Butter Poached Fava Beans

Butter Poached Fava Beans

Why should Thomas Keller of The French Laundry have all the fun? He may have created the famous butter poached lobster, but I’ve created butter-poached fava beans.
Fresh fava beans are a wonder, they taste green, and they have snap and crunch and flavor. They should be the new ‘it’ ingredient, under valued, un-recognized wonder.
There is a catch. They are tedious to peel, and they must be double peeled. Once you remove them from the pod, you then have to slip off the other casing around the bean. It’s a simpler process if you steam the pods before shucking. Throw a handful of beans into a strainer that is over a pot of boiling water, or toss the pods into the boiling water for a minute. Then shuck the buggers, it is worth it. I promise.

Place the tasty green beans in an ovenproof dish; add some butter, place in the oven at 300 for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and eat.
The butter absorbs the flavor of the fava, so if you have left over butter in the dish, save it and use it somewhere else. Don’t let any of that hard-earned fava flavor go to waste!