Vegetable Melange

By akselden

Ingredients

• 2 oz. fava beans, shelled
• 12 small new potatoes, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches across
• 4 spring onions, white bulbs plus 1/2 inch of the greens
• 4 baby fennel bulbs, trimmed, halved lengthwise, and washed
• 8 baby turnips, peeled and trimmed
• 8 French breakfast radishes, trimmed
• 4 orange baby carrots, peeled and trimmed
• 4 yellow baby carrots, peeled and trimmed
• 4 red baby carrots, peeled and trimmed
• 4 oz. haricots verts, trimmed
• 4 oz. yellow wax beans, trimmed
• 8 purple pearl onions, peeled and trimmed
• 1/2 c. shelled English peas
• 1 1/2 oz. sugar snap peas
• 1 green zucchini, Scooped with a melon-ball cutter
• 1 yellow Zucchini, scooped with a melon-ball cutter
• 4 baby romaine-lettuce hearts
• 12 pencil-thin asparagus stalks, peeled and trimmed
• 3 T extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 T unsalted butter
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper
• 1 oz. pea shoots

Preparation

Step 1

Bring a gallon of salted water to a boil in a large pot. Put the fava beans in a metal colander, drop the colander into the pot, and boil the beans for 2 minutes. Remove the colander from the pot, and run the beans under cold water. Remove the beans from their skins, and set aside. Fill a large bowl with cold water and ice cubes, and keep nearby. Bring the salted water back to a boil.
Add the potatoes, spring onions, and fennel, and boil for 7 minute, s. Add the turnips, and boil 3 more minutes, then add the radishes, carrots, haricots verts, and wax beans, and boil for another Next, add the pearl onions, boil for 1 minute add the English peas, sugar snap peas, zucchini, and romaine-lettuce hearts. Boil for 1 minute, add the asparagus, and continue boiling for 2 minutes. At this point all the vegetables should be tender. Drain immediately and drop them into the ice-water bath. Drain and pat the vegetables dry between paper towels. A few minutes before you're ready to serve, warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the vegetables, and cook, stirring until everything is hot, for about 3 minutes. Add the butter, and toss vegetables to coat them. Stir in the fava beans and pea shoots. Keep the mixture over low heat while preparing the almond foam.