First Favas of Spring & a Mobile Hearth

Let the gardens begin! The pesticide free garden at Fresh Starts Cooking School is starting to pop with one sure sign of spring, fava beans. The big, spongy pods are native to North Africa and Southern Asia and are featured in cuisines worldwide dried, fried, blanched and pureed. As you will see, preparing fava beans is labor intensive, but it is a “must” for any restaurant worth its salt, so to speak. For me, when I see fava beans on the menu in the spring, I know that the chef is truly inspired by the magic of the season.

To prep fava beans, split the pod to reveal the cottony inside and remove the beans. Plunge the shucked beans into a large pot of salted boiling water and cook for just about 3 minutes (taste one to be sure). Drain the beans and drop into an ice bath to cool, and then grab each bean at the bottom, where it was attached to the pod and squeeze to release the bright green silky textured fava. From a large amount of pods, you will yield a very small amount of beans which is something I always think about when I am enjoying them in a restaurant! Thanks, prep cooks…

 

So what to do with fava beans, you ask? Luckily, inspiration literally pulled up in front of me last week at Standards of Excellence Appliances , with the arrival of Chef Ann Rudorf and Chris Welch and their Wood Stone Pizza Oven , better known as Stone Hearth Ovens. Why the A.K.A? Because as any chef or passionate cook can tell you, a Stone Hearth Oven is MUCH more than “just” a pizza oven! Founded in 1989 with a magnificent factory in Bellingham, Washington, Wood Stone offers both gas and “solid fuel” (wood) firing in the same oven. You can look around at any Wolfgang Puck Restaurant and see them in action, and they are available for residential use indoors or out. Ann was roasting spring asparagus, vegetables and yes, outrageous pizza. Our guests and staff were in awe.

Watch our quick video below (bottom of this post) capturing the excitement of that day!

Talk about “fired up”! I loved working with Ann. She shared a truly seasonal recipe, Pizza with Fava Bean & Pea Puree, Pecorino & Mint. This is a classic paring that will inspire you to shuck those favas!

(I adapted Ann’s recipe slightly for use of you do not have a Wood Stone Oven.)

On the Wood Stone website recipe section you will find a veritable primer of pizza doughs, but you can also use a prepared dough such as Trader Joe’s. No, it is not the same, but it is VERY good. The key is to bring the dough to room temperature and oil it slightly, then roll or stretch it out onto lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Carefully slide the whole thing onto a steel pan or heavy sheet pan that is upside down and pre-heated on the lowest rack of your oven set to the highest baking setting. (No need for convection settings for this method.) You can also use a pizza stone. Par- cook the dough for about 5 minutes, remove and discard the parchment and top the pizza.

The final bake takes just a few minutes, remove pizza to a cooling rack or screen to allow steam to escape. Season with salt and pepper, garnish with a few more shavings or pecorino and top with thin ribbons (chiffonade) of fresh mint.  Crispy, creamy, classic and seasonal! With the heat and even coking of a hearth oven, you can slide the topped raw dough into the oven and have blistery, crisp pizza in about 3 minutes.

For a link to this recipe CLICK HERE.

My plan…follow Ann around with buckets of dough!

Variation: Spread the puree onto crostini, top with shaved pecorino and mint. You can add roasted or grilled shrimp to either the pizza or crostini for another layer of “wow’!

Watch our quick video here as Ann shows me the Wood Stone Oven in action!
Chef Ann Rudorf of Wood Stone Ovens “Fires Up” Chef Rachelle at Standards of Excellence

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