but substitute
lesser calamint to be safe) (or mint)
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp
almonds or hazelnuts, finely chopped
60ml white wine vinegar
240ml olive oil
2 hard-boiled egg yolks
150g Feta cheese, mashed with a fork
For the Salad:
150g white
bread, sliced
60ml white wine vinegar
75g chopped walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts
100g Mozzarella cheese, grated
1 medium cucumber, sliced
30g pickled
capers
225g chicken livers, fried and chopped
Method:
Begin with the dressing. Whisk the pepper, herbs, honey, nuts, olive oil and crumbled egg yolks in a bowl then stir in the cheese and set aside.
Add the bread slices to a bowl, and cover with a mix of the white wine vinegar and 120ml water. Set aside to soak for 10 minutes then squeeze the bread to remove the excess moisture. Use half the bread to line a salad dish then sprinkle with some of the chopped nuts, cheese and a layer of cucumbers. Cover with a second layer of bread then add more chopped nuts, cheese and cucumbers. Cover with more cucumbers and cheese then scatter the pickled capers over the top before adding the chopped chicken livers.
Pour over the dressing, chill the salad for at least 40 minutes in the refrigerator then serve.
Find more recipes from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria along with information on Apicius and his cookbook, all part of this site's Ancient Roman recipes collection.
%20Recipe)