This Week’s Share
Recipes
Seasonalchef.com has nine delicious ways to use fava beans. Below is one of the recipes to see all nine click here.
Saute of Fresh Fava Beans, Onions, and Fennel
adapted from seasonalchef.com
3lbs fresh fava beans, shelled
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 fresh fennel bulb trimmed, sliced
1 teaspoon fennel seeds coarsely ground with a spice grinder
1 1/3 cup canned low-salt chicken broth more or less
4 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup chopped pancetta
1/2 teaspoon dried savory
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper to taste
1.Cook fava beans in boiling salted water 2 minutes. Drain, cool and peel outer skins.
2. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and fennel bulb; saute 5 minutes. Add favas or lima beans and fennel seeds; saute 3 minutes. Add 1 cup broth and 2 tablespoons dill; bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors.
3. Stir in pancetta and savory, adding more broth if mixture is dry. Simmer until favas are tender, about 15 minutes longer.
4. Mix in lemon juice and 2 tablespoons dill. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.)
Edible Portland has a wonderful article about fava beans. Try the EGG NOODLES WITH FAVA BEANS, LEEKS AND MORELS recipe they recommend.
Fava Bean Falafel
adapted from The Best of Bloodroot Volume One
by Selma Miriam and Noel Furie
1. Chop 1 large onion and a bunch of straight leaf parsley. Slice 3 to 4 cloves garlic.
2. Turn favas in a food processor. Add onion, garlic, and parsley. Also: 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 tablespoon Spanish paprika, and 1 teaspoon chili powder then process. Scrape down bowl and process again. Don’t make mixture too fine. Taste and adjust seasoning as you like. Turn into a bowl and pat down with your hand firmly. Let mixture rest in refrigerator at least one hour.
3. Prepare tahini sauce: rinse processor. Pour into it: 1/2 cup tahini, 1/4 cup water, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 4 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup parsley, chopped, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Process, scrape down, and process again to make a smooth mayonnaise-like sauce. Turn into a mixing bowl and coat with a film of olive oil.
4. Fry falafel: Just before dinner, shape falafel into small balls. Use your hands to squeeze out extra moisture into a bowl (to discard), and then roll and pat into a ball shape about the size of a golf ball. Heat grapeseed oil in a wok. You will need enough to just cover the balls as they cook. When oil is hot enough deep fry 6 falafel balls per diner. Drain on absorbent paper and repeat. Alternatively, falafel may be shaped into small cakes and pan-fried, preferably in a cast iron skillet.
5. Falafel is traditionally severed as a sandwich in pita bread, with sliced tomatoes and onions and shredded lettuce. Offer the tahini sauce, cucumber sauce and pepperoncini peppers as well.
Fava bean Spread
Adapted from Simply Vegan by Debra Wasserman
3 cups favas
1/4 cup tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup water
Blend all the ingredients together in a blender or food processer until smooth. Serve on whole wheat bread with lettuce
SICILIAN PASTA WITH SARDINES AT SEA
Red, White and Greens: The Italian Way with Vegetables
by Faith Willinger
“The sardines are at sea, not in the sauce for this vegetarian version of a classic Sicillian pasta that combines the traditional flavors of pine nuts, raisins, spice, and fennel greens.”
5-6 quarts water
2-3 tablespoons coarse sea salt
1/2 pound fennel fronds, tough stalks removed
1 large onion chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups tomato pulp (fresh or canned)
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 tablespoons dried currants
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pepper to taste
1 pinch powdered saffron or a few saffron threads
16 oz spaghetti
1) In a pot, bring 5-6 quarts of water to a rolling boil, add 2-3 tablespoons salt, and cook the fennel fronds for 6-8 minutes or until tender. Remove the fennel from the pot with a slotted spoon, refresh in cold water, and drain. Chop coarsely. Reserve the cooking water.
2) Put the chopped onion in a large nonstick skillet, drizzle with olive oil, and stir to coat the onion. Saute over low heat until the onion is soft.
3) Add the tomato, pine nuts, currants, nutmeg, chopped fennel, and salt and pepper to taste and cook until the sauce thickens.
4) Dissolve the saffron in 2 tablespoons of pasta cooking water.
5) Return the fennel cooking water to a rolling boil, add the pasta, and cook until it still offers considerable resistance to the tooth, around 3/4 the recommended cooking time. Drain, reserving 2 cups of pasta water.
6) Add the pasta, saffron water, and 1/2 cup pasta cooking water to the sauce and cook over highest heat for 3-5 minutes until pasta is cooked and sauce coats pasta. Add more pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, if sauce gets too dry.