I have a confession to make. Ever since I heard Anthony Hopkin's line in the film, The Silence of the Lambs, I've wanted to try fava beans, minus the liver of course.
I've never tried them before, but this week I saw fresh fava beans at the grocery so I bought a small packet of the beans.
Fava beans are a lot like clay. There are many steps to produce the end result. One becomes so involved along the way, one can easily forget where one is headed. First remove each fava bean from the outer shell.
Next blanch the beans in boiling water for three minutes. Immediately remove the beans from the hot water and immerse them in ice cold water to stop the cooking process. When cool slip each bean out of it's skin. Saute some garlic with butter and olive oil, when lightly browned, add the beans and some fennel seed and saute for another five minutes.
After all the shelling and skinning there weren't many beans to eat. Like clay it's all about the process, shape, texture, color, and a little taste. The better to woo my honey, I served them with some Camelot chardonnay, instead of the nice Chianti. Thanks for reading and for your comments.
tasty but please no liver for me either....
ReplyDeleteNever tried them--that Hannibal image. Hope they were good.
ReplyDeleteHi Meredith, thanks, I save the liver for company, when are you and Mark coming by? Ha.
ReplyDeleteHi Patti, thanks, yeah that was one scary movie wasn't it. They were ok, not that great, thank goodness I put fennel seed in there for flavor, they were rather bland, but now I can say I had them.
Can't handle creepy movies like that (but love movies like Rio, oh well.) Love beans, tho, didn't realize fava were so much work. Thanks for sharing the process.
ReplyDeletei have never had fava beans either... believe it or not i liked liver when i was young. lightly breaded, fried in a pan with onions, bacon on the side. that was back in the day when we were ignorant of how unhealthy it is to eat organ meats...and after hannibal lecter i don't think i could eat liver again!
ReplyDeleteYou make them look good, and I don't like beans. I may have to try them without the liver.
ReplyDeleteYou can steam them whole when they are young and eat them pods and all.
ReplyDeleteUnless they are really tough, you don't need to skin them, just de-pod them. Get to the young tips before the blackfly and you can lightly steam those too!
Hi Kittie, thanks, I do love a good mystery and some suspense, this movies was a bit scary. I didn't realize they were so much work either.
ReplyDeleteHi Michele, thanks, years ago I had a liver recipe I made out of default because my mom overcooked liver terribly. Bake at 325 for 1/2 hour in half a cup of wine and half a cup of vinegar sprinkled with celery leaves.
Hi Lori, thanks, the garlic and fennel added the flavor otherwise I think they'd be rather bland.
Hi GZ, thanks for stopping by and for the tips on fava beans, that would have been much easier, I was wondering why all the peeling needed to be done as the peel didn't seem that tough to me, maybe next time, although they were quite expensive in the store and I got the least expensive pack.
I have to try it. In Poland it's very popular bean but usually we just prepare it by boling in salty water.
ReplyDeleteHi Nanda, thanks and welcome, I really like adding different spices to dishes to see how it changes the flavor.
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