[Sca-cooks] Pennsic pot-luck contribution

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

I brought a dish I plan to serve at my feast: boiled fava beans.  I
didn't measure quantities, but it's easy to prepare.

Para cozer las Habas grandes secas
To cook the large dried fava beans

Clean the fava beans, and set them to soak, as we have said in the
previous chapter, wash them with many changes of water, and
cook them with oil, water, and salt, and when they are cooked,
more or less, put into them fried onions, chopped herbs, pepper,
and saffron.  In the same way, you can cook dried peas, first
having them soak in tepid water rather than in lye.

Diego Granado, _Libro del arte de cozina_ (Spanish, 1599)

note: the previous "chapter" (recipe) is for dried chickpeas which
are soaked for six hours in tepid water or in a mild lye solution.

What I did:
I chopped 2 medium-small onions and fried them in olive oil until
translucent.  I added 4 cans of cooked fava beans (drained), more
oil, and enough water to not quite cover the beans.  I seasoned
them with salt, pepper, and a tiny pinch of saffron.  For the herbs, I
used 1/2 to 1 tsp each of dried savory and dried rubbed sage.  I
cooked the beans until mushy.

Next time I may try the dish with dried peas.  I can get whole dried
peas at an Indian grocery.  Canned fava beans are not economical
in feast quantities, and skinning the dried ones is something of a
nuisance.


Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net