Fava Beans: Fabulous Iftari Feasting



What a wonderful treat to have found a big pile of fava beans (amongst other goodies) in my farm delivery this past week! It had likely been an entire year since having had any legumes at all, so I was excited to see these pretty little gems nestled amongst piles and piles of kale...

It took me a few days to actually come to terms with breaking open pods to awaken sleepy little beans, but once I began to shell them I felt my heart begin to smile.

They were so cute in their soft, fuzzy little pod beds; still clinging to their umbilical growth lines. Such little things may often go unnoticed in most kitchens, but for some reason I still find so much delight in these seemingly insignificant discoveries!

Once the childlike Beans of Fava had been uncovered and released from their cushy pod-beds, I was then faced with the task of making them go farther than I had initially imagined. The pods themselves make up a huge bulk of "who" they appear to be upon harvesting, but once shelled the little beans are substantially lesser in volume. As such, I opted to make one small salad and use the rest for a true bean hummous to serve with dates for Iftar.
Here's what I came up with:

Fava Bean Salad



Fava Bean Hummous-filled Medjool Dates