Recipes Featuring Fava
View all 1Cream of Fava Soup with Rice
Mostly, one thinks of favas as the puffy green pod with the fava bean in it. Well, just as all beans get dried and saved for off-season cooking, so do favas. Shelled and dried, they behave like dried peas when cooked, disintegrating and making a delicious and dense soup. When I was a little girl, it was part of my job to help Nonna Rosa pull the beans out of the pods and lay them on mats for drying so she could make rich winter soups. In my own kitchen, this was a job my mother, Erminia, took very seriously, and she would patiently sit at our kitchen table for hours, pulling beans out of pods, sometimes singing an old Italian song as she proceeded. Since the favas you use here are peeled and split before drying, you do not have to soak them as long as other dried beans—3 hours is fine. You can soak them overnight if you prefer; just be aware that the cooking time on the soup will be a little less. You can make this soup ahead, but add rice only to the portion you want to serve right away.
Italian
Summer Minestrone
This soup is meant to showcase the vegetables of summer, so feel free to vary, based on what is good at your farmers’ market – green beans, yellow squash, or even a handful of cherry tomatoes would be a wonderful addition here. If you’re starting with favas in the pod, you’ll need about 4 pounds or so to get the yield below. But don’t worry- make it a family affair and you’ll have them shucked and peeled in no time.
Italian