Apicius’ Parthian Beans

 

Original sources

Apicius: 
Aliter pisam siue fabam: despumatam subtrito lasare Parthico, liquamen et caroeno condies. oleum modice superfundis et inferes.

The John Edwards translation:

Peas or Beans
Prepare the boiled skimmed peas or beans with Parthian laser, stock, and boiled wine. Pour a little olive oil on top and serve.

Recipe

The “bean” part is simply canned mixed beans. Boring, I know, but it gives the same results as taking dried ones and soaking them: and I'm using this as an emergency dish for unexpected vegans. (Gluten-free vegans, even. My nightmare scenario at any revel).

The sauce is more interesting, in that even Apicius was trying to recreate what he regarded as historical ingredients. The original main flavouring was Laser: a kind of giant fennel. It was so popular with the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans that it was extinct on the southern shores of the Mediterranean by the first century AD, and had to be imported from the east, Parthia being the most famous source. It was mixed and ground together with pine nuts, which would absorb the flavour. The pine nuts were then used as the seasoning, while the expensive laser remained in the storage cask.

John Edwards suggests either fennel or ginger as a substitute for laser. In this case I have used mainly fennel seed with a pinch of root ginger, plus some ground pinenuts: recreating the late Roman fake rather than the early Roman original. The rest of the sauce is boiled white wine (down to about half the starting quantity) and vegetable stock.
 

  If you're going to need to keep this warm for a while, you may need to add more wine or stock to stop it drying out. Remember that wine needs to be actually boiled to remove the alcohol.

Most recent revision 29th August 1999