last saturday i bought fresh fava beans at the psu farmers market here in portland. i absolutely love the market and the many unique ingredients i am able to find. i have never worked with fava beans and i was excited to try them out. just like peas, you have to pull the outer shell apart and remove the beans. i love the inside of the shells, they are soft and furry, how odd! once you have all of the beans removed, you need to blanch them in boiling water and then shock them in ice water. this will help you in the next step, peeling the shells in order to get the delicious bright green fava bean! i love the color and happened to also have a summer squash that i thought would really compliment the dish. in a pan with hot oil i added onions, shallots and after a few minutes, garlic. you always want to add garlic last so you don't burn it. keep your heat at medium and when things are looking slightly brown, throw in the fava beans and sliced summer squash. make sure you get everything mixed together and then when it looks done, it is! i like mine a bit caramelized to the pan. yummm. season it up however you like, i added mrs. dash table blend which i love on veggies. this was sooo good. we had it along with crunchy bread, heirloom tomatoes with feta, tomato cucumber cous-cous salad, and lentil soup. it was my idea of a veggie mezza. my boyfriend even found us some fitting music, a sampler cd called mediterranean cafe. i love how finding a new ingredient made this entire memory possible. :)
