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Fava Beans with Garlic

A simple sautéed fava bean dish flavored with garlic, onion, olive oil, and parsley.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Fava Beans with Garlic

Timeabout 15 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Blanch and peel

  1. Bring a large saucepan ¾ full of water to a boil.

  2. Add the fava beans and ¼ teaspoon of the salt and cook for 2 minutes.

  3. Drain and rinse immediately with cold water to stop the cooking.

  4. To remove the skins, pinch each bean on the side opposite where it was attached to the pod; the bean should slip easily from the skin.

  5. Remove and discard the outer skins.

  6. Set the beans aside.

Cook

  1. In a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat the olive oil over medium heat.

  2. Add the onion and sauté until soft and lightly golden, about 6 minutes.

  3. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds; don't let the garlic brown.

  4. Add the fava beans and stock and bring to a boil.

  5. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer, shaking the pan gently from time to time, until the beans are tender, about 15 minutes.

  6. Season with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and the pepper.

Serve

  1. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

339Calories
33 gProtein
17 gFat
13 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Broad Beannot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fava beans
Provide the main body of the dish and become tender and creamy as they simmer.
Yellow onion
Softens and turns lightly golden, adding sweetness and a savory base.
Garlic
Adds aroma when sautéed briefly in the oil without browning.
Vegetable stock
Adds liquid for simmering the beans and carries flavor into the dish.
Olive oil
Carries the aromatics and adds richness to the dish.

The step that matters

Blanch the beans briefly, then rinse them right away. Two minutes in boiling salted water partly cooks the beans and sets their color; rinsing in cold water stops the cooking so they do not turn soft or dull. Cooling them quickly also makes the skins easier to slip off.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, olive, onion, garlic, chicken, pepper, parsley):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, olive, onion, garlic, chicken, pepper, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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