Recipe: Potato Salad with Fava Beans and Fennel

Every time we find ourselves in the midst of shelling fava beans, we question whether it's worth the labor. And then, as soon as we take that first bite, we remember: yes, of course. They're buttery, nutty, and so fantastically green in both flavor and color. Toss them with tender potatoes, crisp fennel, and a bright, lemony dressing for a spring salad that's richly satisfying in taste and texture.

Potato Salad with Fava Beans and Fennel
Serves 4

1 pound waxy boiling potatoes (such as red, new, or fingerling), scrubbed
1 pound fava bean pods, shelled (about 1 cup)
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds
2 tablespoons chopped chives
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Place the potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water by about an inch, and add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are tender and easily pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside until just cool enough to handle. (For tips, see How To Boil Potatoes.)

Meanwhile, blanch the fava beans and remove the outer skins: Have ready a bowl of ice water and a slotted spoon. Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the fava beans and boil for 30 seconds. Quickly remove the beans using the slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice water. Drain the beans and remove the skins; they should slip right off. (For tips, see How To Pick, Clean and Prepare Fava Beans.)

Halve or quarter the potatoes and place them in a large bowl. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest, pour over the potatoes, and toss. Add the fava beans, sliced fennel, fennel fronds, and chives to the bowl and toss. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve at room temperature or cover and chill in the refrigerator.

(Image: Emily Ho)

Comments (7)

Sounds like a good recipe to add variety to my summertime menu! I will have to switch the name around to Fava Beans and Fennel Salad with Potatoes, hope no one minds. If I call this potato salad at home everyone will be expecting something quite different from this. You know, that shock you get when you think you are pouring milk on your cereal only to find what you really put on your flakes in your not-quite-awake yet state is orange juice!

I love this recipe. I cook with fava beans all the time (we call them BROAD BEANS - is that the same thing?)

I usually add them with pasta and some chopped up veggies with a spoon of mayo and some herbs. It's a great light meal every time.

But this is even more exciting ;)

@Teacherteacher Call it anything you like! :)

@lifeologia Yes, fava beans = broad beans!

This salad looks wonderful. My sad plight is that I always have ambitious plans for the fava beans I get my hands on. But, invariably, I eat them the same way: sauteed in garlic and olive oil and dressed with garlic-yogurt sauce. They are so wonderful that way, and they're available here (DC area) for so short a time that I'm powerless to resist, despite the best-laid plans.

This looks very tasty. Potato salad can be very boring if it doesn't have some point of interest to add to the creamy potatoes. I recently made some potato salad from the Ruth Riechl book Tender at the Bone which was simple but very interesting: the onions are slightly cooked in vinegar before added to the mixture. And there's no mayonnaise, which is another good thing about the recipe above! Thanks for the continued good ideas.

I made this recipe tonight to have something exciting to pack in lunches this week. I gave it a taste test before packing it up for tomorrow, and it is AMAZING! Love the lemony flavor with the creamy potatoes (I used Yukon Gold) and crunchy fennel. And, of course, I am totally in love with favas! Thanks for an awesome recipe!

I made this tonight-very good, except the blanching and shelling took WAY longer than you describe it. those little suckers are hard to shell.