[Sca-cooks] To fry Beanes in a pan

[Kirrily Robert]

Here's what I had for (late) lunch today.  They were *really* good.  I
recommend them!

Yours,

Katherine


To fry Beanes in a pan

Take Beanes, Sage, Onions and Figges as aforesaid, with other good
hearbes, and mingle them together, then frie them in a frying pan with
oyle, and make it like a pancake, and when it is baked take it out, and
cast spice upon it.

(from Epulario (Italian 16th century, published in English translation
1598))


My redaction:

1 small onion, finely chopped
8 semi-dry figs, finely chopped
1 cup cooked fava beans
1 tsp dried, powdered sage
1 tsp dried parsley leaves
1/4 cup olive oil (for frying)
1 tsp mixed spices (I used pre-made poudre fort)

Put all ingredients except oil and spices in a bowl and mash with a potato
masher until there are no whole beans visible and you can form a ball or
patty from the mixture.  If it seems too dry, add a tablespoon or two of
water.

Take small handfuls of the mixture and form into patties.  Don't make them
too thin or they will break up.  Shallow-fry in the oil until browned on
both sides.

Sprinkle with spices and serve hot.

This recipe makes about 6 patties.

Substitution notes:

I used dried herbs because I didn't have fresh handy at the time.
I think the dried sage works very well in this recipe, and I wouldn't
necessarily go out of my way to get fresh sage next time.

If you don't have access to figs, dates would work quite well as a
substitute.  I used semi-dry figs, which are sticky and slightly
squishy, a bit like dried prunes are.  If I used fully dried figs I
would have chopped them even finer, added a little more water to the
mix, and let it sit for a while before making the patties.  I don't
think fresh figs would work very well for this recipe.

I used poudre fort that I'd made earlier for the sprinkling of spices
called for in the recipe.  My poudre fort contains about 50% pepper and
a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, galangal, mace, cloves, etc.  If you
don't have anything like this easily to hand, I'd recommend pepper,
cinnamon, mace and cloves.  You want it to have a bit of bite to it.

--
Lady Katherine Rowberd (mka Kirrily "Skud" Robert)
katherine at infotrope.net  http://infotrope.net/sca/
Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere
"The rose is red, the leaves are grene, God save Elizabeth our Queene"