Fave Fiasco

Fave Fisaco

Fave beans make me think of the local Italians’ St. Joseph’s altars, not so much the Hannibal Lecter character from “Silence of the Lambs.” I’ve kept the same bean in my wallet for years, because the legend is that if you have one, you won’t be without God’s gift of money, therefore food. I hear it goes back to thanking St. Joseph for good crops after a famine.

I’d never had a cooked fave bean, so when I found some at Whole Foods, I thought I’d give it a shot. I looked online for recipes and came up with a blog called How Not To Cook Fave Beans. I had already started them cooking when I learned that spring beans are tender, and dried beans have a hard casing you have to soak off. So I stopped the hot mess and got to peeling them. It was a messy job that burned my fingers but don’t think I was anywhere near giving up. What was left in the pot didn’t look much like beans, but they tasted okay.

My adventure into Italian beans ended up with a Mexican spin. I served the final round up as nachos.

Egg tip:

A tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese extended and flavored my Friday omelet. I mixed it into the batter with Italian seasonings.

Prison camp

I had my annual prison date with my husband. Inmates prepared and served an appreciation dinner for volunteers at the camp at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Complex. The gospel singing was great as usual. This time the menu had an Asian theme with egg rolls. I can’t get over how the egg rolls had a crispy cornmeal coating all over them. I don’t know how they did it, but I hope they do it again.

ddoiron@panews.com