Softly Scrambled Eggs with Fava Beans

Dear Devon,

Thoughts of your celery kimchi have my mouth watering. I’m imagining a spicy, crunchy and refreshing bite soaked in a salty and tangy brine. Homemade kimchi is probably the easiest bit of “cooking” out there. I have made several batches since moving to Barcelona, calling upon local ingredients and rather inventive brining methods (fridge is small). But my next batch, will definitely involve celery.

Something else I’ve been drooling over is Anne Willan’s The Country Cooking of France. This book has become the standard by which I judge all other cookbooks. It has absolutely gorgeous photographs for almost every recipe in the book, and includes detailed instructions. Never underestimate the importance of detail when explaining how to prepare pig’s feet or soufflé techniques.
And while I consider myself fairly handy in the kitchen, her text does leave me a bit intimidated. She seduces me with recipes that seem easy to execute but conjure battle scenes with an unwieldy giant in my imagination. Am I exaggerating? You’ve known me for years and you must know that I tend to embellish.

It is time to stop reading and move towards the stove. I’m living next to some of the greatest markets and pork products in the world. I should embrace some of Willan’s more adventurous recipes. When else will I have this chance? Plus, I am lucky, my dinner guests these days are forgiving, adventurous types.

For a warm up exercise, I chose Willan’s recipe for softly scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms. If you haven’t tried softly scrambled eggs, I suggest you to crack some eggs and try it tonight. The texture is buttery and light. The trick is to scramble the eggs over low heat. It takes an extra 10 minutes or so, but is definitely worth the wait. Overflowing from every market stand when I first arrived in Barcelona, wild mushrooms have disappeared into their damp retreats until the fall. Undeterred, I substituted fresh fava beans.


Softly Scrambled Eggs with Fava Beans
Adapted from Anne Willan’s The Country Cooking of France

1 pound fava beans in the pod
1 slice of unsmoked bacon, cut into chunks
4 eggs
¼ cup milk
1 pinch salt
toasted bread

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop in the fava beans (in their pods). Boil roughly 5 minutes before removing from the stovetop. Drain and soak in cold water. When the beans are cool enough to handle, break open the pods and remove the beans.

In a sauté pan, slowly fry bacon. When the bacon is nice and crisp, remove from the pan and reserve in a small mixing bowl. Add the shelled fava beans to the bacon fat. Cook over medium heat until nicely browned. Remove from the pan, adding favas to the bowl with the bacon.


In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and milk with a pinch of salt. Wait for the pan to cool down, before cooking the eggs. Turn the flame to medium-low. Add egg mixture. Using a wooden spatula, stir the eggs, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan. The goal is to prevent the eggs from setting too quickly or clumping. Vigilant stirring is the key. Cook for about 10 minutes. The eggs should be loose but not runny, without any traces of raw egg. At the last moment, stir in the favas and bacon. Freshly chopped herbs would be a nice addition. I recommend: chive, chervil, dill or parsley.

Serve over toast and with freshly grated black pepper.