This morning my large basket of fresh fava beans was up on my kitchen counter. After breakfast two of our B&B guests (two delightful German women) asked if the beans were ornamental or for actual consumption. I explained that on May 1st (a holiday throughout most of Europe that pays homage to workers) the Roman tradition is to feast on fresh fava beans and pecorino cheese.
I opened a few pods and removed the fava beans and gave them to our German guests, along with chunks of pecorino cheese, to taste. The deliciousness is amazing: another instance where the combination is greater than the sum of its parts. Heap a pile of fava beans onto a table along with a huge chunk of pecorino cheese, some crusty bread and a bottle of red wine and before you know it nothing's left.
What does the May Day holiday have to do with fava beans and pecorino? Nothing. Fava beans mature in late April and over time May Day and fava beans & pecorino have become just as closely associated as May Day is with being a worker's holiday....perhaps even more.
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Ciao! It truly is fave bean season, isn't it? Even with the rotten weather. Well, at least we're having rotten weather.
ReplyDeleteI bought a cheese in Perugia called, "Formaggio per le fave", clever name, no? It's a combination of cow, sheep and goat cheese, and you know it works very, very well with fave. Live and learn.