What the F I do with a ton of fava beans. [RECIPE]

Friends, the fava beans are ready.

Not mine, mind you, because I successfully ignored all the shrieking around me and turned them under so that they could feed my corn-nuked soil, but the farmshare's and my next door neighbors' and the awesome neighbors' are ready and TEE DAH they're at my house now.

Apparently, despite all their, "What are you some sort of monster"-ing when I was hacking away at my plants, they somehow found it in their hearts to forgive me AND just in time to sweetly offer me big bags of their fava beans oh don't I want just a few pounds they shell down to nearly nothing.

Right. That's why favas are a pain in the ass.

I mean, I'm not shooing them off my property because I don't like to eat fava beans. HO NO! I like that part very much. But we have come to learn that all the, "Oh, no thank you"-ing that comes with fava beans has only to do with the extreme tediousnessocity of processing them.

So, understand me, people: when they're shelled and de-podded and rinsed and combined with olive oil, salt and lemon juice - I'm happy as can be with fava beans. But if you have been on the receiving end of one of these bulging bags (wow), you know that all that shelling and de-podding and rinsing that is so time consuming and nail-greening, and Tedious comes included with purchase.

Yes, I just used tedious with a capital, T, by the way. I just need to be sure you caught my drift on that. Because it's a pain in the ass to process fava beans. And last night it took me a full episode of The Pacific and nearly two glasses of wine to work three giant bags of favas down to 3 cups of edible beans.

Yay.

Thankfully, the recipe I made up to use some of these beans didn't use them all, so now I have some that can more easily go into other things without the requisite sitting in front of the TV with a bowl between my legs and a bag for the discards on the floor while Bubba tries to recall the moment when we moved from Taco Bell to me shelling beans in the living room.

I'll say it again, our life is very glamorous.

Anyway, if any of your neighbors (or farmshares) have hauled off and left sacks of fava beans on your porch when you just went out back to check on the dog or something, here's a new way that I'm getting rid of them that you might enjoy.

It's got a couple things going for it:
It's simple - only a few ingredients.
It's "mmmmmmmmmm" - according to Bubba.
It can be made with as few or as many fava beans as you care to process. Hallelujah.

Finny's Fava Pasta

Recipe by moi
Makes 3 servings

Ingredients
1 T - 3 cups Fava beans, shelled, steamed, de-podded, rinsed and drained
1- 3 cups whole wheat spaghetti (or whatever pasta you've got)
2 T minced fresh herbs (I used lemon thyme and oregano because that's what the garden's got for me right now)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Juice from 1 lemon
3 T good olive oil
2 T Parmesan, shredded
Salt + pepper to your taste

To make
Boil some sea-salty water for the pasta and while the pasta's cooking in it (but not too long, you want it al dente, kay? Don't be gross with smushy pasta.), mince up the herbs.

When the pasta's ready (AL DENTE, per favore), drain and set aside.

In the same pot you cooked your pasta, add 2 T of oil and your minced garlic and brown it slightly over medium heat but DO NOT LET IT BURN.

You hear me?

Then, when the garlic's nice and fragrant, add in your herbs and give them a stir through the garlicky oil. That's nice. Now add your lemon juice and then pour in your pasta over that. Give it a good toss. Finally, add your fava beans and make sure they get all nice and woven through the pasta.

Finally, give it a taste and add as much salt and fresh ground black pepper as you like.

Serve it with the rest of the oil and the Parmesan on top.

Again, I've managed to avoid using the term, "drizzle", here and I hope you appreciate it. LOATHE THAT COOKING TERM.

Enjoy.