Fava beans with light lemon beurre blanc

Dear readers, if you ever exist, let me complete my confession list: today I cooked fava beans for the very first time in my life!

I bought them last Saturday at a very nice market in Montreal. They are not very common around here so I was very pleased to see them at the market.

I can't recall whether or not I tried these beautiful beans in the past, but, for some reason, I already had a idea of their taste before cooking them. I knew I wanted to add some kind fat to mellow out their texture and a bit of acidity to balance the richness of the beans and the fat I wanted to add. I came up with a very simple solution: a lemon beurre blanc. I know we are not supposed to eat too much butter but I'll trade happily the usual butter on toast at breakfast time for a nice butter sauce once in a while.

Here's my very simple recipe:

1. Boil the beans until they are ready.
2. Put the juice of half a lemon and a bit of zest in a pan and let reduce for a minute or two (such a small quantity evaporate quickly so keep an eye on your pan).
3. Whisk in a few cubes of butter on a low heat until your sauce reach the desired consistency.
4. Season with salt and pepper (I prefer white pepper here so that the sauce keeps a homogenous color)
5. Add the beans to the sauce and serve.

To make nicer looking dish, you can also peel the skin of the fava beans before adding them to the sauce in order to reveal their beautiful color. As for myself, I'm too lazy to waste my time doing it (and I'm sure there is one of those healthy nutrients in that skin) but if you want to impress someone, give this trick a try.

At first, I was wondering about the best way to serve this dish. Today, it was a weird side dish to an Indian inspired diner. When eating these beans and their sauce however I thought it would be a perfect addition to a simple pan-fried fish.