Fava Beans: Are They Worth the Work?

When you see them in the produce aisle or at the farmer's market, they're in large green pods. They look less like a food and more like something you'd find on the ground while strolling through a city park -- but with a lot (a lot) of elbow grease, a little butter and garlic, fava beans are super tasty. The beans also pack a nutritional punch: Vitamin B1, manganese, folate, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and fiber.

There are numerous ways to cook fava beans, including hummus-like purees and as an accompaniment to other dishes. I've heard they also go well with liver and a nice glass of Chianti. Personally, I prefer just sauteing them in butter with some minced garlic. In fact, the simpler the better -- which brings me to the question in the title: are they worth the work?

I guess it depends. I've never gone out of my way to buy fava beans, to be honest, but I always take the time to prep and cook them when they show up in our early-season CSA farm share. To be blunt -- they're a real pain in the ass to shell, blanch, remove from the "second skin," and then cook. What you see in the picture above is enough for a family of four, but it came from pods filling two brown paper bags and took more than an hour from pod to table.

So here's how I do it:

1. Remove beans from pods (you can use a paring knife, but it's not always necessary)
2. Blanch them in salted water for about 5 minutes, drain and rinse with cool water (so you can handle them again) 
3. Using a small paring knife of just your fingers, remove the beans from the fleshy outer skin (usually a pale green color)
4. Saute in butter with garlic, season with salt and pepper
5. Serve

I personally don't think it's always worth putting in this amount of time for a side dish, but you really ought to at least find out for yourself. They are tasty.

Thanks for reading,

Steve