This Fava Thing

The ganglion fava beans plants have been providing us with a modest but steady supply of beans for the last 3 or so weeks. Given that we had not knowingly consumed them before, we weren’t sure what to expect and planting them was a modest leap of faith that we would like them.

Verdict: We do like them.

We’ve mostly been eating them steamed with a little salt on salads; they complemented the chopped raw “green” garlic also added to make for an interesting variant of spring greens.

This evening I picked a handful and tried something different:

The bean pods:

Inside, the beans in their sleeping bags:

“Sleeping bags” is a sort of lame description but basically the beans themselves are double wrapped; they are encased individually and then collectively share the larger pod.

The get to the tasty part, 2 or 3 minutes steamed softens and splits the cases to allow for removal:

Now what?

Tonight I decided they would taste good sauteed with green garlic and a small shallot in olive oil:

After a few minutes over very low heat they seemed ready to top the pasta and with a little fresh Parmesan became dinner:

Good stuff.