Fava Beans & Morels??
On a couple of recent trips to Seattle I have enjoyed eating this earthy combination at two different locations: one called Voltera & the other called Spring Hill Restaurant up in West Seattle (new restaurant). The owner and Chef of Spring Hill is Mark Fuller who was the original Chef at Lucy’s Table in NW Portland.
Back to the fava beans and morels, I thought this was such an interesting combination I thought I would try to put my spin on this wonderful summer pasta dish. So the adventure began on Saturday morning with my wife Debbie as we were on our way to the Portland farmer’s market. We found everything we needed and of course more at the farmers market….
I took a stab at what I remembered this dish tasting like and did my best to recreate it.. Well I came really close to hitting a home run out of the ball park! We both loved it…. It was really close to Chef Mark's dish but by no means the same…. I dug out a bottle of 1999 Sokol Blosser Twelve Row Pinot Noir to have with this dish and they complimented each other very well!
Here is what I did to make this dish…
Ingredients: fava beans, morels, garlic, cherry tomatoes, pasta of your choice.
1. Start off your pot of water to cook your pasta in.
2. Blanch off the fava beans and peel both shells off.
3. Sauté up your morels with olive oil & butter and small amount of garlic. When they are close to being done add your Fava beans and cook for 5 minutes and add cherry tomatoes, salt & pepper to taste and then toss in your cooked pasta and add a twirl of olive oil.
4. Cook and toss for 3 – 5 minutes till it’s done. Serve up and garnish with a sprinkle of shredded parmesan and fresh basil or any other fresh herbs. I served this with a caprese salad.
Cheers!
Lee