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Pisam Vitellianam sive fabam (Peas or Broad Beans Beans in a Herb Sauce)
Pisam Vitellianam sive fabam (Peas or Broad Beans in a Herb Sauce) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a blend of cooked and mashed peas or broad (fava) beans with hard-boiled egg yolks with lovage, ginger, honey, garum, wine, and vinegar. It can be served as an accompaniment or as a kind of pate with bread.. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Pisam Vitellianam sive fabam.
prep time
15 minutes
cook time
30 minutes
Total Time:
45 minutes
Serves:
2-3
Rating: 
Tags : Sauce RecipesVegetarian RecipesBean RecipesAncient Roman Recipes
Original Recipe
Pisam Vitellianam sive fabam: pisam coques, lias. Teres piper, ligusticum, zingiber, et super condimenta mittis vitella ovorum, quae dura coxeris, mellis uncias III, liquamen, vinum et acetum. Haec omnia mittis in caccabum et condimenta quae trivisti. Adiecto oleo ponis ut ferveat. Condies pisam, lias, si aspera fuerit mel mittis et inferes
Translation
Vitellian peas or fava beans. Boil the peas and mash them. Grind black pepper, lovage, ginger, and add hard egg yolk, three ounces honey, garum, wine, and vinegar. Put the sauce in a pot with the ground spices. Pour oil and boil it. Mix the peas and the sauce, mashing them. If they are sour, add honey and serve.
Ingredients:
100g fresh broad (fava) beans or peas
2 hard-boiled egg yolks
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
60ml (1/4 cup) white dry wine
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp
liquamen
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
50g (1 2/3 oz) lovage
2cm (4/5 in) piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Method:
Peel the broad beans and boil them in lightly-salted water until they are tender (about 20 minutes).
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Grind the pepper in a mortar then add the lovage. Pound and grind to a paste before adding the ginger. Pound until the mixture is smooth then work in the egg yolks.
Mix in the vinegar, wine, honey, fish sauce and olive oil until the mixture is smooth.
When the beans are tender mash them coarsely (I have a Nigerian wide mortar for this, which is quite similar to a Roman mortar). Place the sauce in a pan and heat to just boiling then mix in the mashed beans. Turn into a dish and serve.
Find more recipes from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria along with information on Apicius and his cookbook, all part of this site's Ancient Roman recipes collection.
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