Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi
Tags: potato spinach broad beans cakes BLW-proof
Recipe Review
Zosia from Toronto, ON
These were delicious, but burgers they were not. They were crispy on the outside with a soft, creamy interior(would have been even creamier if I had mashed the fava beans more : ));they tasted of subtly spiced fava beans but both the flavour and texture were too delicate to hold up to typical burger toppings and a bun.
I decided to make this recipe when I saw fresh fava beans in the grocery store. I couldn’t remember the recipe requirements so just packed a produce bag full of them thinking I might be eating the beans every day for a week! I was wrong……..1.2kg in the pod yielded only 400g shelled beans…I used a few edamame to make up the 454g/1 lb required for the recipe.
I knew the fava beans would take a while to prep – I did have help – but by the time I had toasted and ground the spices, shelled, blanched, and skinned the favas, sautéed, squeezed and chopped the spinach and peeled, diced, cooked and mashed the potato, I found Ottolenghi’s statement that he saved us time by omitting the recipe for the sauce laughable. What would really save time is using frozen shelled and skinned favas, frozen chopped spinach and leftover potatoes!
Vegetarian daughter, who helped with the prep, loved them. We just ate them with a squeeze of lemon but I can see these as a pita filling with lots lettuce, tomato and a tzatziki type sauce.
Comments
andrew - 16th April 2012
Sounds interesting - and I can totally sympathize on the fava beans! I remember buying a good-sized bag at the farmer's market last summer and ending up with a little bowl, barely enough for a side-dish. Frozen beans sound like a better solution; I wonder if they're easy to find?
Zosia - 17th April 2012
I haven't seen the frozen beans in the big chain stores but I found them last year in a local Italian grocery store. As I recall, they were shelled but not skinned - that was just wishful thinking on my part!
Edit:
My neighbour has just told me that broad beans are fava beans - I've seen Ferma brand in the chain stores.
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