They taste like butter. They really do! They are a type of bean, and not butter. I know this because I have hulled them myself, in the actual springtime. People act as though this is sooo arduous, but if you have a leisurely afternoon and some good company, there is nothing like hulling a big bowl of favas between friends. Just boil them for a few minutes in roiling, salted water, plunge them into ice water to halt the cooking (and cool them), and slit the pods open (with a knife, or your fingernail), slide the outer hull off of each bean and ta-da! that was really not so hard.
In the non-springtime, I like to buy frozen fava beans at Whole Foods (Do not, by any means, consider this an endorsement of Whole Foods. I am currently very angry with Whole Foods, due to a nasty run-in with a bunch of cilantro from the wrong side of the tracks. Said cilantro, brown-spotted and pale, was grossly over-priced at $2.49 a bunch. I exaggerate by not a penny good people! Driving home, I could hardly fail to notice the Little Mexican Grocery on California and Milwaukee, shaking its boxy grocery store head at me in disappointment: "But Chef Yum Yum, my cilantro is three bunches for $1.00." It hardly seemed fair to point out to Little Mexican Grocery that its aisles smell a bit too much like Very Old Meat for my tastes, because not only is that cilantro cheap, it is beautiful. If it weren't for those favas, and perhaps the reasonably priced Nature's Gate Shampoo, Whole Foods and I would be over, OVER! ...but I digress.). They are of course not as good as fresh fava beans, but I promise, boiled for a moment in some sea salted water, they will never cease to amaze you (remember, they are a type of bean, not butter).
Here are two of my favorite ways to have favas:
"Springtime" Pasta with Favas and Other Much, Much Less Glamorous Things
This pasta is a friendly riff off of the Pasta Primavera in the Yellow Book, which I've made many, many times to the joy of tastebuds everywhere. That recipe is elaborate, but I recommend it because you'll feel accomplished and more intelligent when you're finished. This recipe is much more simple, for a night when you need some instant gratification.
12 oz. quality pasta (I most recently made this with walnut ravioli, but a more simple pasta would work just as well)
2 tbs. olive oil
1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen favas, hulled if fresh
1 large broccoli head, chopped into small florets (this is a time where I do not use the broccoli stems. Oh save them for another day!)
6 oz. cremini mushrooms, not-too-thinly, not-too-thickly sliced
2 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
1/4 c. good quality parmigiano-reggiano, corasely grated
an enormous handful of coarsely chopped fresh basil
1 generous tbs. grated lemon rind
Bring a large pot of water generously salted water to boil (the salt really is key in bringing out the nuances of the vegetables). While the water is starting to get all worked up, heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, toss in the mushrooms and saute, allowing them to just start to release all their mushroomy juices. Turn off the heat, and just let the mushrooms sit there, patiently.
While the mushrooms are sauteeing, toss the favas and broccoli into the boiling water, letting them cook until just crisp-tender, about 2 minutes, but I think you should check before you take them out of the water. Fish them out with a slotted spoon (you'll need to keep the water boiling for your pasta, of course) and plunge them into a large bowl of icy water. Drain and tell them to wait, too. Use the mushrooms as an example if they're being too unruly.
Meanwhile cook your pasta according to package directions in the very same water that you boiled your vegetables in, reflecting on how the vegetable-flavored pasta water will really help to tie everything together in the final dish. Just a wee minute before your pasta is ready, bring the mushrooms back up to heat, adding the garlic, red pepper flakes and salt, and stirring until just fragrant. Add in the vegetables; you don't want to cook them, really (as they're already perfect!), but you do want them to have a suggestion of saute. Drain your pasta, reserving a cup of the paster water. Now toss together, everything, everything: the vegetables, the cheese, the pasta, the basil and the lemon rind, adding reserved pasta water as needed so that all things seem mingly - no sticking together forming cliques, but no pasta water sea of wallflowers, either.
Salad of Favas, Orange and Pink Peppercorns
Salad:
2 cups fresh or frozen fava beans, blanched in salted water
4 oranges, segmented and pith removed (I have a very good method for doing this, but had a hard time describing it without pictures. Which is why I am a grant writer, not a cookbook writer.)
1/4 cup fresh mint, julienned
a block of very firm, dry feta, which you will cut into four thin, delicate slices, one for each salad plate.
Dressing:
1 tbs. champagne vinegar (I love to use Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar for this)
1 tbs. orange juice, reserved from when you trim the oranges
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. pink peppercorns
Sea salt, to taste
Coarsely grind the pink peppercorns with a mortar and pestle. In a small bowl, wisk together all dressing ingredients and pour over favas. Gently toss the favas with the dressing, then cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Just before serving, toss the oranges with the mint. On four serving plates, as artfully as you can arrange the feta slice, favas and oranges. I like to keep the oranges and the favas in their own little piles, so I can have a taste of each now and then, or take one big bite of both as is my pleasure.
I first made this salad for a beautiful party for my beautiful friend Michelle's bridal shower. This is relatively unrelated, but in the absence of food-related pictures, at Michelle (and Jeff!)'s wedding a few weeks later, I took one of my favorite pictures of all time:
Maybe now Chef Yum Yum's nice boyfriend won't be quite so reluctant to give her pictures to put on her blog.
7 comments:
Wow, Chef Yum Yum, which one of those dashing young men in your boyfriend?
yeah by IN I mean IS.
Aww, Chef Yum Yum - I am flattered to be featured so flatteringly in your blog. I fully endorse the deliciousness of your fava bean salad. And what a memorable picture, to boot!
oh, chef yum yum, what am i without your guidance?? today i tried to cook quinoa when i really wanted yellow rice, which has, however, very little nutritional value compared with quinoa, the wonder grain. so i tried to pretend like my quinoa was yellow rice and cooked it with adobo and saffron, but it came out not at all like yellow rice and instead all salty in weird ways. so then i was like, i know how to fix this! and i added a little sugar, which was apparently a LOT of sugar and made it taste, not just weird, but WEIRD. so what i am saying is that i need a. you or b. a good quinoa recipe. the one in the gourmet cookbook calls for things i don't have, like thyme and a sieve and says words i don't understand like "parboil" and omits steps it thinks should be self-evident like WHEN TO PUT IN THE BLEEDING 2.5 TABLESPOONS OF OIL. i realize it is perhaps evident to you master chef types, but to those of us who prefer to be bossed around in the kitchen, i need to know if you add the oil to the boiling water, like you would rice, or if you use it to dress the quinoa at the end, like a pasta salad?? OKAY, YOU SELF-IMPORTANT GOURMET COOKBOOK? WHY DON'T YOU WRITE FOR NORMAL PEOPLE, HUH??? YOU THINK YOU'RE TOO GOOD FOR US, IS THAT IT?? ELITESTS!!
Chef Yum Yum gently, gently suggests that perhaps Natalie might (a) invest in a sieve - seriously, they're about $3 (b) invest in dried (not even fresh!) thyme - it's one of Chef Yum Yum's all time favorite herbs (c) read the recipe a bit...more slowly...perhaps you were just flustered by the parboiling, and missed the last paragraph that tells you to add the oil with the salt and the pepper?
A few other thoughts:
If it's not washed properly, quinoa has a very strong, bitter taste to it (something about how the grain is processed), which is why it's important to rinse it many times, very thoroughly. This is another place where a sieve is helpful. Perhaps this bitterness is the strangeness you were tasting?
Also, I don't think sugar is the best way to make something less salty - it'll just give you something salty-sweet. Instead, think about ways you could "water it down." You could make the quinoa brothy, by simply adding water, or add unseasoned steamed vegetables that could take up some of those flavors.
And in closing:
If there's one thing you should take away from this advice, it's that Chef Yum Yum knows that you are a much, much better chef than you ever think you are, Chef Carnes.
well, chef yum yum, i bought a sieve and some thyme and tried the quinoa again, and it came out fluffy and light and wonderful and, most importantly, not weird. i added some ricotta to part of it, too, which gave it a creamy cheesy yumminess (because, honestly, what *can't* be made better with cheese?). also, ruth reichl has the best, easiest green bean recipe ever, involving tossing the bean in a butter with garlic and almond crumbs. YUM. so i repent of my anti-gourmet apostasy and thank chef yum yum for guiding me back to the fold.
You ARE a wonderful chef, Chef Carnes!!! Anyway, I'm commenting because WHEN ARE THERE GOING TO BE MORE POSTS!!!! WE WANT MORE! WE WANT MORE!! please... PLEASE TEACH US OHH GREAT YUM YUM!!!!
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