Fava Beans with Farfalle Pasta
June 27, 2008
I had a bag of frozen fava beans in my freezer last week and I concocted a pasta dish with the beans in lieu of peas. If you have never had fava beans (or if your only acquaintance with them is as a side dish with liver from the move Silence of the Lambs) you should probably know a few things about them.
First, fava beans grow in pods. The bean in the pod must be removed by either dry or fresh preparation.
Second, the bean can be eaten fresh out of the pod, or dried and reconstituted. When assisting my vecina with her garden to make chicos, I also helped her pick the last of her fava beans for dry preparation on a tarp in the sun. When the pod turned black, she crushed the pods by stepping on them to remove the beans from the dried pod. The beans are then stored in her winter larder. I took some of the fresh pods home and removed the bean. The bean is really large and appears white with a tiny green sprout on the end. You squeeze the bean and out comes the green center. If eating the beans fresh, only the green center is edible. Oddly, when dried and then reconstituted, you can eat the whole bean.
Third, fresh is much better than frozen, but it is labor intensive. I prefer the fresh fava bean, and because it grows locally in Colorado, it is easy to find. However, you may have to make due with some frozen fava beans. The taste is not as great, but it will work for this dish.
I combined fava beans and farfalle pasta, but you can you whatever short pasta you like (linguine or similarly long string pasta is not ideal for this dish). You can also optionally use cream. As my intolerance of all things lactose prevents me from eating dairy, I prefer this dish without the cream.
You will need:
- farfalle pasta, 4 servings
- 1 bag of frozen fava beans
- 1/4 c olive oil
- handful of fresh basil
- handful of chopped fresh Italian Parsley
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
- Parmesan cheese to taste (optional)
- 2 slices of prosciutto, chopped (optional)
- 1/2 c cream (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
Step One: In a pot of boiling water, add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and set to the side.
Step Two: In another pot of boiling water, toss in frozen fava beans and flash cook for 4 minutes. Quickly drain beans and set aside.
Step Three: In a saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and prosciutto. Cook until garlic begins to turn golden brown. At this point, if you want cream, add it to the pan as well and cook until cream just begins to simmer (you can whip in one egg yolk to the cream prior to cooking it so that the cream thickens).
Step Four: Toss in fava beans and spices (basil, parsley, S&P) to the pan. Gingerly combine the ingredients until everything is thoroughly heated. Add in the pasta and serve with grated Parmesan cheese or another plug of olive oil on top.
Labels: fava bean; pasta
