A Roman Recipe
Central Gubernator Lindsay Sutherland
Cato the Elder’s Grape Must Cakes (Mustaceos)
Ingredients:
400 g Seedless Black Grapes
275 g Whole Wheat Flour
½ tsp Cumin
½ tsp Anise Seed
38 g (2.6 Tablespoons) Butter, very soft or melted
19 g Ricotta Cheese
Bay Leaves and AP Flour, as needed
Instructions:
1) Crush grapes in a bowl. Strain the juice into another bowl, and save the skin and pulp (grape must).
2) Combine dry ingredients. Add 225 g of the grape must, using your hands to mix.
3) Add butter and ricotta and knead for fifteen minutes. If the dough is too dry, add a little bit of the reserved grape juice. The dough should be sticky but form a cohesive ball.
\ with bay leaves, and place the rounds on the leaves.
Bake for twenty minutes at 350 F. Discard the bay leaves and eat warm or cooled.
4) Cover with a damp towel and allow to rest for half an hour. Preheat the oven to 305 F.
5) Dust the counter with AP flour, roll out the dough into a half-inch thick sheet, and cut into about fifteen rounds with a cookie cutter.
6) Line a sheet pan with parchment paper, sprinkle it with bay leaves, and place the rounds on the leaves.
7) Bake for twenty minutes at 350 F. Discard the bay leaves and eat warm or cooled.
And Review
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