Fava Bean Salad

I posted about fava beans before.  Prepping them is a little labor intensive but they are so, so good, and this salad, pinned from Whole Living, is just dynamite –  bright, fresh and full of spring.  I made it last night with Bouchons au Thon and roasted potatoes and there wasn’t a scrap left.

I used my own vinaigrette instead of the garlicky dressing shown below, although it does sound delicious.  And I had no feta cheese; I had crumbled goat cheese but I’m the only one who likes it, so it ended up being cheeseless.

Fava Bean Salad (with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette)

For the vinaigrette:

• 1 head garlic, 1/2 inch cut off top to reveal cloves
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
• 3/4 cup (2 ounces) walnuts, toasted and chopped

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

For the salad:

• 1 pound shucked fresh fava beans (from 3 pounds pods; 3 1/2 cups)
• 2 cups fresh corn kernels (from 2 ears of corn)
• 1 medium cucumber, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced (1/2 cup)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Make the vinaigrette: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle garlic with 1 teaspoon oil. Wrap in parchment, then in foil. Bake until soft, about 30 minutes. Squeeze garlic from skins. Mash until smooth.

Whisk together the remaining ingredients with 1 tablespoon of the roasted garlic and remaining 2 teaspoons oil.

Make the salad: Prepare an ice-water bath. Cook beans in a large pot of boiling water for 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer beans to ice-water bath. Let cool completely, and remove with the slotted spoon. Cook corn in same pot for 1 minute, and drain in a colander. Peel thin shells off beans.

Toss cucumber, onion, parsley, feta, beans, and corn with the vinaigrette.

Serve.

With a nice chiaaaaaaanti.

Sweet Potatoes with Black Rice

Isn’t this gorgeous?  I love mason jars.  And here’s a funny thing:  twelve-year-old girls apparently love to organize things into jars.  Even if those things are weird grains that they wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, it’s fun to decant them into the jars and arrange them on the shelf.

But great grains they are and one of my resolutions this year is to eat more of them.  So without further ado, I introduce the Grain of the Week:

Bl–…

Wait.

Let’s let Mark Dacascos from Iron Chef America have the honors.

BLACK RICE!!!!!!

Thank you, chairman (makes “call me” telephone gesture).  Black rice, also known as purple or “Forbidden Rice”, is high in nutritional value and contains 18 amino acids, iron, zinc, copper, carotene, and several important vitamins.  It is indeed a deep black color and usually turns deep purple when cooked. Its dark purple color is primarily due to its anthocyanin content…

Blah, blah, blah, it looks cool in the jar and anything called “Forbidden” is usually pretty good.  So what to do with it?  Well, on the back of the bag there happened to be this recipe for sauted sweet potatoes with black rice which sounded forbiddingly tasty.  And so, with an open heart and an empty stomach, I say unto you in the words of my uncle…

ALLEZ CUISINE!!!!!!

Forbidden Sweet Potatoes with Black Rice

• 3/4 cup black rice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used coconut oil because I’m a total evangelical convert, I’m addicted, it’s crack, I use it in everything)
• 3/4 cup scallions (and by the way, see these scallions here?  They are the last thing standing in my garden.  No lie.  Pulled ’em right out of the frozen ground)
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced (which I skip entirely in favor of a heaping tablespoon of my jarred, pressed ginger, and you should too)
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

Bring rice, water and 1/2 tsp salt to a boil in a saucepan, then reduce heat to low and cook rice, covered until tender and most of the water is absorbed (about 30 minutes)

While rice is cooking, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Saute scallions, ginger and sweet potato, stirring until coated, about 2 minutes.  Reduce heat and add salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and cook another 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sweet potato cubes are fork-tender.

Add rice and toss gently to combine.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley or cilantro and ignore your husband, who hates parsley and cilantro sprinkled on his food.  It won’t kill him.

Serve to the Chairman.  I’m sure he doesn’t mind a little parsley sprinkled on his food…