Moorish Fava Bean Dip

Skip the human liver, keep the nice Chianti optional, but do enjoy the fava beans!

In the spirit of recent discussions of party food, and the fact that tomorrow is New Year's Eve, a holiday begging for delicious finger foods, I'd like to share a dish from Perfect Spanish: A Collection of Over 100 Esssential Recipes. This is a wonderful little book, and the pages of my copy are well-worn and stained by greasy cook's fingerprints.

This recipe is very low-cost, considering it's just cooked beans and onion processed with a variety of seasonings that you probably already have on your spice rack at home. I actually skipped the chopped mint, and I used both a chopped garlic clove and minced garlic. The paprika and cumin are both such tasty complements to the would-be-bland beans (I just used a frozen package, by the way), so don't be afraid to use a generous amount of spice.

My meat-eating boyfriend loved this dip, and we ate it with raw carrots, cauliflower, and celery. I loved the dip warm, as the recipe intended, but he actually liked it better after it had chilled in the refrigerator. This spicy dip would also be great with small, crusty breadsticks, as the book recommends. It's such a great idea for a party, because, like most Spanish foods, it's so delicious and quite unique, and very easy and cheap to make. Your omnivore friends will love this dip, too, and its saltiness makes it a great companion for beer or wine.