"Green Love"

Today, for some reason, everything I wanted to eat was green. Fava beans, green beans, and mixed greens.

Everything started when I got to the grocery store in company of my son Emilio, who happens to love green beans. He grabbed one and said "isn't it beautiful?, look at this other one!" and we took a pound of those. Then, as we were walking the aisle, I saw these big bright green favas that reminded me about an episode from Jamie Oliver when he prepared a very English "mashed beans" spread over grilled bread. It didn't take me too long before I had about a pound of those and then I thought about getting some goat cheese to be the perfect partner of the mashed fava beans.

Let me share with you what I ended up preparing; but first the ingredients:

1 lb of fava beans
4 Tbsp of herbed goat cheese (2 for the mix and 2 for serving on top of bread)
1 minced garlic clove (a little one)
2 Tbsp of lemon juice
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
coarse salt and pepper to taste (don't be afraid use a little more than usual)
3-5 slices of french or ciabatta bread (to be toasted in oven or grilled)
1/4 cup of shreded parmiggiano (or pecorino)

First, shell the beans and take the white membrane off. Put them in the food processor with the goat cheese, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Pour in the olive oil as you pulse; and add a little more if needed. The end result should be a smooth texture, like a spread. Use more lemon, salt of pepper according to your preferences.

Grill the bread or put the slices in the oven until they are crispy/and or with grill marks. Spread the Fava Goat Chesse mixture on each slice, then add a couple of pieces of the goat cheese, and arrange all of the bread slices on plate; to finish, drizzle a little bit of olive oil and add the parmiggiano before serving - By the way this looks great on the plate! creamy, green, fresh, can you pass me one?

We ended up pairing this very refreshing appetizer with a lemony Pinot Grigio. On a humid day like today, it was the perfect way to cool off. Just in case you were wondering what happened to the "other beans" and the mixed greens, they ended up adding a really nice crunch to a Nicoise salad with Tuna.