The satisfying sweetness of honey mixed with rice vinegar add punch to the dressing for this bean salad recipe. Raw red onions and red cabbage add crunch. A little bit of time for the fava beans but well worth it!
Have you seen all the gorgeous fava beans available at your local markets this spring? I have never really cooked with them until this spring season. They looked so crunchy and yummy at the Farm-Stead, like giant green beans waiting to be cracked open. In fact they remind me of Lima beans- they are so huge! Fava beans can be lightly sauteed in their pods on the stove tossed with olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper (delicious served with fish), or removed from their pods. If removed from their pods, lightly boil them for 2-3 minutes to make them soft enough to remove the skins. Removing the skins aids in better digestion (if you have trouble digesting beans and legumes). We have really been enjoying them out of their pods and tossed in salt and pepper by themselves, tossed into a bean salad recipe or served on crispy toast. There are so many ways to use fava beans.
This past Friday night we had a delightful dinner party with our family. To ease the stress out of planning and preparing for a dinner party I decided to go crock pot style and make the main dish Tex-Mex Quinoa. That way all I had to do was put dinner in the slow cooker then make sure the house is clean, ambiance is set and my kids (and myself) are dressed and ready. But what if someone is not craving a slightly spicy Mexican meal or prefers a different texture? Fava beans were sitting in the fridge begging to be used! And they were sitting right next to some gorgeous purple cabbage and onion. I think my vegetables agreed that they should marry and be turned into a bean salad recipe. Now here is the fun part. It may seem tedious to remove all the beans from the pods but I did them the day before… while watching Modern Family. So all that was needed before our party was to saute the fava beans in olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper for a couple of minutes. Then chop half a red onion and whisk up an easy dressing. The result is a delicious light and healthy fava bean salad recipe that can be used for other things too.
I would totally make this again and toss the fava bean salad recipe in pasta for another dish another night… if there happen to be any leftovers. Our leftovers I used for lunch topped on crusty toasted fresh bread and drizzled with olive oil. YUM!!! I so hope you try this.
Though it may seem like a lot of time to slice the pods and strip the beans out, it’s not. It took me about 15 minutes to do so while watching a show…or you could put on some nice music or just spend that time just enjoying yourself and what you are creating! A salad like this makes a hearty meal when it’s chock-full of goodies like fava beans, cabbage, and onions!
What makes this vegetarian bean salad recipe unusual is the dressing. Adding the sweetness of honey with rice vinegar gives the sauce a fantastic punch!
- Salad:
- 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 pound shucked fresh fava beans (about 3½ cups)
- 1½ cups frozen corn (I used fire roasted corn from Trader Joe's)
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced (about ½ cup)
- ¼ cup red cabbage, finely chopped
- Dressing:
- 3 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- 1 Tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
- Whisk together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Set aside in a medium size bowl. Add thinly sliced red onion and red cabbage.
- Prepare an ice-water bath. Cook fava beans in a large pot of boiling water for about 2-3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon transfer beans to the ice-water bath. Let them cool before handling. Remove the thin shells off the beans.
- Heat in a skillet on medium-high heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Add fava beans and frozen corn. Saute 1 minute. Toss beans and corn with onions and dressing.
xo,
Danielle
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