Seared Scallops with Fava Bean Purée sure sounds formal and perhaps even complicated but I promise you it’s neither. After getting fava beans in my CSA share a few weeks back, I ask my Twitter pals for some ideas on what to do with them. My dietitian colleague, who is also a chef (how cool is that?), Michelle Dudash suggested just that – a purée paired with seafood. And since both fava beans and scallops cook fairly quickly, it turned out to be much simpler than the recipe title suggests.
When preparing to cook favas, the trick is to shell them twice - first, you pop them out of the pod and after a quick boil and a slight cooling period, you pop them out of their thick skin. As you can see, they are the most glorious color of green and bursting with many nutrients like fiber, folate, iron, potassium and the list goes on!
Ingredients
- 1 cup fava beans, shelled
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 3 garlic scapes, chopped (or 2 garlic cloves minced)
- 1 tablespoon water
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 pound sea scallops
- Black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Directions
- In a pot of boiling water, add the fava beans. Boil for 1 minute, drain and throw into a bowl of ice water. Cool until you can hold with your hands and pop beans out of their thick skin. Discard skins.
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sauté the fava beans for 5 minutes. Add garlic scapes and cook for another 3 minutes.
- In a food processor or blender, place fava beans, garlic scapes and oil from pan. Blend together, adding additional 1 tablespoon olive oil slowly. Add 1 tablespoon water and blend until thoroughly mixed. Set aside, keeping sauce in blender.
- In same skillet, heat butter and pan sear scallops, 3 - 4 minutes per side, adding black pepper to each scallop side. Remove from heat and remove scallops from pan. Pour liquid from pan into blender and blend into fava bean sauce.
- To serve, spoon fava bean sauce onto each serving plate and place scallops on top. Sprinkle each dish with smoked paprika.
I must say I was a tad disappointed they were only in my CSA share that one week (their growing season is primarily through the spring.)
Have you ever cooked with fava beans?
I don’t have a lot of experience cooking with favas but love them when I order them out. My grandparents used to cook them when I was young too. This dish looks so delicious, youve inspired me to try cooking them again soon!
Aggie – this was actually my first time cooking them and they were a cinch to make! Let me know if you make them soon
That looks ah-may-zing! I adore favas, but I have only found them fresh a couple of times.
I never cooked with them and now realize what “gems” I got that week in my CSA share
Yum. Thanks for the shout out, doll.
Michelle