In which we cook from the Davis Farmers Market Cookbook: Fava Bean Soup

We were excited to get our copy of the Davis Farmers Market Cookbook:  Tasting California's Small Farms, by Georgeanne Brennan and Ann M. Evans.  This is a beautiful book, and one that will inspire you to shop the market with a new appreciation.  One of the nicest things about the book is the way that it helps you to see our farmers and their wares through its photographs.  Naming the farmers in each photograph assists the process of getting to know them as individuals and neighbors, one of the privileges of shopping a relatively small, local market on a regular basis.  The authors provide new insights, too, even for market regulars such as ourselves.  For instance, we didn't know that California Vegetable Specialties in Rio Vista is "the only commercial grower of Belgian endive in the United States," even though we buy that endive almost every week.

Brennan and Evans know our market and our region.  Brennan has written many, many cookbooks and they are both experienced cooks, teachers, and writers.  The result is a book with a point of view.  The authors' knowledge and passion illuminate each page.  The book is also reliable in that these are well-conceived recipes, the outcome of years of cooking, and they have been carefully tested--which has become dishearteningly rare in the world of cookbooks.  The book includes a wide range of recipes, including preserves of various kinds.  One of us is a big fan of Brennan's book on preserving, The Glass Pantry (now out of print).  Like that book, the Davis Farmers Market Cookbook has recipes for savory as well as sweet preserves, in this case, ketchup, pickled onions, and chutney.  We will be getting back to those recipes later in the summer.

While the book is organized seasonally, it begins with eight basic recipes that can be adapted week to week and season to season:  for risotto, pasta, a savory gratin and tart, a vegetable fricassee, etc.  This is the place to start for those who want to respond to what's on offer at the market but have a hard time letting go of that recipe and shopping list. Should you decide to make a risotto, for example, you could lay in the arborio rice, stock, parmesan, and butter, and then launch yourself into the market, looking for mushrooms and whatever spring vegetable looks best, asparagus or peas.  Or you might have the tart crust made, and milk available at home, and then buy the eggs and cheese you'll need for a savory tart at the market, as well as whatever vegetables look best to you that week, knowing you'll be able to pull off a main dish.  This is a great "on ramp" for starting to cook in response to what you find  at the farmers market, without feeling you have to make endless follow up grocery trips.

The first thing we've cooked from the book is a Fava Bean Soup.  Fava beans are in season now.  They were also one of our first farmers market discoveries, and we still have a sentimental attachment to them.  We have that wonderful chicken stock we described in last week's post, so this soup seemed a perfect choice.  We skipped the two recommended garnishes--chopped, cooked pancetta and creme fraiche.  Both would be superb but we didn't have them.  The soup was still splendid unadorned.

The basic recipe is simplicity itself:

2 1/2 lb. fava beans (in their pods)
3 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

For those of you who are unfamiliar with fava beans, the challenge they pose is that you have to shell them, blanch them, and then skin them.   As Brennan and Evans explain, this is "time-consuming but worth both the effort and the minutes."

They look like this once you take them out of the pods.  The next step is throwing these into boiling water.  We learned from this cookbook that we have been overcooking our favas;  the book earned its place on our crowded shelves with that tip alone.  Brennan and Evans advise you to leave the favas in the boiling water for 30 seconds only.  They are right.  What we would add is that, if you are going to use these favas for something other than soup (in a pasta or vegetable melange, for instance), you should shock them in ice water at this point so that they stop cooking.  The next step is to get them out of the skins (which are tough and bitter, and obscure the beans' gorgeous bright green). You can do this with a paring knife or a thumbnail.

The skinned favas look like this.   At this point, they can be pureed with olive oil, salt, and pepper for a dazzling spread on crostini, or used in other dishes. 

For this soup, you combine the favas and stock and cook for 5-20 minutes depending on how tender the favas were to begin with.  Taste them!  When they are soft, puree the mixture in a blender (you probably need to do this in batches unless you want green goop dripping off your glasses).  Brennan and Evans recommend straining the soup and simmering it again.  You season it at this point with the salt and pepper and can add the pancetta and creme fraiche garnishes, if you're using them.  We served it immediately, right out of the blender, and garnished it with grated pecorino romano because 1) fresh uncooked favas are traditionally served as a snack with pecorino and 2) that's what we  had on hand.