Fava beans. This name cracks me up. Just say the words "fava beans" five times out loud and see if it doesn't sound funny. Apparently they are also known as "broad beans," but I've always heard the name "fava beans" used.
The fava bean is a very old bean. It's an old world food. Meaning it originated in Europe/the Middle East. In fact, it fed the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. This is a bean that was cultivated and eaten by entire ancient civilizations. It was also the only bean known to the old world before the discovery of the Americas. Yet today, the fava bean doesn't seem to be all that popular. I can't even remember when the last time was that I cooked up something with fava beans.
Enough with the history lessons. The reason I'm writing about fava beans is because we got some fresh ones in our farm box. I wasn't going to let 'em go to waste so I had to make something out of them. I made a fava bean puree. It's ingredients are simple, fava beans, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.
First I took the beans out of the pods.
Then, I blanched them in a pot of boiling water, just for a bit. When the skins were loosened I took them out and popped them out of the tough skins.
Next, I put them on the stove with some olive oil, sliced garlic, and a sprig of rosemary from the garden. This is when they started smelling good!
Out of the pot.
When the beans were nice and tender, I took 'em out and mashed them up with two forks (and added a bit more olive oil to make the puree smoother). Season with salt and pepper.
Final step: Spread on crackers and eat!
You're a natural chef, with many other talents. I enjoyed this post. In Italy we were served the huge pod: they were boiled in very salty water. People popped them out of the pod and ate them with BBQ at an outdoor festival in Levanto in the spring.
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