Green Taste of Spring

Our neighbor Tom had returned from his travels and he and Scott dropped in to tell us they had brought us a bottle of wine from Spain. They suggested we go out for dinner.

We decided to cook a dinner for them instead. We have suspended our Hindi lessons for a while we are having construction done at our house. It is just too chaotic with the constant flow of workers. Our Hindi lessons were on Wednesday morning, the same time as the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market.

On Tuesday night, I woke up in the middle of the night and said to a sleepy Cathy “Hey we are free on Wed. morning, we can go to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market”. I promptly fell back asleep. Cathy didn’t fall back to sleep immediately. When she did, she had a bad dream where she wanted to make a Spring Green Vegetable Risotto, with Fava Bean Puree, Peas and Asparagus from the Chez Panisse Vegetable Cookbook, but couldn’t find the recipe. When she awakened in the morning, she found the cookbook, found the recipe and was ready to head to Santa Monica.

We bought all of the ingredients for the risotto.  David the Mushroom Man, had the very first Morel Mushrooms of the season. We bought Purple Asparagus and served the Morels over the Asparagus. With the addition of Brown Butter it was beyond perfect! We served Toasted Brioche Bread to mop up the sauce.

When we got home from visiting the market we had a peel-a-thon, peeling the fava’s (twice) and then peeling the pees. The freshness of the final risotto made it all the work worthwhile.

So out of my waking up in the middle of the night, we switched from going out to cooking a fabulous risotto.

We started with drinks on the patio, it was a warm windless night. We have been drinking a lot of Floc de Gascogne, a wonderful aperitif. It is perfect on a warm night.

For dessert we had a Lemon Cake from Proof.

It was a very special dinner. One could be a vegetarian with food like this! 

Green Risotto with Fava Bean Puree, Peas, and Asparagus

Chez Panisse Vegetables

Alice Waters

½ pound young fava beans

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

¾ pound fresh green peas

4 spears asparagus

1 medium onion

7 to 8 cups chicken stock

4-1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cup Arborio Rice

1/3 cup dry white wine

¼ cup grated Reggiano Parmesan cheese plus extra for garnish

Shell the fava beans and discard the pods. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the favas, and simmer for 1 minute. Drain them and cool them im­mediately in cold water. Pierce the outer skin of the beans with your thumbnail and pop out each bean with the thumb and forefinger of your other hand. Put the beans in a pot with a little olive oil, a little salt, and water to just about cover, and cook slowly, until they are soft enough to puree but haven't lost their color, about 15 to 20 minutes. If necessary, add water as they are cooking to keep them from sticking. Drain them and pass them through a food mill.

Shell the peas. Cut the asparagus on the diagonal into thin slices. Peel and chop the onion into small dice.

Heat the stock and keep at a low simmer. In another, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons of the butter, add the onion, and cook over medium heat until it is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and a pinch of salt and cook over low heat for about 3 minutes, stirring often, until the rice has turned slightly translucent. Turn up the heat and pour in the white wine. When the wine has been absorbed, add just enough hot stock to cover the rice, stir well, and reduce the heat.

Keep the rice at a gentle simmer and keep adding stock, a ladle or two at a time, letting each addition be almost completely absorbed by the rice be for adding the next. After about 10 minutes, the grains of rice will be softened somewhat but will still be hard in the center. Stir in the peas and asparagus. Continue to ladle in more stock, stirring before and after every addition. After 5 minutes, add the rest of the butter, the cheese, and the fava puree. Stir well. Add more stock if needed: the , risotto should have a saucy consistency. Adjust the seasoning. Serve in warm bowls, garnished with more of the Parmesan.

Serves 6 to 8.