Every week on the Good Food Blog we celebrate Meatless Monday by sharing a vegetarian recipe from our archives.
Nancy Harmon Jenkins is the author of The Essential Mediterranean: How Regional Cooks Transform Key Ingredients into the World’s Favorite Cuisines. She first shared this recipe for Fresh Spring Fava Beans on April 26, 2003.
Keep reading for the full recipe…
Fresh Spring Fava Beans, the Classic Way
Makes 4 servings
- 2 pounds fresh fava beans in pods
- 4 fresh white spring onions, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fennel leaves (optional)
- 1 Tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Juice of 1 large lemon
Shell the beans, or if you wish, shell half the beans and with the other half, top and tail the pods and cut them into 1-inch lengths.
Combine the onions and oil in a saucepan and saute very gently over low heat until the onions are tender and melting into the oil, 20-30 minutes. Do not let the onions brown. Add the beans and continue cooking very gently for another 10 minutes or until the color of the beans changes and becomes more opaque.
Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in the fennel, if available, and the parsley. Add a small amount of water, just enough to come to the top of the beans. Bring to a simmer and cook very gently for about 30 minutes, until nearly all the water has boiled away and there are just a few tablespoons left in the bottom of the pan. Stir in the lemon juice, bring to a simmer, remove from the heat, and serve immediately.
Variation: Instead of adding lemon juice, remove the beans from the heat and stir in 2 to 3 Tablespoons of whole-milk yogurt, preferably made from sheep’s or goat’s milk.