Fava Beans Recipes

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil over medium heat and set up a bowl of well-salted ice water. Add the shelled fava beans to the boiling water. Once the water has come back to a boil, cook the beans for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove them from the boiling water and immediately put them into the bowl of salted ice water. Once the beans have cooled completely, strain them from the ice water. Peel the tough, light green outer layer from the beans. You will be left with a delicate, lovely vibrantly green tender fava bean. MMMMMM! Reserve these little lovelies.
• Coat a large saucepan over medium-high heat with extra-virgin olive oil. Add the bacon (if using, if not just start with the onions and celery) and once the bacon has started to become brown and crispy and is very aromatic, add the diced onions and celery. Season with salt, to taste, and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Cook the onions and celery until they become translucent and are very aromatic. Add the smashed garlic cloves and the diced potato, stir to coat with the oil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in 2/3 of the reserved fava beans and 4 cups stock. Taste for seasoning and add salt, if needed. Bring the stock to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.
• When the potatoes are tender enough to slide easily off a fork when cooked, puree the soup in a blender* until smooth. You probably will have to do this in batches. Return the soup to the pot, and add the remaining fava beans. If the soup is too thick, add some the remaining stock to adjust the consistency. Taste the soup to check the seasoning and reseason, if needed.
• Ladle the soup into serving dishes, give them a little sprinkle of grated Parmesan and a drizzle of big fat finishing oil.
• Fava beany-weany delicious!

Steps:

• Fill a large bowl with ice water. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fava beans and cook 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to the ice water; let cool about 5 minutes (keep the pot of water boiling). Drain the beans, then peel off their skins (they should slip right off). Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook as the label directs. Reserve about 1 1/2 cups cooking water, then drain the pasta.
• Heat the olive oil, garlic, mint sprigs, parsley sprigs and all but 2 tablespoons of the scallions in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the scallions are soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the favas and 1 cup of the reserved cooking water. Bring to a simmer and cook until the favas are tender and the liquid is slightly reduced, 8 to 10 minutes; discard the garlic and herb sprigs.
• Add the pasta to the skillet and cook, tossing until it absorbs some of the sauce, about 3 minutes. Stir in the butter, chopped mint and parsley, reserved scallions, and salt and pepper to taste. Add more cooking water to loosen, if needed. Serve warm or at room temperature.
• Tip: If you can't find fresh fava beans, use frozen shelled and skinned ones and blanch as directed.

Steps:

• Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat; add onion. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add chopped tomato and tomato paste; cook until tomatoes are mushy, about 4 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon water, if necessary.
• Pour fava beans into skillet; mash into a paste. Add 1 tablespoon water, cumin, salt, black pepper, and ground red pepper; stir well. Heat for 1 minute more. Remove from heat; allow to rest for 1 minute. Stir in olive oil and parsley.

Steps:

• Chop up a small onion with a bit of oil and sauté in small pot until tender, remove from heat.
• Open can of fava beans and dump into pot, along with juices, do not drain.
• Take a potato smasher and smash up the fava beans. I leave a few whole, but basically smash up most of them.
• Add salt, ground cumin and cayenne pepper to your liking.
• Squeeze juice of lemon into pot.
• Add a splash of olive oil.
• Heat just to boil and then that's it.
• Spoon some beans into a flat bowl, splash some oil on top of them. I like to add the following garnish, but you can leave garnish out and just eat that way they are just as yummy too.
• This is something I do sometimes to this dish as well-MY SPECIAL GARNISH. 1. Chop a few slices of red onion fine. 2. Chop a small (or half) green bell pepper finely. 3. Chop a handful of black olive slices finely. 4. Chop a small tomato finely. 5. A little bit of chopped parsley 6. Drizzle of tahina.
• Okay now you add all these finely chopped veggies around the bowl edge and finish off with a drizzle of tahina in middle of bowl. Looks beautiful! Then i mix all together and eat it mixed up!

Steps:

• First, shell the beans from the fava pods (I found it's sometimes easier - especially if you're new to fava beans - to open the pods when you run the edge of a knife along the seam, cutting away the tough edge so that the pod halves come apart).
• In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil, then add salt - the amount depends on how much water you have, but it should be very salty, like seawater.
• In a bowl, combine ice and tap water to make ice water; set aside.
• Add the shelled beans to the boiling water and let cook for about 3 minutes, then remove from saucepan and immediately plunge into the ice water to halt the cooking.
• Let the beans cool, then peel the outer skin from each of them.
• Over medium heat in a skillet, melt together the butter and olive oil, then add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
• Add the peeled fava beans and sauté for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until they are done to your preference.
• Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper, serve, and enjoy!
• Note: in choosing your fava beans, get the pods that are firm and fresh looking; also, if you're feeling silly, have these along with your favorite liver dish and a nice Chianti.
• Note 2: once you've made these basic fava beans, you can add other delicious items such as caramelized onions or fennel, chunky fresh tomatoes, and/or a bit of chopped proscuitto.
• Note 3: I asked Gabriel if favas could be frozen effectively, and he said that yes, you can shuck them and blanch them for 1 minute at most, then freeze them in a single layer on a sheet in the freezer before putting them into bags; great bright green color and no mushiness in texture; thaw, peel, and use as usual.