If you have a veggie garden in your backyard, I think one of the veggies you can grow to amend the soil is the fava beans. They boost up the nitrogen content when mixed in the soil.
Having a hard time to find the real fresh ones in the store, that was one of my choices for winter veggies to grow. As far as I know there is no one around us that has favism — no body seems to have fallen sick lately!

Now that the time for putting the summer vegetables in the ground is about to knock on our door, I finally had a chance to pick some of the fava beans. Needless to say these are the freshest fava beans I have ever had and they taste amazing. Along with favas, I also used stalks of green garlic for added flavor. Unfortunately not enough green onions, so we resorted to medium onion from the pantry. All in all, it is one of the classic dishes you can find this time of the year.

One thing you may experience when dealing with fava beans is that they turn black when you cut them. There is a trick that I can share with you: make a flour & water mix (about a handful in a 3 – 4 liters of water) and use that water to put the favas as you cut their heads.

Sometimes finding those young, fresh fava beans is not the easiest. If that’s the case, you can shell the old ones to use the inside only. That also reminds me of my other favourite dish with favas and artichoke.

One thing that is a must when eating this dish is the dill. Topping the dish with garlic yogurt mix and sprinkle fresh dill over them when serving. Usually eaten cold, maybe you may like it warmed up a bit.

• 1 lb of fresh fava beans
• 5 – 6 stalks of green garlic
• 1 medium onion (or 5 – 6 stalks of green onions)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil

1. Cut the heads of the fava beans, trim the edges if hard, cut into two and dump into flour & water mix
2. Chop the onion into small pieces, cut the garlic stalks into 1cm (about 1/2 inch) diagonally.
3. Heat up the olive oil, add the onion and garlic pieces. Cook until onions are translucent. Was the fava beans thoroughly and add to the onion & garlic. Close the lid, turn down the heat and shake the pot every now and then and cook without adding water for about 5 mins
4. Add about 1 cup of hot water, salt and sugar. Close the lid and let cook with low heat about 30 – 40 mins. Every now and then give it a shake but do not open the lid to stir. After half an hour check if the beans cooked. If so, turn the heat off. Keeping the lid closed, let the dish cool down.
5. Only after the dish is cooled down transfer into serving dish. Add garlic yogurt and sprinkle with fresh dill when eating

Enjoy!

This is another olive oil dish that is a part of the Eagean, Mediterranean cuisine, and I have learned it from my late aunt. I remember her buying artichokes when they are fresh and cooking all sorts of dishes with them. There were times she brought them all the way from Istanbul (about 780km away from where we lived!) if she happened to be there in the spring.

This year, I have planted two artichoke plants in the backyard. Waiting anxiously for them to grow and give their delicious fruit!

You may ask “what is a fava bean?” That was the question of two old ladies, in the farmer’s stand while I was buying these ones. Well, they are beans. ;) They are available fresh in early spring and they do go together with artichokes! You can eat them raw, with olives, too. But do not overdo it as it may cause some tummy ache.

If the fava beans are really tender and young, you can eat them with their pod, too. But for this recipe, we’ll only use the beans themselves.

The artichokes are in season, as well. But not only I have never cleaned one in my life (they actually sell them cleaned in the farmer’s markets in Turkey, so we are spoiled!) but also I am lazy; so I bought a can of artichoke bottoms.

The original recipe does not call for carrots, but I added them anyway. Just because I had them at home, and thought they might go well together. I was not wrong.

Dill is a must! If you have everything else but dill at home, you may want to consider making another trip to the grocery store.

And you should be eating this meal when it is cold.

All I needed for this recipe was:

1. 1 can of artichoke bottoms, 8 little bottoms
2. 1lb (1/2 kg) fava beans, or 1/2lb (250gr) shelled fava beans
3. 1 medium onion, finely chopped
4. 3 Tbs olive oil
5. 1 Tbs sugar
6. 2 tsp salt
7. 2 carrots, peeled and cut bite size
8. 1/2 lemon’s juice
9. small bunch of dill, nicely chopped

How to assemble them:

1. Drain and rinse the artichokes. If you are using fresh, I assume you know how to clean them and make them wait in the lemon + flour + water mixture until ready to use…
2. Shell the fava beans, discard the pods
3. Stir the onions with olive oil, until they are soften
4. Add carrots, if you are using them. Stir for about 2 – 3 mins
5. Add the sugar and salt, stir again
6. Add the artichoke bottoms, fava beans, lemon juice and enough water to cover them
7. Cover and cook about 30 mins.
8. When cooled, add the dill and serve

Note: You may find the fava beans shells hard to eat. Try peeling them as you eat.

Bon Apetit!