Green Pea and Fava Bean Salad with Sliced Speck

By GadgetGirl

This lovely salad offers a wonderful mix of ingredients: fava beans, peas, chives, dill, parsley, basil and sage. Sliced speck, the prosciutto-like ham, makes the salad a little smoky.

Ingredients

• 3 cups shelled fresh English peas (about 3/4 pound)
• 4 pounds fava beans, shelled (4 cups)
• 1 large shallot, halved and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• Kosher salt
• Pepper
• 1/3 cup snipped dill sprigs
• 1/3 cup lightly packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1/3 cup snipped chives
• 1/3 cup small basil leaves or torn basil
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped sage
• 20 thin slices speck (1/2 pound)
• 4 ounces ricotta salata, crumbled (1 cup)

Details

Servings 10
Cooking time 60mins
Adapted from Food&Wine.com

Preparation

Step 1

In a large saucepan of salted boiling water, blanch the peas until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the peas to an ice bath to cool. Drain well, pat dry and transfer to a large bowl.
Add the fava beans to the boiling water and cook just until the skins start to loosen, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the favas to the ice bath to cool. Squeeze the favas from their skins and add them to the peas. Add the shallot, sherry vinegar and the 1/4 cup of oil, season with salt and pepper and toss well. In a small bowl, toss the dill with the parsley, chives, basil and sage.
Spoon the pea and fava bean salad onto a large platter. Arrange the speck slices on the salad and sprinkle the ricotta salata and herbs on top. Lightly drizzle olive oil over the salad, season with salt and pepper and serve right away.

MAKE AHEAD The blanched peas and favas can be chilled 1 day ahead. Let the vegetables return to room temperature before serving.