Boiled Eggs with Pine Nut Sauce
from A Taste of Ancient Rome by Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa

Perhaps the most popular of all the Roman appetizers was the egg. In fact, the ancient Latin saying ab ovo usque ad malum literally means "from the egg to the fruit," which translates loosely as "the beginning of the meal to the end." In this recipe, the egg is adorned with lovely pine nut sauce.

Ancient Roman Egg Recipe (Apicius)

For medium-boiled eggs: Pepper, lovage, and soaked pine nuts. Pour on honey and vinegar; mix with garum

Modern Egg Recipe

FMM: Garum - ?

4 medium-boiled eggs
2 ounces pine nuts
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
Pinch each of pepper and lovage (or celery leaf)

Soak the pine nuts 3-4 hours beforehand in the vinegar.

Mix all the sauce ingredients (not eggs) thoroughly in a blender. This exquisite sauce should be presented in a sauce boat so that each person can serve himself or herself, since the eggs cannot be sliced and placed on a dish in advance.

Soft-Boiled Eggs in Pine-Nut Sauce
from Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome by Patrick Faas

"In ovis hapalis: piper, ligustcum, nucleos infusos. Suffundes mel, acetum; liquamine temperabis."

"For soft-boiled eggs: pepper, soaked pine nuts. Add honey and vinegar and mix with garum." (Apicius, 329)

FMM: The recipe seems to be missing the vinegar - ?

for 4 small eggs
200 g pine nuts
2 teaspoons ground pepper
1 teaspoon honey
4 tablespoons garum or anchovy paste

Soak the pine nuts overnight in water. Then drain and grind them finely in the blender or pound them in a large mortar. Add the pepper, honey and garum. Heat the sauce in a bain-marie. Meanwhile put the eggs into a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Let them cook for 3½ minutes, then take them off the heat, plunge them into cold water and peel them carefully. The outer edge of the egg white must be firm, but it must be soft inside. Put the eggs, left whole, into a deep serving bowl and pour over the sauce. Serve.

This recipe can be adapted easily to other eggs, such as quail's eggs. In that case keep an eye on the cooking-time: a quail's egg will be firm in 1 minute.