Fava Bean Recipes

This winter I planted Fava beans in the garden for spring harvest. I had saved seed from last year, and had a lot of seeds left over..... So I just threw them into the garden...and of course they all came up and I was overwhelmed with Fava beans during harvest.

I decided to throw the seeds into the garden because the plants are good for the soil as nitrogen fixers, and vineyards grow them as a green cover crop. e.g. they are better than weeds!

After having fresh Favas in salads for a few weeks, I needed to find some interesting Fava bean recipes.

Here is my favorite:

http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/fava-bean-pesto-with-shrimp-fid-848273

The recipe comes from the fabulous Manressa restaurant in Los Gatos. The recipe article calls for this dish to go with Verdelho wine, but I think that it is so good that it will go with almost any dry white wine, and would stand up to ones with some tropical fruit such as Verdelho or Malvasia, etc.

I made a few changes to fit what I wanted to do.....

I did not use a mortar to mash the beans, I just used my Cuisinart to puree the ingredients and that works well if you take care to not overdo it.... you want some texture.

The flavor of the mint is important. I have two kinds of mint in my garden; Pineapple and Chocolate. The pineapple mint is more delicate than the Chocolate which is very strong hot and peppery. I used the pineapple in the pesto, and chopped Chocolate mint as a garnish. I'm not sure I would use peppermint in this recipe....

I used about 1/2 of the olive oil called for in the recipe so the texture was more of a paste rather than a standard pesto.... I think this was a good choice for spreading on the bread, but if you use the pesto on pasta, add more oil{the called for amount}

I used a Italian country loaf sliced in half long-wise, brushed with olive oil and roasted. The pesto was spread on top, the shrimp added, topped with chopped mint, and salt and pepper. A drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice finished the dish. The bread was then cut into serving size.

I prepared this dish twice for our wine tasting group and

it was a BIG hit! very very good.

Two other recipes I prepared using the Fava Pesto....

1. Used it as a standard pesto with pasta.... very good, not as strongly flavored as basil pesto.

2. An appetizer dish inspired by a first course that we had at the "Taste" restaurant in Plymouth, CA.

We had the assignment to prepare a course to go with sparkling wine for our "Gourmet Dinner Group". Below is a picture of our course.

This recipe was inspired by the course at "Taste" so there was no real recipe.... it is the Fava Pesto, with a small amount of Baratta cheese, some crispy Prosciutto topped with chopped chocolate mint. We served the appetizer as a bite size portion in the Chinese soup spoons.

The Prosciutto was crisped in the microwave for 1 minute on high and chopped into bite sized pieces.

I served this dish cold, but I think it would be better served warm so that the creaminess of the Baratta cheese comes out, and the pesto is not so solid....

Notice the "Tomato sliders" dish in the background of the above photo that my wife Doris made....outstanding dish! and was the best of the night. The "Tomato Slider" dish will get it's own entry in this blog.