NAVARRA GOURMET

Faba beans & fresh haricot beans

Marcos y Pedro Morán “Casa Gerardo”, en Prendes “Fabes y pochas”

The secrets of faba beans

At the Navarre Gourmet - Enjoy vegetables congress, Marcos Morán, the chef at Casa Gerardo, revealed the secret of cooking faba beans and fresh haricot beans, two dishes which have made this restaurant famous. "When cooking beans, the most important part is the soaking process. That's very important", he explained. The chef emphasised the need to work with fresh faba beans, which can be frozen and consumed all year round.

“There's a lot of picaresque in this dish, which means that we sometimes consume faba beans, chickpeas or haricot beans from different seasons, resulting in some being harder than others", he indicated. Marco Morán pointed out that fresh beans are primarily used for their flavour, however they are also healthier as they contain less fat.

The chef cooked a faba bean pot or Fabada as the first course, followed by a cream of faba beans with pork chaps, as a second dish. "We have a deep respect for beans and this age-old recipe has been made perfectly for some years now", he affirmed. However the chef went one step further and prepared faba bean juice dressed with chilli pepper jelly served with rounds of eel.

Morán continued his demonstration with a dish centred on vegetables, and based on turnips in particular," a vegetable which is underrated in the kitchen because it is not considered a luxury". His "white Argán" is a salad of asparagus, truffles and turnip which is pre-soaked for 24 hours in water and ice to lend it a herbaceous texture and allow it to be eaten raw. His final creation was an imaginative dish of "moss" mousse as an accompaniment to fatty fish.

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