Fava Bean-Basil Pesto

Here is a terrific puree to use on crostinis, in a sandwich, as a dip, of even as a pasta sauce. In the picture, I slathered my Fava Beans-Basil Pesto on garlic rubbed crostinis and topped it off with thick slabs of sheep milk feta and sliced Early Girl tomatoes. We ate plate fulls of these for dinner! To learn how to use fava beans, see the recipe Sauteed Zucchini and Fava Beans with Mint and Taragon.
Fava Bean-Basil Puree
Makes 1 ½ cups
Late Spring, Early Summer

-2 pounds fava beans in pods (1 ¼ cups shelled and peeled)
-1 ½ cups packed basil leaves
-1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ small yellow onion, diced
-2 tablespoons vegetable stock or water
-Salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste

Shell and cook the fava beans until tender according to the instructions in the Sauteed Zucchini and Fava Beans with Mint and Tarragon recipe.Peel the fava beans and set aside. You should have roughly 1 ¼ cups peeled beans.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Dunk the basil leaves into the boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove and immediately shock under cold running water. Squeeze out any extra liquid and set aside.

Heat ½ tablespoon of the extra virgin olive oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. When hot, add in the diced onion. Cook the onion until it begins to soften, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the 2 tablespoons of liquid and cook until the onions are tender and the liquid as evaporated. Set the onions aside.

Set up a food processor fitted with an S-blade. Add in the fava beans, basil leaves, sautéed onion, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Process until smooth. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground white pepper.