I never thought it'd be possible to be this spoiled. Well through the summer and near the end of it in fact, I continue to get fresh fava beans, one of my favorite (and fleeting) spring treats. The wacky weather here in NYC and in much of the east coast has caused some springtime produce to linger while barely whetting our appetites for summer goodies. While green tomatoes and cucumbers made appearances two weeks ago and fully ripe red and yellow tomatoes finally arrived at the CSA last week, it's the presence of the fava beans and baby greens of springtime that are keeping me on my toes. As much as I love fava beans, I haven't really made that much with them in the past since their season is traditionally (and notoriously) short. If I've gotten one batch a year I've been lucky, but the truth is I've mostly had to rely on seasonal restaurant dishes in previous years to get me my fresh fava fix.
So when I trotted home with yet another bag of beans I wondered what was left to do. I'd done all I could with leaving them whole, and I was still loving them too much to mask their funky flavor, so I decided to go for a nice, smooth fava cream. Despite the name there's not actually much dairy in this recipe, just a few tablespoons of whole milk, which could be left out altogether and replaced with more extra virgin olive oil or even a dollop of low-fat yogurt if that makes you feel better (don't even bother with reduced fat milk--it's too watery). The recipe in general is pretty fluid to suit your needs. I like mine with a generous squeeze of lemon juice to lend a nice citrusy pop to the seafood I tend to serve it with, but it'd be just as good with a hint of dill or tarragon under a bed of lobster or jumbo shrimp, or even with some duck breast (it would cut the fattiness really well).
I happened to make my fava cream with a gorgeous fillet of black cod, which in my house typically gets the miso glaze treatment. This time I decided to let my delicious CSA ingredients shine (wilted swiss chard with garlic and lots of black pepper), so I simply pan-roasted it, with a quick finish in the oven. I made a beautiful green puddle of the fava cream, put down a bed of swiss chard in the center, and topped it with a black cod fillet. I drizzled the whole thing with a warm lemon-honey-mustard vinaigrette before finishing the dish with a scatter of whole favas for a little toothy bite. This dinner comes together really quickly, is really gorgeous, and is sure to impress if you're cooking for a crowd. The fava cream can be made ahead of time (even a day or two), and the swiss chard can also be prepped (washed, roughly chopped, stems removed) a few hours or even a day before cooking. If you have guests (or a hungry family), all that's left to do is pan roast the fish (only 2 minutes a side) and saute the swiss chard while the fish finishes in the oven, a mere 5-7 minutes more. Even if you did do it with no work ahead prep, I guarantee you'd be in and out of the kitchen in less than 45 minutes. I haven't bothered to give you the swiss chard recipe since it's just washed, chopped and sauteed quickly in olive oil and garlic, but give the fava cream a try, it's a great light spring meal. And if you're dying to try the fish, just let me know--I'd be happy to put that recipe up as well.
Fava Bean Cream
1 lb fava beans, shelled
juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 small garlic clove (or half a large one)
1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp whole milk
salt
1. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add shelled fava beans and cook 2-3 minutes. Remove beans to an ice bath to cool (and maintain color). Once they've cooled to the touch, remove outer skin to reveal the bright green beans inside.
2. Add fava beans, lemon juice, zest, garlic, milk and half of the broth to a blender. Puree until combined, slowly streaming in olive oil. Add more broth as necessary to achieve desired thickness or to thin-out. If your blender leaves chunky bits, run the cream through a sieve.
3. Season with salt and serve with your favorite protein (or toss with angel hair or linguine--yum!).
-Laura
It's funny what a movie can do for food. Sometimes a movie reference can bring a dish or even a drink back to life (when was the last time you had, let alone heard of a white Russian before The Big Lebowski?) or even give it a legacy (martini shaken or stirred?). For others, dishes are inextricably linked to their film appearances, like for those who slurp spaghetti hoping the love of their life will be on the other end Lady and the Tramp style, or the people for whom fried green tomatoes will forever be a movie staring Kathy Bates. Fava beans, I fear, have suffered at the hand of Hannibal Lecter, their memory forever tainted by cannibalism and a nice Chianti. But I'd like to erase all that because they're one of my favorite beans, and frankly, because they deserve better.
Fava's require no more than 2 minutes cooking time max, so they're a dream for quick spring and summer cooking. They're also quite flavorful on their own (they remind me of the the earthy, funky taste of asparagus), so after a quick blanch and peel, they're super tasty with little more than a glug of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. I was lucky enough to receive a double dose of fava beans this week in my CSA share, so I decided to try out a new preparation. Normally this would be too late in the year for these little green treats, but our CSA produce is at the mercy of the weather, and it's not nearly warm enough for most summer produce, so I'm getting to enjoy some great spring foods instead. Favas are (to me, at least) the epitome of springtime flavor, so doctoring them up too much would be a bad thing. But, pairing them with other fresh springtime treats would be a great compromise. After some research I came across a great recipe from the book Pintxos: Small Plates in the Spanish Tradition (pintxos are small bites like tapas). It used a somewhat rich sounding dressing of créme fraîche and olive oil, so I pared it down to use Greek yogurt instead. A few tablespoons of olive oil, some thinly sliced mint and lots of fresh lemon juice and zest rounded out the ingredients along with generous pinches of salt and white pepper.
Overall the dressing was so tasty that even after dousing the beans in extra sauce, I took a spoon to the bowl and ate the rest straight up (is that bad?). The favas were perfectly cooked (I went for 2 minutes even though the recipe called for 3, which sounded excessive) and had exactly the springtime flavor that I love. The dressing was tart, sour and fruity, all great flavors to contrast the earthy flavor of the favas. I like mine with a bit of bite, since as we all know from childhood (frozen lima beans, gross!) there's nothing worse or smellier than overcooked beans. Definitely give these a try if you can find favas in your neck of the woods, or try using the dressing on grilled or blanched asparagus. If neither of those are doable, I have a sneaking suspicion that grilled veggies (zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, fennel) would be a great foil for the dressing. Here's the recipe with my changes.
Fava Beans with Yogurt-Olive Oil Dressing
1 cup fava beans, shelled
2 heaping Tbsp Greek yogurt (regular yogurt will do, but will be runnier)
2 Tbsp good extra virgin olive oil
juice of half a lemon
zest of 1 lemon (reserving 1/2 tsp for garnish)
1 Tbsp finely sliced mint
generous pinch of salt
generous grind of white pepper
1. Whisk together all ingredients except for the fava beans until smooth and set aside.
2. Bring a saucepan of water to a rolling boil and add fava beans. Cook for 2 minutes then remove immediately to an ice bath. Once they've cooled, remove outer skin to reveal the bright green interior.
3. Plate beans and top with generous drizzles of dressing and remaining lemon zest. Enjoy!
-Laura
It figures that just as we began to see the true signs of spring and even the tiniest preview of summer, April showers reared their ugly head to help usher in May. While it's by no means cold here in New York, it does seem like we went from 80 degrees and sunny to rainy and dismal in no time at all. The dreary weekend weather may have put the kibosh on my traditional Saturday morning farmers market visit, but it also inspired me to create a comforting and light dish for those warmer, stormy days and nights of spring. As I've been researching healthy and delicious dishes this year, I've been reading a lot about veggie rich chicken soups that take advantage of spring's bounty, and I've been excitedly waiting for the season and its vegetables to catch up. So last night, after four straight days of rain, I knew it was time to put a recipe to the test.
In researching recipes the last few weeks, I kept coming across ajiaco, a chicken soup popular in Colombia that involves a delicious cilantro infused broth. Unfortunately for my waistline, it also involves heavy cream, a big bowl of white rice and a sack of potatoes. So, I decided it'd need a little lightening up. It's not quite corn season yet, so I couldn't include that in the recipe (as it traditionally requires), but you better believe once summer rolls around I'll have a summer-ready ajiaco recipe in my back pocket. But for now, I'll just call this an ajiaco inspired recipe so I don't get jumped by a pack of angry Colombian foodies. I decided to eliminate the side of rice for today, and instead leave the potatoes as the only starch. Traditionally in Colombia you'd have a variety of local indigenous potatoes and tubers in the stew, but for the sake of my needing to be healthy for at least a short period of time, I went with just one type of potato. The next thing I added was fresh asparagus, just blanched for a few minutes right in the soup broth. The chicken cooked similarly, just poaching itself in the delicious clear broth, infusing it with it's essence. At the last minute I tossed in a few fresh fava beans since I could still get them, then served it all up in a bowl over potatoes (boiled separately and added to the pot), topped with fresh and cooling avocado.
The dish ended up being better than I expected and not bland at all (as I had momentarily feared) despite removing a few delicious ingredients. In fact, it had great fresh flavor and a nice textural contrast from the crisp asparagus, firm potatoes and soft, poached chicken. The avocado was a perfect foil for the whole thing, soft and creamy and slightly nutty, it added a wonderful new layer of flavor and texture. I must admit that I'm excited to give this recipe a whirl in the summer when I'll have fresh corn at the ready. Also, it'd be great with a dollop of crema or sour cream instead of adding cream to the broth. In my first test run of the soup I made it with a scoop of brown rice on the bottom of the bowl, which I will definitely resurrect when summer rolls around. In the meantime, here's the light version, chock full of springtime veggies:
Spring Chicken Soup
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 bunch (about 1 lb) fresh asparagus, chopped, ends trimmed
1 lb white potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 cup fresh fava beans, shelled
6 cups chicken stock
juice of half a lemon
1 avocado, diced
1. Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but firm, about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring chicken stock to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and add chicken pieces, cooking until done through.
3. Add cooked potatoes, asparagus and fava beans. Cook until asparagus is tender-crisp, then add lemon juice. Stir to combine and plate, topping each with avocado. Enjoy!
-Laura
This weekend I was overjoyed to find that what was just recently a barren wasteland of leftover winter tubers and cabbages had been magically transformed into a wonderland of color, hope and joy (at least for me). Spring had officially arrived, at least at the farmer's market here in NYC. It was a beautiful 85 degrees when I got there and the whole place was abuzz with springtime energy. Each stall overflowed with produce, some even providing a preview of what was to come in the summer months (tomatoes and bell peppers!). I woke up bright and early in hopes of getting the much sought after (and often mocked) springtime treat known as ramps. The last few years I'd missed my chance, with each delicious bunch bought-out by area restaurants (I hear the guys from Craft get there particularly early) and other early birds. Well, it was my turn to get the worm and this Saturday, I did. I'm not sure if my showing up downtown at 9 am versus my usual post noon shopping time made all the difference, but it seemed every other stand had a basket full of ramps (the asparagus, sadly, had all been sold out, AGAIN).
For those that are unfamiliar with them, ramps have grown exponentially in popularity in recent years, thanks to an increase in seasonal and local minded chefs. They are often called wild leaks, although they actually resemble a green onion/spinach hybrid. The bottom is a white bulb (like a green onion) that leads to a long, green, leaf-like top. They taste and smell of onion, and many people mistake them for onion grass, which smells exactly the same. If you live in the Northeast or mid-Atlantic you've probably seen them growing wild along the side of the road, if not smelled them when you rolled down the car window during a road trip. I find that they're quite versatile since you can actually split ramps into their two parts and cook them separately or use each piece in one dish. I like doing the latter, with the bulbs acting as the aromatic in place of onions, and the tops acting as greens. I knew that whatever dish I used these ramps in would have to be tasty and restrained so I could actually savor their much sought after flavor.
Ramps are most commonly used in three applications: eggs, pasta and pesto. I didn't really want eggs for dinner, or yet another pasta dish (my eternal easy way out), and I wanted to see and feel their texture before I pureed them to a pulp in a pesto. So in the end I decided to do a simple saute with some fellow springtime ingredients. What resulted was an odd but delicious festival of spring, and the only thing missing was the kitchen sink and a big fat artichoke. I ended up adding some super tasty and fresh fava beans, which only need a two minutes blanch in salted water, along with a few sliced shiitake mushrooms. I sauteed everything in good old extra virgin olive oil with the ramp bulbs acting as the aromatic instead of using onions or shallots. I didn't even bother with garlic since the ramps were so strongly flavored. I used younger, smaller ramps because I find those to be significantly more tender and more subtly flavored. I quickly wilted them (seriously, less than 5 minutes total) before adding in the blanched fava beans at the last minute. It all came together super fast, and was a really delicious taste of spring. I served mine with a nice piece of glazed salmon that I'll be posting about later in the week. In the mean time, get out there and enjoy all of the fresh spring produce we've all been waiting for!
Ramps With Shiitake Mushrooms And Fresh Fava Beans
1 lb ramps, well rinsed with roots trimmed
6-7 shiitake mushrooms, sliced, stems removed
1 cup fresh shelled fava beans
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
1. Bring a small pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
2. Meanwhile, cut white bulbs from ramps and finely chop, setting aside the greens for later. Add chopped bulbs and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a non-stick skillet and cook over medium heat. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute, then add mushrooms. When the mushrooms start to wilt, add ramp leaves and cook until slightly wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. While waiting for ramps to cook, add fava beans to boiling water and cook until tender, but not mushy, about 2 minutes.
4. Remove fava beans from water with a slotted spoon and add to skillet with ramps and mushrooms. Toss to combine and plate. Enjoy!
-Laura
