You can have your beans and eat them too!

Today was a big, BIG day. The kind of day you wish you had twice the amount of hours to have a chance to stay on top of things. It all started at 8am. Sun was shining, my MS was calling and my dragons and I were in excellent spirit. We did a serious dent in the rewrites for a couple of hours (maybe 5?), then I spent an hour color coding my edits throughout the MS. It was a pain, but it will make things a lot easier to spot for the next session of rewrites.

At 2pm I headed to the supermarket to buy a few things I still needed for tonight's dinner, as well as everything I will need for tomorrow's dinner (We're having my SIL and her fiancé for dinner, I promised them a chili). That's right, I'm THAT insane. I planned 2 heavy duty meals two days in a row LOL.

Back to tonight's dinner. I made a traditional Egyptian fava beans and artichokes stew. It is typically eaten for lent around Easter, because it is usually made without any meat. It is served with rice and is absolutely delicious. I couldn't find fresh fava beans for Easter but I found them this week end and I couldn't resist.

So here I am, 6 pounds of fresh fava beans, about 4 to 5 pounds of medium artichokes. Time to get to work! Started to peel and turn the artichokes and to open and peel the fava beans and sort them (the really big ones needed to be blanched and the second skin on them peeled as well, the small ones were tender enough to keep their skin). Worked on it until 5pm, ended up with about a pound of fava's and beautiful artichoke hearts, then proceeded to actually cook the stew. Just for kicks, I'll add the short recap of the recipe at the end of this entry.

It is now 8pm, dinner has come and gone, and the stew was well worth the effort.

I've written. I've cooked. I've eaten and cleaned up. Time to relax with the husband in front of the TV!

And tomorrow ... chili! LOL


     Artichokes and fresh fava beans stew.

1. Fry 2 finely chopped onions in clarified butter, until they turn light golden. Add half of a bag of frozen artichoke hearts and saute it with the onions until everything is nice and golden. Why also use frozen artichokes when you have fresh ones, you will ask? Well, the frozen ones pretty much melt into the stew, thickening it up and making it a lot meatier. 
2. Once the onions and frozen artichokes are medium gold, add the fresh artichokes cut in 4 that you previously had soaking in water and lemon juice. Also add the artichokes stems that you also peeled and reserved in lemony water. Saute the fresh artichokes for about 6 to 8 minutes on medium heat. 
3. Add the fava beans, except the big ones you blanched and peeled. Saute everything together in the pan for another 8 minutes or so, stirring once or twice. 
4. ONLY AT THIS POINT, season your dish with salt (see salt if you have it) and about 1/2 to 3/4 of a tsp of cinnamon. Saute for enother 2 minutes, so the cinnamon melts into the vegetables and the butter. 
5. Cover with chicken stock (or water if it's lent), leaving 3 inches of liquid above the level of the vegetables--you will use that liquid after it reduces to make the rice.
6. Bring to boil and lower to simmer and cook almost covered for about 30 minutes. 
7. Check for seasoning and add the big fava beans that you blanched and peeled. Season them with a little salt before you toss them in with the rest.
8. 15 minutes later, Check a fava bean (one with it's skin, not a blanched and peel one). If it's tender enough, the stew is ready. Turn the heat off and take a few ladles of liquid from the stew, leaving enough liquid to reach half the level of the vegetables. Reserve the liquid for the rice and cover the stew.
9. Make a standard pilaf. Use fresh butter, not clarified, and for the love of all that is sacred, don't be afraid to use enough of it to fry the rice! I use about 2Tbsp of butter per cup of basmati rice. Once your rice has fried in the butter on low heat for about 3 to 4 minutes, add the liquid you took from the stew as well as a few fava beans from the stew (about 2 Tbsp). Season your rice, but keep in mind the stock is already seasoned. 
10. Bring your rice to boil, lower the heat to LOW, cover and leave it alone for 19 minutes. 
11. Check rice and stew for doneness and seasoning. Fluff up your rice and serve it on a large flat plate. Serve the vegetable stew in another deeper plate. 

Traditionally, you serve the rice then a ladle of stew on top of the rice. Put lemons on the table for a fresh squeeze on top. It is also traditional to accompany it with thick plain yogurt on the side (the greek type), but that's optional.

I took a few pics throughout the process. I'll post them tomorrow.

Enjoy!