Here is a delicious variation on traditional hummus (see page 43 of my book) that replaces the chickpeas (‘hummus’ comes from ummu, the Arabic word for chickpeas) with split fava beans. This recipe comes via my son Alex, who makes this light, creamy purée for his restaurant Ogof. We both use Hodmedod’s brilliant split fava beans, which are grown in Cambridge.

This hummus is quick and easy for lunch, but has great potential for parties, when you can go to town decorating the top. I made it for my students last summer when we had our Viol Extravaganza picnic. It was gone in a trice; I have made a mental note to make twice as much this year! I served it with excellent local Welsh sheep’s cheese, followed by local strawberries and cream (which also went in a trice).

SERVES 6

250g split fava beans
2 strips of lemon peel (pared with a vegetable peeler)
3 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
70ml lemon juice
50ml olive oil
Salt

garnish suggestions
olives, pistachios, cherry tomatoes, halved bottled artichoke hearts, salad leaves, herbs, edible flowers, cooked broccoli with melted Mozzarella

Put the split fava beans into a medium-sized saucepan and pour over about 750ml of water, to cover generously. Add the lemon peel and bay leaves, and bring up to a boil. Simmer gently until the beans are soft, about 30 minutes.

Drain the beans, reserving the cooking water, but discarding the lemon peel and bay leaves.

Put the cooked, drained beans into a food processor with the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Blitz to a purée, adding enough of the cooking water to make a soft cream. The hummus will thicken slightly as it cools, so the hot mixture needs to be slightly runnier than you want it to end up.

Season with salt to taste, then transfer the hummus to a pretty plate, drizzle over some olive oil and garnish with any, some or even all of the suggested garnishes.

split fava bean hummus

spilling the beans