The Oxford Companion to Italian Food by the food historian Gillian Riley is never far from and very often on my desk. It was on my desk and open, as was her book Food in Art, when I received a message that Gillian had passed away in her sleep. She was 90, and had been working on her next book.
I knew Gillian only a little, which felt like a great amount. It was thanks to Russell Norman that we first began corresponding, about lard, in 2015. As well as possessing enormous knowledge and a great intellect, she was also generous, funny and curious, and it was in Russell’s Polpetto in London that we first met for lunch. One of the last times I saw her was with Owen Barrett at his former deli, Monty’s, and the three of us ate salt beef sandwiches while chatting about sausages.
I felt incredibly saddened on reading this message, but then, there Gillian was again, wide open and full of intellectual focus and the delightful details for this week’s recipe: a spiced cake called certosino di Bologna. Her magnificent encyclopedia of contemporary Italian food in its historical background was open on the spice entry, page 508. It includes a section on an anonymous 14th-century manuscript entitled Libro di cucina (cookbook), which was reprinted in 1899 thanks to Ludovico Frati, who was responsible for historical manuscripts at Bologna university.
Considered one of the oldest known recipe books, Libro di cucina was intended for domestic (wealthy) rather than court kitchens, so offers an insight into cooking at the time and the use of spices, which were status symbols that brought much prestige and pleasure to those who could afford them. (For a thorough examination of the way medieval Europe was shaped by the spice trade, I recommend Paul Freedman’s Out of the East.) Back to the Libro di cucina, which offers three spice mixes: spezie fini (that is, fine spices for general use: pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and saffron); spezie dolci (or sweet spices for many good things: cloves, ginger, cinnamon); and spezie forti (or strong spices for strong flavour: cloves, pepper, long pepper and lots of nutmeg). At the time, spices arriving in Europe via well-established trade routes were sold by pharmacists at speziali (apothecaries), along with sugar and medicines. And this brings us to the open page in Gillian’s Food in Art, a magnificent work that uses art to illuminate the story of food, and that also demonstrates her background as a book designer.
Page 125 is the story of the German Benedictine abbess and polymath Hildegard of Bingen, and Gillian dedicates three pages to Hildegard and her intellectual understanding of plants and spices, and of their gastronomic and curative properties. She also includes Hildegard’s recipe for nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and breadcrumb biscuits that “calm bitterness of mind, quicken torpid feelings and bring clarity of mind”. Hildegard had the humane realisation that medicinal qualities work best when giving pleasure, and pharmacists knew this, too. They started making spiced breads for festive times, a familiar example being panforte, but it was common practice in most countries. In Bologna, speziali sold panspeziale, a wonderfully dense preparation of honey, nuts, fruit and spices. Later, when Carthusian friars took over its production, it became known as certosino di Bologna, made distinct by a fabulous bling decoration of candied fruit and nuts.
You decide which spice mix to use: fine, sweet, strong or your own, bearing in mind that the spices and certosino should remove melancholy thoughts, gladden your heart and bring joy. Certosino di Bologna is also the perfect way to celebrate the season, as well as Gillian Riley and her inimitable work.
Fruit and nut cake from Bologna (certosino di Bologna)
Makes 16 slim slices
300g honey, plus extra, warmed for brushing
150g mixed candied fruit and cherries, large pieces of citrus peel and the cherries halved
350g flour, plus extra for dusting
200g shelled almonds, 150g roughly chopped, the rest left whole
50g pine nuts
12g baking powder
3 tsp spice mix
50g cocoa
75g dark chocolate, chopped
150g quince or apricot jam
75g marsala
15g butter, for greasing
Walnuts, halved, for decorating
Warm the honey in a saucepan and, when it is completely liquid, pull off the heat and stir in half the chopped candied fruit.
Put the flour in a large bowl, then add the chopped almonds, pine nuts, baking powder, spices, cocoa, chopped chocolate, jam, marsala and the honey/candied fruit mix. Stir gently but thoroughly, then pour into a greased and floured tin – ideally a ring tin, but a round 25cm cake tin will work, too. Leave to rest for four hours.
Decorate the cake with the remaining 75g candied fruit, whole almonds and walnut halves, then bake at 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4 for 45 minutes, until firm. Take out of the oven, leave to cool a little, then take out of the tin and leave to cool completely. Brush with warm honey, then slice and serve.
