Fava Bean Puree

How to prepare fava bean puree

1. The night before, soak the beans in plenty of room temperature water. The next day, the beans should be very swollen and easy to peel. Remove the outer brown skin as follows: open the pod at the tip with the "black eye" (you can use a knife to help) and then squeeze from the opposite end and the bean will slide easily out of the pod. What comes out of the pod is pale yellow and splits easily in two. I weighed the peeled (soaked) beans and had 450g, in case you manage to buy beans without the skin. The peeling process is tedious but must be done, otherwise the puree won't have a very nice color.
2. Put the peeled beans in a pot. Add the finely chopped onion, potato, and carrot cut into small cubes. Add just enough water to barely cover the vegetables (I added 500 ml) and the sugar.
3. Bring the contents of the pot to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Skim the white foam that forms on the surface at the beginning of boiling. Check that everything is very well cooked. The beans will look wrinkled on the edges, like overcooked pasta 😊
4. Drain the water from the vegetables. Put the vegetables in a food processor. Add salt, ground black pepper, oil, and lemon juice. Blend until you get a very fine paste (it will be like thick lava).
6. Add the chopped dill and blend briefly just until evenly distributed. Taste the puree for salt and lemon juice.
7. Pour the fava bean puree into ceramic molds (greased with a little oil) or jars. Let it cool and keep it in the refrigerator. The puree will "set" when cold, so it can be cut with a knife (it will have about the same consistency as store-bought chicken pate) and will be easily spreadable. If you put all the puree in a single square mold, you can cut it into cubes and arrange on a platter, it looks very nice. If you put it in smaller molds, just sprinkle with dill and drizzle with olive oil.
8. Serve with flatbread. It's great alongside oven-baked chicken livers with bacon.
   

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