When I was at the market this past weekend, 2 of the other luxuries of spring that I came across were fresh fava beans and fiddleheads.
To the best of my knowledge I’ve never eaten a fresh fava bean before; I’m actually trying to grow purple favas on the roof, but in the meantime these seemed like an acceptable substitute to test drive. And we all know how much I love fiddleheads, so of course I had to buy some of those too. Is there anything that signifies spring more than these dainty and curly ferns?
But soon after I paid for the goods, the question became what to do with such delicate beauties?
The asparagus bounty was easy enough to tackle, and in a move I’m not necessarily proud of (yet wouldn’t do any differently if I had to do it over) the Everyman and I consumed 4 pounds of the stuff in less than 72 hours. In case you’re wondering, that’s a heck of a lot of asparagus salad. It was only a pound that went into this dish, courtesy of our most recent Meatless Monday.
Over a gentle simmer I combined milk, veggie stock and water in a pot. Then I added a cup and a half of polenta and began the furious stir. As it approached a bubblingly critical mass, I briefly stopped churning and grated a few ounces of mixed cheeses (pecorino pepato, 1608, manchego and mozzarella) into a pile that was then incorporated into the polenta. Allowing it to cool and firm up slightly, I sautéed a pound of asparagus with some fiddleheads, fava beans and a few sliced mini red peppers for colour.
Served over top of the oooey, gooey, cheese-soaked polenta, it was pretty much the cure for anything that could possibly ail you.
Until next time…
Tags: asparagus, beans, Cooking, fiddleheads, Meatless Monday, Purveyors, St Lawrence Market, vegetarian
[...] know I’ll enjoy that (hey, wait a sec) also happen to be meat free. We’ve done creamy polenta, Trinidadian doubles, homemade pastas, veggie burgers, pizzas and more. And the more I do it, the [...]