Fava Beans: The It Vegetable

Family, friends and colleagues can all attest that I am not a morning person.  However, there are a few things that can motivate me to rise with an alarm set on a weekend morning.  This morning was a good example: the first Sunday of the Del Monte Farmers Market.  Having just finished reading In the Green Kitchen by Alice Waters, I sprang out of bed with an alacrity reserved for Christmas morning as a five year old.

The Sunday Del Monte Market is small and lacks most of the street fair ambiance that you might find on a Tuesday in Downtown Monterey.  I was perhaps a bit ambitious in my plans to cook this week, but my take included: basil (Genovese and Thai), green beans, strawberries, blueberries, beets, asparagus, cucumbers and fava beans.  Other items for sale included: lemons, nuts, plants, cut flowers, eggs, greens, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, beef...you get the idea.  Though this market is small, I can find almost everything I need.  And because it is sponsored by Whole Foods Market, its easy to find the rest.

I like to ask the vendors where their wares are grown.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my strawberries and blueberries came from Moss Landing while the asparagus was grown in Gonzales. I casually asked the vendor of the fava beans how she cooks them, and she suddenly gave me her family recipe, all in narrative.  Another, older couple eagerly filled a bag of fava beans as I listened.  Next, a woman next to me commented that all of her Italian relative ate them, but called them broad beans,   Before long a crowd of people gathered around the table and they were gone.....who knew that fava beans would become the it vegetable of the week?

Now it is Sunday evening, and the strawberries are long gone...organic strawberries languish quickly, so it is best to indulge and eat them all in one sitting.  The basil is a bit droopy, but stored in a glass of water on the counter it is making a nice comeback.  And those fava beans...