Tomato and Fava Soup

Tomato and Fava Soup

Adapted from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen and inspired by 101 Cookbooks

The original recipe is much fancier than my version but entails much more labor. As I like to keep things simple, I adjusted it accordingly (sorry Rick!)

I like the kick that the touch Tabasco sauce add to it. If you don’t have it at home any other hot sauce, red pepper flakes or chili would do the trick as well.

Ingredients

Serves 8

1 lb / 16 oz / 450 gr peeled dry fava beans (as known as broad beans)

8 cups / 2 l vegetable broth

3 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 large onion, sliced into ¼-inch (0.5 cm) rings

1 28-oz / 793 gr can crushed tomatoes

1 ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint (dried can work too)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Tabasco sauce (optional)

Directions

Make sure the dried fava beans are clean and free of dirt. Place in a large soup pot and cover with the broth. Simmer over medium-low heat, partially covered, until very tender, about an hour. The beans should be starting to fall apart at this point.

In the meantime, roast the garlic in a heavy skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally, until you get black spots all over, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board, remove the papery skins, smush into a paste and set aside.

In the same skillet heat two tablespoon of olive oil, add the onion and cook for 20 minutes stirring every now and then until they start to brown. Set aside.

At the 1-hour mark, add the garlic, onion and crushed tomatoes to the fava beans and simmer until the beans are the consistency of a coarse puree, 20 to 30 minutes.

Just before serving, add enough water, if necessary, to bring the soup to the consistency of a medium-thick bean soup.

Let the soup come back up to a simmer, remove from heat, then stir in the mint, and adjust with salt. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkled with some mint and a couple of drops of Tabasco sauce to add a little bit of kick to it.