As I showed you yesterday, it takes a whole lot of fava beans to make a whole lot of almost nothing. Yummy almost nothing, that is to say, but still.
Each bean pod produces 3 or 4 beans... and those can vary widely in size, I found. Some of the fava beans are tiny cute little guys. Meaning that it takes about 10-12 beans of various sizes to make a forkful... or 4-5 whole pods! For one fork! And if you plan to eat ... oh say, 8-10 bites of fava bean, for each person at your table, you had better be buying ...wait, let me do the math here... 10 billion gajillion infinity trillion and seventy fava pods. And another refrigerator to keep them.
At any rate, after I took my beans from the pod and the casings from the beans, I had enough vegetable matter left for a decent portion for two people. (And a family of five.)
Oh well, no matter. The beans are here, they're boiled, and de-cased.
In my readings about fava beans, I had learned that they are much more commonly eaten in England. As soon as I heard that, I was inspired to allow them to accompany a typically Bristish meal. Bangers and mash it is!
The best part about making bangers and mash is that you get to say bangers and mash all day long. When you run to Costco with a friend you can explain that you are buying sausages for your bangers and mash. When the kids ask what's for dinner, you get to say bangers and mash. When you call your husband at work, you can tell him that the bangers and mash will be ready at 5:30. When your mom calls to ask what you're doing, you can tell her you're cooking bangers and mash. It's awesome.
Bangers and mash is basically sausages and mashed potatoes and a kind of thin gravy-ish stuff.
We all enjoyed our bangers and mash quite thoroughly. Pip pip and tally-ho.
The kids actually raved about it. They say they want bangers and mash for dinner much more often. They emptied their plates and asked for seconds of bangers and mash. My husband actually sent a text message (because, of course, by the time he ate dinner I was already gone at a baseball practice) just to rave about how great the bangers and mash was.
Wait... who knows what I'm forgetting about here? THE FAVA BEANS!
All I did was to take the prepared fava beans, and saute them for about 10 minutes in some butter and garlic. They were good. Really mild, buttery, yummy. All the things they were promised to be. But not a huge impact as you can see:
Bangers and Mash
And fava beans.
Really, they are there. Over there in the corner.
And so, how to make bangers and mash:
4-5 potatoes
oil
8-10 sausages
1 onion
2 Tbsp. flour
1 quart chicken stock
4 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. sour cream
2 Tbsp. brown mustard
Peel and dice a four or five potatoes. Place them in a pot, cover them in cold water, and let it come to a boil. This will boil gently for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft and yield to a fork.
While the potatoes cook, begin to cook the sausages. Place a little bit of oil in a skillet, and brown the sausages on all sides, turning occasionally.
Once the sausages are browned, remove them from the skillet. Slice the onion and add it to the skillet. Stir this often, and cook until it is all soft. Add the flour, and stir and cook for a minute or two, until the flour is distributed and starting to toast. Add the chicken stock, put the sausages back in the pan, and let it all simmer for 20 minutes, or until the sausages are cooked through.
Meanwhile, the potatoes should have finished boiling. Drain them, and add butter, milk, sour cream, and mustard. Mash it all together. If the potatoes are too dry, add some of the gravy that the sausages are cooking in.
Serve the potatoes with the sausages, and all of it swimming in gravy.
