Michigan is just starting to see the farmers market bloom. But, pea pods and their blossoms were in full supply along with fresh Michigan peaches. This week I was at the Italian market and found fresh Fava Beans. Fava Beans are my favorite! There is no getting around how labor intensive they can be, but they’re perfect for a summer salad and well worth the effort.

The main key with Fava Beans is to bring a small pot of water to boil add the beans, and boil for 1 minute. Drain and plunge into a ice bath. When they cool drain again and peel by pinching the end of each bean. The skin should slip right off! You may be wondering, why go to the trouble? Fava Beans are filled with favor and vitamins, and really can make a dish special. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of peeling them, you can roast the beans with skin on… coated with olive oil, salt and pepper and throw in a hot oven. The small late Spring Fava Beans are spectacular mashed and spread on toast, with some Ladi Bioas olive oil, some salt and pepper, and garnished with rosemary. It’s a great replacement or in addition to the standard avocado toast.

TIP: Be sure to use high quality Olive Oil and Cheeses on your salads! These two ingredients can really make or break the dish.

Summer Salad: Fava beans, fennel, peaches, radish and burrata

Print Recipe
Serves: 6 Cooking Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 Large bunch of fava beans: Boil for one minute, ice bath for 5 mins and remove the bean from the pod and peel by pinching the bean and it will remove from the gray sack
  • 1 Watermelon radish
  • 1 Container of colorful Pea Pods
  • 2 Purple radishes
  • 1 Fennel stalk
  • 1 Large peach
  • 1 Handful of Pea blossoms
  • 1 Ball of fresh burrata
  • Good extra virgin olive oil from Ladi Biosas
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1

After following the instructions on cooking the fava bean find a platter that will enhance this colorful salad

2

Lay the pea pods on the platter

3

Clean and slice on a angle fresh fennel and lay over the pea pods

4

Slice the peach and lay on the fennel

5

Slice the watermelon radish and frame the platter

6

Slice the purple radishes and lay on the peaches

7

Sprinkle with Pea pod flowers, fava beans... lace with ladi biosas extra virgin olive oil

8

Salt and Pepper

Notes

Grilling the peaches will add a extra dimension to this salad however today I left them un-grilled to give a real clean fresh flavor to the salad

s, beans, summer, summer salad, burrata, cheese, olive oil, greece,

Your Comments