Fava Beans – but no Chianti

Not being a big Hannibal Lecter fan, I don’t remember the exact quote, but I do know there was something to do with fava beans and Chianti.  Whatever the case, we eat the favas, but certainly not whatever else was on creepy old Hannibal’s menu.

Favas are a spring favorite here.  We plant them, buy them, eat them, cook them, and even freeze them to eat in the winter when we don’t have fresh favas available.  These are directly from our garden.

I’ve never seen these tasty little treats in the US.  Some people may grow them themselves and you may be able to get them in some greengrocers in more populated areas, but I lived my entire life without eating (or seeing) them until I came to Italy.

The most common way to eat them, at least around here anyway, is to just pile them in the middle of the table and everyone dig in, peeling and eating.  You have to first take them out of the pod – which is interesting because it’s kind of cottony on the inside.  Some people then eat them with the skin, but I like to take it off.  If they’re really fresh, then the skin isn’t bitter, but let them sit for a few hours before eating and it’s so bitter that it ruins the taste.  Of course, we’ve been known to just pick them and eat them when we go out to water the garden.  They taste even better when they’re freshly picked.  (And thank goodness the pheasants don’t eat them like they ate my peas.  Hmmph.)

My favorite way to eat them?  With a nice glass of red wine (Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, of course) and some aged parmiggiano (I like it when it’s been aged 24 months).  Eat a few favas, then a bite of parmiggiano, then a sip of wine.

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