Recently I had asked everyone here at Oldways to share their memories of Dun [1] as we paid tribute to his passing. Having not met him, I set out to cook one of his recipes from the [2] Oldways Table cookbook [3] as my way to commemorate his passing. I flipped through the pages and came across a wonderful sounding fresh fava bean soup (Potage Aux Feves Fraiche) [4]. The idea of a vibrant soup in the springtime seemed perfect to bring some cheer and warmth to these rainy evenings. But I learned a few things in the process. First, fava beans are not quite in season [5] around Boston… What is available this time of year are fava bean greens – who knew! Fava bean greens are beautiful and have a great bean flavor and the leaves would make for a delicious salad. But since my mission was to make soup I decided to use the greens in place of the beans, with some encouragement from the farmer who grew them [6].
[7] My plan was to cook the greens down with water, add cooked bacon, then puree into a soup. I do believe that with a few more trials this could work but alas, great inventions don’t always pan out on the first try.I used less water than the original recipe called for since I did have a concern the greens would not have a strong enough flavor to hold up against 8 cups of water. I was correct but I did not cut down enough so, once pureed, the soup still had a watery flavor. In an attempt to save all those lovely greens, I added in some extra bacon I had left over and let it cook down a bit more. It was more palatable, but still not the soup it was meant to be. I’ll definitely wait a few more weeks until fava beans are in season for my second attempt. [9]
In an effort to keep a positive spin on things I decided to think about what I learned. And what I did take away from this experience are a few lessons -for life and cooking- that I think Dun would appreciate: --Cook seasonally, whenever possible [10] —Follow the recipe—the first time —If at first you don’t succeed, try again —You don’t have to like it but you have to try it —And most importantly, a little bit of bacon does make a lot of things better! - RachelLinks
[1] http://oldwaystable.org/2011/05/09/in-loving-memory-of-k-dun-gifford/
[2] http://oldwaystable.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/oldways_table_big_01.gif
[3] http://www.oldwayspt.org/oldways-table-book
[4] http://www.oldwayspt.org/recipesresources/fresh/fresh-fava-bean-soup-potage-aux-feves-fraiche
[5] http://www.cookinglight.com/food/in-season/in-season-spring-fava-beans-00400000042917/
[6] http://www.sienafarms.com/
[7] http://oldwaystable.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/multiple-fava-been-greens.jpg
[8] http://oldwaystable.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/fava-greens-in-pot-e1306264239754.jpg
[9] http://oldwaystable.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/soup-in-bowl.jpg
[10] http://www.ivillage.com/cook-whats-season-fava-beans-early-spring-early-summer/3-a-212098
[11] https://oldwayspt.org/categories/cookbooks
[12] https://oldwayspt.org/categories/cooking
[13] https://oldwayspt.org/categories/food
[14] https://oldwayspt.org/categories/k-dun-gifford
[15] https://oldwayspt.org/categories/oldways
[16] https://oldwayspt.org/categories/rachel
[17] https://oldwayspt.org/categories/recipe