How to Prepare and Compose the Etruscan Appetizer

• Sift and mix the Gentilini ancient grains flour, La Turchina spelt semolina, and strong flour in a bowl.

  

• Meanwhile, boil a potato from the Tarquinia Ortofrutticola Cooperative and, while still hot, mash it with a potato masher. Leave it in a bowl to cool.

  

• Prepare the autolysis: add 120 g of the total water to the flour bowl, create a dough ball, and let it rest for about half an hour. As the dough is mostly made of weak flours, this step will allow better development of the gluten network.

  

• Dissolve the refreshed and doubled sourdough starter in 50 g of water, adding Ercolani wildflower honey, which will give a special note to the focaccia.

  

• Add the flours with 30 g of water and start kneading. When the dough is well structured, add the now-cold potato and incorporate it well into the dough.

  

• Attach the hook and finish kneading the dough. Add the last part of the water and the wild fennel. Finish with Olitar EVO oil in two additions and the salt. Increase the speed and finish the dough. Transfer it to a slightly semolina-dusted work surface, let it rest for half an hour covered with the bowl, and then proceed with 3 slap and fold stretches to give structure to the dough. Place it in a slightly oiled container and, after an hour, put it in the fridge overnight.

  

• In a well-heated pan, toast the almonds from the Tarquinia Horticultural Consortium, being careful not to burn them.

  

• Once cooled, chop them roughly. I like them this way, but you can also use a blender; they will become a crumble.

  

• The next day, take the ancient grains and spelt focaccia dough out of the fridge. Let it acclimate and rise before starting to roll it out. Start on the work surface, very gently. Cover it with cling film and a towel, and let it relax.

  

• Transfer it to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and drizzled with Olitar Oil. Begin spreading it from the center outward. Stop when it tends to retract, cover it, and wait another half hour.

  

• Once it is well spread, drizzle it with more Olitar oil and preheat the oven to 428°F. When the oven is at temperature, before baking, sprinkle the Etruscan appetizer focaccia with almonds and salt. Add more oil if needed.

  

• Bake the ancient grains focaccia for 15 minutes at 428°F and then lower to 392°F for another 10 minutes, or until well browned.

  

• The Etruscan focaccia is ready! After cooling, cut it into rectangles; it will be ready for the Etruscan appetizer to release all its ancient flavors thanks to the quality of the products used.

  

• Now let’s prepare the accompaniment sauce for the ancient grains focaccia. In a small pot, pour the Olitar EVO oil and add the finely chopped onion.

  

• Weigh and prepare the Valentini tomato sauce, made with tomatoes grown by the company in Tuscania.

  

• Add the tomato sauce to the browned garlic and cook for 5/7 minutes.

  

• When it is cooked, add the Ercolani Apiary honey, which raises its bees in the municipality of Tarquinia with respect and protection of the hives.

  

• Lower the heat and let the sauce thicken, making it very dense. Adjust the salt, but do not cover the flavor of the combination of tomato and honey.

  

• This accompaniment sauce was born from an experiment: combining two seemingly distant flavors like tomato and honey to enhance a rustic and crunchy focaccia, as the Etruscans would have eaten it.

  

• For the Potatoes, start by preparing a mix in a small bowl between Olitar oil and Favola shoyu sauce, blending them to create an emulsion.

  

• Using a mandoline, slice the potatoes from the Tarquinia agricultural cooperative, well washed and dried, fairly thinly. Drizzle them with the oil and spelt mix and add the dried wild fennel. Cover with a lid and let marinate for at least half an hour, preferably an hour.

  

• Preheat the oven to 320°F and spread the marinated potatoes on two baking sheets. Drizzle with oil and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the two trays halfway through cooking.

  

• 
  The flavored potatoes are ready to be part of the Etruscan appetizer. I flavored the potatoes from the Tarquinia agricultural cooperative with a broad bean and spelt ferment, made like soy sauce but with local ingredients, from broad beans and spelt, by the Nesler company that produces it minimizing waste, GMO-free, and refining it in wooden barrels. Olitar oil and fennel conclude this tasty preparation.

  

• The last preparation for this Etruscan appetizer is the hummus with Onano lentils from Pearls of Tuscia. These are lentils that do not require soaking, just rinse them well under water and boil them with a pinch of salt.
  Drain them very well, keeping a bit of the cooking water aside.

  

• Transfer the lentils into the mixer (I use the Thermomix).

  

• Add tahini, lemon juice, garlic powder, and a little cooking water.

  

• Turn on the Thermomix at speed 5/6 and blend.

  

• When everything starts to blend, add the wild fennel and, if necessary, some cooking water. At the end, taste and adjust salt if needed.

  

• 
  Finish the hummus for the Etruscan appetizer with a drizzle of Olitar Oil and sesame. Onano lentils are also called the ‘Lentils of the Popes’ due to the large consumption already  since the 1600s at the papal court. They have a very fine and digestible skin and can only be called such if cultivated in the municipality of Onano, as Pearls of Tuscia does, even though its main headquarters is on the shores of Lake Bolsena, in Grotte di Castro.

  

• At this point, all that’s left is to cut the focaccia, arrange the potatoes in a container, the hummus and sauce in two bowls, and start enjoying authentic flavors like those of Tuscia, which I tried to interpret at best. If you liked this recipe, come tell me on Instagram!