Fava Beans!

Do you know Fava Beans? If you are like my husband you may only know them from an infamous line in the Silence of the Lambs. But they are very nice beans! Really! And one of the oldest foods in cultivation. Its been around for several thousand years. You may have also heard them called broad beans. I decided to grow a few in garden this year. Couldn't have been easier - you should try some.


I'll have to plant more plants next year to get a bigger yield. As you can see they look fat, but inside is full of fluffy fiberfill.


But I grew enough for a nice little pasta dish. I made about a third of the recipe below.

Capri Lemon Pasta
Adapted from Maria Elia's "The Modern Vegetarian"

1 1/4 cups heavy cream
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
1 pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed, cut into bite size pieces
1 pound fresh fava beans, shelled (or 5 1/2 ounces frozen fava beans or shelled edamame)
1 pound sugar snap peas
14-ounce pasta like fettucini
4 tablespoons mascarpone or fromage blanc
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium-low combine the cream and lemon zest. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.

Once the water has boiled, add the green beans, fava beans, pasta and peas. Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until the pasta is al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta and produce.

Pour the warmed cream and lemon zest into the pasta cooking pot. Add the lemon juice, mascarpone or fromage blanc and reserved pasta cooking water. Return to a boil, then add the pasta and vegetables.

Add the Parmesan, salt and pepper. Toss well.

Makes 4 servings.

This is the local cheese I used



The few favas I grew had me wanting more, so I got some in my weekly veggie box - 5 pound this time. Its a labor intensive food - peeling the pod, blanching, then peeling the waxy coating off,


Then you can finally cook! This weekend I tried another great recipe. Made a great lunch - kind of a warm salad.

Warm Fresh Fava Bean Salad



adapted from this recipe at Tasty Trix blog - great photo tutorial showing how to shell favas

3-5 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3-4 plum tomatoes, quartered
6-8 ounces Greek feta, cubed
5 lbs fava beans, prepared in the manner described above
2 Tablespoons chopped black olives or olive salad
Shaved Parmesan to top
Salt & pepper, to taste

Combine the garlic and olive oil on very low heat in a deep skillet and allow the garlic to infuse the oil. Once fragrant, toss in the tomatoes and fava beans increase heat to medium-high for 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat, season and add feta & olives. Very filling!

Sharing a few summer images taken on 4th of July at Browns Point in Tacoma. Better late than never!


Joining in for Mosaic Monday at Little Red House this week.

Mosaic Monday ~Happy 4th of July~

Hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July! We have plans to picnic and watch fireworks down near the water. I've been enjoying my long weekend working in the yard and doing a little in the kitchen. Its finally getting a little warm so no cook treats are right up my alley right now. Like this yummy patriotic fruit salad. The dressing is too delicious.


Honey-Lime Minted Red, White and Blue Salad

Salad:
1 banana, sliced
1 plum, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup blue berries
1/2 cup pitted cherries, optional

Dressing
Juice of one lime
3 T brown sugar
3 T honey
3 T sour cream
3 T minced mint

Combine dressing ingredients making sure brown sugar is dissolved and sour cream is well incorporated. This can be refrigerated until ready to use. Pour dressing over just chopped fruit when ready to serve.



Don't forget about the Ice Cream Social on the weekend of July 16th & 17th. Any ice cream related posts are welcome! Check out previous years socials HERE.


I'm joining in for Mosaic Monday over at Little Red House.

Flashback Friday ~Bok Choy Salad

For Flashback Friday I have this vintage photo to share. It just makes me laugh...


Flashing back to a family favorite recipes as well. This is a great salad for a crowd or holiday. Consider it for your Easter table. I promise it will be a hit. The recipe comes from my friend Belinda who is one of the best cooks around. I think you can find it online, but she's the one that introduced it to my family so I give her the credit!

Bok Choy Salad
my friend Belinda



Salad:

1 Bunch Bok Choy Cabbage

6 Green Onions

Chop bok choy into bite size pieces - use the whole thing. Slice green onions. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Topping:
2 pkgs ramen noodles (use the seasoning packet for something else)
1 small package slivered almonds
1 stick butter
2 tsp sesame seeds

Brown crushed noodles and almonds in butter. In the last couple of minutes add the sesame seeds and brown without burning. Drain on paper towels and cook to room temperature. Reserve until ready to serve salad.

Dressing:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well. Refrigerate and reserve until ready to serve salad. When ready to serve combine topping, salad and dressing then toss. Serve immediately.



If you have a flashback of any kind, Easter or otherwise please add your link below!


I'm joining in for Foodie Friday over at Designs by Gollum. Check it out!

Mosaic Monday ~Garden Show and a Spring Salad

For my mosaic this week I'm sharing a few images from the garden show I went to last weekend up in Seattle. It was really fun this year since the theme was "Once Upon a Time". I'll be showing some more pics soon, so this is just a preview.


Go take a look at all of the other mosaics at Little Red House.

All that forced spring has been making me crave spring time food like salads. This weekend I threw together a tasty one with some things I had one hand. Baby spinach, mushrooms, red onions, bacon and sliced strawberries.

I wanted something light for the dressing and had just the thing to use as the base.


These blood oranges are so red they are almost black. The juice was beautiful red though.


I also recently bought this garlic flavored vinegar and thought it would go well with the other ingredients.


For the Dressing:

Juice from 1/2 lemon
Juice from 1 blood orange
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablepoon Roasted Garlic rice vinegar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Whisk all together! Pour over your yummy salad. Eat!

I joining in at the Weekend Cooking Party at Beth Fish Reads. Check it out HERE.

I hope everyone will join in over at Cuisine Kathleen for her St. Patty's Day Blog Crawl on March 15th. I bet she will even pen a poem for the occasion or maybe a Limerick!


I also want to invite you to take the Great Cooking Magazine Challenge again this month here at Kitchen Bouquet. Magazine clippings and other saved recipes are fair game as well as recipes from your stacks of Cooking Magazines. The point of the challenge is to try something new and make use of those saved scraps and mags. The challenge will be up Sunday March 2oth. Can't wait to see what you make! Check out some of the older challenges HERE.

Flashback and Foodie Friday ~Turkey Leftovers

My husband Randy is Canadian..and wouldn't you know it, they have a different Thanksgiving than we do. Normally on Canadian Thanksgiving I make him his traditional meal and save the cornbread dressing and sweet potato casserole for the U.S. Thanksgiving. We were traveling in Louisiana this year for his, so he got his Turkey and white bread stuffing dinner a little late. Which is why I had turkey leftovers already. I think reworked leftovers make a great subject for Flashback Friday, so today I've got a recipe for a great salad I made with that turkey. The ingredients were a nice combination and somehow seemed pretty seasonal with the apples. I got the fennel in my organic veggie/fruit box and enjoyed its crunch and different taste. Celery would work well too.


Turkey, Fennel and Apple Salad
this was inspired by several different recipes





1 cup dried cherry/golden raisin mix (1 cup of either would work too)
1 1/2 cups apple cider
4-5 cups cooked turkey, chopped
1 cup chopped pecans lightly toasted
1 apple, cored and chopped
1 small bulb fennel, white parts sliced finely
1 small bunch of dill or 1-2 tsp dill concentrate (see below)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp ginger (optional)
salt & pepper to taste

Bring apple cider and cherries to a boil. Boil for 3-5 minutes or until plumped and cider begins to reduce a bit. In the mean time combine remaining ingredients, then added cherries and raisins. To thin mayo dressing, add a little of the remaining cider a little at a time to achieve the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve on a bed of lettuce or with crackers. This would be great with a tangy cheese added like blue or parmesan.



I was stopped at a light on my way home this week and snapped this shot. I didn't really capture them in the act, but the kids were picking up the leaves and throwing them and they just looked like they were having so much fun. I love the look of fall leaves on green grass.

This next pic was way out of focus, but still had some redeeming value. I think it looks like a water color.


Hope everyone has a great weekend! If you have a flashback you'd like to share, please add your link below!



I'm also joining in for Foodie Friday this week over at Designs by Gollum. Check it out HERE.

Mosaic Monday ~Hydrangeas and Blackberries

I know I've been talking about it for what seems like weeks, but the blackberries are REALLY ready now :-) 8 cups picked in about 15 minutes! I love it. So I do have plans to make some of the expected jelly and pies...can't do without those! But I've also been looking for some other things to do with my abundance. I was searching salads and when I hit on this Blackberry Chicken Salad I knew I had to try it.


This is apparently the signature salad at an Atlanta restaurant called Sycamore Grill. I have never been there, but I guarantee you that if I ever find myself there I"ll be ordering this salad.

This recipe is really three in one and you could make only one or all three and not go wrong, but I'd suggest at least making the chicken salad part...I almost stopped there when I tasted how good it was. But if you have time go for all three. The dressing for the greens is wonderful and I have plenty left over for future salads. And the nuts will be great later on some ice cream.


Blackberry Chicken Salad
From Sycamore Grill, Atlanta
Found HERE at EveningEdge.com



For the caramelized walnuts:
1 pound (about 4 cups) walnut pieces (I used pecans because I'm a pecan kinda girl)
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt

For the chicken salad:
2 pounds skinless and boneless chicken tenderloins
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 cups diced celery
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 (12-ounce) bag frozen
blackberries, thawed (fresh works too!)
Salt and pepper

For the blackberry vinaigrette:
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fresh minced garlic
1 teaspoon fresh minced shallots
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup fresh blackberries
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup salad oil
8 cups mixed greens

To make the caramelized nuts: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a saucepan, combine nuts, cinnamon, sugar and salt and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain the liquid from the nuts and pat dry. Place nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until crunchy, tossing after 10 minutes for even cooking.

To make the chicken: In a saucepan, poach chicken until just cooked through. Cool and dice. Mix with green onions and celery. In a separate bowl, combine mayonnaise, honey and mustard. Add the blackberries. Gently add blackberry mayonnaise to chicken, just until moistened. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To make the vinaigrette: In a small saucepan, bring wine, sugar, mustard, garlic and shallots to a boil. Reduce heat to medium for 5 minutes, or until reduced. Transfer mixture to a blender and add vinegar, blackberries, honey and salt and pulse to combine. Slowly add the oil, while the blender is running, to emulsify.
Toss mixed greens with enough vinaigrette to moisten. Top with a scoop of chicken salad and sprinkle with caramelized nuts. I halved the recipe and it made 2 very large main entree salads or 4 smaller side salads.


For my Mosaic Monday contribution I did this Lacecap Hydrangea mosaic showing it from bud to bloom. I'm always amazed at the end product :-) Check out all of the other great mosaics HERE at Little Red House.

Weekend Garden Walk and Garden Pasta Salad

This weekend wasn't really summer like, with temps in the 60s and drizzly rain, but the flowers are still blooming and not giving up on summer yet. But I can tell you..it felt like fall to me!


First stop on today's tour is the front yard. The hydrangea in the front has a nice bright pink color and some purple mixed in.


Here's a little closer look.


I planted some zinnias in the front bed a while ago and they have done really well, especially after I sprinkled some slug bait....(sorry organic gardeners but if you could see the size of them you'd be scared!).


This daylily still has quite a few blooms to go...most of my others are on their last legs



So heading around the side of the house...Look, there's a little somebody peeking around the corner waiting for you to come into the back yard for a look around.


Right at the base of the arbor I planted a few nasturtium seeds this year. Actually I sprinkled them throughout the yard. They have such cheery little faces.


One thing that you'll notice today are the phlox in full swing. That's a rose campion in the foreground.


Here's a new little perennial I've added this year, a Penstemon. Its looking happy in its new home.



The bees are going crazy at the moment. Bee Balm is attractive to them for sure.


But this Dark Knight Bluebeard (Caryopteris) is a magnet too.


The name to this one is escaping me at the moment...it will drive me crazy now til I remember. Its just starting to bloom. Rose Mallow maybe......


Super Fairy is still looking super :-) Let's go under the arbor and out the gate into the "wilderness" behind my fence. I think I spy a little exciting surprise out there.


While we're back here lets enjoy the wild flowers (also know as weeds to some).


This makes a pretty magenta flower when its open. But the bud is really interesting too!


Herb Robert...the wild geranium looking pretty and dainty


And here's a hint to what I spied over the fence


Yes!~ The blackberries are almost ripe! I actually found a few that were and I took a nibble or two. If they are all like my sample they will be good! It's too bad my sister-in-law isn't here to help me pick some! She was so excited when they came to visit to find that we had them growing just outside the gate. Time to come back and see us Sherry!


By this time next week I will have bowls full in the fridge! Until then lets get on with the rest of our little tour. A new opening this week....my pretty little pink anemone and look who was hiding. I didn't see him until I reviewed the pics on the computer.



Won't be much longer before the tall sedums are blooming. I think they look neat at this stage too.


Here's another daylily breathing its last breath.


And a cute little hardy geranium blooming for the second time. I think its Geranium oxonianum, maybe Katherine Adele.


Now finally we are at the veggie garden where there's not yet much to harvest, but there are some pretty blooms!


And that's the end of the tour today! Time for a light lunch. My friend Kathleen said my post yesterday was a heart attack on a plate, so to prove to her (and to me) that I can eat healthy I made up a Garden Pasta Salad, heavy on the veggies. This is the kind of thing you make based on what you have on hand so my ingredient list is just a guide and very sketchy.


Garden Pasta Salad

1 large carrot, cut into thin small pieces
1 bell pepper, cut into thin small pieces
2 small ribs of celery, cut into thin small pieces (are you seeing a trend here?)
1 large cucumber cut into thin small pieces
Cherry tomatoes, a couple of handfuls cut in half
Salami, I had maybe 2 ounces, cut into small pieces
Real Bacon, I had maybe a tablespoon left in the bag to throw in
Parmesan cheese shavings, to taste
Spiral pasta, about a cup, then cooked and drained
Ranch dressing to cover all ingredients

Mix all above with dressing. I ate some right away, but its probably good cold too. I'll find out tomorrow at lunch! This made quite a bit, enough for a potluck salad or a light lunch for a small family.