At the farmer’s market, I picked up a couple pounds of beans from one of the vendors. Unfortunately, she was not able to tell me what they are actually called, and simply said that they were similar to a black eyed pea. I’ve scoured through some of my favorite places to try and locate a name for them, but so far have come up dry, so I thought I’d see what my readers have to say about it. The pods appear to be fairly immature, overall – and the divisions between the individual beans are fairly pronounced. Most of them aren’t very large – if they were, I’d have probably had an easier time identifying them. Anyone have a name they could put to it for me? I’ve talked about my love affair with fresh beans before – (see here and here) so I couldn’t resist buying them even without knowing for sure what they are. Miss Thing and I spent the better part of an evening shelling them. And, in spite of missing their name, they promise to be quite tasty.

Update: Thanks to a Chow forum member, the mystery beans have been as y0ung Pigeon Peas. Thanks to everyone for their help!

The last couple of times I’ve made Fava Beans, Mr. Man has told me “It needs Less Cowbell”. Which when translated from geek-speak basically means “Wow, this is really tasty! But I would like there to be a few less flavors for me to try and distinguish. Next time could each flavor to be a little more distinct?” So the other night, I made this little number with most of the fava beans I picked up when I went to the Farmer’s Market last weekend. (I also made a fritatta for breakfast one morning, which I’ll try and post later).

Although Fava’s are a little work intensive, I’ve actually found that it’s not a big hardship to prepare them – as long as you are not hoping to get them from pod-to-table after a busy work day. The last few times I’ve made them, I’ve just plopped down in front of the tv with a big bowl and went to town. In that context, they’re super easy. It’s a mindless, repetitive task that you don’t really need to focus a lot of attention on. I can see why people don’t want to bother with them, though. We’ve had them a few times since they first appeared in our FFTY box, and I have to say  – when they’re in season, I have a feeling they’re going to be visiting our table fairly often.

I’ve never been much of a legumes fan – about the only beans I used to eat were in chili or something like that, but fresh beans have become a whole ‘nother thing to me. Trying the fresh garbanzos and fresh fava beans, makes me wonder what other legumes I might like in their non-bagged-and-dried forms. They’re not really bean-y. Anyhow, I decided to make this dish as our main dish last night – and with less cowbell (per Mr. Man’s request). It’s simple, but delicious.

Miss Thing wasn’t terribly fond of it – which is her usual response to anything new lately. But we’ve been getting along a little better, which is always a good thing, so I didn’t let it bother me. For the picture, I decided to use this cute little ramekin I picked up at goodwill last week. It’s a vintage Glasbake white ramekin, and I managed to nab four of them in perfect condition. Aren’t they cute? I think I’m developing a small-bowl-and-ramekin obsession. Oh well, at $1.00 a pop at Goodwill, I think I can learn to live with this obsession.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Peeled, blanched Fava Beans
• 1 small onion (or 1/2 a large); diced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 6 strips of Bacon
• 1 lime; juiced
• Kosher Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat a skillet over medium
• Add the bacon and cook until crispy
• Set on cloth or paper towel to drain, and then chop coarsely
• Pour off most of the bacon grease
• Return pan to heat and add the diced onion
• Saute until onions are translucent
• Add the fava beans and garlic
• Saute until fava beans are warmed through
• Stir in the lime juice, chopped bacon and kosher salt to taste
• Serve immediately

Last saturday, I took advantage of a sleep-in-less morning, and popped over to the Farmer’s Market. While I was there, I came across Still-in-the-pod Garbanzo beans, which of course, I had to buy. Until then, I’d never seen Fresh Garbanzo Beans before. When I got home, I did a little perusing in all my favorite inspiration haunts, but unfortunately – there wasn’t much to find. So I did a little fingerwalking with Google, and managed to get some ideas on how they should be prepped.

I had picked up – oh, I dunno, probably about two pounds. And after I had put away all my other farmer’s market goodies, I sat down with a big bowl, turned on an episode of House, and got to shelling. And Shelling. And Shelling. I did the full batch of Garbanzos, plus the couple pounds of fava beans I’d picked up, too. But don’t let those innocent looking shells on the Garbanzos fool you – those little buggers can be tough. But anyways, after all that effort, I was rewarded with about two cups of raw Garbanzo Beans. Of course, by this time it was pushing Midnight, and did I mention it was a sleep-in-less Saturday?

So I rinsed them off, snapped a couple of pictures, blanched them, and then stuck them in the fridge to use later in the week. I had some vague idea of maybe making a fresh garbanzo hummus or something, but eventually I opted for this quick and easy pasta dish. I hadn’t actually wanted to make Pasta again ( we’ve been eating a fair amount recently) but Miss Thing specifically requested pasta…. Well, actually, what she requested was a thick, hearty, beefy gravy (like stroganoff) and pasta. But I told her in no uncertain terms that 80 degree weather is far too hot for such a hearty dish. So this was my attempt to kind of meet her half-way – something creamy, but a little on the lighter side.

And she absolutely loved it – except for the garbanzo beans, of course. But thats just her for ya. Mr. Man and I loved the garbanzos. Next time I’d probably add another tomato – since I think it really could have used a little more tomato – but I wanted to focus on the garbanzo beans, so I didn’t want to add too many flavors to compete with it. If you don’t have fresh garbanzo beans, I would recommend using sweet shelled peas or something like that, as opposed to using canned garbanzos – the flavor of a fresh garbanzo is really quite different than the canned ones. In fact, I liked the fresh ones a whole heck of a lot more than I do the canned type. I’ve never been much of a bean fan, probably because all I’ve ever really been exposed to are the canned and dried varieties – but all these fresh beans I’ve been trying lately are making a bean-eater out of me.

I only blanched the garbanzo beans for a minute or so – because they’re so teeny. I also opted to use a leek from this week’s FFTY box instead of an onion. Although, if you haven’t noticed by now – I’m usually pretty happy to swap out onions for leeks for shallots for onions depending on what I have on hand. Although their flavors are a little different, they’re similar enough that I’ve never really noticed too much of a difference. This is another one of my almost-vegetarian specials. One of the ways that I’m trying to cut back on buying non-local items, (and is probably contributing to the whole pasta-overload lately) is by taking a really strong and flavorful meat and using it in small doses to add a little protein and a lot of flavor to a dish. It’s definitely an easy way to make a little luxury item go a long way.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shelled, blanched, fresh Garbanzo Beans
• 4 oz Smoked Salmon; cut in to thin ribbons
• 1 lb Pasta
• 1 leek; split lengthwise, cleaned, and thinly sliced
• 1 tomato; diced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 1/2 cup Fresh Parsley; minced
• 1/2 cup finely shredded Romano Cheese
• 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
• 2 tbs White Wine
• 2 tbs Butter
• Kosher Salt to taste

Method:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil (the goal is to have the pasta cooked to al dente just as the sauce ingredients are ready)
• While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat
• Add the leeks and saute until begining to carmelize
• Add the pasta to the pot of water to begin it cooking (Or atleast – this is when I started the pasta, YMMV depending on pasta shape)
• Increase the heat and add the Garbanzo beans
• Saute the garbanzo beans for a couple of minutes until beginning to brown
• Add the garlic and the white wine to the garbanzo beans, cover and reduce heat to medium-low until liquid is absorbed (about 2 minutes)
• Drain the pasta
• Return pasta to warm cooking pot
• Add the garbanzo beans, parsley, romano cheese, tomato, heavy cream and salmon to the pasta
• Add Kosher Salt to taste
• Toss to combine
• Serve immediately

I came home from my Farmer’s Market vist yesterday, and started putting all of my yummy fruits and veggies away, and discovered that some of the strawberries that I’d picked up were a little worse for wear. I mean – who’s brilliant idea are those stupid green plastic baskets that strawberries are put in? Their edges are far too sharp for delicate strawberries, and a fair portion of my new strawberries had gotten a little cut up from the baskets. Which is completely lame – but it did inspire me to make this del-icious dessert.

I originally made the cake part of this recipe last week for Mr. Man’s birthday cake – and topped it with a yummy, fluffy egg white icing – unfortunately, it didn’t survive long enough to have pictures taken (it was shy), but thats okay, because this cake is much better suited to sopping up macerated strawberry juice. In fact, this might just have to be the best cake I’ve ever had with mascerated strawberries. It was soft and tender, but not crumbly when moistened. It is a little dry on it’s own, though.

It also gave me an excuse to use my new favorite sweet vinegar – a little find I picked up at Trader Joe’s ages ago that I’d forgotten about. I found it buried in the back of the vinegars shelf (yes, I have a vinegar problem). Knowing my luck, it’s probably been discontinued or something by now – since I know I’ve had it for a while. If you don’t happen to have anything like it, balsamic vinegar would work equally well. The original recipe called for Cream of Tartar to stabilize the egg whites, but I’ve been out of Cream of Tartar for a while now, and I keep forgetting to get more – so I used vinegar. You could skip the vinegar altogether and use cream of tartar if you’d rather – but I like to think that the vinegar adds a nice flavor, too.

My recipe is loosely based on Alton Brown’s Chiffon Cupcake Recipe – I changed things up a little bit, since I didn’t completely agree with how he put things together, and I used a tube pan – not cupcakes. I did follow his measurements, though (except for the whole vinegar thing).

My folding technique is still a work in progress – but I like to think I’m getting better. I’ve made several recipes lately that required folding – which has definitely given me some practice.

Balsamic Macerated Strawberries Ingredients:

• 4 cups Sliced Strawberries
• 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar (or to taste)
• 1/2 cup Sugar (or to taste)

Balsamic Macerated Strawberries Method:

• Stir all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
• Chill for a minimum of four hours

Chiffon Cake Ingredients:

• 5 and 1/4 ounces Cake Flour
• 1 and 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• 5 eggs, seperated
• 6 oz Sugar; divided
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1/4 cup Neutral Oil (such as Safflower)
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 1 tsp Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar

Chiffon Cake Method:

• Preheat oven to 325°
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 5 oz of the sugar until the mixture becomes pale yellow and ‘ribbons’ when whisk is lifted.
• Whisk the Oil, vanilla and water in to the egg yolk mixture until combined. Set aside.
• Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (a hand mixer – or a whisk for the really adventurous can be used instead, it’ll just take longer) whip the egg whites
• When the eggs begin to foam, sprinkle the remaining ounce of sugar in to them a little at a time while continuing to whip
• When soft folds begin to form, add the vinegar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form
• Whisk the egg yolk mixture in to the flour mixture until combined, then lightly whisk in 1/3 of the egg whites
• Gently Fold the remaining egg whites in to the batter
• Pour the batter in to an un-greased tube pan
• Bake for 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in to the center comes out clean
• Remove from oven and turn upside down to cool
• Allow to cool completely before removing from pan and serving
• To remove from pan, slide a butter knife around the edges of the pan. Cake should come out fairly easily.
• To serve, top with Balsamic Macerated Strawberries and whip cream

So I’m a night owl. I love my Saturday morning sleeping-in-time. So unfortunately, I tend to sleep too late to go to the farmer’s market as a general rule. (Which is one of the many reasons why I love my weekly FFTY delivery) Today however, I happened to wake up a little earlier than usual, and decided to grab my camera and mosey on down to take a peak-see at the Pleasant Hill Farmer’s Market.

It was a little colder and windier than I had expected, and of course, I hadn’t grabbed a jacket. But that’s okay, because it was still lots of fun. Of course, the Pleasant Hill farmer’s market doesn’t really hold a candle to the Ferry Plaza farmer’s market in San Francisco, but it sure is a lot closer. One of these days, I’ll have to drag my behind outta bed early enough to trek in to San Francisco, but for now, it was nice to go to my local market.

Going to the farmer’s market gave me an opportunity to supplement this week’s box with some seasonal fruit that hasn’t quite made it in to the box yet, and let me find something interesting and new to try – fresh Garbanzo beans! I’d never seen fresh garbanzo beans before today, so naturally I had to pick some up to bring home. When I showed them to Mr. Man he was as intrigued as I was, and we opened one up to try raw. Interestingly, they’re sweet and fresh raw, if a little green tasting. I can’t wait to see how they taste cooked.

There were only a couple of stalls selling organic produce, unfortunately – so my choices were a little limited. I never used to be too concerned about organic vs. non-organic, and lately I’ve been trying to focus mostly on local and letting organic kind of sort itself out. But ever since coming across this article and this list on which produce items tend to contain the most pesticides, I’ve been a little more cautious about some things. Mr. Man tends to do a little eyeroll when discussing organic produce – he’s a little bit of a science geek (in addition to his normal geekiness) so he tends to get hung up on the whole actual definition of “organic” versus the (now) common usage. If I didn’t think it was a little cute, I’d probably try to make an effort to call it “chemical pesticide free produce” or something long and tongue-twisty like that. So here’s what I got:

One Bunch of very pretty and smelly (in a good way) pea shoots flowers that I put in a vase in the garden window

One pound of Cherries (that sadly, did not survive very long – Miss Thing and I devoured them soon after their arrival at the house)

Four Peaches and and Five Nectarines

One bunch of Green Onions and some G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S long stemmed Basil

Three little cartons of Raspberries

One Pound of Romain Lettuce and five Tomatoes

Three pints of Strawberries

A couple of pounds of Fava Beans

And a couple of pounds of the Fresh Garbanzo Beans

Now – I’m off to shell some beans!