Fava beans ( also known as Broad Bean) are a pain to prepare since they have TWO skins – the green one that grows on the outside and then the skin that surrounds the actual bean. They are a species of Bean grown originally in North Africa and Southeast Asia but now they make up part of the healthy Mediterranean diet that we read so much about – so replacing meat with these beans a few times a month is good for you!
There are about 2-3 beans in each pod. So it takes a while to prepare just one cup of beans and they go down very fast. So I came up with a novel way to prepare them that cuts the effort somewhat. These beans are very high in protein and quite versatile. One does not see them very often but we tried growing them this season at The Little Farm and were thrilled with the results – they were prolific and we added them to a number of dishes. The recipe below is by far the easiest.
Fava Beans in the Oven
Ingredients:
- 10 Pods of Fava Beans
- 4 Tbsp of Olive oil
- Kosher Salt to taste
Directions:
- Place the olive oil onto a baking pan and put the fava pods onto it and mix it around so that the pods are moistened all over with the oil. Sprinkle kosher salt on the pods and mix again turning them so that the salt is all over. Place under a hot broiler in the oven for 20 minutes – watching carefully so that they do not burn – the amount of time will depend on the thickness and size of the pods.
- Take them out the oven and split open each pod to remove the two or three beans inside. Then cut the very end of each bean and squeeze out the inner bean – just like you would eat edamame! YUM!
