fava bean, mint, and pecorino spread

Fava bean spread recipe

Makes roughly a cup—note amounts below are approximate and you should adjust seasonings as needed

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds fresh fava beans in their pods

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus more if needed)

  • 1/2 cup finely grated sharp pecorino cheese, not packed down

  • 8 or so fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

  • 1/2 lemon (juice to taste)

Instructions:

  1. Prepare fava beans—this is the laborious part. First, shell them and discard pods. Next, you will need to remove the leathery skins from the beans. Put a pot of water on to boil, then throw the beans in. Boil for around 2-3 minutes, or until skins begin to split just a little bit (look closely). Test one of the beans for doneness, if needed. You do not want to boil the green out of the beans, so boil just until they are tender. Drain them and put them in a bowl covered with ice until cooled. Next, squeeze the beans from their skins—it helps to use a fingernail to tear the skin a bit, then squeeze. Discard the skins. You should be left with tender, bright green fava beans.

  2. Put beans, olive oil, and cheese in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, with still a bit of texture. Stir in chopped mint leaves and a good squeeze of lemon juice, taste and season as desired with salt and freshly ground pepper. You can always add more olive oil, cheese, lemon juice, etc. as you think it needs. Serve with good bread, crackers, or radishes for dipping.

Note: fava bean pods may have wildly different yields depending on the size of the beans inside, etc. This recipe is based on 2 pounds of pods, which resulted in 2 cups of beans once shelled (before removing skins). You will likely need to adjust quantities of seasonings based on the yield you got.