Something to warm you up - fava beans soup

 This was a winter staple in Sicily when I was growing up and it has remained one of my favorite dishes. It's simple, economic and very healthy.

Dry favas (fave) can be obtained quite readily in natural food stores or in retailers of Italian products.

Simply cut up a small onion, Peel and chop up a small carrot and do the same to a stalk of celery. These together make up the so called soffritto. In Italian it means something sautéed at low heat.  Use a medium pot and cover it's bottom with EVO. Put in one clove of garlic whole and a dash of peperoncino. Heat up until the garlic begins to transfer it's flavors to the oil and remove it. Add the soffritto and turn the heat down.

Now as for the fava beans there are two ways to prepare them before they are cooked. The traditional way is to place them in a bowl of water the night before. Then rinse and add them to the sofffritto. A faster way is to nuke them in the microwave. Put them in a safe bowl, cover them with water and nuke for 15 minutes. Check because the water will almost be absorbed. If the favas (fave) are tender take them out. If not add some more water and cook for another 5 minutes. Then add to the soffritto. Stir and add enough water to cover. Season with Sicilian sea salt and a dash of black pepper. Stir frquently and cook in medium heat until the favas become a paste. We call this maccu in Sicily.

Serve with lightly toasted rustic Italian bread slightly coated with olive oil. To finish the dish add a little raw olive oil and chopped up Italian parsley for a nice presentation and for the freshness that this ads to the dish.

A variation is pasta con le fave or pasta with fava beans. What you do here when the soup is almost done is to add sufficient hot water and some more salt and add your pasta. My favorite is broken up fettuccine or linguine. Again when you serve this add the parsley and the raw oil. This is a very nutritious dish because the proteins in the legume when married to those of the pasta create a perfect protein so that this is a perfect vegetarian or vegan dish. Try it. Buon Appetito.