fava beans -

by gansie

Asparagus, Strawberries and Fava Beans! Oh My!

With farmers’ markets all over the country re-opening for spring’s bounty, Endless Simmer put together a guide on what you should be cooking for the next few months. Don’t get tomato envy yet – we have plenty of ideas for the year’s first round of vegetables.

Below are some highlights from our archives, which we’ll sure to be updating as we try out new far mar finds, including <wait for it> peppercress. (I hope I’m not the only one addicted to How I Met Your Mother.)

Endless Simmer’s Spring Recipe Guide

Asparagus and Cannellini Bean Salad
Pasta salad is so 1973. Beans are where it’s at for a party dish.

Edamame Radish Spring Salad
Bright pink radishes, bright green edamame, bright bright flavor.

Pickled Ramp Vinegar
Ramps do live up to the hype.

Roasted Poblano and Garlic Scape Dip
Zesty. Smoky. Creamy. Just Right.

Sesame Enhanced Fava Bean Puree
Take the trouble to peel, boil and peel again those darn little fava beans.

(And if you wanna take a look at all of Endless Simmer’s cooking experiments – try our Recipe Index.)

in Recipe 0 comments

by BS

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– Many of you have opinions on the ”can you cook cucumbers?” debate. Maids:

My roommate says she used to cook burritos in her microwave in college using tortillas, rolled with cheese and cucumbers inside. Sounded disgusting to me, but she has a palate I respect so maybe cooked cukes aren’t so bad?

I don’t know about these cuke burritos, but I’m definitely going to start ranking my friends by how much I respect their palates.

– JoeHoya and the Mrs. coin an amazing term for the frustration found in fava beans:

We LOVE fava beans and make it a point to buy them in bulk during their all-too-brief season at the farmers’ market. But the prep is definitely a pain in the ass. Elizabeth refers to favas as the Beans of Diminishing Returns because you buy them by weight and then promptly through out half of what you paid for in the form of the outer and inner pods.

– Finally, anyone who can get worked up about indefinite articles in convenience store advertising is welcome at ES. BigOldCar:

The thing that bothers me most about the Hoagieman commercials is that the song ends with:

“At the Hoa…gie…Fest!
At the Wawa!
The Hoa…Gie…Fest!
At the Wawa!”

Why “THE” Wawa? Why not “your,” or some other gap-filler? But the definite article doesn’t belong here, and it bugs the shit out of me!

I don’t get the Sgt. Pepper theme, but it’s so interesting-looking that I’ve come to accept it.

I cannot, however, get past that improper article.

(Photo: inSinU8)

in Veggie 2 comments

by gansie

A Pain in the Ass, A Pleasure in the Stomach

I’ve heard about these suckers for a very long time. Raves. Raves. Raves. And as diligent as I am in eating what’s in season, I sometimes miss very short-seasoned produce. But this time around, in what one vendor labeled as the last available weekend, I scored a quart of fava beans.

Lord these beans take a lot of work. I didn’t follow a recipe, just the quick advice Mt. Pleasant Farmers’ Market manager Rebbie called out to me before 80P and I schlept back to our apartment.

She commanded that the process required 2 beers and a friend. One beer for releasing the beans from the pod and the next for releasing the bean from its skin. Because of my bachelorette party induced hangover, I skipped the beers but still persuaded 80 to be my friend in the process.

Sesame Enhanced Fava Bean Puree

First I took the fava beans out of the pod. After the de-podding, I boiled the beans for a minute and a half, shocked them, and then removed the skins. A not difficult, but slightly annoying process, especially as waves of hangover fell upon me. In case you’re wondering why I’m going through this multi-step process on what should have been a lazy weekend afternoon, it is because I wanted to bring a snack for the World Cup watching party.