Pasta with Fava Bean Pesto

Ah, fava beans, the agony and the ecstasy! At first, I think of the flavor because I love fava beans. Then, I remember the two step process involved in prepping them and I start procrastinating.

It's really not that bad. You just pull the beans out of the pods.

Then put the beans in boiling water for a few minutes and pop them out of their shells. If you have a child around this is a great job for little fingers. Anyway, I had fava beans and basil left from my box. The fava beans were left because I was too lazy to prep them and I totally forgot about the basil. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that I had basil.

Then, I did a websearch for recipes with fava bean and basil pasta and I found this recipe for fava beans and basil pasta at treehugger.com. There are a few steps, but overall this is pretty quick and easy to make. You put half of your cooked and shelled favas in the food processor with basil and garlic. It makes this paste.

Transfer the paste to a bowl. Cook your pasta of choice. Add chopped basil, olive oil and fresh lemon juice to the fava bean paste. When the pasta is cooked, add some of the pasta water to the fava bean mixture. Combine pasta, grated parmesan cheese, the bean mixture, and some pasta water to form a sauce.

And, then you have this delicious bowl of pasta with fava bean pesto.

Pasta With Fava Bean Pesto

Ingredients:

3 cups shelled fresh fava beans
2 cups coarsely chopped fresh basil
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 pound of pasta

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook beans in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer beans to large bowl. Reserve water in pot.

2. Combine 2 cups beans, 1 cup chopped basil and garlic in processor. Using on/off turns, process until beans are coarsely chopped. Transfer mixture to bowl with whole beans. Add remaining 1 cup basil, olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Stir to blend. Season bean mixture to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Meanwhile, cook pasta in same pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot.

4. Stir 1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid into bean mixture. Add to pasta. Add 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese and enough remaining cooking liquid to moisten. Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Fried Rice with Fava Beans and Carrots

A container of day old (or older) cooked rice is not a welcome sight in most refrigerators. However, this fried rice recipe may change your mind. The best rice for this would be Chinese style steamed rice -- homemade or take out. Sushi rice is also very good. Really, I think any precooked rice would work. The most time consuming part of this dish was prepping the fava beans. If you don't have fava beans or don't feel like prepping them you can substitute fresh or frozen peas. Just thaw them out before adding them to the rice.

How to prep the fava beans. So, here's the quick and dirty guide to prepping fava beans. First, you need to pop the beans out of the pod.

Then boil the beans in salted water for 3- 5 minutes. Let the beans cool. Then, pop them out of their skins with your fingers.

That wasn't so bad. Was it? This is a great job for tiny fingers so if you have child labor available use it! I do!

The rest of the preparation for this dish is very quick and very easy. Feel free to get creative about things you mix in at the end. Think of this dish as a way to use leftovers like cooked meat, cooked veggies, tofu, or any thing else you have lingering in your fridge. Just toss them into the pan after you have coated the rice with the eggs and let them quickly heat up in the pan.

To serve this, I like to put the fried rice in a bowl and sprinkle some toasted sesame oil and chilli garlic sauce on it. Scallions would also be a nice garnish. So, next time you make rice make a bit extra and make some fried rice.

Let me know if you discover other good combinations of meat or veggies for this dish. Have fun and enjoy!

Fried Rice with Fava Beans and Carrots

Inspired by a recipe from The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann

Ingredients

1 clove of garlic, chopped

2 cups of cold cooked rice

2 eggs lightly beaten

1 pound of fava beans, cooked and prepped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces

2 tablespoons sesame seed oil (or neutral oil like vegetable oil)

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil, plus a dash extra for serving

chilli garlic sauce to taste

1. Prep the fava beans (see above). Boil the carrots in salted water for about 3 minutes -- until tender but not mushy. Strain the carrots and set aside.

2. Heat the sesame oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and stir fry until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add the rice, breaking up any clumps. Stir fry the rice allowing it to heat up and grow fragrant.

3. Push the rice over to one side of the pan and pour the eggs into the empty space in the pan. Allow the eggs to cook for a few seconds undisturbed until the bottom starts to set. Then stir the rice into the eggs, folding the rice and eggs over so the rice is evenly covered with egg. Add the fava beans and carrots and stir into the rice/egg mixture. Add the soy sauce and toasted sesame seed oil.

4. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with toasted sesame oil and chilli garlic sauce to taste.