Recipe no. 395 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 187.
Ingredients
- broad beans
- lettuces
- artichokes
- onion
- lean bacon
- salt pork
- olive oil
- hot water
- flour
- butter
- lard
Preparation
- Preparing the vegetablesShelled and skinned, have about a litre of them; shred the hearts of two lettuces; trim the bottoms of 3 artichokes, cutting each into 4 or 6 wedges depending on size, and chop an onion finely.
- Cooking down the meat and onionCut 150 grams of lean bacon or salt pork into dice, put it in a pan with 2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil, melt it halfway, add the onion, give it 2 turns without letting it brown.
- Adding and cookingAdd the beans, the artichokes and the lettuce. Let it all cook down together, tossing from time to time; season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and let it cook gently and covered after adding 2 ladlefuls of hot water, just enough to make a short sauce.
- Thickening if neededIf this sauce were not quite thickened, it would be enough to add a spoonful of flour diluted with a spoonful of oil, or worked with a walnut-sized piece of butter. However, since broad beans often break down as they cook, this thickening can be dispensed with when that happens, for then the sauce thickens by itself.
Reboul's text
Shelled and skinned, have about a litre of them; shred the hearts of two lettuces; trim the bottoms of 3 artichokes, cutting each into 4 or 6 wedges depending on size, and chop an onion finely. Cut 150 grams of lean bacon or salt pork into dice, put it in a pan with 2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil, melt it halfway, add the onion, give it 2 turns without letting it brown; add the beans, the artichokes and the lettuce. Let it all cook down together, tossing from time to time; season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and let it cook gently and covered after adding 2 ladlefuls of hot water, just enough to make a short sauce. If this sauce were not quite thickened, it would be enough to add a spoonful of flour diluted with a spoonful of oil, or worked with a walnut-sized piece of butter. However, since broad beans often break down as they cook, this thickening
can be dispensed with when that happens, for then the sauce thickens by itself. It is a matter of judgement. Butter may likewise be substituted for the oil, or even lard, in cooking them; it is a question of taste and circumstance.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| aprima | to shred |
| para | to trim |
| chapouta | to chop |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 395, page 187. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.