First of several

[madbaker]

This week's Resolution Recipe: Lentils.

[54] Take lentils washed well and with stones picked out, and set them to cook with savory herbs, oil, salt and saffron. And when they are cooked, mince them well; and put beaten eggs on top, and sliced dry cheese, serve. (Anonimo Toscano, late 14th-early 15th c.)

1/2 cup green lentils
3/4 to 1 cup water
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt (and pepper)
pinch saffron
1/2 tsp minced rosemary
1/2 tsp minced marjoram
2 eggses
several slices Parmesan

Wash and soak lentils. Simmer with the herbs, oil, salt (and pepper), and saffron until soft. Mash as needed. Remove to two bowls. Top with cheese.
Lightly scramble the eggses. Top the lentils. Serve.

Parsley, marjoram, and rosemary are common herbs used elsewhere in this corpus. I added pepper along with the salt as it's a common seasoning that presumably was left out of the directions.
I assume that "beaten eggses" are scrambled; with no further cooking instructions, that seems more likely than whisking eggses and placing them on raw, followed by a salamander or broiler to cook them.

Sources: Anonimo Toscano, Libro della Cocina. Ariane Helou trans, 2013.

What worked: It was okay as a breakfast. A bit bland.

What didn't: It was unexciting. I should have used more seasoning and herbs. Marjoram would have helped, but I didn't have any because apparently it's not a popular herb for stores to carry. I didn't feel like chopping parsley, so I didn't. That would also have helped a bit. Poaching the eggses would have been more interesting for appearance as well as a runny yolk to mix in; I might do that next time, although this only calls for "beaten" - similar recipes in this work with chickpeas and leeks offer poached eggses as an option.

Will I make it again? Probably, although I can't see this as one of my favorites.

Comments

[serendipity17.livejournal.com]

I love marjoram and frequently substitute it for oregano.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Me too! I don't know why it's not used more and more readily available.

[tshuma]

There's a persian/andalusian variation on this dish from Cariodoc's Miscellany that I quite enjoy -- it leans to the coriander and black pepper side of the seasonings. Here it is, in fact. So tasty! I was just this weekend thinking about making this again. It was a huge hit at my co-op on campus.