fava bean and mint crostini
Fava beans, also called broad beans, are a popular ingredient in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. The flavor is more complex than a regular sugar and snap pea and they are take a little more time to prepare but they are worth it! Below you will see the four stages of preparing this dip from blanching the whole bean, to removing the beans from the pods (still covered in their white skin), to removing the white skin and then the final dip. You can eat the white skin but most people prefer eating the beans without the skin. Here is a recipe for fava bean and mint crostini or simply make the dip and eat with crackers (as shown above).
Ingredients
Serves 4 people
2 pounds of whole fava beans
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 ounces grated pecorino or Parmesan, plus more for shaving on top the crostini
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 cup mint leaves
juice of 1/2 lemon
freshly ground pepper
Creating the Magic!
To prepare the fresh favas: Heat a medium pot of water to boiling; blanch the fava beans in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to an ice bath (bowl of water + ice) to cool rapidly. When cool, pop open the pods and remove the beans. Use your fingernail or a paring knife to slice open the white skin and slip the inner beans out. After doing this, you should have roughly a pound left.
Preheat oven to 450. Place the baguette slices, brushed with olive oil, on a baking sheet, and set aside.
In a food processor, put the shelled, blanched, cooled and skinned fava beans, the 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil, pecorino or Parmesan cheese, salt, mint leaves, lemon juice and several rounds of freshly ground pepper. Puree until chunky but smooth.
Put the baking sheet of baguette slices into the oven and cook until golden brown. Remove and dab 1-2 tablespoons of fava bean puree on each slice. Sprinkle with salt if you want, drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and shave a bit of pecorino on top. Serve!