Our neighbor and friend, Joan, dropped by this week with a bag of broad beans (also known as fava beans)–a big bag.
The chore with broad beans is that they have to be shelled before you cook them.
And often de-podded too.
As they mature the outer skin becomes tough and the true delicate taste is missed.
Handy to have guests around in the broad bean season.
“Anything I can do?”
“Well funny you should mention it…”
If you are lucky and have a generous neighbor with green fingers, you could, like us, be gifted with beans so fresh and young that they only require shelling not de-podding too.
Joan is doubly generous; the beans she gave us were picked that day, fully-shelled and ready to cook.
Joan and Meredith went walking round the lake this morning and the beans came up–so to speak.
How was I proposing to cook them?
Joan is eating vegan at the moment, so a favorite way chez nous–broad beans with shallot and bacon–is not possible chez elle.
For lunch today I forgot about the bacon and gently softened a shallot in a tablespoon of olive oil.
Then added 8oz of the ready-to-cook beans*, two tablespoons of water, some fresh mint leaves and salt. I covered the pan and cooked the beans to just tender–about 10 minutes**. I added a little more water along the way, but not too much–as the delicate taste risks being dissipated.
You could–if you are not eating vegan–crumble some feta over the cooking beans, which melts nicely into the water to form a little sauce.
But watch out that the feta doesn’t make the bean too salty.
Thank you, Joan!
Our doubly seasonal lunch included these asparagus roasted with flakes of pecorino and olive oil
*I cooked the beans from the freezer where I had stored them in 8oz baggies, immediately on receiving them. Straight into the pan on a gentle heat.
** Since the beans today were coming from the freezer, they took a bit longer to cook. If you’re working with fresh, it’s more like 7-8 minutes–but you need to watch over them and test.
Robin Ellis 
Hi, Robin and Meredith. If you are missing the “smoky” taste in your food, you might go online and find a purveyor of spices to order Mexican (or other) smoked salt.
Thanks, Fiona–i love using smoked paprika.
Are these the same as lima beans? 3 years ago I “discovered” an Amish farm within a 1/2 mile of my house. They have a huge farm stand. Last summer I spent many a Saturday shelling mass quantity of lima beans from the farm. I would steam them along with other fresh vegetables and serve them over rice. Right now the first crop of asparagus is in. I remember you saying how wonderful the taste of fresh asparagus. I like asparagus but had only eaten asparagus from the grocery store. Last year I purchased fresh “picked that morning” asparagus from the farm. I roasted it in the oven. I could not believe the difference in taste. After my first bite I thought – so this is what Robin was talking about!!
Right on about asparagus–but true about all vegetables; fresher the better.
The beans do look delicious, but what caught my eye was the serving spoon. It’s beautiful.
Belonged to Meredith’s mother. One of her favorites, too.
I remember living on the farm and having all the fresh vegetables and fruit. We canned and froze alot. As the growing started coming to an end we would make what we called end of the garden. Others called it chow chow. No matter it was good to have during the winter to eat with pintos. and one of my favorites putting it on a hamburger. No matter what a person like to eat it with it was good. Thank you for all the wonderful photos and stories you write about. Corriene
Thank you, Corriene.
We usually eat raw broad beans – the smallest and tenderest ones – with fresh or semi-aged pecorino cheese. In many Italian regions is the typical snack on 1st May picnic.
Rarely we eat cooked broad beans, but for sure we’ll try your recipe!
Pecorino is hard to find here–which is sad. I love it.
Good to hear from you!
Mr.Ellis, I knew you were an expert
Chef, but didn’t realize quite how
Versatile!
I am at best a cook, Mary–and not that expert–but thank you!