Friday, 20 April 2012

Braised Broad Beans (Fave brasate)


From My Italian Heart: Recipes from an Italian kitchen, Guy Grossi, Lantern, 2005.

I’m very fond of broad beans but they are such a pain to prepare when you have to remove the tough skin from around the bean. When I’m in no hurry and in a calm mood it’s an activity that I enjoy as it can be rather relaxing to give the hard skin a little pinch and then pop out the bright green bean. However it is time time-consuming so I need to be making something that I’m sure will be worth the effort.

I made broad bean burgers recently from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi and they were exceptionally good. I was hoping that Guy Grossi’s recipe for braised broad beans would also be a good one.

The beans, naturally, had to first be de-skinned. Once that was done some onion and garlic were fried in a pan until they were softened and starting to brown. Then the beans were added with a little tomato paste, some chopped basil and parsley, a little stock and white wine. They were simmered for about 20 minutes. After seasoning they were ready to serve.



As a side dish this worked well. The beans came through nicely in the savoury sauce and it is worth me remembering to cook my next lot of broad beans in a similar sauce rather than the simple plain boiling which has been my custom.

Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

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