I can admit it: I’m a little obsessed with fava beans. While I was living in Spain, my co-worker/buddy would make me my favorite dish when I was grumpy. Known as “habas con jamon y huevos,” it is an amazing combo that I’ve never seen someone NOT enjoy. Although, apparently some people have a genetic disorder called “favism” that results from eating them…

Having never eaten fresh fava beans (we used frozen in Spain), I jumped at the chance to re-create the dish while at the farmer’s market. I bought a few pounds from Parker Farms and then swung by Savenor’s on my trusty bici to get the coveted Jamon Serrano. With eggs from Austin Brothers Valley Farm and onions and garlic from my Red Fire Farm CSA, this was guaranteed to be an awesome meal. [The only thing missing was authentic Spanish olive oil, which truly can’t be beat, but that’s a blog story for another day.] The desired result was even better than I remembered.

I have since returned to buy almost 30 pounds of fresh fava beans for freezing purposes, from Parker Farms and Drumlin Farms. Fava beans are only around for two or three weeks a year from what I understand, so I may have gone a little overboard, especially given the tiny freezer in my apartment. For freezing purposes, you need simply to shuck the beans, parboil for two to three minutes, dunk them in cold water to cool them off, drain, lay them out in a single layer, freeze through, then bag them up! You’ll have to shuck them out of their giant pods and THEN peel the outer layer off of each bean to actually cook them for eating right away (or after defrosting later). I recommend watching an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents on Hulu while shucking. A friend is certainly helpful, too…

 
HABAS CON JAMON Y HUEVOS

NOTE: I don’t really do measurements for certain recipes. If you like something more than something else, use more of it. If you want the ham to egg ratio to be 5:1, have at it, I say.

• 1 pound shucked/peeled fava beans (this is about 2 pounds of whole fresh fava beans)
• Small piece of Jamon Serrano, slice should be ¼ to ½ inch thick, cubed [DO NOT TRIM THE FAT!!!
• Eggs
• Onion
• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Salt/pepper
• Love (you should always have this on hand and always use it)

1. Fry onion and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes, taking care not to brown the garlic.
2. Toss in the ham and let the fat melt. Toss in the fava beans and continue frying until the beans just start to brown and the onions start to caramelize and the ham gets a bit crispy, but not too crispy.
3. Make little wells within the mixture and crack an egg into each one. Fry the eggs until desired level of eggness. Putting a lid over the frying pan will help to cook the tops of the eggs, rather than attempting to flip them.

I find that this meal works for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, whatever, and is quite filling. Or enjoy with a nice Chianti, as Hannibal Lecter recommends.

Happy eating!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 2:24 am and is filed under CSA, Community, Meals, Preserving+canning. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.