Cindystar: Pasta with fava beans pesto

30 aprile 2012

Pasta with fava beans pesto - MLLA # 46

la ricetta in italiano qui

It's fava bean time! :-)

It's so funny I have never eaten them until a few years ago, it's not a very common vegetable in the Northern Italian regions ando plus I suppose my mother isn't very fond of them. Therefore, I never had the chance to try them until a few years ago in Elba and had the pleasure to eat those by Mario's private and rich garden! Last year they were an excellent aperitif on the terrace at Susan's Easter lunch: fresh crunchy fava beans with pecorino cheese, delicious!

But you can enjoy them in salad and soups, even in little dumpling appettizers, all year long, choosing dry ones when not in season :-).

And they perfectly fit for a delicate sweet creamy pesto for your best Spring pasta to serve. Just add a little chili powder to give a little verve and that's it!

We had it again today for lunch andwith some sweet&sour leftover peppers: thumb up! :-)

Recipe by chef Roberto Maurizio from Congusto.

Serving 3/4:

300/350 g good quality pasta (Garofalo is one of the best :-) *
250 g shelled fava beans **
10 basil leeaves
extra virgin olive oil
a few tablespoons of pecorino
salt
chili powder

* I used short Mafalda, but spaghetti or linguine will be perfect too

** to get 250 g shelled fava beans you should buy about 2 kilos with pod :-)

Give a boil to the beans in lightly salted water for 5 minutes, drain and plunge into iced water, then just squeeze them between your fingers, peel will slip off easily :-).

Put some aside for decoration, whole, blend the rest with a ladle of cooking water and oil (about ½ cup), add basil, salt and a pinch of chili powder, you should get a smooth and homogeneous cream. Add the cheese at last.

Cook pasta al dente and drain it moist (I mean quickly, pretty wrapped by water :-) and season with pesto. If necessarry add a little oil or a little cooking water. Garnish with fava beans and a pinch of chili powder and serve immediately.