Don't Fear the Tender Fava- Cook the Book

The Tea Time Adventurers are on the ball! Yes, this month we strove not to wait until the last minute to dive into Tender by Nigel Slater, our Cook the Book for May. Angela acquired her copy from the library the last week of April and paged around a tiny bit. Tea Time exchanged texts comparing its size and heft to the Joy of Cooking and the Bible. However Angela isn't ready to trade in her paper for electric words yet, so she built some muscle and hauled it home. The reason this cookbook is a brick becomes apparent once you read a couple entries. Tender is an almanac of sorts, with its information feeding both cook and gardener. It's organized by vegetable (but not vegetarian, this man loves his pork!) with a section about the growing season, plant and its edible bits in addition to the recipes/pairing suggestions.

Angela once had a Bad Experience with Fava Beans. The first time she ever cooked them in a dish they rendered it compost! Their horrible bitter flavor made her wonder what the heck could ever make them edible. Enter Tender. She decided to focus on this challenge vegetable and started cooking with it asap May 1. Which in the end turned out to be a good thing, because by the date of their Tender lunch, it turns out Fava Bean season was Over at her local produce market! Holy Cow, that was fast. Reading the mini-chapter on FB in the cookbook (pages 231-250) had led her to believe they could be found year round (or at least the whole summer). So in the end while Angela did make and enjoy Fava Bean Hummus, Fava Bean soup (pureed with avacado), and just ended up cooking Fava Beans and taking them as a snack to work there aren't any pictures! She thought there would be time enough during the month to catch them in all their glory. So alas and alack, while our lunch was not as Favacentric as planned, the substitute veggies still made a it a happy green occasion!

For lunch, Angela made Creamed Leeks (leeks subbed for the Fava Beans), Avacado "hummus" (not quite a guacamole) and a combo of two recipes that made one delish Fava Bean Salad (yes, actual fava beans were eaten, they were still in the fridge, happily they didn't make it in the lunch bag). J.K. brought the dessert (but of course), a Chocolate Beet Cake (page 54). She spills the beans on this "Red Velvet" cake in another post. Helpful hint to bakers from Tea Time: If you want your red velvet cake to be RED, don't mess with nasty fake food coloring. Let nature help and Use Beets!

Waiting to sit and eat.

A Tender lunch. The first time I've made creamed veg with Cream.

Two into one Fava Bean Salad. Radishes, Feta, Parsley, Mint, Bacon, Fava, Scallions=YUM-O.

Avocado "hummus". The fava bean version Angela made earlier in the month was smooth and light.

Creamed Leeks (replaced favas in recipe). Very good.

Fava salad closeup, a bit of everything.

This cake was even better as cool leftovers from the fridge. Delicious!

Angela will be on the lookout for Fava Beans now that she knows their secrets. (For Mature Beans--Boil, then peel the second skin!) But ideally the world will catch onto the idea that Fava leaves are delish and baby favas are so easy to cook (no boiling, no bitter, no peeling!) and bring them to my local market/farmers market. Maybe since there is a week left of May we'll try another veg, maybe celery root? Even if we don't cook anything else from this book for this post, it will be a great reference to anyone who gets a challenge vegetable in their CSA Box.

I can't wait until next year, when fava leaves and baby fava beans are back at the Food Swap, ready to trade. Gimme!! *

 Happy Summer, and Happy Abundance! The gardeners are starting their harvesting, so now is the perfect time to branch out and eat fresh. What's your favorite seasonal summer dish?

*photo stolen from the FS facebook page. Thanks dudes. 

UPDATE:

I stopped by the Heart of the City Farmer's Market on Weds and look what I found. The last of fresh picked asparagus and fava beans! I love the Market for several reasons, but this really made my day. I bought what I thought was a lot, but it turned out to be just right for a oversized dish of Creamed Fava Beans. This farmer also had dried fava beans, only $1 a bag, so I have some to make Fava Bean Hummus at a later date.

My pile of fava beans (fresh and dried) plus asparagus.

Big favas on the left, smaller favas to the right. They cook for a different amount of time.

The fava bean, upper left. The "parchment" shells from my pile. (That's what Nigel calls them.)

I should have let the cream cook down a little more, but I was too hungry to wait for dinner.

A bonus picture of my asparagus with onion and bacon.

Quinoa for Kat --Angela

Quinoa has recently become a main grain in my life. It's very simple to use in salads, soups and stews. In this post I'm going make a Quinoa stew using chicken broth, fresh veg and black quinoa from our local co-op Rainbow Grocery. Quinoa is most commonly cooked in a similar manner to rice. 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water. Boil, let it sit until water is absorbed. Very simple and delicious. You can use plain water with salt or any flavored broth you like, I chose homemade chicken and onion broth from the poached chicken used in the Cold Chicken and Potato salad we ate at Opera in the Park.

I skimmed off the fat from the poached chicken broth before adding the quinoa. (I also removed the poached chicken, but tossed in a bit that was chopped up.) I brought the quinoa to a boil and then turned it off until I was ready to add the next ingredients.

skim the fat

putting in quinoa

I tossed in a cup of dried veggie mix to help add flavor and absorb the extra broth.  This included garlic, tomatoes, carrots, celery and potatoes, you can find a mix like this online or at a co-op. I bought it as part of my pretend earthquake kit, but I like to use it even when the earth isn't shakin'.

I brought the dried vegetables and quinoa back up to a simmer. The germ of the quinoa was showing, so I knew it was technically done cooking, but it's a hardy grain so it could stew in the pot (ha!). You can see the little curls below, those c-shapes are the germ.

Per usual I had to add some veggies to give it texture and further develop the flavor profile. In this case, eggplant (which I chose because it breaks down when you cook it), broccoli (I like to rough chop it so some of the mini florets swim around), celery and a 'challenge' vegetable, fava beans.

I asked around to find the best way to cook fava beans as the last time when I got them from the farmer's  market, they tasted bitter and ruined my meal. Turns out I overcooked them, which leached the bitterness into that stew. Knowledgeable and prepared, this time I tossed them in on top to steam After I simmered the other ingredients until they were cooked. They are quite tasty. I also learned you can steam them in their pods like edamame.

The finished stew, served with an heirloom cherry tomato garnish. It made a potful, which I have been taking to work for lunch. It just seems to get more savory and filling everyday!