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Can We Love a Fava Bean?

>> 5/16/10


In my never-ending, and sometimes painful, drive to get more vegetables in my diet, I subscribe to Farm Fresh to You, a produce delivery service from local growers. It's also a good thing to eat local and seasonal food - tastes better, better for the environment and the rest of that do-good stuff. I'm challenged and intrigued with each delivery because there's always one fresh item that I've never cooked with or that I think I'll like, which brings me to Fava.
What to do with a giant bean that arrived in a pod nearly the size of a banana? Like Katrina De Voort ("Her house always smells like soup," Bleeker said to Juno.), I made soup.
And that meant I went to Chop Therapy first.

Chop Therapy session included carrots, leeks, green beans, asparagus, celery and "The Groovy Sixties" CD. You can get pre-chopped if you're in a hurry, but you'll be missing the soothing sounds of Me and Bobby McGee.

My culinary cousin Pam taught me to start with a mirepoix (fancy French term for chopped veggies that become the flavor base - pronounced meer-pwah) - two parts onion (in this case, leeks) to one part each celery and carrots. Cook in a little olive oil over med/med high heat for five minutes to bring out the flavor. Add in broth (veggie/chicken or both), all beans and asparagus. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add dried herbs here or fresh herbs before serving (thyme, basil, flat leaf parsley, mint -all work for spring flavors). Play with ingredients you prefer or those you have on hand and always taste as you go.

Spring Vegetable Soup with fava beans.

It's Sunday, I even had time to grate some fresh parmesan cheese on top.

I had dismissed the fava as just another bean of colossal proportion, but it tasted unique - fresh, an inexplicable spring flavor.

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Possibilities Waiting to be Created

Possibilities Waiting to be Created
Santa Monica Farmers Market

Crunch Time

Gives any well-intentioned cook, completely possible ways to get more real, fresh food onto the table without being shackled to a recipe or breaking the bank or getting an uprising from finicky eaters.
We are big on quick food prep - Chop Therapy - to make real food into fast food and we use what we term flavor savors that give a flavor punch to foods instead of using preservatives or processed ingredients.
We love getting the whole family involved in the food preparation effort. We also use some momgenutity for presenting real food in our homes so it stands a chance against the marketing assault of the Happy Meal.
Please share your ideas and share our posts with anyone you know who might want more real food in their meals.

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