Ingredient of the Week: Fava Beans and Salmon

Fava beans may seem intimidating, but chefs Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau offer tips to make them more enjoyable, and how to pair them with salmon.

“A pound of fava beans will get you, probably, a quarter pound of the actual beans,” says Tom. “That’s the yield. For every pound you buy, the big husk comes off, and then the interior shell comes off, and then you might have four ounces of the actual beans left.”

When preparing them, Tom says “think about them like any other bean, like a black bean or a chick pea, and you can do the exact same thing with them.” Blanch them – and then you don’t have to take them out of the second skin – and puree, then pass them through a strainer.

As for salmon, Tom stresses that this is the time to buy Copper River salmon. “The prices have come down, the sockeye is beautiful, and it’s really the time to buy.”

It goes really well with fava beans, Thierry adds. “If they’re cold – if you blanch them, you take them out, shuck them in ice water and you peel them, you can also make a cold fava bean salad, which is really delicious. You can do diced tomato, a little vinegar, olive oil, basil, it’s a wonderful little salad. And you pour that over your salmon after it comes off the grill.”

“I think it’s a great combination,” Tom says.

Whole Foods Markets are a proud sponsor of Seattle Kitchen’s Ingredient of the Week.