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Watch, listen, learn, and enjoy! Hundreds of free, original video recipes, done by Chef John Mitzewich, the web's most popular cooking instructor.

All about Fava Beans

When I lived in Italy there were all kinds of lovely things to eat that I never saw back home. Fortunately three of my favorites – fava beans, Tuscan kale and baby artichokes are now as common here as they were over there. Fava beans also known as broad beans take a bit of work to prepare, but are totally worth it. They are super tasty and healthy too, a good source of protein, fiber, iron and folate. Young fava beans are tender, have an unmistakeable buttery texture, an appealing herbal/bitter edge and cook up in no time. Older fava beans can be very starchy and are kind of earthy, but make a great addition to braises, soups and stews.

You can cook fava beans in the pod if they are very young and fresh. You can broil them, grill them, saute them in a pan with oil and salt or braise them in broth. But the more typical way of cooking them is to remove the beans from the pods, boil them for 3-5 minutes then pop the bean out of its thick skin (opening the skin then pinching the bean works best for me). I put the beans in a bowl of cold water to cool them down, it also makes them easier to handle. It takes about a pound of fava pods to yield a cup of beans. Just remember, smaller beans will be sweeter, larger beans will be starchier. Fava beans are so delicious you really only need a smattering to add color, texture and flavor to your recipes.

If you have lots of fava beans, consider making a mash or puree. You can serve it as a side dish, as a sauce for pasta or on crostini. I included a recipe for Fava bean and ricotta crostini with fresh mint in the book I wrote for Williams-Sonoma. While associated with Spring, you may find them well into late Summer. According to Ocean Mist, the ones grown in Castroville, California are in season from May through November, but you may be hard pressed to find them beyond September. Because they are somewhat delicate in flavor, pair them with mild or seasonal ingredients like fennel, lemon, seafood, morels, lamb, or fresh cheeses like mozzarella, feta and ricotta.

Other ideas for fava beans:

* Make a salad with fava beans, feta and vinaigrette

* Toss them in creamy risotto with shrimp

* Add them to bean salads

* Saute with garlic and onions in olive oil

* Serve on top of fried mozzarella, dress with lemon and extra virgin olive oil

* Use as a garnish to chicken and vegetable soup

* Serve with gnocchi or ravioli and butter

* Add to cold rice, bulgur, quinoa or barley salads

* Puree along with chickpeas to make hummus

Some enticing fava bean recipes

Garlicky broiled fava beans from Local Lemons

Spring fava bean fennel salad from Simply Recipes

Stewed artichokes with fresh fava beans from Hunter Angler Gatherer Cook

Turkish fava beans with garlic yogurt sauce from Opera Girl Cooks

Braised fava beans with prosciutto from What did you eat?

My thanks to Ocean Mist for sending me some fava beans earlier in the season

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.

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Hello from beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea, California! Michele and I are here to tour a couple family farms as guests of knowacaliforniafarmer.com. Hopefully, I'll have some photos and more info to share when I return to San Francisco on Sunday evening, but in the meantime I wanted to post this experimental chicken satay burger video.

I've been thinking about how to do a chicken burger using some of the same flavors found in Thai-style chicken satay, and this was my first attempt. I thought it was pretty good, and benefited from some seasoning adjustments, as you'll hear. I think the concept is solid, but I'll continue to try and perfect the execution.

This is one of those videos where I especially hope some are inspired to take the idea and run with it. Then, come back and share your incredible success with the rest of us. This is a fun jumping off point in regards to doing burgers inspired by other classic dishes. I can't wait to see what you come up with. Enjoy!

For the burger (4):

1 pound ground chicken

1 1/2 tbsp coconut milk

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp sambal chili sauce

1 tbsp bread crumbs

2 tsp soy sauce

3 cloves minced garlic

pinch of cayenne

For the peanut sauce:

Peanut butter thinned with a squeeze of lime, seasoned with more sambal or hot pepper

For the slaw:

1/2 cup grated or julienne carrot

1/2 cup grated or julienne cucumber

2 tbsp sliced jalapeño

2 tsp Asian fish sauce

1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/sBff/~3/uejogF2Jp3Y/gumbo-go-go-duck-andouille-sausage.html

It's not easy to pry gumbo-making secrets from a cook in New Orleans, but you should have better luck if you slip them some truth serum, in the form of several well-made sazeracs. 

This particular gumbo, featuring duck, andouille sausage, smoked pork hock, gulf shrimp, and langoustine, was inspired by my recent trip to New Orleans, where I sampled a half-dozen varieties.

One rye whiskey-induced tip was to cook the famous Cajun roux in some duck fat instead of the more common and mundane vegetable oil. The roux is the soul of the gumbo and one of the challenges of this recipe is giving the fat and flour enough time to turn into that deep brick red-brown color.

My little trick here is to add a couple extra spoons of flour after the roux is browned. The dark roux gives the gumbo its signature flavor, but it doesn't have much thickening power. I just cooked it a couple minutes, and then stirred in the stock.

Another tweak is using pickled okra instead of fresh or frozen. This particular perversion was born out of necessity rather than some brilliant thought on my part. Of course, if this technique catches on, that story will change. The pickled okra gave the gumbo a great flavor and added a little bit of acidity, which is always welcome in something this substantial.

This can be made with hundreds of different combinations of smoked meats, game, poultry, and seafood; and in my opinion, the more the merrier. As usual, I'd love to hear about any variations you may come up with. As you'll see, the procedure is pretty straightforward, although you're talking about a full day's project. This is a dish that takes time, but I still hope you give it a try. Enjoy!

2 duck legs

1 tbsp vegetable oil, more as needed

1 cup flour, plus 2 tbsp for second addition
6 cups chicken broth

1 pound andouille sausage

1 large onion, chopped

4 green onions chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup diced peppers (any combination of sweet and hot)

1 cup diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 smoked pork hock
2 cups water, or as needed
1 cup sliced okra, fresh, frozen or pickled
1 pound gulf shrimp
1 pound crawfish tail meat or langoustine
rice to garnish

Planning for the Hunger Challenge

Shopping on a tight budget isn't impossible, but it does take work. Yesterday I started planning for the Hunger Challenge, a campaign to help raise awareness about hunger in our community. For one week during Hunger Action Month participants live on a very limited food budget, comparable to what food stamp recipients live on. In 2008 just seven of us participated in the Hunger Challenge and the budget was $3 a day, this year there will be over 50 250 people participating and the budget is $4.72 per day.

Tomorrow I will be shopping with CBS reporter and Hunger Challenge participant Juliette Goodrich at Foods Co. Yesterday I read the Food Co weekly flyer and planned my menu based on sale items and what I know I can afford.

Here is what I plan on cooking and eating, for new dishes I will post the recipes throughout the week:

Dinners:
Panela and Vegetable Kabobs - a new recipe I will be creating for the challenge. Panela is a cheese similar to haloumi but much less expensive.

Chicken and Bacon Quesadillas - another new recipe that I am creating for the challenge.

Chicken and Rice Soup - past participant Vanessa Barrington made this recipe a few years ago l based on a recipe by Andrea Nguyen

Moroccan Chicken & Lentils - I will be modifying a Bon Appetit recipe I found on Epicurious

Pasta Fagioli - truly cucina povera, something I made the first year of the Hunger Challenge, but this time I think I will add some spinach

Chili - I will make this using a variety of beans, corn, onions and peppers

Red beans and rice

For breakfast, I will eat oatmeal or eggs

For lunch I will eat leftovers or quesadillas. In past years, I have eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I just don't want to do that again.

Of course my plans may change depending upon what I find at the store and how much I can buy...

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.

Hunger Challenge Chili Recipe

This is one of the cheapest meals I know how to make. There are a lot of tricks to make it taste good without using very many ingredients. Chili is all about layers or flavor and texture and spice. While texture is not the hardest thing to achieve on a budget, flavor and spice are a bit trickier. To make up for the lack of complexity in the spices, I overcompensated in the texture department and also tried to get the most flavor out of the ingredients I could afford.

I like some fresh vegetables in my chili so I used one Anaheim chile and half of a large onion. I also used mushroom stems. Surprise! I will use the caps for another recipe and I would have just discarded the stems. Mushrooms, even just the crumbled stems, lend savory 'umami' flavor and also meaty texture. Speaking of meaty texture, this is not a purely vegetarian chili. It has two slices of bacon which might not seem like much, but it adds a bit of meatiness and fat for cooking the vegetables.

I used a combination of white beans and red beans which made it more visually appealing. The beans were cooked from dry beans so I spent less money than if I had bought canned beans. I also used one can of corn. I bought a 2 1/2 ounce packet of ground New Mexico chile powder I found in the Hispanic food section of the store. I used 3 Tablespoons but you could use less or more to taste. Likewise the amount of salt you use will vary depending upon your taste. I only used one clove of garlic which was probably a mistake. I would recommend at least two.

Because I cooked all the beans earlier, the chili comes together quickly. I normally don't buy diced tomatoes because they don't break down very well, but in this case that was fine. I primarily chose them because they had 'mild green chiles' in them and I was looking for all the flavor I could find.

Frankly this chili isn't all the different from my normal everyday vegetarian version, though it has a lot less spice. Depending upon your serving size, you could certainly add cilantro, chopped green onions and a tiny bit of cheese on top of each serving and still stay on budget.

Hunger Challenge Chili

$3.68 for 4 servings

2 slices bacon, diced .58
1 Anaheim chile pepper, diced .29
1/2 onion, diced .11
1 clove garlic .05 (I would recommend adding more)
3 Tablespoons ground New Mexico chile powder .30
Mushroom stems from an 8 oz pkg of mushrooms (no cost since they would normally be discarded)
2 cups water
1 can diced Mexican style tomatoes .98
2 cups cooked red beans (1/4 lb dried) .31
2 cups cooked white beans (1/4 lb dried) .31
1 can corn .75

Generous toppings for 1 serving, about 35¢
cilantro .05
cheese .24
green onions .06

Heat a large dutch oven and saute the bacon for a few minutes or until beginning to brown. Add the onions and pepper and continue cooking until they are soft and onions are golden. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for another couple of minutes then add the chili powder, water and tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes before adding the beans and corn. Simmer another 10 minutes and season aggressively with salt.

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.

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This quick and dirty video recipe for grilled romaine hearts was shot on location at Tanimura & Antle, a family-owned lettuce farm we toured as part of the Get to Know a California Farmer field trip Michele and I just returned from in Carmel, CA.

The event was to introduce their website and, as the name implies, help us get to know a farmer, and that's what we did. We got a fascinating look into how lettuce gets from their farm to your table. Brian Antle, the farm's Harvest Manager, ran the tour, and it was a joy to hear him talk with such pride about what his and the Tanimura family had created from this land. 

After the tour we were treated to a wonderful lunch showing off some of the farm's famous foliage. The grilled romaine salad you'll see in the video was a big hit, but we also had some beautiful pizzas, as you can see below. It always feels special to eat produce that was just picked hours before.

You'll also see a short video I did showing how the lettuce goes from dirt to final packaging on this slow-rolling mobile processing plant. You'll have to pardon the dirty lens, as I hadn't planned on filming in the field, and never checked it. I believe the smudge is gumbo, but there's really no way to tell for sure. Don't let that deter you, or you'll miss a cameo by social media guru, Jay Baer, on a bed of lettuce.

After lunch we got to tour Naturipe Farms, one of the largest berry producers in the state. Our guide, Tom, did a great job of explaining all the challenges that go into growing berries, especially strawberries. I learned that organic doesn't mean that no pesticides are used. They just need to be certified pesticides, and are often the same ones used in conventional farming. The highlight for me was his explaining how fish meal is regularly used to fertilize organic strawberries, unbeknownst to most vegans we assumed.

Anyway, it was a really fun trip, and I want to thank Adfarm and Get to Know a California Farmer for inviting us. Also, huge thanks to the farmers who shared their stories and delicious products with us. For more information on Get to Know a California Farmer, please check out their website! It's a fantastic way to connect directly with the people growing the food you put on your tables every day.

They're also running a sweepstakes on the Facebook page where you could win $10,000 worth of groceries. It's only open to California residents, and ends soon, so get over there and check it out. Enjoy!

Grilled Romaine Salad

How Lettuce is Harvested