8 oz/200 g chickpeas, soaked
3 tbsp. chopped mint
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tbsp. chopped parsley
6 tbsp. olive oil
salt, freshly ground black pepper
2 slices of bread, crusts removed

Cook the soaked chickpeas in water until very tender. Drain them but keep the cooking water; measure it and make up to 1½ pints/750 ml if necessary. Liquidize the chickpeas, garlic, mint, parsley and 3 tbsp. of oil until smooth. Season to taste and reheat gently. Meanwhile make the bread into croutons by cutting into cubes and frying until golden in the remaining oil. Serve sprinkled with croutons.

4 oz/100 g chickpeas
1 small onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 anchovy fillet, chopped
½ green pepper seeded, cored and
chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
pinch of dried rosemary
salt and pepper
2 oz/50 g small noodles

Soak the chickpeas overnight in cold water. The following day, bring to the boil in a pan with 2 pints/1 liter of cold water and cook until tender but whole. Strain and retain cooking liquor. Fry the onion, garlic, anchovy and green pepper in olive oil until tender but not browned. Add the tomatoes and rosemary and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Add to the cooked chickpeas and ½ pint/300 ml of the cooking liquor. Add salt and pepper to taste and bring to the boil. Add the noodles and continue simmering until tender.
Serve hot.

6 oz/150 g chickpeas
2 onions
3 carrots
3 leeks
3 celery stalks
½ lb/200 g tomatoes
4 tbsp. olive oil
salt and black pepper
4 tbsp. chopped parsley

Soak the chickpeas overnight. Drain and cover with fresh cold water. Add 1 halved onion, 1 leek and 1 celery stalk and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender. Drain, reserving the cooking liquor. Chop the remaining vegetables, keeping each kind separate. Heat the oil in a heavy pan and add the chopped onion. Cook gently until golden brown, add the chopped carrots; after a few minutes add the leeks, then the celery. Skin the tomatoes, chop them and add to the other vegetables; when all are slightly softened reheat the chickpea stock and pour in. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add the chickpeas and bring back to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, grind coarsely. Reheat, adjust seasoning to taste, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

¼ lb/100 g chickpeas
¼ lb/100 g kidney, pinto or navy beans
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp. butter or shortening
½ tsp. turmeric
1 lb/400 g lamb shank
¼ lb/100 g lentils
1½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
100 oz/250 g rice
1½ lbs/600 g mixed greens (leeks,
green onion, parsley, coriander, fresh dill weed, etc.)

Soak chickpeas and beans overnight. Fry the onion in butter or shortening until golden brown. Add the turmeric meat, soaked beans, lentils, salt, pepper and enough water to cover. Simmer gently, covered, for 1 hour. Add the rice and chopped greens. Cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serves 4-5

1 large onion, sliced
2 tbsp. butter or shortening
½ lb/200 g lamb shoulder or lamb
shank
2 oz/50 g chickpeas
2 oz/50 g haricot beans
4 oz/100 g lentils
7 oz/175 g rice
2 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. turmeric
¼ tsp. pepper
3-4 pints/2 liter water
1 pint/500 ml yoghurt

Soak the chickpeas and haricot beans in separate bowls overnight. Drain. Fry the onion in the butter (or shortening) in a large saucepan. Add all the other ingredients (except the yoghurt). Cover and simmer 1½ hours. Mince the meat and return it to the soup. Stir a few spoonfuls of hot soup into the yoghurt in order to warm it; then add the yoghurt to the soup, stirring gently.

8 oz/200 g chickpeas
2 pints/1 liter vegetable stock
2-3  onions, chopped
1 tsp. turmeric
3 tbsp. butter or margarine
2 tbsp. flour
salt and pepper

Soak the chickpeas overhight in cold water, drain. Sauté the chopped onions in butter until golden brown. Mix the chickpeas, onions, turmeric and stock. Cook in the pressure cooker for 10-15 minutes at 15 lbs pressure. Liquidize or pass through a food mill. Make a roux by melting 1 tbsp. butter, add the flour and stir for a few minutes. Add it to the puréed chickpea mixture, stirring continuously so that it does not become lumpy. Cook for a few minutes more. Season to taste. Serve in bowls with a little lump of butter added to each.

Serves 4

1¾ pints/1.5 liter lamb stock
1 oz/25 g chickpeas, soaked overnight
1-2 tbsp. tomato purée

Manti dough:
½ lb/ 200 g flour
1 egg
salt
cold water

Stuffing:
1 lb/400 g minced lamb
1 large onion
4 or 5 sprigs of parsley, finely chopped
1 egg
black pepper and salt

Boil the chickpeas in lamb stock. Meanwhile prepare the manti. When the chickpeas are barely tender add the manti to the stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée before serving.

Dough: Sift the flour into a large basin with salt, make a well in the center and break the egg into it, mix, adding enough cold water to make a dough. Knead well and set aside.

Stuffing: Grate the onion into the minced lamb, add the chopped parsley, egg and seasoning. Knead well. Roll out the dough as thinly as possible without breaking. Cut the dough into circles, put a spoonful of stuffing into the middle and fold into a little bag by squeezing the dough together at the top.

2½ lbs/1 kg fresh faba beans
4 oz/100 g fresh green peas, shelled
1 stick of celery, sliced thinly
12 very small white onions, peeled

Fricassée:
1 slice of bacon
bacon fat
1 garlic clove
1 onion
parsley or basil
1 tbsp. flour

Shell the faba beans, then remove the skins. Bring about 3 pints (1.¾ liter) of water to the boil, salt it, and add the faba beans. Simmer. When the beans are half cooked, add about 4 oz (100 g) of fresh green peas, the onions and the celery.
Fricassée: fry the finely chopped bacon, the onion, garlic and some parsley or basil in bacon fat. When they are brown add flour, stir for a few minutes, add a ladleful of the soup and stir it continuously until the fricassée has thickened, then return the whole mixture to the soup. Cook for 10 more minutes.
Serve poured over slices of rye bread in the soup bowls.

1 lb/½ kg faba beans, including pods
1 onion, chopped
½ oz/15 g margarine
1 pint/500 ml stock
1 tsp. mixed herbs
salt and pepper
¼ pint/250 ml milk
½ oz/15 g flour, cornflour or rice flour

Slice faba beans thinly. Melt the margarine and add the beans and onions, cover the saucepan and shake it frequently over gentle heat for 10 minutes. Boil the stock and add it to the beans along with the mixed herbs. Simmer the soup for ½ to 2 hours until the vegetables are quite soft. Liquidize or pass through a sieve and return the soup to the saucepan. Blend the flour or cornflour with the milk and add it to the soup, bring to the boil and stir for a few minutes. Taste and season before serving.

Recommended for sick and convalescing people to regain their health.

1 lb/½ kg dried skinned faba beans
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt and white pepper
3 tbsp. parsley, chopped finely
juice of 1 lemon

Soak the beans for 48 hours. Drain them and put into a large saucepan with 3-4 pints (about 2 liters) water. Bring to the boil and simmer covered for 1 hour, or until the beans are soft. Press the beans and liquid through a sieve, blend in an electric blender or mash with a fork or potato masher. Return the soup to the saucepan, add the oil, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, adding more water if the soup is too thick. Garnish with chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve with bread.

A French peasant dish of the Haute Marne region.

12 small potatoes
12 small carrots
6 small turnips
6 small onions
2 lbs/1 kg faba beans, fresh, in pod
2 lbs/1 kg fresh green peas
1 lb/½ kg home-cured bacon, diced heart of a young cabbage, cut in strips

Put the onions, potatoes, carrots, turnips and the diced bacon into a heavy saucepan, cover with water and simmer slowly for about an hour. Half an hour before serving add the shelled faba beans and peas. During the last 5 minutes add the cabbage.

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