Submitted by Julian on Tue, 06/07/2010 - 09:34
Posted in
Greco-Roman Spelt Semolina Pudding
History of the pudding
Sally Grainger in Cooking Apicius gives an almond and semolina pudding. Here I have
made 2 changes.First, I use spelt that I have ground in the coffee grinder in place of
her regular wheat semolina. Second, I cook the nuts and spelt in butter instead of just
boiling them in milk. I doubt if the Romans would have liked this but the local Britons
did use butter. However, this method I read on a packet of semolina and it was called
Greek semolina pudding. This Greco Roman pudding is very popular whenever I serve it.
Ingredients
2 oz / 60 g butter
4 oz / 120 g spelt
¾ pt /475ml goats, sheep’s or cow’s milk
1 tbsp honey and warm honey for serving
2 oz / 60 g almonds
Freshly ground black pepper
8oz / 250g alpine strawberries or other fresh fruit
Method
Grind the spelt until it looks like coarse semolina
Chop the almonds roughly. Leave the skins on as they give flavour.
Melt the butter in a pan and add nuts and ground spelt.
Cook gently, stirring with wooden spoon.
Have ready hot but not boiling milk.
When nuts and spelt are lightly toasted add the heated milk. Stir gently to help absorption
of milk. Put the lid on to allow the milk to become completely absorbed and cooking to
complete.
Add honey to taste.
Pour into a dish or ramekins.
Serve cold with runny honey, ground black pepper and wild (alpine) strawberries
In the winter or when fresh fruits are not available soak a handful of raisins in warm
water, grape juice or wine and add these to the hot pudding before pouring it into dishes.
You could omit the almonds and instead add toasted pine kernels together with the
honey and black pepper before serving.
Diane Wells
Chair Food Frome