Garden peas, snap peas, spring onions, and fava beans cooked with large couscous and topped with a spring onion-lemon relish and feta cheese is an easy spring vegetable couscous. Serve as a side dish, a light main course, or let it cool and serve as a pasta salad.
Note:If you've never cooked fava beans before, see this step-by-step guide to shelling them.
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 spring onions, divided
- 2 lemons
- 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lb. fava beans
- 1 lb. English peas
- 1/2 lb. snap peas
- 3 green garlics or garlic scapes, or 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 cups large or pearl couscous (a.k.a. Israeli couscous)
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Preparation:
- Trim and finely chop onions. Set aside 1/4 of chopped onion. Put remaining 3/4 onion in a small bowl.
- To make spring onion relish: Use a fine-hole grater or microplane zester to zest 1 lemon, being careful to avoid the bitter white pith. Add zest to onion. Juice lemons and add juice to onion-zest mixture. Stir in 1/4 cup olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Shell, blanch, and re-shell fava beans. Shell English peas. Trim and string snap peas and cut into 1/2-inch pieces.
- In a medium pot heat remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat. Add reserved onion and green garlic. Cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thick but still soupy, about 5 minutes. Stir in peas and snap peas. Continue cooking and stirring 3 minutes. Add fava beans. Cook until couscous and vegetables are tender, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature topped with spring onion relish and feta cheese.
Makes 6 to 8 servings Spring Vegetable Couscous.
