Note: They did not have pumpkins in ancient Greece or Rome, so the translation is incorrect.
75 Pumpkin, Alexandrine Style
Aliter cucurbitas more Alexandrino
Press the water out of the boiled pumpkin, place in a baking dish, sprinkle with salt, ground pepper, cumin, coriander seed, green mint and a little laser root; season with vinegar. Now add date winea and pignolia nuts ground with honey, vinegar and broth, measure out condensed wine and oil, pour this over the pumpkin and finish in this liquor and serve, sprinkle with pepper before serving.
Thayer's Note: a The text is usually made to read cariotam, not date wine but just plain date: which to me makes more sense in the context: dates and nuts ground together, with liquids to moisten them.
– Apicius Book 3.3.4
Squash/marrow Alexandria style
from https://www.britishmuseum.org/ blog
Another Translation:
'Gourd Alexandrian fashion. Drain boiled gourd, season with salt, arrange in a dish. Crush pepper, cumin, coriander seed, fresh mint, asafoetida root. Moisten with vinegar. Add caryota date, pine kernel; crush. Blend with honey, vinegar, fish sauce, concentrated must and oil, and pour the whole over the gourd. When it has boiled, season with pepper and serve.'
This dish is the sort of simple dinner that Romans would likely have had in bars and restaurants where you could easily while away an evening. We have substituted the gourds that the Romans grew for marrow or squash.
Serves 6
1 small young marrow or yellow squash
Salt
4 fresh dates, soaked in a little wine
2 tbsp pine kernels, soaked in a little wine
2 level tsp ground cumin
2 level tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp chopped fresh or 2 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder or 5 drops asafoetida tincture (you can use garlic or onion powder as a substitute)
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp defrutum (reduced red grape juice) (you can use 2 tbsp of red wine as a substitute)
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
