ROMAN RELISH - A RECIPE FROM CATO THE ELDER



It was about 160 B.C. when the Roman statesman Marcus Porcius Cato wrote De Agricultura, a detailed manual on how to run a Roman farm. His advice not only makes fascinating reading, but much of it still holds good today.

The importance to the Romans of olives and their products can be seen in the attention Cato gives to olive cultivation and processing, and those sections contain much that is of interest to olive growers and oil producers today. For example, he advises on  how to plant the trees, when and how to fertilise them, which olives make the best oil, and, among other things, how to build an olive press.

For the cook he provides olive recipes: how to preserve green olives and how to make a green, black or mixed olive relish. Here is his recipe for olive relish:

Green, black or mixed olive relish to be made thus. Remove stones from green, black or mixed olives, then prepare as follows: chop them and add oil, vinegar, coriander, cumin, fennel, rue, mint. Put in a preserving-jar: the oil should cover them. Ready to use. (De Agricultura 117-119)



I made Cato's olive relish yesterday. The only green olives I could find had the stones in them, but luckily, after much searching through the kitchen drawers, I found my cherry/olive pitter, and got through the olives quite quickly. I used:

100 grams each of green and black olives (I sliced rather than chopped them)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 scant tbsp roughly chopped fennel fronds (next time I might use the crisp white bulbous base of the fennel )
1 tbsp roughly chopped coriander
1 tbsp roughly chopped mint
1/2 tsp cumin

I didn't cover the relish with oil as Cato instructs; the tablespoon I used was plenty. I couldn't find rue; but I remember that I had grown some in a garden in another city, and thought it had a rather bitter taste. Also, I didn't know whether the Romans might have used fresh cumin; again that was impossible to find (I didn't even try), so I used just a tiny bit of ground cumin seeds. Actually for our tastes I think this could have been left out, or perhaps sauteed in a little olive oil first.

I served it last night on (rather large) pieces of salmon which I first drizzled with olive oil, then placed three thin slices of lemon on each piece of fish and sealed them in baking paper parcels. I cooked them at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. I served the salmon with the relish scattered over the top together with the olive oil and fish 'sauce' from under the salmon, and a salad of baby spinach leaves and rocket. It was absolutely delicious, especially with a glass of Angel Cove sauvignon blanc from New Zealand!