I feel compelled to say how wonderful this recipe is. I had not tried fava beans before, but now that I am in CA and can get them fresh at the farmers market, I decided to experiment with them. This risotto is creamy and has bright spring flavors. The fava beans are a lot of work to shell and then shell again once cooked. I tasted the cooked shell and it was tasty--I think you may be able to skip the step of shelling the cooked beans. However, the shelled favas are bright green and pretty, so it would be less attractive. This seems authentically Italian. In Italy, they cherish seasonal vegetables, and I am sure that fava bean season is worthy of celebration--this dish is a showcase for the delicate sweetness of the beans.
This was by far the best risotto I have ever had. I was so creamy! I did end up having to use 6 cups of broth so you might want to keep a bit extra on hand. I just keep tasting until I had the consistency I liked.
This is delicious! The preparation of the fava beans is a little bit of a pain I think the next time I will use canned fava beans. Halfway through the stirring process I thought to myself "I'll never make this again" but when I tasted it IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH THE WORK you'll never have a better rice dish! I used regular parmesan cheese and it came out great.
As a friend said "I don't know if I'm sold on favas. All that work and you just end up with a bunch of lima beans!" I bought fava beans at the farmers' market and this was a delicious way to eat them...but they are a lot of work to prepare. I like all kinds of risotto. I'd make this again with limas and a handful of fresh herbs: Italian parsley mint and basil.
This was FANTASTIC. Here's what I changed: I used a can of lima beans to replace the favas -- it was less work and made limas actually taste good. Also according to the kind folks at Cooks Illustrated you don't have to: 1) heat the chicken stock before adding it and 2) add little bits at a time. So I skipped both of those steps and dumped the stock in at once stirring periodically. No gluey risotto here! I also subbed Madiera (since I had it onhand) for the white wine and it was SPECTACULAR. Warning tho unless you'd like this to be a main dish (vs. a side) it makes a LOT of risotto. I'm going to freeze my leftovers and see how that goes.
Excellent; I tried this recipe however with pine nuts instead of fava beans; te result was a rich risotto with a mid-eastern twist!!!
I've just returned from Italy where I had the wonderful opportunity to have my fill of fava beans and artichokes both of which are in season now and plentiful. I lamented that I've never been able to get fava beans at home but no sooner did I return home did I happily stumble upon them in my market! I was eager to use them in this recipe. Because I cooked the risotto long and slow over 40 minutes and using 5 cups of chicken broth it turned out beautifully allowing the rice to release all its starch and resulting in a wonderfully creamy risotto. Unfortunately while the quality of the finished dish couldn't be beat it tasted of nothing more than the broth it was cooked in. Therefore it was only average. As for the fava beans they were only discernible by sight - there weren't enough of them to really make an impact in taste. Lots of effort for a risotto without distinction.
Very good risotto and well worth the work! I unshelled only the favas used for decoration and the taste was great...
This is every bit as wonderful as the other reviewers state. We used home grown fava beans - some of them were pretty small and yes - it did take a long time to double shell them. Next time with very young pods I would slice them and use as is. Another alternative is to use peas instead (ok not as authentic but still with a nice bright green colour).
