fava beans and the CSA

a woman from AP’s work brought in some extra produce from her CSA share. he brought home some fresh salad onions that we grilled up, a bunch of mustard greens, and great big fava beans still in their pods. whatever would we do with those? i poked around trying to find instructions on how to prepare them. it was a bit labor intensive, but not overly so. and the work was just right for a little one to join in. first we shelled the beans. they come encased in the most amazing, fuzzy pods. and they even have belly buttons. sort of!

we steamed them for three minutes and then dunked them in ice water to stop the cooking. then we had to take their outer skins off. just a poke with a fingernail and squeeze. easy as pie. the brightest green beans are the favas, the lighter ones are the skins.

then we sauteed them in some butter for just a few more minutes till they were tender. we tossed the beans with salt and pepper and a little lemon juice. then we ate them up.

and it worked just how CSAs are supposed to work. we got to try something we never would have purchased ourselves, got to learn how to work with a new food, got to eat something yummy. summer.