Recipe: Smoked Trout With Fava Beans, Shiitakes And Lemon Zest On Farro Pasta
An irresistible combination of ingredients uses fresh and seasonal elements.
It is definitely my M.O. to get excited about some fresh and seasonal ingredient I see at my local market and then just build dinner around it. In this case it was the fresh fava beans that launched this dish. I am being more and more drawn to “total utilization” of my often over burdened and chaotic refrigerator, so I looked for the rest of the inspiration there and found some previously opened smoked trout, a lemon that I didn’t completely zest for my evening martini and just enough shiitakes to give this dish some earthy grounding. Any thin pasta will do here, but I love the complex nutty flavors of farro spaghetti. It is also a great balance to the smokiness of the trout.
Smoked Trout with Fava Beans, Shiitakes and Lemon Zest on Farro Pasta
Serves 2
1 fillet, about 4 oz, smoked trout, broken into small pieces — about ½ inch
½ pound fresh fava beans, in the shell
¼ pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons pastured butter
1 Tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
½ cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fresh dill or other fresh herb for garnish (tarragon is nice here, or chives)
½ pound farro or other whole grain spaghetti
Blanch the favas:
Shell the favas from their outer pods. (This is not the final shelling — you will shell the beans again after par-cooking.) Bring a good amount of water to the boil with salt, add the shelled beans and cook at a full boil for 2 minutes. Strain out the beans and immediately immerse in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Drain right away and begin shelling again. The inner bean will be bright green as opposed to the light green husk. This is the gem you are laboring for….
Sauce in progress
Saute the shiitakes:
Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan and once the oil is shimmering, add the sliced shiitake caps. Add the garlic and stir until mushrooms are softened and garlic is fragrant. Remove them from the pan for later.
Cook the pasta and assemble the dish:
Bring a generous quantity of water to the boil and add a good pinch of sea salt. Add the pasta and cook according to the time on the package.
Add the butter to the sauté pan and when ready to serve, add 1 cup of pasta water from the just-about cooked farro pasta (you want some of the starch that the almost-cooked pasta will have released to the cooking water) and the heavy cream to the pan.
Bring to a simmer. Drain the pasta when fully cooked and add it to the pan. Add the shiitakes, favas and smoked trout and lemon zest and gently fold together. You don’t want to break up the trout too much.
Divide among 2 bowls and garnish with the lemon zest, a little freshly ground black pepper and dill, chives or tarragon.
