On Sunday, June 24, 2007, my friend Sumi hosted her book club for a brunch in her San Francisco apartment. We had a vast amount of fresh veggies, cheeses and chicken. They read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life and she wanted the brunch to reflect the fruits of the earth!
We used fresh fava beans for the first time. These are too cool. They are quite the insulated little bean!
They have their large outside green capsules....You pop out the inner bean....Then, after a quick blanch, you peel off another layer to reveal this cool green bean!Sumi put the fava beans with fresh corn and potatoes with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette.
She also made a heirloom tomato salad and yummy free range chicken breasts.
I cut up all these lovely fruits into a fruit salad and made a pound cake from Baking Illustrated (Sumi had the book!) The pound cake's crust was a little too brown but the inside was tasty. And when you cover it with fresh whipped creme and berries, you really didn't notice!
One of the funny parts of the brunch was one of Sumi's friends describing her adventures with online dating. My favorite lines from her "matches" include: Well, it's not like I'm a violent person... and So, you are going to hang up on me just because I asked for free legal advice?! Yikes!
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5 comments:
I'm hurt. You forgot all about me! :-(
Jamillah
So jealous of your jaunt in the Bay! Everything looks like it was delicious.
You've inspired me and now I think I will have to track down some fava beans and make a tasty salad...
Folks - I picked up much of the bounty from this tiny fruit stand outside of Dixon, CA as I was making my way home to SF. The fruit was perfectly ripe and sweet. If you're ever headed west on 80, it's a small place next to a gas station with a hand written sign advertising berries. It's a Southeast Asian family and they also grow onions, squash, garlic and of course, fava beans...
Thanks for making the brunch such a success Mary!
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