This simple pasta with fava beans is made special with Ragusano, an unpasteurized cow’s milk cheese from Sicily.
Spaghetti with Fava Bean Puree & Ragusano Cheese
Print This Recipe Yield 4Source Adapted from La Cucina ItalianaPublishedServes 4
Ragusano may be substituted with Caciocaballo, Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano
Ingredients
- kosher salt, as needed
- 5 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- ½ cup onion, roughly chopped
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped, plus 2 t celery leaves
- 1 cup vegetable broth, approximately
- freshly cracked black pepper, as needed
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 2 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, minced
- ½ pound ragusano cheese, grated
- 4 cup fava beans, shelled
Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the shelled fava beans and blanch for one minute. Transfer with slotted spoon to a prepared ice bath to stop cooking. Reserve the salted water for the pasta.
Drain beans, gently peel and discard outer skins. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add two tablespoons olive oil, the onion. chopped celery and a pinch of salt. Cook until softened, about five minutes. Add three-quarters cup vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to simmer and add half of the peeled fava beans and about two tablespoons minced celery leaves. Cook one minute, remove from heat and transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender, Pulsing until a rough puree is achieved. Transfer the puree to a small saucepan, stir in remaining vegetable broth a litlle at a time to achieve a nice consistency. Add the reserved fava beans. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Return the reserved pot of salted water to a boil; add pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat remaining olive oil over medium heat until just warm. Stir in the minced parsley.
Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with oil and parsley; heat over medium high heat tossing to coat, about two minutes. Remove from heat, add half of the cheese and toss to combine.
Divide the fava bean puree among serving plates. Top with pasta and remaining cheese. Drizzle with olive oil. Serve immediately.
Greg,
I am not sure which I loved the most — your commentary or the duck!!! Both are outstanding — but since this is a food blog, I am gonna talk about the duck.. which sounds truly amazing!!
The final presentation is stunning, Greg. I’ve never grilled duck but it’s not because of moral reasons. It’s because I’m cheap!
Greg, I can see why vegans *could* feel superior! 🙂 Ideally, I would *be* a vegan. But I’m not. Suppose those who would want to slap a label on me would call me a flexitarian. One day vegan, the next day vegetarian, the next omnivore. My food choices are based on two things: what foods I will enjoy eating at that moment AND which version of those foods have been produced with the least cruelty to man and beast and the least damage to the earth.
Not a huge duck fan, I think I would love your duck breast satay! Looks fabulous.
I’m a live-and-let-live-avore. As long as you’re not hurting my friends, family, or abusing animals, we’re cool.
That sounds great and looks great! I’ve never eaten duck believe it or not. I might be trying it soon though. I do love grilled peaches though, and love just about any meat grilled correctly.
I liked the rant too by the way. I’m a “don’tgiveadamnivore”.
and delicious recipe.
Love those grilled peaches, what a wonderful flavor combo!
yeah that’s me! I LOVE everything about duck, their meat, their fat, and their cute little webbed feet. I have some breasts from D’artagnan in the deep freeze, and will be pulling them shortly to make this great sounding dish. Thx — s
I love it Greg. I am a eatwhatevaIdamnwellplease-avore, which suits me just fine. The only thing in my way these days is my condition. The recipe is a mite bit sweet for me, until I take away the peach preserves. I love it though, and I’m not sure I would be able to resist it!
I like the Matha Stewart Peach Preserves Recipe, (http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/recipe/peach-preserves)
I was just looking at Duck yesterday here in the grocery store, *Lac Brome — a very good duck magret — the ones they use to produce foie gras* and the difference between getting the skewers and the actual full breasts was 10$ more for the skewers. I say cut them to size yourself! Glad to see you feel the same way.
Keep em coming Greg, I love dishes like these.
If I hear another made-up label with the suffix ‘-avore’ I shall go nuts. Great recipe ! Thanks
I love eating ducks,because once they are cooked, wow they are so flavorful and very tender. i prefer eating this than chicken. The good thing about duck is that you can make a lot of recipes out of it. recipes that are very unique and delicious.
I was a vegetarian for 17 years…And I was so unhealthy. Now that I eat meat, I feel better and, thanks to almost 2 decades of waiting for the opportunity to make informed food choices, I can be mindful about the meat I do purchase. You can still eat meat and make good choices. Just saying.
And if you don’t like meat, just eat the grilled peaches. Grilled peaches are the bomb.
I need lessons. Duck is Larry’s favorite…OK, this looks good and doable.
Duck is so flavorful. Agreed about the meat controversy. My kids ate some deer meat at our friends’ house one night (he’s a hunter) and my oldest (9 at the time) replied, “Yum! Bambi tastes good!” Kinda sick humor, but I had to laugh at that!.