We have a number of recipes that call for cooked navy beans or black beans as a substitute for fresh favas. One is a Pasta e Faglioli dish (pasta, beans, olive oil and basil are the core ingredients); another is a black bean ful (beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and hard-boiled eggs). Both recipes suggest using fresh favas if you should happen to have them available.

I actually saw fresh favas a month or two ago at our co-op, and bought a bag. I had to shell them (Molly helped) and then I cooked them and made the dish that way. They were really good, and totally different in taste from the cooked dried beans. They were somewhat reminiscent, to me, of edamame soybeans.

So yesterday, I made the Pasta e Faglioli with frozen edamame in place of the cooked dried beans. (I bought them pre-shelled.) I thought it was pretty good and came a lot closer than the cooked navy beans. Ed thought they were adequate but nowhere near as good as the fresh favas.

Alas, it's too late in the season to plant favas. I read a gardening book that explained that in order to plant those plant-while-the-snow-is-still-melting sorts of items, you have to do your soil preparation back in the fall. Turn over the soil, hoe, rake it out, etc., so that all you have to do in the very early spring is plant the seeds. Maybe I'll try that for next year. Has anyone ever seen frozen favas? Or are they available for longer periods anywhere else in the cities?

Also, I am greatly disappointed not to see my favorite little produce stand up and running in the parking lot of the convenience store at Minnehaha and 46th. I don't remember when they opened last year, but they definitely had the little shack up and visible by June. This means I'm going to have to find a new source for decent peaches. I bet whatever I find is going to be a lot less convenient than this stand was.

Since Suzanne requested the recipe, I'll post it in a separate entry. It comes from Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant, the "Italy" section. The black bean ful also comes from that cookbook. Anyway, here's the recipe I made last night, which has been rather heavily altered from the original.

1 lb rainbow rotini

2 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
2 carrots, cut into half-moons and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
9 oz package of pre-washed fresh spinach
fresh basil (recipe calls for 2 T chopped; I buy one of the 2/3 oz packs from the grocery store and use it all)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
12 oz frozen shelled edamame soybeans
32 oz can of diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

parmesan cheese (optional)

Saute onion, carrots, celery, and garlic in olive oil for several minutes. Add spinach, saute for a minute or two, then add tomatoes and beans, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Cook the pasta. Add the parsley and basil at the end, season with salt and pepper, add rotini to the "bean soup," stir all together, and serve.

Top with freshly grated parmesan. For the love of all that is holy, do not buy the stuff that comes in green cans. That is not parmesan and should be labeled some other way.

The original version calls for two small zucchini or summer squash, and you're supposed to use a can of white beans (rinsed) if you can't get hold of some fresh favas.

This recipe is vegan if you leave out the parmesan, and if you wish to make it for someone with celiac, you can serve it over rice rather than mixing it with pasta. When folksinger Fred Small played at Carleton my senior year, I organized the concert, and the responsibility included feeding Fred, who had a very restricted diet that included no meat, no dairy, and no wheat. I can't remember whether he ate eggs or not. Anyway, this is what I made for him, and he liked it.

Favas appear to be large green legumes that come in pods. You shell them, I think -- I don't know what would happen if you tried to eat the pods. They looked really starchy and fibrous; my guess is that you could eat them if you picked them early. Canned and jarred varieties are available, but are really not much like the fresh version.