There is a post below on the limited visual experience of eating locally in the winter. Yes, even in the Bay Area where so much is available year round from not too far away, shopping at the farmer’s markets reveals growing seasons that limit choice and we saw, color. We have gone beyond emerging from spring, but the Bay’s summers are so weak that something about about winter seems to linger. Despite the fog that cools off the end of an otherwise nice warm day (not to mention that we’ve had rain storms much further into the year than anyone here is used to), there are many colors popping up in the market now: luscious reds of of strawberries and cherries, oranges and purples of apricots and plums, yellows of summer squash. We’re certainly out of the limited palate of winter meals. But even with all this new color it’s that bright green of Spring that I really love.
Nothing quite does this special Spring green like fava beans. But boy are they work. I brought home three pounds of fava beans from the market at a deal as it was the end of the day and the farmer had to move them. Reluctantly I took them home, mentally clearing at least an hour from my evening to make them into something edible. After popping the beans out of their thick pods, they must be blanched in order to get the tough skin off. But of course, don’t let them get too comfortable as they shouldn’t get mushy.
Once the blanched beans have cooked then you have to pop them out of their skin, which takes a certain touch but is easy to get a hang of. At this point you start to realize that you’ll have a lot more going in your compost than in your belly from the whole process.
So much packaging for something so small. But that color! And the flavor and texture is fresh and springy as well. Many fava bean recipes are for a kind of fava (or broad) bean humus/puree. I can’t imagine how many you would need to process to get enough for a dip. I like to mix them into a larger dish to spread them out. A soup works as did just tossing them in a pan with onions and mixing with brown rice cooked in stock. I had one piece of bacon that I sliced thin and cooked up as well…It actually did a great job of rounding out the grassy-ness of the beans for a touch of richness. It was a pretty simple meal for all the work. I know favas are useful for nitrogen fixers in the soil and so I am glad they are being grown by local farmers, the color is lovely, and they have a long and rich culinary and cultural history in the Middle East and Mediterranean. They have compounds which for some can actually cause health issues (which is why you won’t see any fava bean recipes in Nourishing Traditions). They are not the easiest of foods, but I am always happy to see them, and even use them once in a while, because it’s finally Spring which means we are onto the abundant variety and ease of summer foods!
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