Fava Beans with Lemon, Parsley, and Asiago Cheese

I found fresh fava beans at the farmer's market last Saturday! Having never cooked with fava beans, I bought some with which to experiment.

Fava beans have a reputation for being a little creepy and weird. First of all, they're a dish Hannibal Lecter enjoys with fresh human liver and a nice chianti. Second of all, they're strange to prepare--you have to pry them first from their pods and then from their whitish, waxy outer membrane. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Some recipes recommend taking the outer membrane off the beans before cooking of any kind. Apparently some of the cooking gasses released by the beans can distort their bright green color if trapped by the membrane. I boiled the beans for 5 minutes, plunged them into ice water, and then slipped them out of their membranes. The beans were still vibrant green, as you can see above. I'd recommend boiling before trying to remove the membranes; it makes it a lot easier to slip them off in the end.


Once I'd done the basic preparation of the fava beans, I had to choose a recipe. There were a lot of them that looked good...fava bean puree with mint, spicy fava bean fritters, pasta with fava beans. But in the end I wanted something simple that wouldn't obstruct the true taste and texture of the fava beans, especially since this was the first time I would taste them and I wanted to be able to judge them properly. Besides, if I was going to invest the time and effort to wrangle the beans from their pods and carefully peel off their membranes, I was not going to puree them, fry them, and make them into glorified falafel.

So, I chose to make a simple salad of the beans, some lemon, parsley, and cheese. The original recipe called for manchego cheese, and I also understand pecorino to be a classic pairing with fava beans, but I couldn't find either of those cheeses at Safeway, so I settled on asiago. The recipe was simple: boil the beans for 4 or 5 minutes, plunge them in ice water, slip off the membranes, mix them with lemon zest, lemon juice, chopped parsley, oil, and salt and pepper and serve. I did not add the fresh garlic the recipe called for--I usually find fresh garlic to be a bit overpowering.



I was happy with the salad. It tasted really fresh, as just about anything with lemon and parsley does. The fava beans were neat--such a bright green color, and they weren't mushy in the middle like a lot of beans. They had a firm, smooth, rich texture that I don't think I've experienced in other legumes before.

And so, one more of my food curiosities explored.