Summertime and the living’s easy. This summer, I am all about outdoor entertaining. In our new house, we have a beautiful deck that overlooks our backyard and believe me when I say that it is the perfect place to enjoy a glass of wine or host friends for an casual or elegant gathering.
The backyard hammock is a popular spot come summer.
This summer is such a busy one for my family, with the kids going to different camps and me traveling so much to promote my new cookbook, Food Swap. But we are all home over July 4th and I plan to invite our friends over for an outdoor get-together. It helps that we live across the street from our town’s pool and tennis club! After the festivities at the pool and before the fireworks begin, I want to invite everyone for some refreshing beverages and delightful bites.
For a backyard gathering, my advice is to keep the food fresh, light and easy to eat. Dips, crudité and small canapés are the way to go. No one wants to carry around plates loaded with food or bother with forks and knives. And with the abundance of the season, there is no reason not to emphasize fresh fruits and vegetables.
This recipe, which I cannot wait to share with my friends, uses some of early summer’s best produce, like peas and fava beans. An ancient crop and member of the pea family, fava beans are important in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines. Dried fava beans appear in hearty winter soups and stews. The fresh kind, which are in season in late spring and early summer, shine in salads, lighter soups, pasta dishes and dips.
Fresh fava beans are a chore to prepare, I admit it. First, you have to buy an huge supply of the pods to end up with enough beans to work with. (The Kitchn recommends a pound of pods per person.) Once you get the pods home, you have to open them up and remove the beans. The beans are encased in a white husk which also has to be removed before eating.
To remove the husk, blanch the beans in boiling water for 2 or 3 minutes and then plunge them into an ice-water bath to stop the cooking. Drain the beans and then you should be able to pop or slip the beans out of the outer husk. What you are left with are small, flat, bright green beans. And a lot fewer of them than you might have thought given the number of pods you started with!
Any food that you have to shell not once but twice very much runs the risk of being not worth the effort. Luckily, favas — which the British call broad beans — have a distinctive, nutty flavor and a buttery texture that endear them to sophisticated eaters everywhere. Or, you can just look for shelled fava beans at your grocery store. I won’t tell!
Underneath my elegant fava bean and pea spread, I layered Dare Cabaret crackers which are flaky and buttery. Whether prepping for an extravagant party or an impromptu get-together, Dare’s variety of crisp crackers are sure to make each bite better. Dare’s complete collection of mouthwatering crackers are loaded with crunch and packed with flavor to make inventive summer canapés better.
I topped each cracker with a ball of creamy, fresh mozzarella and a sprig of mint from my newly planted herb garden for the perfect summertime bite. Needless to say, these fresh and healthy canapés are a perfect pairing with a glass of your favorite Prosecco or crisp, dry rosé. That’s what I will serving at my Fourth of July garden party!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups shelled fava beans
- 1 cup peas, fresh or thawed
- Juice of a half a lemon
- 2 TB cream
- 3 TB extra-virgin olive oil
- 12 mint leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 box Dare Cabaret Crackers
- 8 oz pearl-size fresh mozzarella balls, each cut in half
- Mint leaves
Instructions
- Combine the fava beans, peas, lemon juice and cream in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.
- With the motor running, slowly pour in the olive oil.
- Add the mint leaves and process a few times to chop.
- Season well with salt and pepper. (May be done ahead.)
- To serve, spread the fava bean mixture on the crackers.
- Top with a mint leaf and half a mozzarella ball.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
