Make the Most of Spring Produce With This 5-Ingredient Recipe
Fava beans, a buttery-tasting legume, have a wide variety of uses: they can be tossed in pasta, grilled to perfection, mashed into a crostini topper, or used in hummus (instead of chickpeas). But with any seasonal produce, sometimes the best way to highlight it is a simple sauté.
This particular recipe calls for green garlic, which has a milder, fresher taste than standard garlic cloves, and since citrus season has crept into Spring, this recipe calls for kumquats, the tiny, tart citrus fruit that can be eaten whole (skin, pith, and all!). If you can't score these seasonal finds, no worries. The recipe notes offer helpful substitutions.
Another note to keep in mind: the biggest complaint about fava beans is that they are so darn annoying to prep. That's why many turn to restaurants to do the shucking and peeling. However, there's something really meditative about the process, and once you get in a rhythm, it's as effortless as the prep you normally do for any recipe.
Fava Beans With Green Garlic and Kumquats
From Anna Monette Roberts, POPSUGAR Food
INGREDIENTS
- 15 fava bean pods
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 green garlic, sliced thin
- 3-4 kumquats, sliced thin and seeds removed
- Salt to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare the fava beans by blanching them in a bowl of boiling, salted water for 2 minutes. Shock them in a large bowl of ice water. Once they are cool, shell the beans, and peel them.
In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, add oil followed by green garlic. Sauté for 1 minute until garlic becomes fragrant. Add fava beans and cook for 1-2 minutes, until tender. Add kumquats and cook until heated through. Salt to taste and serve immediately.