Broad Beans

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
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I got a neat simple book for kids to cool almost alone, very nice one (at Payot, Ge)

Now, there is a fab recipe for pasta with bacon, fresh basil, parmazan, cream and broad beans.

I have never seen broad beans so didn't really know what to look for in the store, but came home with 500gr of these fresh giant peas looking things, that have big roundish pale green beans inside. Are those broad beans? And it says haricots feve ; would that translate for broad beans? It looks really tasty..does it cook for long? Are haricots feve new here? Never seen them at home.

Thanks.

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Fool, Fava beans, vicia, english, dwarf or horse beans (actually a different variety) Windsor, Longpod, Dwarf Fan, Julienne, Lorraine, Black Spanish, Mazagan, Picardy, and Winter. Albyn Tick, Herz Freya, Blue Rock, Petite and Maris Bead.

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Tough and bitter, not to mention causing flatulence

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I bought fresh broad beans - haricots feve - from the Saturday morning market at the Riponne in Lausanne the week before last.

Several stalls had them. They are just as you describe.

I've looked and asked in all the supermarkets without success.

I love them, but my Swiss husband tells me the Swiss use them as animal-feed.

Don't know what that says about me

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Haha, that says we like to eat animal fodder, I guess. Hasn't been the last time, I was very surprised that there are nations that actually consume boiled corn (which is a pig fodder back home), until I had some myself...yum.

I found it in Chevannes, Manor sells it. I saw it in Manor in Nyon, too. And markets, in fact, never paid attention to it, since it looks pretty strange. Until I got this book. I also saw some fab Italian recipe with it, I think it was Jamie Oliver.

It was 3fr for 500gr, just do not know how much one actually gets out of the funky "jacket".

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Fava Beans , from the NY Times' Recipes for Health section, has a short description of the beans and a few interesting recipes.

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Thanks, it really looks like I found what I was looking for.

Bitter and tough? They say cook for one minute with the pasta at the end of the pasta cooking time, so I will see, might need a little more to make it sweeter. They call for garlic, too, so I think that might kill the bitterness.

Flatulence? Well, pretty much all we eat is very...explosive

Foodies always do, I guess.

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Yes, it was Jamie Oliver's lasagne recipe I needed them for.

It was part of his 30 minutes series. Lasagne with broad beans and peas etc. etc. etc. etc.

Can't imagine anyone managing to prepare that lot in 30 minutes.

Certainly not me. It was delicious, even though I had to buy 1kg of beans for a final 400grms

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Beans produce a greater quantity of gas .

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That's a great link, thanks.

They talk of double peeling? You peel them bad boys twice?

And this , I will have to test it.

"..A warning: Fava beans are toxic to individuals with favism, a genetic disorder. Be cautious when trying fava beans for the first time..."

(same site)

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People who make dinkie little chefy salads might peel them, but most normal humans would just bung them in.

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I'd never seen or tasted broad beans before I went to UK. I liked them and always bought fresh ones from the market. Last time we were at our daughter's in UK, my sil double peeled broad beans = take the beans out of the pods, cook the beans for a few minutes, cool then squeeze the beans so that the inner part of the bean pops out. He then threw the outer skin away. The inner beans were indeed very tender and sweet - but to me it seemed such a waste! As the perfect mil, I never said it though, lol

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Haricot beans are different to broad beans. Haricot beans are the ones they use in baked beans. I'm sure i've seen tinned haricot beans in Coop.

We eat a lot of beans (and chick peas and lentils) and my MIL grows broad beans back home. We grow runner beans. My kids like to pick out all the beans out of the dishes we make and eat them first.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_beans

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/haricot_bean

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Ok, I have to ask...

Did anyone else read the title of this thread and think of the song 'Cauliflowers fluffy' which has the line 'Broad beans are sleeping in their blankety bed'?

Or is it only me coming from an English Church of England Primary School background?

(I quite agree with the comments under this video; we sang this song with much more expression when I was at school)

I'm now wishing I'd bought broad beans for lunch tomorrow instead of broccoli...

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It was' broad beans sleeping in their blankety-blank beds,' by the time I'd shucked a kilo of the woolley little blighters!

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Hmmm, I love beans. I wish I had somewhere to grow them, it's lovely kids can pick them in your garden.

I know, it seems the broad beans are here called haricots feve in French, since haricots is the generic word for "beans" in French.

Yeah, I love that program, bought the 3omin book, too. It's fantastic, though a little too adventurous for my non adventurous eaters, and, of course, it takes me 2x long, since I don't have the shredders and other gadgets. I love his shredder. What is it...magimix?

I also saw some of his broad beans in the mag he publishes, Jamie, he did a special on Italian food, on top of his monthly mag. You can get Jamie mag in Relay here, Ge, Chevannes.

I can't wait to peel the beans tomorrow with my little one. The only thing is, it does not look anything like the neat internet images, unpeeled, it really looks like animal fodder , very beat. It's supposed to?

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They grow vertically - so don't take up much space at all

The cookbook you have sounds great!

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If you bought 500grms, Music Chick, you won't have too many beans left when you've taken them out of their shells............but then you probably won't have the gas problem either if you only eat a few

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It looks like I will have 30 little ones, which is all I need since it is a mix of bacon bits, cream, parmazan and a lot of pasta. And garlic and basil, so I think the flatulence is going to happen, no matter what..

As I am finishing a hot chives, chickpeas, turkey, potato and coliflower curry with couscous, hahaha. Gas or not, one needs to please ones taste buds, right?

Yeah, here is a description, get it, your kids will love it. It pains me to see, though, I bought it for crazy 30fr here, and you see the book depo price? Jaysus.

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Broad beans are a lovely thing - haven't had them in years mind you but I do remember podding them...

I'm not surprised that they are used as cattle feed, but then that would be a whole new thread - what food do you eat which out countries feed their cattle.......

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I love broad beans too - my grandfather used to grow them. Unless they are the very young, tender, small ones, they definitely need to be peeled - either before or after cooking.