Rome Wasn't Baked in a Day

Asteroidae is now a member of a club I was in, roughly forty years ago: high school Latin Club (okay, forty years and more). In the same way as with every other closed group, this membership means very little to outsiders, but opens up all manner of conversations for those within the rarefied circles.

This season, as in so many others, the conversation rolled around to food (I know. You are shocked). In my years, the closest we ever came to understanding the foods of ancient Rome was to take a field trip to The Big City, during which we would dine at a Greek restaurant, because... Mediterranean is close enough?

But these days, there is a free electronic edition of Apicius' Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome. ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002RKRT7S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_mJ-1AbQDTYYRW ). There are also several cookbooks built around it, and countless online resources which offer material in that same line of study. So, when Asteroidae asked if I would be interested in helping her prepare a main dish for a Latin Club dinner, I leapt at the chance. We did a little brainstorming, based on what we'd read, and last night, we put our studies to good use.

We can't prove that the dish served to her fellow club members was exactly as served to a nice, merchant class citizens, but the ingredients were there for that level of society, the preparation follows logical paths, and this particular dish has been served in more or less this fashion throughout the Mediterranean for centuries, in varying proportions.

The benefit is, you can prepare it for stovetop, oven, slow-cooker, or even pressure cooker. And it has a very short list of ingredients: chicken, leeks, olives, capers, and lemons.

For us, the hardest part was cleaning out the grit from the leeks. Physically, skinning and cutting apart a chicken was demanding, too. But it was all fun.

And, I am told, it was a hit with the Latin Club.

Roma amat poultry

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (approx 4 or 5 lbs)
1 or 2 leeks (2nd is mostly ornamental)
6 to 8 ounce can ripe olives, with brine
6 ounce jar Mediterranean olives (or your favorite blend), with brine
4 ounce jar capers, drained and rinsed thoroughly
2 whole lemons, washed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325° F.

Clean one leek by removing any tough outer leaves, trim away roots, cut remaining portion in quarters lengthwise, then in thirds (or smaller) crosswise. Rinse sections thoroughly to remove any sand and grit from among the leaves, then lay them in the bottom of your pan.

If you have a whole chicken, cut into serving portions, removing spine (tail, too!), skin, and fat. Place pieces of chicken in a single layer on top of leek bed.

After washing lemons, slice into wedges, remove seeds, and place in a medium mixing bowl. Add olives (in brine) and rinsed capers. Mix well, then pour over chicken.

Optional: Clean second leek carefully, cut away root and tough tops of leaves. You can get fancy and decorate the top with this, or simply set it across the top to brown, for added flavor.

Place in oven, roast for 90 minutes, or until the largest thigh reaches core temperature of 165° F.

Allow to stand at least 5 minutes before serving.