Last night, Alasdair and I were invited over to our friends’ house for a wonderful dinner to celebrate our engagement. The company was great and all the food was delicious from the prosciutto and melon appetizer to the poached fruit and goat cheese salad to the steak chimichurri over fresh creamed corn. It made me think about entertaining and dinner parties and how a well put together menu can really make your dining experience top-notch. What I love most and what I find the hardest about putting together a menu is picking appetizers because there are so many choices out there and I love them all!
Today, I want to add another choice to the appetizer pot – fava bean and avocado bruschetta. It sounds like a funny combination but all the ingredients go together perfectly. When I first made this dish, I had never eaten or cooked fava beans before. They were a surprise vegetable that Alasdair picked up from the grocery store to challenge me in the kitchen. I had no idea that fava beans are so vibrant and delicious! Because I had never worked with these types of beans before, I did some cooking research online. In the process, I stumbled across a few bruschetta recipes using fava beans. Of course, I decided to disregard those recipes and make my own. And, not to brag (ok to brag a little), the result was amazing – so amazing that I wanted to lick the bowl clean. So amazing that I can’t wait for my next dinner party to make this bruschetta. I plan to make a huge batch of the fava bean and avocado spread and eat it all week for lunch and snacks!
Healthy Recipe Ecstasy? Yes! This is a great, fun way to get some greens and good fats (avocado and olive oil) into your diet. If you can’t do the bread, replace it with corn or rice chips and the fava bean spread can act like a dip. NOTE: If you’re making this for a party, just double or triple the recipe depending on the amount of people. You can also make it into a dip – see the photo below! Excuse me while I go eat some more bruschetta….
- Whole-wheat baguette, cut into 1-inch slices
- 1 cup cooked and shelled fava beans (you can use lima beans if fava beans are not in season)
- 2 small garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- ¼ cup mashed avocado
- 1/4 cup grated Pecorino-Romano cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Olive oil
- Extricate the fava beans from their pods, pop them into a small pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, rinse with cold water and then shell. I hate shelling beans but these were actually really easy.
- Mix the fava beans, garlic, salt, basil, avocado, and cheese in a small bowl.
- Toast or broil the bread slices until they are golden brown and starting to crisp.
- Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of the fava bean mixture onto each bread slice. Top each bruschetta with a sprinkle of grated cheese and a dash of olive oil.
This recipe comes at the perfect time for me as I have a whole bag of fava beans in the freezer. I will subtitute either gluten free bread or as you suggested corn ships or perhaps corn cakes. With a salad I could make this a meal! Thanks for the great recipe!