The fava conundrum

[cinghiale]

Happy Memorial Day, first of all. Let’s face it: shelling favas is a bitch. Time-consuming, with low return on the investment in terms of hours spent. But they ARE really good. And now’s the time here in Italy. Pix first, then a rant.

 

Here’s one bucket. I shelled two. [not to bury the lede: total time to finish, all-in on double shelling was 6+ hours]. This was maybe 25% of our crop. Like zucchini in the U.S. summer, you can’t give them away.

 

 

This is what came out after the first shelling.

 

 

 

I do the shock and awe method for the second shelling. “Hey Siri, set a timer for 75 seconds”. Beans slip right out, but still there’s another round of shelling. Result:

 

 

Total yield was 1.8 kg, net net. I vacuum packed a bunch. Will take some with me to Hamburg next month and make tagliatelle with favas and guanciale while we’re watching the Euros.

 

 

I whizzed some for a puree: Raw favas, garlic, rosemary, olive oil, S&P plus cumin. It’s amaro, but I like it.

 

 

Rant: I gave my neighbor some of the puree, and he reciprocated with favas in sugo – all from his garden (he’s the real deal – he grows everything that he eats, vegetable-wise). The sugo was great, but he didn’t second-shell the beans. WTF? It was so lacking in the fava department. The other night, I had dinner in my area at a rustic restaurant known for their pastas. Tagliatelle, also in a sugo with beans. Again, not second-shelled. Why do the Italians do this? It was just chaw chaw chaw on the outer skin. I don’t get it. Yes, a lot of added effort to get to those beauties, but the ultimate payoff is so worth it. End of rant.

And Happy Memorial Day again.

 

[Sneakeater]

I think there’s a clear solution to The Fava Conundrum:  restaurants. 

Edited May 27 by Sneakeater

[bloviatrix]

I've made favas exactly once because prepping them was such a royal pain in my ass. But it's means you appreciate them that much more when they're served to you.

[StephanieL]

We're growing favas, and N was going to let them all go unpicked because she finds peeling them a PITA.  I love favas, so she extracted out of me a promise to help her shell them.  I don't mind--it's kind of a mindless activity to do while we're watching TV.

Edited May 27 by StephanieL

[small h]

2 minutes ago, StephanieL said:

it's kind of a mindless activity to do while we're watching TV.

I concur. I also used to peel chickpeas, until I learned that soaking/boiling them with baking soda obviated that step. I wonder if I could do something similar with favas, if I intended to puree them.

[Wilfrid]

7 hours ago, Sneakeater said:

I think there’s a clear solution to The Fava Conundrum:  restaurants. 

Oh but. Some years ago I was at a fancy bistro on Frith Street in Soho, London. I think I had a civet of hare with fava beans. But the second shelling hadn’t happened.

I carefully did that shelling, dropping the results on the bread plate which I sent back to the kitchen. I imagine the chef switched careers in shame or committed seppuku.

[voyager]

Favas are in that category of foods I will make for husband and me but not for "company".    I don't want my guests to feel beholden.   Or, actually, I would want them to!

[backyardchef]

 

On 5/27/2024 at 12:41 PM, cinghiale said:

Happy Memorial Day, first of all. Let’s face it: shelling favas is a bitch. Time-consuming, with low return on the investment in terms of hours spent. But they ARE really good. And now’s the time here in Italy. Pix first, then a rant.

 

Here’s one bucket. I shelled two. [not to bury the lede: total time to finish, all-in on double shelling was 6+ hours]. This was maybe 25% of our crop. Like zucchini in the U.S. summer, you can’t give them away.

 

 

This is what came out after the first shelling.

I do the shock and awe method for the second shelling. “Hey Siri, set a timer for 75 seconds”. Beans slip right out, but still there’s another round of shelling. Result:

 

 

On 5/27/2024 at 1:13 PM, Sneakeater said:

I think there’s a clear solution to The Fava Conundrum:  restaurants. 

One of my first tasks in the kitchen after I graduated from Dishwasher at Blue Water Grill was shelling a case of favas before mincing a case serrano peppers. I was not taught to blanch because the sous thought it amusing. My hands were sore, pulsing and burning by the end of that shift. Good times. 

Edited May 28 by backyardchef

[Sneakeater]

I can kinda see why you might have wanted to leave that industry.

[StephanieL]

N knows about the blanching technique, but she's also not keen about getting them out of the pods in the first place.  Last night, it took us the entire length of one episode of the Stax documentary to de-pod the haul.

Edited May 28 by StephanieL

[MitchW]

45 minutes ago, backyardchef said:

One of my first tasks in the kitchen after I graduated from Dishwasher at Blue Water Grill was shelling a case of favas before mincing a case serrano peppers. I was not taught to blanch because the sous thought it amusing. My hands were sore, pulsing and burning by the end of that shift. Good times. 

When did you graduate to turning a case of artichokes?

[MitchW]

On 5/27/2024 at 12:41 PM, cinghiale said:

But they ARE really good. And now’s the time here in Italy.

I’ve definitely seen, and enjoyed, really young fave beans raw, without the second shelling being necessary?  Is that something you might do as well?

https://nancyharmonjenkins.com/wait-stop-dont-peel-those-fava-beans/

 

[voyager]

3 hours ago, MitchW said:

When did you graduate to turning a case of artichokes?

My italian sister-in-law once brought my mother a 50lb sack of baby artichokes for Mom to can for her, "because Mom did things so easily".     Bad, bad, bad!    But worse when she left not a pint when she picked up the cases of product.   

[Diancecht]

3 hours ago, MitchW said:

I’ve definitely seen, and enjoyed, really young fave beans raw, without the second shelling being necessary?  Is that something you might do as well?

https://nancyharmonjenkins.com/wait-stop-dont-peel-those-fava-beans/

 

only for the 2-3 weeks a year when they’re young enough to matter.

remember the fava bean chawanmushi i posted a few weeks ago? initially, i was going to subject them to a second peeling. i skipped that step once i concluded that the effort wasn’t worth it because the beans were tiny. miniscule, in fact.

[Wilfrid]

I surely can’t be the only one here old enough to remember shelling peas. My grandmother used to give me a big bowl of them and set me to it.

I guess there may have been canned peas, but not frozen. I am talking about being barely passed toddler.

I liked shelling them.

[Orik]

Definitely a thing to do with grandma, but other grandma had a pecan tree and that was not fun at all.

[MitchW]

8 hours ago, Wilfrid said:

I surely can’t be the only one here old enough to remember shelling peas. My grandmother used to give me a big bowl of them and set me to it.

I guess there may have been canned peas, but not frozen. I am talking about being barely passed toddler.

I liked shelling them.

These peas were not fave beans, were they?

[cinghiale]

20 hours ago, MitchW said:

I’ve definitely seen, and enjoyed, really young fave beans raw, without the second shelling being necessary?  Is that something you might do as well?

https://nancyharmonjenkins.com/wait-stop-dont-peel-those-fava-beans/

 

I saw that years ago when searching for a way to short-cut the second shelling. Nopeity-nope. As @Diancecht says, maybe when they’re really young, but otherwise “by removing the skin of each bean, you also unquestionably remove much of that very earthy flavor dull, chewy hull that makes these tender otherwise barely edible early-summer delights so ultimately, well, delightful.”

And ours is not an Alice Waters-style garden. No going out and delicately selecting the most tender young shoots. Here’s the trampled remains in our unkempt garden:

For the past 10 years, we’ve been gradually restoring the soil with these super-nitrogen fixers. It seems to be working.

Something for @Wilfrid: My wife loves the beautiful structure that cardoons bring to the gardens.

But aside from the stalks (which here are undoubtedly too tough to eat), you can also eat the fruit (if that’s what it’s called).

Our neighbor comes by to collect however many favas he wants, and he showed me how these buds are edible. He suggests adding them in with a fava saute. The cardoon (cardo) is related to the artichoke (carciofo): you peel down the fruit and cook the heart. I haven’t had any success yet making them so that they’re tender and un-bitter, but I’m working on it.

[Diancecht]

@cinghiale you could try brine-pickling them. lots of tips at that link.

we bought some cardi from the ferry building farmer’s market one year back that turned out to be full of ants. some extra protein in addition to the fiber. 😉

[MitchW]

All I know, is I wanna visit.  Best cardoon prep I ever had was at, you guessed it…Chez Panisse.

[bloviatrix]

Like @MitchW I want to visit. It looks lovely. MF roadtrip!

[Orik]

I got fava beans from Halal Pastures this week. They were excellent because they were picked earlier than most of what you see in the market, good enough to eat raw, terrific sweated with a bit of butter and tarragon. Two beans to the pod 🤣

[voyager]

1 hour ago, Orik said:

I got fava beans from Halal Pastures this week. They were excellent because they were picked earlier than most of what you see in the market, good enough to eat raw, terrific sweated with a bit of butter and tarragon. Two beans to the pod 🤣

Good maxim.   Too many people choose multiple beans per pod because of the pod waste, and by doing so wind up with large, over the hill favas.