Broad Beans
By Peter G • Oct 9th, 2008 • Category: Recipes
I’ve been wanting to cook with broad beans for a while now. When I spotted these beauties at the market recently, my mind went into overdrive thinking of ways to enjoy them. As per usual though, I took the simple route. I used them as a side dish to some baked salmon I also cooked. (You probably have noticed I don’t indulge in a lot of seafood but I’m trying…).
I think there were about twenty in my bag and I honestly thought it would yield a decent amount. Instead I ended up with a miniscule amount. They were actually quite small. Perhaps they were young? I paid premium for these and I’m not sure they were really worth all that bloody peeling! I popped the beans out of their shell, blanched them and then refreshed them in some cold water. Then I had to peel their outer skins! I had no idea they were so much effort! Anyway, I ended up combining them with some peas just to make the plate look fuller! I then simply tossed them in a mixture of olive oil, garlic, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. For all my complaining they DID taste great though! Some people…huh!
P.S Tomorrow I’ll cover the salmon dish.
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Peter G is a passionate foodie of Greek descent living in Australia. You'll usually find him cooking up a storm in the kitchen and photographing all his exploits.
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I would love these as a side dish with my lamb chops Peter:D
Peter, I am not sure what broad beans are but they look like fava beans (koukia). If they are koukia, I must admit when my mother cooked them we would never eat them and when she asked us why we would say that horns would grow on our heads and laugh. Anyway I haven’t eaten them even when I grew up and I never tried to cook them. I think that they must be out of season now but I must make it my priority to try them.
I’m thinking these would be simply amazing as a side. I love the bright green color… which for me makes them at least partly worth the effort!
Huh…if they are favas, they look kinda small. I like favas but for me they are not worth all the fuss either…but I’ll take peas any day!
I wonder like Jenn and Ivy if these are favas, if they are… you did right! The smaller the more tender and tasteful! At least, this is what is said here :D.
How did you cook them? I can’t see the recipe. I had some 2 weeks ago with blood sausage and they were fantastic
Yeah, they look like fava from here too and they make a wonderful, healthy side dish.
I have never cooked with them, either, but I am lazy so now that I’ve read your post I’m not sure if I will. LOL. They do look great though, and simple preparations are the best.
Sorry to laugh at your frustration, but that’s so funny!
I actually find it very relaxing slipping the beans out of their grey/green pods and then extremely exciting when the bright green beans are revealed. One of life’s simple (and delicious) pleasures.
Broad beans are fava beans. There are a couple of other names for them too. I’ll check one of my gardening books and come back.
According to Steve Solomon in his book, Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, broad beans are fava beans (koukia) and are sometimes also known by the names horse beans, bell beans, winter beans and tic beans. Fava beans are amazingly cold-hardy; in fact, here in California I grow them as a winter cover crop with the added bonus of edible beans come spring.
A side note that will probably be interesting only to fellow veggie gardeners: the botanical name is Vicia faba. Vicia is the vetch genus, thus fava beans are neither a bean nor a pea, but rather a very large vetch.
Sounds like a lot of work. I’d be tempted to buy them, just to try them, but I know we don’t have fava/broad beans here.
Maybe you could make a pasta dish with them? Then you wouldn’t need very much.
what spectacular pictures!!! i love the simple styling of your shots.
Aww…sorry for all the pain, but at least they tasted and looked good
The peeling, the peeling! But they do look good so maybe the peeling was worth it?
The first time I tried broad beans I could not BELIEVE the amount of wasted “packaging” and the amount of effort required! But I am now so sold on the taste that the effort is worth it every time for me. Try combining then with green beans over mozzarella with a basil dressing - there’s a recipe somethere on my blog…
broad beans - i wonder if the term is a kiwi/ozzie one, as i grew up in new zealand calling them broad beans, altho’ i know most people around the world call them fava beans, which confuses greeks, as we call the yellow split pea dish fava.
you dont actually need to peel them completely to get a good tasty dish from them, try this one of mine:
http://organicallycooked.blogspot.com/2008/05/broad-beans-with-artichokes.html
you can omit the artichokes, but they do go well together. potatoes can be added instead
Broad beans are called that in the UK where I grew up. I adored them (grown by my Dad) all through my childhood and I now grow them myself (in Western Australia). If you pick them young there is absolutely no need to skin the individual beans as well as shelling them (you can eat pods as well if you pick them very tiny) - the skins of the beans are very tender when green - as they mature they go greyer and become tougher and somewhat bitter. For me the very best way to eat them is just cooked plainly in boiling slightly salted water until very tender - one of my best memories is of broad beans, new young potatoes and crispy bacon - a regular meal of early summer in my childhood - yum!