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Tonight, over dinner, in response to fadethecat's comment on my last post, I looked through some books I have on ancient cuisine to come up with some Greek recipes. I have (or at least was able to find) two books in my library with conjectural Greek recipes:

Kaufman, Cathy K. Cooking in Ancient Civilizations. Greenwood Press, 2006. ISBN: 0-313-33204-5.

Bober, Phyllis. Art, Culture & Cuisine: Ancient and Medieval Gastronomy. University of Chicago Press 1999. ISBN: 0-226-06253-8.

The recipes in Bober's book attempt to recreate a "feast" of the period, and thus is heavy on meats and other foods that would have been expensive in period, while Kaufman's book, true to its subtitle, includes recipes that likely would have been eaten frequently by ordinary people. Kaufman's book in particular gives a number of different recipes for flatbreads, loaf breads, and bready sweets, as well as vegetable recipes, though both books give recipes for cooking meats, including chickens (there is a simple but tasty-looking chicken-in-a-pot recipe that I'm going to try with my crockpot when the weather gets colder again).

Anyway, I decided to pick three recipes that are at least typical of the foodstuffs available to the ancient Greeks. If anyone wants more, I believe both books are still in print. They should be available at the usual booksellers or local public library.

From Bober's book (p. 290), though Kaufman gives a very similar recipe. I've paraphrased very slightly to save on typing.

ZOMON; Soup. This is a nice lentil soup, as follows:

1 cup lentils
1 small onion, diced
1 large parsnip, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
leaves from the tops of two celery stalks (or lovage, if available)
2 sprigs each of fresh thyme and parsley
1 tablespoon of flour to thicken (optional)
1 1/2 quarts of hearty meat stock (goat is preferred, says Bober)
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
Salt and pepper to taste

Soak in water lentils overnight (unless they are the quick-cooking variety). Sweat the onion, celery leaves/lovage, parsnip, parsley and thyme in the olive oil. (According to Wikipedia, "Sweating in cooking is the gentle heating of coarsely cut vegetables in a little oil or butter, with frequent stirring and turning to ensure that any emitted liquid will evaporate.") Add the lentils and simmer with the vegetables for about 15 minutes. Add the meat stock and keep simmering till the lentils are soft. Put the potful of stuff through a sieve, and heat again, adding the coriander seed, salt and pepper (ground in a mortar). Stir in flour if you want to thicken the soup.

SALT-BAKED SEA BASS. This is from Kaufman's book, (p. 93) and she quotes (in English translation) a passage from Archestratus's The Life of Luxury as support for baking a bass in salt in this manner. Once, again, I've paraphrased.

1 whole, round white fish, such as a Mediterranean bass (i.e., called bronzino nowadays) or sea bream, cleaned and gutted. Should be about 1 1/2 pounds of fish.
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 pounds kosher salt, or whatever it takes to completely coat the entire fish (I bet you could use sea salt or any other kind of rock salt used for cooking)
1 cup water
4 egg whites, lightly beaten
Extra-virgin olive oil for serving

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Rinse and thoroughly dry the fish. Put the thyme springs inside its belly. Spread a thick layer of salt on the bottom of a baking/cookie sheet. Mix the rest of the salt with the egg whites to make a paste, and mold the paste all around the fish. Place the pasted fish on the salt-coated baking sheet and bake until an instant-read thermometer shows a reading of 130 F degrees, about 25 minutes. Crack the paste off the fish. drizzle with olive oil and serve.

GREEN HERB SALAD. This is also from Kaufman (p. 105) More paraphrasing.

3 stalks celery, preferably with leaves, cleaned and thinly sliced.
1 bunch parsley, washed, dried, and coarsely chopped.
1 bunch fresh coriander, washed, dried, coarsely chopped.
1 bunch sorrel or arugula, washed, dried, and torn into small pieces
Leaves from one bunch of tarragon
1/4 cup coarsely chopped chives
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon garum (yes, garum shows up here, even before the Romans used it)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently to coat all the leaves with the oil/vinegar dressing.