As a self-taught home cook, I feel like I’ve grown over the years. Have always been a curious and eager cook. Making pasta from scratch, Mexican mole negro with 25+ ingredients, and any number of slow-braised soups and stews has never deterred me. Practice and patience are essential when learning any new craft. Though, I’ve also come to appreciate simplicity. Not necessarily simplicity for the sake of quick and easy, but simplicity as a means to showcase an ingredient at its peak of season. Bottom line, it’s all about flavor.

This recipe for simple spring fava beans is an exceptional example. Just fresh fava beans, good quality chicken or vegetable stock, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and a squeeze of lemon. There’s just something about fresh fava beans that I love. Perhaps it’s that they have such a short window. When young and fresh, fava beans are bright green, sweet, and buttery. As they age, fava beans become starchy and lose their vibrancy, turning a pale-green color. And before you now it, its season is over. Gone until next spring.

It doesn’t hurt that I simmered the fava beans in a homemade chicken stock made from chicken feet. On a side note, chicken feet make an incredibly flavorful and gelatinous stock. As the fava beans simmer, the olive oil and chicken broth emulsify, creating a creamy base for this dish. A squeeze of lemon juice adds a dash of brightness and a sprinkling of bright purple chive blossoms add a pop of color and a subtle onion-y flavor. This dish is the epitome of spring in a bowl.

Served with some toasted bread brushed generously with olive oil; fiore sardo, a rustic Sardinian Pecorino [sheep’s milk chese] rubbed with olive oil and lightly smoked over balsamic wood; and a glass of dry rosé, this is as good as it gets, at least in my book.

How do you like to celebrate spring when it comes cooking?

Shelling fava beans is a multi-step process: peel the fava beans from their outer pods, blanch, drain and immediately transfer to an ice bath, drain, and then peel the beans from their inner skins…

Simple Spring Fava

Adapted from Sicily: The Cookbook

4 pounds of fava beans in their pods
2 cups good quality chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Squeeze of lemon juice
Chive blossoms (optional)

Remove the fava beans from their pods.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the fava beans and simmer for about 2 minutes. Drain and immediately transfer to an ice water bath. Drain. Peel the beans from their inner shell.

Place the peeled fava beans in a pot, along with the stock and olive oil. Season with salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to simmer for about 15 minutes. As the fava simmer, the olive oil and chicken broth emulsify, creating a creamy base for this dish. Add a squeeze of lemon. Garnish with chive blossoms (optional) and serve.