Fava Bean & Sweet Corn Risotto with Basil-Mint Pesto
I received a bag of fava beans from the CSA, & having never cooked with them before, I searched my blog-roll for some inspiration!
I am a huge lover of risotto & when I came across a recipe for ”Fava Bean Risotto with Garlic Scrape-Mint Pesto,” I’d found my dish! Now, I know that risotto is a labor of love & knew what I was getting into there, but I had no idea that the fava beans would be such a process to prepare - with the shelling, blanching & de-skinning! Ugh!
Then, when it was all said & done, I had only had ONE cup of beans, when I needed TWO! Oops! In problem solving mode, I went into my freezer hoping to find frozen peas, but came up short in that department, as well. Luckily, I did find 1/2 a bag of sweet summer corn & thought all the flavors would complement each other nicely. So, I added a cup of thawed corn to make up for the lack of fava beans. Done! I also haven’t a clue what “garlic scrape” is, which the pesto recipe called for, but it sounded refreshing & I didn’t want to leave it out. I made a batch of Post Punk Kitchen’s “Basil-Mint Pesto” & it was the perfect substitution! To finish, I garnished the individual dishes with some lovely micro basil, my fave!
Fava Bean & Sweet Corn Risotto with Basil-Mint Pesto
Even though it was a time consuming dish, I’m not complaining, since spending an evening in the kitchen is one of my favorite places to be! I am excited to say that it really came together nicely!
Yay! Success!
