Patina de Asparagis

Name: Patina de Asparagis
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Roman Empire
Ingredients: 400 g asparagus, woody ends trimmed; 5 eggs; 1 tbsp anchovy paste (or 3 salt-packed anchovies, rinsed and minced (in place of garum)); 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 0.25 tsp ground cumin; 1 tbsp fresh lovage leaves, finely chopped (or celery leaf as substitute); 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped; 60 ml dry white wine; 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

A Roman baked asparagus custard from Apicius's De Re Coquinaria: asparagus puréed into a spiced egg custard seasoned with pepper, lovage, and garum, baked in an earthenware dish and finished with olive oil, the first asparagus recipe in recorded history

Origin: Rome, Roman Empire

From the journey of Asparagus.

The patina was one of the foundational preparations of the Roman kitchen: a baked or steamed egg custard, not unlike a modern frittata or clafoutis, filled with vegetables, fish, meat, or herbs and flavoured with the Roman kitchen's characteristic palette of garum (fermented fish sauce), black pepper, cumin, and aromatic herbs. The asparagus patina appears in De Re Coquinaria, the Roman cookery collection attributed to the epicure Apicius (compiled in its current form c. 4th century CE but drawing on much earlier material). It is the oldest recorded asparagus recipe in the world. The Roman relationship with asparagus was intense: Emperor Augustus Caesar coined the expression 'velocius quam asparagi coquuntur' ('faster than cooking asparagus') as a synonym for doing something instantly, which implies that asparagus was both universally known and cooked very briefly (the Romans preferred it al dente). The legions spread asparagus cultivation across the empire, and Pliny the Elder in his Natural History praised the asparagus of Ravenna, a town that remains a significant asparagus-growing centre today. This recipe modernises the Apicius original: garum is approximated with anchovy, lovage (a celery-adjacent herb common in Roman cooking) can be substituted with celery leaf, and the baking dish replaces the original earthenware patella.

Ingredients

Vegetable

400 g asparagus, woody ends trimmed

Custard

5 eggs

Seasoning

1 tbsp anchovy paste (or 3 salt-packed anchovies, rinsed and minced (in place of garum))

Spice

0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper
0.25 tsp ground cumin

Herb

1 tbsp fresh lovage leaves, finely chopped (or celery leaf as substitute)
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Liquid

60 ml dry white wine

Fat

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F. Generously oil a shallow ovenproof dish (approximately 25cm diameter).
Cook the asparagus in a large pot of salted boiling water for 5–7 minutes until completely soft: more cooked than you would usually want. Drain thoroughly and allow to cool slightly.
Transfer the cooked asparagus to a food processor or blender with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Blend to a rough purée: some texture is good. Alternatively, chop very finely by hand.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs until well combined. Add the anchovy paste (garum substitute), black pepper, cumin, lovage, coriander, and white wine. Whisk together.
Fold the asparagus purée into the egg mixture until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning with black pepper: the mixture should be savoury, aromatic, and slightly pungent from the pepper and cumin.
Pour the mixture into the prepared oiled baking dish. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the surface. Bake for 25–30 minutes until just set: the centre should have a slight wobble and the top be lightly golden.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature, drizzled with a little more olive oil and scattered with a pinch of black pepper. The Romans served this as a starter (gustatio) or as part of the main course (prima mensa).

Notes

Lovage (Levisticum officinale) is the most Roman of all culinary herbs, intensely celery-like with an additional herbal depth, and was used in the Roman kitchen wherever we would use celery or celery leaf. It is available from specialist herb suppliers and grows readily from seed. If you cannot find lovage, celery leaf is the closest substitute. Garum, the Roman fermented fish sauce, can also be approximated with Thai fish sauce (nam pla), which is similarly fermented and intensely savoury.

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control