[Sca-cooks] next recipe from Anon. Venetian, III. Agliata

[Raphaella DiContini]

I'm still slowly cooking and eating my way through Libro di cucina/ Libro per cuoco. This recipe and the next almost feel like cheating because I've made them so many times I could almost do it in my sleep.  

I love this sauce, it's like getting bare knuckle punched in the face with garlic, but at least the roasting mellows it, a bit. It's good with all kinds of meats, as a dip, on bread, just about anywhere garlicky goodness would be welcome. If you chose a veggie broth it would also be totally appropriate for lent as well. :) 

III. Agliata
Agliata a ogni carne, toy l’aglio e coxilo sotto la braxa, poi pestalo bene e mitili aglio crudo, e una molena de pan, e specie dolçe, e brodo; e maxena ogni cossa insema e fala un pocho bolire e dala chalda.

III. Agliata, garlic sauce
Agliata for every meat, take the garlic and cook it under the coals then grind to a paste well and mix it with raw garlic and crumb of bread, sweet spices and broth, and mix each thing together and let it boil a little and serve it warm. 

My interpretation: 
Take two large heads (not clove, whole head) of fresh garlic. Cut off just the tops and wrap in tinfoil with a little water.  Roast on a cookie sheet for about 45- 60 minutes at 350. Once they’ve cooled, squeeze out the garlic and throw out skins. It should yield approx. 1/2 cup of roasted garlic mush. Add 1/4 cup fresh raw garlic chopped or crushed; blend in either food processor or blender until perfectly smooth. Add broth* and bread crumbs** until desired consistency is achieved. Add Venetian sweet spice mix to taste*** 
*The original manuscript calls for broth, I've used either chicken or beef, and have also made a tasty vegetarian alternative with either veggie broth, or vinegar which adds a slight back-kick to the in your face garlic flavor. I'd start with adding 1/8 cup of both the liquid of your choice and the bread crumbs and keep going with one or the other until its the thickness you'd like. You can either make this quite pasty or fairly liquid. If it needs to travel you can also make up the garlic paste and add the liquid on-site.
**I make my own bread crumbs by running white bread through the food processor. It's both cheaper and less gritty than the cans of "bread crumbs". 
***I use this spice mix from the same source:LXXIV. Specie dolce per assay cosse bone e fine / LXXIV Sweet spices, enough for many good and fine things- my interpretation: 1/4 oz. cloves,1 oz. "good" ginger, 1 oz. "soft or sweet"cinnamon, 1 oz. Indian bay leaves

Serves 4 garlic lovers or up to 8 flavor weenies. :) Also great made in big batches, as it's not delicate and won't break on you. If you want to make it easier you can used pre-peeled garlic in the same ratio and roast it in tin foil with a little water or in a covered dish with just a little water so it doesn’t dry out. For a 100 person wedding feast I've used about 10 heads of roasted garlic and went heavier on the raw crushed garlic and only had about 1/4 cup left over. For my brother's smaller wedding I used about 4 heads, and one of the attendees decided it was a great chip-dip, and BBQ glaze. :) You won't have the most romantic breath after eating it, but you probably won't get sick for at least a week either.

In joyous service, 
Raffaella