Fava beans! People avoid them because they think they are a pain in the butt, but especially now, early in the season, they are small and you don't need to parboil and remove that second coating. It's perfectly edible and, full disclosure, didn't even give me gas.
Taylor's has half bottles of this rose. Look how cute!
I looked through like five cookbooks, including two vegetarian ones, before I came up with a fava recipe. People just don't want to touch it because everyone thinks they are such a pain. I turned to Marcella Hazan and she had a simple, elegant recipe. It involved pancetta of course. I used Morant's bacon instead, sauteed with shallot. Then you just add a little water, cover, and cook the beans. True, they don't look as pretty with the outer jackets on. That's pecorino on top, and grilled bread brushed with olive oil on the side. 
Do you guys ever pick up those Time Life Foods of the World books at thrift stores? I finally read the one on America and it is my favorite one so far. It is such a good read! It has so many good photos. Unfortunately, the cover is kind of blah. Strawberry Shortcake isn't what comes to my mind when I think of American food.
This volume was edited by James Beard, but the actual lengthy text was written by Dale Brown. He includes a lot of personal history about his family farm and it's beautifully written. Here he is with his Dutch wife, Liet. At least as far as the internet is concerned, Dale Brown seems to be pretty obscure. It's so interesting to read his thoughts on how people are starting to reject industrial food and return to fresh, seasonal, local, regional stuff. And it was published in 1968! It's a good reminder that this theme is a continual part of our food culture in America and is not a new thing. We always think it's just around the corner but the reality is that there are huge swathes of our populace who have very little interest (or time or money to get involved) in this movement. The internet tells me that 1/4 of Americans eat fast food every day. That number was probably lower in 1968.
Sorry for the glare on the pages, but here are some examples of the photography. I love those 60's colors. 
New Orleans crawfish boil
Alaskan cuisine including insane king crabs.
10 comments:
We just hosted some Danish guests and served them strawberry shortcake! They had never had it and wolfed it down. It was the kind with biscuits, though, which I think is more American than the angel food version.
I just inherited the entire Time-Life series (both the pictorial hardbacks and the spiral bound) from my mom. I am afraid I grabbed them from her house with slightly indecent haste. My favorite recipe from the whole series is the one for moussaka from the Greek cookbook, but my mom cooked her way through practically the whole shebang. I found a bunch of her "gourmet group" menus from the seventies, all relying on that cookbook and with notes by certain recipes saying which grocery store in our small town carried (then) exotica like turmeric or cilantro.
I also ended up with the entire hardback Good Cook series.
Your lima beans look great, and with a bottle of Rose...heaven.
Yep, I meant fava beans. This is what no sleep gets you...
I have a couple of the good cook ones too, but not as many. I love the endpapers on the good cook series. The recipes are pretty insane. Aspic!
That's great you have your mom's notes and menus.
Have you tried fresh garbanzos? They're super cheap and a little easier to get out their pods than favas.
I made fava, mint, and arugula crostini last spring and it was pretty good, but it took forever and my fingers hurt like hell after shelling those little fuckers.
Brew
RE: food and politics, I enjoyed this blogginghead between Ezra Klein and Mark Bittman (ie, the "How To Cook Everything" author):
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/24061
I grilled a bunch of favas the other night and that was pretty great. Douse the pods in oil, grill until charred, and then sprinkle with salt and other seasonings as desired--I used Aleppo pepper--and de-pod and peel while hot. It is kind of like a Mediterranean version of edamame, and the skins slip off really easily, like the beans are pre-blanched.
The major benefit, though, is that everyone who is eating has to peel their own instead of me doing it for them.
Good idea on the favas!
Yeah, I've cooked with fresh garbanzos a couple of times. I just sauteed them briefly in the pod with oil and salt. It's cool you can always find them at Mexican markets. Does anyone know the Mexican way to prepare them?
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