Spring and early summer bring many delights, but one of my absolute favorites is fava beans. The other week at the farmers market, I came upon a gorgeous basket of the bright, fuzzy-looking pods, and I knew my mission: foule*. Needless to say, I didn’t want to wait all night for it to simmer, and in honor of the warm sunny day, I wanted a cooler, brighter dish. And that’s what I did!

Fava Beans, by luvjnx

(For anyone who’s never used fresh fava beans before, let me warn you: they are a pain to prepare: not only must you remove them from the pods, but inside they have a waxy shell that, while not inedible, is not delicious. So, first things first.

Remove your beans from their pods, and place them in a pot of cold water. Bring to a soft boil for about four minutes, then drain and shock them in a bowl of ice water. When they are cool, slit each waxy shell with your paring knife, and squeeze the bean out. Easy, but you’re going to want lots of the beans, so it takes a while.)

So, back to my own special foule. I used:

– About 2 pints favas in the pod (yielding about 4 cups shelled beans)
– 3 garlic scrapes, chopped
– 1/2 medium red onion
– 5 tablespoons olive oil
– 1/2 cup lemon juice
– 1 teaspoon ground cumin
– 2 teaspoons paprika
– 1 tablespoon coriander seed, fresh ground
– 1 tsp ground sumac berries

I caramelized the onion and half of the chopped scrapes, and put all the other spices (except the sumac), oil, and lemon juice into a pot (a wok might work better, I think), adding my beans. I brought that to a boil, and then reduced the heat to low for about 8 minutes. I used a very little salt and pepper to season, and poured it into a bowl.

I tossed in the sumac, and topped it with caramelized onion.

I then devoured it on a fresh baguette.

All told, there is so little traditional about this foule that it’s probably not a foule at all…but it’s mine, I think it’s really delicious, and I’m going to make it again soon.

* Yeah, I know Wikipedia spells it with no ‘e’ – I like the e. Deal.

-MAW

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