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.