Foole Meze
Foole Meze is a Greek fava bean appetizer or starter course. In point of fact my name for the dish translates as “fava bean appetizer.”
Foole Meze (Serves 4 – 6)
Ingredients
3 cups frozen fava (broad) beans
1/2 cup kalamata olives
4-6 marinated artichoke hearts, quartered
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Cook the fava beans in rapidly boiling water for 4 minutes, then rinse under cold water.
Remove the leathery outer skin from the fava beans and discard.
Mix together the shelled fava beans, olives, and artichoke hearts in a bowl.
Mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and sea salt in a small bowl.
Place equal amounts of the fava bean mixture on serving plates, drizzle with the dressing, and top with the parsley and a little freshly ground black pepper.
I especially like this dish served with good feta cheese and a loaf of crusty bread to sop up the seasoned olive oil.
I hope you enjoy!
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Tags: Appetizers | Food & Drink | Recipes
May 29th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Urgh – I used to be force-fed foole in Syria, but not all nice like this. Just foole, boiled, and then dipped in salt. And I used to have to drink foole juice – the water that the beans were boiled in – because it was “good” for me.
Your recipe looks a lot more pleasant!
May 29th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Thanks, Razzler.
Yeah, it’s a lot different than the Syrian way of doing fava beans. Now don’t get me wrong – i like the simple Syrian way of serving foole. It’s sort of like edamame, but it gets very boring very quickly.
May 29th, 2008 at 10:53 am
But foole, just foole – for breakfast? What were they trying to do to me? I’ll have to try this recipe out – see if I can get over my suspicion of those little beans in leather coats.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I assume what they forced on you was some variant of Ful medames. It’s a sadly common Middle Eastern breakfast most renowned for being filling. Ful medames has been historically described as being “like a stone in the stomach”.
May 31st, 2008 at 10:08 am
Sounds amazing.