Broad beans are also known as fava beans and though I didn’t plant any this year, someone at work brought in bounty of beans so I squirreled some home. I’m not much of a gardener so I need encouragement or inspiration to grow things. The low yield for work of fava beans turned me off growing them but if it’s free, I’ll take it!

Like most households, we always have a few bags of pasta in stock. Actually, right now we have four varieties of pasta. A 500 gram (1 pound) bag of spaghetti should feed five people, but I always cook half a bag of spaghetti which equals to 250 grams. We always get a portion of leftovers for my lunch the next day and I figure a free lunch is good. We’re a two person household so splitting a bag into five portions is nonsensical to me. I used spaghetti, but use whatever pasta shape you like. The sauce is thick and robust and will stick to any pasta like glue. There’s nothing watery about this recipe.

Supermarkets and butchers these days often have various spicy sausages. I love coarsely ground sausages that have chunky ingredients inside. There is something wonderfully rustic about herbs and bits of chili throughout a sausage. “Flavour so big you can see it”, is the complete opposite to super processed MRM.

Spicy sausage and broad bean (fava) pasta

Serves 2+

Ingredients

Spaghetti or fettuccine for two (250grams or half a pound)
1 cup fresh broad beans (roughly 20 pods), removed from their velvet lined pods
3 spicy sausages, sliced
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
Fresh pepper
Salt

Optional: Parmigiano-Reggiano or Parmesan to serve

Preparation

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add a tablespoon of salt and carefully swirl in spaghetti. Cook for 8 minutes stirring occasionally to ensure pasta moves freely and doesn’t stick to the bottom. Drain pasta and reserve.
2. In a large, hot frying pan, heat olive oil and add sausages and onions. Fry until onions have softened and sausages release some fat.
3. Steam broad beans (fava) for 3 minutes or until their skins start to look greyish. Drain and plunge into cold water and squeeze the beans from their casings. Discard casings. Add the now bright green beans to the frying pan with paprika and sauté until beans are cooked.
4. Turn down the heat and sprinkle flour into pan and mix well with a wooden spoon. The flour will absorb all the oil in the pan so be very careful it doesn’t burn. Once flour is mixed in, stir in milk. Ready to serve with the milk and flour forms a thick sauce.
5. Serve with cooked spaghetti and grate Parmigiano-Reggiano on top if you wish.