Farm to Table Fava Beans

Italy Delicious

by Ashley Bartner
Fava Beans
We've picked nearly a TON of fava (or "broad bean" as our British friends call them) out of our garden/farm – most likely if you have stopped by in the past 2 weeks you have either been given a bag of fresh picked fava to take home, shelled 'em, and/or eaten them!

So what to do with a crate of fava? Lots of choices, from crudo (raw) to crostini to pasta. Here we share a few of our favorite "Farm to the Table" fava dishes:

Simplicistic Antipasta
With the sweet spring flavor of shelled (double shelled) fava we simply pair it with a hunk of fresh pecorino cheese for the ultimate in simplicistic antipasta and country/peasant cooking.

Another great antipasta is fava crostini – the color and crisp flavor on crunchy bread – how can you only eat one?! Here's Jason's fava crostini recipe:

Fava Crostini
Ingredients
Serves 4

1 cup of double shelled (outer pod & inner shell removed) fresh fava or broad bean
couple glugs of olive oil
garlic clove, skinned, whole
squeeze of lemon
water
shaved parmesan
salt & pepper
baguette or crusty bread, sliced & toasted

Directions

1. Throw the fava in a pan and cover with water and a little salt. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer.
2. Cook a couple of minutes until the fava are tender. Drain.
3. Return the pan to the heat. Pour in a couple glugs of olive oil and the garlic clove. Fry the garlic until browned. Then discard garlic.
4. Toss the fava into the pan and sautee for a minute or two. Then begin mashing with the back of a wooden spoon until you form a paste. Add a bit of water if the paste is a bit too thick.
5. Remove fava paste from heat and season with salt and pepper add a squeeze of lemon.
6.Toast slices of good bread and rub warm fava mixture and top with shaved parmesan. You can drizzle a little really good quality extra virgin olive oil as well if you like.

Tutti a tavola — everyone to the table!

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Ashley Bartner is living the foodie dream in Italy. Together with her Chef-husband Jason, they own and run La Tavola Marche  an organic farm, inn and cooking school in Central Italy's region of Le Marche.

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Comments

[Ashley]

1.

With dried fava - they are usually much larger and have already been popped out of their shell and dried. You will notice this because the fava has a rounded side and a flat side (it is actually the bean split in half). I would suggest to just soak them in plenty of cold water overnight and then cook them in boiling water - THEN proceed with the recipe above.
Keep in mind that you might not need as much liquid - the recipe was written for fresh beans, not dried. Adjust accordingly.

[J. MIchael Wheeler]

2.

Hi Holly,
As with many beans, the first step is soaking overnight. Next day you can peel the beans by squeezing each one with your fingers. I've also seen some recipes call for straining the beans after boiling and removing any remaining pieces of skin.

Personally, I've popped the bean out of its skin after soaking. Next time I'll try straining.

Ashley might have some other insights too. She's a member of the Dancing Spoon Community and can be reached at http://dancingspoon.ning.com/profile/LaTavolaMarche.

Michael

[Holly Wade]

3.

Just emailed Michael on the subject, but will post my query anyway. How do I handle dried fava beans? Do I need to remove the skin from every bean or just soak, clean and proceed with my recipe? Never used them or tasted them before, but I also never met a bean I didn't like. I love a good white bean puree with garlic and sage and all the variations of hummus, but would like to experiment with new varieties and recipes.