Some reheated leftover salmon was, let's just say, a little past its prime and leave it at that.
But some improvised braised fava beans with onions, corn, and red peppers, was quite, shall we say, piquant! A Claudia Roden takeoff, it was made with mint and dill (unfortunately not fresh).
Fresh fava beans are always to be savored, especially early in the season, which this is not but they were still excellent. To prepare them is a fair amount of work for the yield, but well worth it. You first have to shell them from the big puffy, woody pods. And then the individual beans, if they are at all of a decent size, have a tough outer shell that has to be removed. To do this, you blanch them really quickly (two minutes at most) in boiling water and then drop them in a pot of cold water to stop the cooking. Finally, you pinch the outer pod of each one and pop the real bean out.
I sauteed some onions in olive oil, then added the corn and beans and peppers, plus the mint and dill, and let them cook for ten minutes or so with a little water in the bottom of the pan. The piquantness was a surprise, because some of the red peppers turned out to be hot rather than sweet.
I can't think of a single Roden recipe I've tried that has not turned out well. The woman is a cook's treasure.
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