Fava Bean Bento

Fava beans are now in season at the farmers markets in Sonoma County. They do take some effort to prepare, but they taste so good that I will usually give it a go a few times each spring.

In the top tier: fava bean and ricotta cheese puree with a fava bean butterfly on top, garlic crostinis, an apple rabbit, and walnuts from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market. In the lower tier: pulled pork wrapped in a red lettuce leaf from Triple T Farms, cucumber slices, baby carrots, radishes, and a yakionigiri from Trader Joe's.

Preparing fava beans requires shelling them from their pods, blanching them and quickly cooling them, then removing the outer skin from the bean. Then you still have to cook them. So it's a bit of an effort. But super delish, and the essence of spring! I bought these favas from Triple T, but lots of vendors at the Sonoma farmers markets have favas right now. I also used a garlic scape (another amazing spring veggie) from Middleton Farms in this recipe.

Fava beans in their pods from Triple T.

Garlic scapes from Middleton Farms.

Fava Bean and Ricotta Puree with Garlic Crostini

a little over 1 pound of unshucked fava bean pods

olive oil for sauteeing

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1/2 tsp italian seasoning

2/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic scape, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1 baguette, sliced thin

1 garlic clove, sliced in half

2 tablespoons olive oil

fresh goat cheese (optional)

Prepare the favas as described above. Reserve a few fava beans for garnish. In a sautee pan, heat about 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Sautee the shallots for about 1 minute, then add the fava beans and the italian seasoning. Cook the favas for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the favas cook, arrange the sliced baguette on a cookie sheet. Rub each slice with the side of the garlic clove. Discard the clove. Brush each piece of baguette with olive oil, then broil until the edges of the baguette slices just start to turn golden. Remove bread from oven and set aside. Remove the fava beans from the heat and allow to cool for about 2 minutes. In a food processor, combine the favas, ricotta, olive oil, and garlic scape. Pulse to combine. Use a spatula to push the mixture back down (without the blade running!) to make sure the favas and cheese are well mixed. Turn the mixture out into a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Top garlic crostinis with fava mixture and an individual fava bean. You can also put a small bit of goat cheese on each crostini. Makes about 30 crostinis.

Delish with a nice chianti. Ffftftffftftfftftf....

DON'T FORGET: You still have time to enter to win my fun bento kit in celebration of one year of Sonoma Bento. Enter now by clicking here and leaving a comment! Drawing is on lucky Friday the 13th of May. :-)

Pear Crostini Bento

Yesterday I could not wake up and felt kind of dizzy. I think our three days of 90+ and occasionally 100+ weather did me in. Today I am much better and out of that weird funk. Rest and gatorade did the trick.

I was able to stop by the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, because I'd pretty much have to be dead to miss it, and picked up a perfect pear from Reenie at Ridgeview Farms. Reenie is the greatest, I love her veggies and fruits, and she has the most gorgeous flowers arranged in coffee cans. I also got a basket of little orange cherry tomatoes, so sweet!

I thought about the pear all day yesterday, while I was alternately resting and zoning out on the couch. When the heat finally broke around 8pm, inspiration hit! Little pear crostini!

In this bento: pear crostini made with a perfect pear from Ridgeview Farms, edamame, and slices of Aidell's sundried tomato chicken sausage with a little panda pick.

In the upper compartment: arugula from Triple T Ranch, walnuts from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, a few little slices of red onion, and cherry tomatoes from The French Garden and Ridgeview Farms. I'll toss this with some olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper for a little salad.

The sweet orange cherry tomatoes I got at Ridgeview Farms.

Look! I really did get a perfect pear. :)

A close up of the pear crostini. Besides the perfect pear, there's bread from La Brea Bakery (I keep a bag of their frozen mini baguettes on hand: ten minutes to crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle hot bread!), butter, Honey Powder from Savory Spice Shop, and crumbles of Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese.

Recipe for Pear Crostini

1 mini baguette, sliced thin

butter

1 small pear, cored and sliced thin

Honey Powder

2 ounces Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese

On a cookie sheet, arrange baguette slices. Spread a small amount of butter on each slice. Top baguette slices with pieces of pear. Sprinkle Honey Powder on top of pear slices. Top each crostini with a bit of blue cheese. Broil crostinis for a few minutes, until cheese melts and crostinis just begin to get toasted. Makes about 10 small crostinis.

Beverage Pairing Suggestion: We have an amazing cider maker in Sonoma County called Ace Cider. They make a wonderful hard cider called Ace Perry Cider. It's very refreshing and would go so well with these crostinis.