Fifteen Italian restaurateurs face criminal charges after food inspectors were served dormouse stew and braised dormice in wine and red pepper sauce.

The edible or fat dormouse (Glis glis) was a delicacy in Ancient Rome, when it was fattened on walnuts, and is still much appreciated in parts of Italy. However, it is now a protected species and when food inspectors raided an autumn festival in Calabria they found several rodent casseroles.

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Macaroni with dormouse and thrush sauce

1 edible dormouse
8 thrushes
1kg skinned tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 onion
Chopped parsley and basil
Half-glass dry red wine
Salt and pepper
1 red chilli pepper
Macaroni

Method

Skin dormouse and remove innards and leave in running water for a day and a night. Cut dormouse into pieces, soak it for an hour in a half-water, half-vinegar mixture. Rinse. Clean and pluck the thrushes. Soften the chopped onion and garlic in lard in a casserole dish, add the dormouse and thrushes and brown them. Add red wine. When the wine evaporates remove dormouse and thrushes, add tomatoes, salt, pepper, parsley, basil and red chilli pepper. Add lid and cook on low heat for 20 minutes, return the meat and cook until tender. Boil pasta in salted water, drain and serve

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