My first blog

After reading a lot of food blogs, I decided that it's time for me to create my own. I'll start by saying I remodeled my kitchen a short time ago and it has rekindled my interest in kitchen experiments. I'm a bit of a gadget junkie, so I went out and bought a lot of new small appliances/cookware, and have been having fun playing with them. About a year ago I started making homemade ice cream/sorbet, and 10 pounds later I've got quite a collection of recipes, which I'll post here off and on. My latest adventures involve a new pressure cooker and a stove-top smoker, which I haven't tried yet.

There are gorgeous fresh fava beans in the local markets right now, so my first experiment to share is fava bean spread. I use it as a spread or dip.

1 1/2 cups shelled fava beans
5 or 6 mint leaves (if desired)
1/4-1/2 cup baby arugula leaves
3 or 4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, minced (more if you want a garlicky spread)
1 tbsp. or more fresh lemon juice
salt/pepper/minced flat leaf parsley (to taste)
1/4 - 1/2 cup fruity olive oil


Boil the fava beans for 4-5 minutes. Drain, plunge in cold water, remove outer skins.
Put in a food processor with mint (if desired), arugula (if your arugula is really spicy, use less), garlic, leaves from thyme, and lemon juice. Pulse a couple of times, then with processor running, drizzle in part of the oil until a thick spread forms. Taste and adjust acidity with more lemon juice if needed, add more arugula if desired, and season with salt and pepper and minced parsley to taste. Drizzle in more oil until the smooth and spreadable. Remember, this is an experiment, so you'll have to adjust the ingredients to your taste. I like more garlic, less parsley and less mint.

To be really decadent, you omit the mint and drizzle a bit of white truffle oil over the spread when serving.

Enjoy!