Whole roasted favas

When we were at the farmers' market last weekend, my wife got to talking with someone who was selling favas. They've just hit the market here and the vendor told her that for this week only, you could take the favas home, roast them whole, and eat them, pods and all. She picked up a big bag of the beans and I tried them out this evening. Just washed them, dried them in a kitchen towel, tossed them with some EVOO, salt, and pepper, and put them in a 400° oven for 15 minutes or so. The vendor was right - you can eat them like giant green beans. They were delicious, and we pretty much scarfed them all up.

This was all new to me, so I did a quick Google search and found an SF Chronicle article on doing favas this way. They suggested eating the pods if they're young enough and just treating them like edamame if they're not. Either way, that's a lot easier than the shelling-blanching routine that I've used in the past.

I really like Favas but it is SUCH a lot of work getting the little tender beans out of the big tough beans. You start with a grocery bag full of beans in their pods and end up with a cereal bowl full of little pale green beans.

This technique sounds great but I am not sure I have ever seen the pods so young and fresh that I'd want to try it that way.

That is new to me too Mike, and I love the method. By the time they hit our market, they are larger. I think I will ask this week if I can get some of the younger ones. I have a recipe using a simple rice cooked in chicken broth and onion. The shelled beans are included in the mix and sort of float to the top. The rice is cooked slowly, so it forms a crusty bottom, with the creamy favas on top. It is a simple dish but very tasty.

I really like Favas but it is SUCH a lot of work getting the little tender beans out of the big tough beans.

You just need a personal sous chef to do the work for you. I can lend you mine sometime.

That is new to me too Mike, and I love the method. By the time they hit our market, they are larger. I think I will ask this week if I can get some of the younger ones. I have a recipe using a simple rice cooked in chicken broth and onion. The shelled beans are included in the mix and sort of float to the top. The rice is cooked slowly, so it forms a crusty bottom, with the creamy favas on top. It is a simple dish but very tasty.

Hiya Karen!

I bet they'd be extra creamy if you roasted them and then popped them out of the pods to add to the rice. (Hopefully, not too much so.) I'll have to give that a try.

[Jenise]

That is new to me too Mike, and I love the method. By the time they hit our market, they are larger. I think I will ask this week if I can get some of the younger ones. I have a recipe using a simple rice cooked in chicken broth and onion. The shelled beans are included in the mix and sort of float to the top. The rice is cooked slowly, so it forms a crusty bottom, with the creamy favas on top. It is a simple dish but very tasty.

Sounds very persian!

I too love the idea of the whole roasted bean, and never heard of this being possible. Just to add another element to the conversation, I read somewhere that another way favas are eaten, this time in Italy, is that the whole pods are put on the table in a pile and everybody helps themselves, shelling and eating the beans raw. A chunk of parmesan broken into nibble-sized chunks would also be part of that 'course'.