Fava Bean, Mint and Manchego Salad

The minute the weather even hints at being warmer around here, the salads make their way to the table.

I have a few go-to salads: my All Things Green and Herb Salad, the best (IMHO) Caesar Salad, a fabulous Honeydew and Cucumber Salad with Feta, and a host of others.  Pasta salads, cucumber salad, tomato salad, potato salad the list goes on and on.  And now I’m going to add one more to the list.

Fava Bean, Mint and Manchego Salad.  I have fallen in love all over again with fava beans!  They are in the broad bean family.  Yes, they require a bit of sweat equity in the beginning.  But the return on investment is worth every moment of the shucking, the blanching and the peeling.  The flavour of the ultimate bright green bean is nutty, slightly sweet, and is packed with all sorts of nutrients, fibre and protein etc.  An all around healthy bean that should be getting way more love.  And what is great, is that if you take the time to get as many pounds (kilos) as possible (if you aren’t growing your own) you can prep and freeze them, to keep the bright green bean alive way past the season.

So here are the basics for caring for fava beans:

First of all, one pound of fava bean pods will result in about 1 1/2 cups of shelled beans (unpeeled).  On average, one cup of unpeeled will feed two people, by the time you have peeled them.  Depending of course on what you are making. Try and choose bean pods that are green all over, with little to no brown spots.  The larger the pod, the more likely you will need to blanche the beans before eating or freezing.  Yes, the smaller the pod, you can even eat the pod itself, as well as the beans inside without any cooking.  I quite like them this way.  But then again, as a kid I would eat potatoes and even onions raw out of the garden with just a good shake to get rid of the dirt!  I don’t expect everyone to share this love of raw veggies, and that’s alright.

To peel them means either snapping them in half and prying them open, or cracking the one end and pulling back the stringy seam like a zipper.  Open the pod and scoop out the beans into a bowl.  Either way, what I do next is make two piles.  One pile for smaller beans, and the other for the larger beans.  So that when it comes to blanching them, I start with the larger ones put into boiling water which will require 120 seconds once the water has come up to a boil, and then adding the smaller ones in halfway through.  Shock them in an ice water bath to stop the cooking.

Strain them, let them cool slightly, and then peel them.  Although, some people don’t mind them unpeeled.  They’re not bad at all this way.  I just love revealing that truly bright green bean inside, so it’s worth the extra step.  Usually the skin will start to wrinkle and you can just pop the bean out the top by prying open the top where the seam is.  I use a small paring knife to help it along.  Slip them out and try not to eat them all then and there.  Sometimes the bean will split into two portions, that’s normal. You can eat them now, use them in dips, soups, salads, etc, or store in the fridge for a few days. 

If you want to keep them past a few days in the fridge, or well past the season, lay them flat onto a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze for about a couple of hours.  Then place them all into a freezer bag.  As you get more, you can keep freezing and adding more beans to the bag.  This way you can have the brightest green fava bean hummus on the block in September!

So for this salad, it will be the freshly blanched and peeled fava beans, little gems lettuce, mint, basil, and radishes.  Fava beans and mint go together like milk and cookies.  It’s a very Middle Eastern flavour combo.  I like dressing salads like this in the most simple way possible.  So it is lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and some hot chilli flakes for this mixture.  And to finish it all off, some shaved Manchego cheese.  Manchego, Feta, Pecorino, theses all work really well in salads like these.  They aren’t overtly strong or overpowering, and yet add a wonderful creamy salty presence.  A great balance to all the greens going on.

I mentioned that mint and basil are in the salad.  If you have dill and parsley, go ahead and use them as well or instead.  But do try and keep the mint at all costs!!  The radishes add the perfect crunch.  You could also add some red onion or cucumber, but I really didn’t want too many competing flavours happening in this salad.  The chilli flakes really make this salad.  It is a rather mild salad for the most part, so that touch of heat is a wonderful aspect.

Make enough and this can be a meal.  Or serve it a side for all your summer grilled meats and fish.

My Loose Salad Approach

I’ll try and give the measurements below, but you guys know by now, a salad is really a matter of just grabbing handfuls of greens and eyeballing it!  A good handful per person and you are set.  And as for the dressing, I find that it is always better to make more and have extra on hand for the next time you want to make it.  So I’ll give you more than enough dressing.  But that doesn’t mean you should use it all at once!! Don’t drown your salads- the greens really don’t like it.  And the less you dress, the easier it will be to save any leftovers.  I have kept leftovers of this salad in the fridge in a sealed container for two days straight and it still holds up perfectly on day three!

I’ve got another savoury way to serve fava beans coming really soon, so just go ahead and purchase a good bunch of beans, you’ll need them!

Love Jen.

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Fava Bean, Mint and Manchego Salad

All the bright greens of springtime are here in this delightful fava bean salad.  Their vibrant green colour is accented by the lemon and chilli flake dressing, with fresh mint and basil rounding out the herby goodness.  Crunchy radishes and manchego cheese are the final notes to make this salad a meal

Course Salad

Cuisine North American

Keyword fava beans, little gems lettuce, manchego cheese

Prep Time 40 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

Salad

• 2 cups fresh fava beans shelled, blanched and peeled, see Blog post for details
• 3 small little gems lettuce (can be replaced with frisée or hearts of romaine or even butter lettuce
• 1/2 cup torn fresh mint
• 1/4 cup torn fresh basil
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp fresh coarsely chopped dill
• 2-3 radishes sliced thinly (the amount you use will depend on their size and your love of radishes)
• 2 oz of Manchego cheese shaved (can be replaced with pecorino, parmesan, feta etc)

Dressing

• 1 lemon zested and juiced (see directions below)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 garlic clove minced or finely grated
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes

Instructions

Dressing

1. When zesting the lemon I like to use a bar zester which will give me the longer curls for a final garnish for the salad. Use about 1/2 the skin this way if you want. Use a regular zester for the rest of the skin, for the dressing.
2. Combine all the ingredients of the dressing. Taste and re-season if necessary.
3. If making ahead and storing in the fridge, remove the dressing to the counter for a good 30 minutes to let the olive oil warm up again.

Salad

1. To blanche the fava beans: Place the shelled beans into a pot of boiling water. Blanche for one minute. Remove to an ice bath. Let cool and then slip off the skins by tearing the top seamed section and popping them out. Reserve.
2. In a large bowl combine the beans with about 1 tbsp of the dressing. Toss well to coat the beans. You can do this about 20 minutes before serving the salad.
3. Add the lettuce, herbs and most of the radishes. Add another 2 tbsp or so of the dressing. Toss to coat well. Taste a piece of the lettuce to see if there is enough dressing. Only add more if needed.
4. Place into a serving bowl. Scatter the remaining radishes and shaved cheese all over. At this point you could drizzle a final 2 tsp of dressing over the top. Scatter the lemon zest curls if using.
5. Serve.