Baked fava beans with root veg rosti
Hodmedod’s Fava Beans can be bought at Platt Fields Market garden. This recipe can also be made with Hodmedod’s Carlin peas or and pulses (dried or tinned).
Serves 4
· Approx. 150g dried fava beans
· Olive oil
· 3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced) or 1 cube of frozen garlic
· 1 white onion. Diced as small as possible (or grated)
· ½ tsp chilli flakes
· Smoked paprika
· 400g Passata or 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
· 1 tbsp Tomato concentrate/puree
· Molasses (or treacle or brown sugar)
· Marmite (optional)
· Stock powder (optional)
· Salt
· Pepper
· Smoke essence or smoke oil (optional) GLUTEN FREE/VEGAN
1. Soak the fava beans for at least 8 hours (or overnight). Cook according to the packet- changing the water halfway through will help improve the flavour. Cook until really soft as they will toughen up a bit when baked- this will take about 45mins-1hour. Leave in the cooking liquid until ready to use.
2. Add the garlic to a small saucepan and cover with cold olive oil. Slowly heat up the oil until the garlic starts to sizzle and smell less ‘raw’.
3. Once the garlic is ready, add the diced onions and a pinch of salt. Sweat everything until the onions are soft and starting to brown.
Any brown (but not burnt) bits can be scraped off the bottom as you stir- it’s all flavour!. Add a splash of water if it looks like it might burn (turn down the heat too!)
4. Once the onions are cooked, add the chilli flakes and smoked paprika. If you prefer less heat, omit the chilli flakes. Stir and cook for a few seconds.
5. Add 1 tbsp of tomato puree and cooked for 2 minutes, add a little water if it looks dry. The tomato puree will turn from bright red to darker red.
6. Once the puree is cooked, add the tinned tomatoes or passata
7. Add a little water (if the tomato sauce is too thick, it will’spit’) and cook on a low heat. Cook for about 10minutes. Usually, the longer the tomato sauce cooks the better, but as this is baked aswell, it won’t need as long.
8. While on a low heat, add the flavourings. For sweetness, add 1tsbp of molasses. If you don’t have molasses, treacle or brown sugar can be used. 1-2tsp or marmite can be used for saltiness but stock powder or just salt can be used.
9. If using smoke essence or oil, add a few drops at a time and keep tasting until the smokiness is how you like it. If you don’t have it, add more smoked paprika at any stage (until the taste is more prominent)
10. Add black pepper.
11. Take the sauce of the heat and puree in a blender or with a stick blender. Pass the tomatoes etc. through a sieve to make a smooth sauce.
12. Taste the sieved sauce, add more salt, smokiness, chilli or sweetness. It should be rich, slightly smoky, and sweet- but remember when it’s baked the flavours will become richer and deeper.
13. Drain the fava beans (or other bean) and mix into the sauce. Add to a casserole or other oven proof baking dish. Leave overnight and bake in the oven for breakfast or bake straight away.
14. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Bake the beans for 20minutes. They can be simply be warmed through and served or bake for longer (check every 5-10mins) until the sauce thickens and browned which will add more flavour.