Purea di fave
Mashed fava beans Traditional recipe of Apulia
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- 400 g (14 1/4oz) fresh fava beans, rinsed
- 400 g (14 1/4oz) potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 250 ml (8 3/4fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Time:
preparation: 30 minutes
cooking: 70 minutes
total: 100 minutes - Difficulty:
easy recipe - Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: XX (kCal) - XX (kJ)
Protein: XX (g)
Total fat: XX (g)
Total carbohydrate: XX (g)
Sugars: XX (g)
Mashed fava beans is a typical recipe of Apulia. Once it was made by peasantry but nowadays it is a dish prepared all over Italy.
It's simple-to-do, very tasty and a typical spring recipe for its main ingredients are fresh fava beans available in spring. But you can also make it with frozen fava beans all year.
Locals serve mashed fava beans accompanied by boiled field greens. You can also use bitter chicory.
In fact the goodness of this dish lies in combining the fava bean taste with the bitter of greens.
People in Apulia serve mashed fava beans as side dish or one-plate meal. Prefer the second solution for fava beans are rich in protein and so it's wrong to combine this pulse recipe with meat or fish.
For this pulse recipe you will need: fresh fava beans, potatoes, extra virgin olive oil and salt. Few, poor ingredients for a tasty dish!
Here's the step-by-step instructions!
Cook the fava beans. Put the fava beans in pan (preferably an earthenware pot) together with potatoes. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil on low heat. Add no salt! Let the ingredients simmer, half-covered, for about 20 minutes. Switch off the gas and remove the water with a ladle.
Cover with cold water again. Season to taste with salt and bring to the boil. Let the ingredients simmer, half-covered, for about 30 minutes or until fava beans are tender. Avoid stirring and remember to simmer on very low heat.
We repeat: you have the best result not stirring your fava beans.
The last step. Put fava beans and potatoes through a vegetable mill. Transfer the puréed fava beans into the pan and begin adding the olive oil a little at a time stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Keep on stirring and adding olive oil until you have a smooth and soft purée.
Your mashed fava beans are ready!
Note
- - You have to buy about 1.5 kg (3lb and 5oz) shelling fava beans to have the right amount of pulses for this recipe.
- - Serve the mashed fava beans with boiled field greens ar bitter anchovy if you don't find them. Dress the greens with olive oil and hot chilli pepper powder if you like. Accompany this dish with bread slices, toasted or not.
- - Carlo and I like to sautè the boiled greens in a pan together with a bit of olive oil and chopped onion. It isn't the authentic recipe but it's very tasty!
- - Some people are used to garnish the dish with seasoned pecorino flakes. We suggest to put pecorino flakes in a little bowl. People will be able to help themselves according to their taste.
- - The amount of olive oil in this recipe is very high. Generally we use only the quantity of olive oil needed to have a soft purée according to our taste. Note that the recommended amount of olive oil is three tablespoons a day per head.
For this reason it's impossible to calculate its nutrition facts.
What's the right wine for " Purea di fave " ?
Our suggestion for this fantastic pulse recipe is to accompany it with a velvety rosé wine such as Nardò Rosato, a typical wine of Apulia.
By: Loretta Sebastiani
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