Beet and Fava Crostini at St. Andrew’s market
I wrote earlier in the week about the caramelized onion and peach crostini that student chef Sharon Booy prepared at the market last Saturday, but that wasn’t the only treat that she prepared that day: she also made crostini with beets and fava beans:
Beet and Fava Crostini
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp grapeseed oil
- 4-5 small beets, scrubbed and cut into thin julienne
- Generous pinch salt
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1-2 tbsp fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary and chives)
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 cup shelled fava beans
- Thin shaving of medium-firm cheese to garnish
- Crostini (bread, thinly sliced and toasted)
Directions
- Shell fava beans, bring point of salted water to boil and parboil for a couple of minutes
- Drain water and rinse beans under cold water. Slip outer covering off the beans.
- Heat a sate pan over medium-high heat, then add oil
- Add beets, salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Sauté the beets for a couple of minutes, then add balsamic vinegar and sauté one minute.
- Remove from heat; toss with herbs and pepper then gently fold in the fava beans
- Spoon a tablespoon of the mixture onto a crostini and top with shaving of cheese.
Bread was provided by Monckton Organic Farm & Bakery, and vegetables by Bosco Farms and Godelie Family Farm.
I’ve never cooked fava beans from fresh before – although I’ve seen them at the Bosco Farms stand each week at the market – and was fascinated to watch the process. The large pods are opened to extract the individual beans; after parboiling, there’s an outer skin that must be removed from each bean to expose the delicate, bright-green inner edible part. There are a few other types of beans that have this sort of covering over the inner bean: lupini beans are a favourite of mine as a snack, which you can buy in a can or blister pack already cooked and slightly salted, then just rinse, peel and eat.
When researching fava beans, I found information on a strange (and rare) reaction to fava beans in people with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, resulting in a type of anemia due to an enzyme deficiency that impacts the digestion of broad beans. Not a reason to stop eating your vegetables.
