Bruschetta with Fava Bean Pesto

I am not a good photographer

In the interest of eating seasonally and expanding my (somewhat limited) food horizons, I'm going to start buying things that I've never cooked or even eaten at the farmer's market. Today, that item was fava beans. I don't even remember having ever eaten favas, and I've definitely never cooked with them before. I'm just uncivilized like that.

However, they were cheap, and I happen to like how the name sounds. The only way that I could remember seeing them on a menu was as a paste on bread, so that's what I did. I made them into a pesto and spread it on bruschetta with a topping of red onion, tomato, red bell pepper, and oregano and a little fresh parmesan. Roommate's verdict was that it was like a "delicious, healthy little pizza". I couldn't agree more.


Bruschetta with Fava Bean Pesto

The Necessaries:
-20 whole fava bean pods
-1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
-2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
-1 tablespoon lemon juice
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 tomato on the vine
-1/2 of a red bell pepper
-1/4 of a red onion
-1 clove fresh garlic
-fresh parmesan
-delicious crusty bread of your choice (I used a como loaf)

For the pesto, shuck the favas and boil the beans with the inner pods on in salted water for about 7 minutes, then put them in a bowl of ice water. Drain them on paper towel, then remove the beans from the inner shell. Put them in a food processor with the olive oil, mint, lemon juice, and a little salt and pepper and puree.

Chop the tomato, red bell pepper, and onion, and sauté them on medium heat for about 3 minutes, then mix them in a bowl with the oregano for your topping. Slice the bread thick, then toast it in the same pan until crispy and rub the garlic clove all over them after slicing it open. Spread on some fava pesto, top it with the sautéed veggies and oregano, and sprinkle some grated parmesan on top.

Delicious. Of course, you can also just wrap all the ingredients up in a tortilla and have a burrito. There's really no reason to ever not do that.