Fava beans, asparagus, and radishes: Spring veggies galore!

In our veggie box today, I received:

Asparagus
Chard
Fava Beans
Salad Mix
Sage
Leeks
French Breakfast Radishes
Tokyo Turnips

Hooray for asparagus! We've gotten it a few weeks in a row and they've been quickly devoured after just a light simmer. They're so tender and sweet that they need no seasoning at all.

I've never eaten fava beans and am excited to try something new. I found a recipe for them that uses radishes, and turnips, too, so tonight I'll be making the young root-vegetable braise from "Local Flavors" by Deborah Madison. The recipe calls for green onions and I'm going to substitute leeks, which seem to be reproducing in our refrigerator! I just don't use them up as fast as I get them.

I'm also planning on making one of the turkeys that I froze at Thanksgiving this week, which will be great with the fresh sage.

I've found a surprising use for chard and spinach: smoothies. Sounds strange, but fruit and yogurt smoothies disguise the greens flavor and it adds quite the nutritional punch. Jax has even asked for seconds! Lately, I've been using plain soy yogurt (Jax still can't have dairy), frozen peaches from our trip to Napa last summer, frozen berries, a cup of cooked chard, flaxseed oil, and a banana for a very tasty and healthy snack.


Young Root-Vegetable Braise

Sea salt
12 small turnips, peeled, stems trimmed to one-half inch
1 bunch radishes, stems trimmed to one-half inch
6 small carrots (3 to 4 inches long), peeled, stems trimmed to one-half inch
1 pound fava beans, shucked
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1bunch green onions, trimmed (use 2 to 3 inches of white and pale green part only) and sliced lengthwise
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat, adding 1 tablespoon of salt per quart of water. Slice the turnips and radishes in half if large; leave the smaller ones whole.

2. Blanch the turnips, radishes and carrots for 5 minutes, less if smaller, then lift them out of the simmering water and plunge them into an ice water bath. Drain, pat dry and set aside.

3. Bring the water back to a boil and add the fava beans; blanch 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in the ice water bath. Reserve the cooking water. Pop the fava beans out of their skins and reserve the beans.

4. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a 10-inch sauté pan. Add the green onions and cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add one-half cup of the vegetable cooking water, the blanched vegetables, half of the parsley and tarragon and one-fourth teaspoon salt. Simmer until the vegetables are fully tender, about 10 minutes or until done. Add one-fourth cup cooking water as needed to maintain a small amount of sauce in the pan.

5. Add the fava beans, remaining butter and lemon juice. Increase the heat and swirl the pan back and forth until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat, add the rest of the parsley and tarragon, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.