The Insufficient Kitchen

Fava Beans, Peas, and Potatoes

May 4, 2026

It’s springtime. This means many things: allergies, half-hearted attempts at deep cleaning, the reappearance of fresh fava beans and peas at farmer’s markets.

Fava beans and peas get along famously, served together or in combination with other springtime vegetables like asparagus, artichokes, or green beans. While these vegetable dishes are all delicious, they are also…familiar.

Inviting potatoes to the party was new to me. Granted, this variation on a favorite vegetable dish is hardly discovery of life on Mars. Which is fine. We all have enough to cope with.

Fava Beans, Peas, and Potatoes is adapted from a recipe in Jeremy Lee’s Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many. Lee, in turn, credits a recipe in Arabella Boxer’s Book English Food. Both are worthy additions to your culinary library.

Into the kitchen.

Fava beans may be famous, but they still cause confusion. Once podded, all but the tiniest, freshest specimens require a dip in boiling water to loosen their indigestible outer skins, which are then easily removed. Some find this extra step a chore. Others, like me, aren’t bothered: favas are a seasonal treat, worth a little extra time. I mean, it’s hardly jackhammering under the hot sun.

People can be very snobbish about fresh peas, insisting they are acceptable only when rushed from garden to table. Anything else means a starchy pea, a culinary sin equivalent to slicing Brie with a spork.

My farmer’s market peas were indeed starchy. Two minutes cooking refreshed them.

Returning to the potatoes. You want to use a waxy variety in this dish. Mr. Lee suggests Jersey Royals. I used Yukon Golds.

The cook has some leeway in the amount of potato used here. Equal amounts of favas, peas, and potatoes gives a nicely balanced side dish, ideal alongside fish, chicken, or as part of a mezze. Add more potato, and the dish moves into main dish territory. Inexpensively. And vegan in the bargain.

Seasoning was light: fresh parsley, chives, a little basil,

a few chopped capers, a small garlic clove, olive oil and lots of fresh lemon juice.

There were no leftovers.

Fava Beans, Peas, and Potatoes

Adapted from a recipe in Jeremy Lee’s Cooking, Simply and Well for One or Many

Serves 2-3. Easily scaled upward.

Prep time: about 25 minutes to prep the vegetables.

As always, please read the notes for additional information. The amounts given below are flexible. This recipe can be made with canned or frozen vegetables. It won’t be as good, but it’s still worth making.

3/4 cup/170 grams fresh fava beans

3/4 cup/ 170 grams fresh peas

approximately 8 ounces/227 grams waxy potatoes;

about three small; scrubbed if left unpeeled

approximately 2 tablespoons parsley, lightly chopped

1-2 teaspoons capers, drained and chopped

1 small garlic clove, peeled and minced, or 1 scallion, finely sliced

olive oil, to taste

fresh lemon juice, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

Optional:

approximately 1 tablespoon chives, lightly chopped

approximately 1 tablespoon basil, lightly chopped, or more, to taste

Have a medium salad bowl ready as the meeting place for all the ingredients.

Prepare the fava beans:

Put about a half cup (120 ml) water to boil in a small saucepan. Pod the the fava beans and drop them into the boiling water. After three minutes, turn the heat down. Remove a few beans from the water with a slotted spoon. Cool beans under running water and test with your fingernail. Are the outer skins easily pierced? Are the skins easily removed? If so, taste the fava beans. Are they tender or starchy?

If the beans need more cooking, crank the heat back up and cook for another three minutes. Repeat the test. Once the favas are done, use the slotted spoon to remove them to a strainer. Set aside to cool while you prepare the peas.

Save the fava bean cooking pot for now.

Prepare the peas:

Pod the peas. If your peas come from a reputable spot, the pods may be frozen for use in vegetable soup.

Taste the peas. If they’re starchy, put them in the fava bean pot. Bring water to a gentle boil. Cook peas for 2-3 minutes. Taste. Either cook peas a bit more or drain them.

When peas are to your liking, tip them into the salad bowl.

The fava beans should be cool enough to peel now. Do so, adding them to the peas.

Make the potatoes:

The potatoes may be steamed, boiled, or microwaved. Microwaving is ideal here–it’s fast, and there’s no threat of waterlogged veg. Peeling is optional.

While you wait for the potatoes to cool, clean up the kitchen and resist the urge to doomscroll.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, break them into rough chunks. Add them to the fava beans and peas.

Add the parsley, capers, and garlic to the salad bowl. Mix gently with a wooden spoon or your very clean hands. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add any additional herbs. Taste for seasoning. Mix again.

Fava beans, peas, and potatoes improves with keeping. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving. It will keep, covered in the refrigerator, up to five days. It’s worth preparing a large bowl, refrigerating it, and adding it to dishes over a few days. I like it on bread. (Then again, I like everything on bread.) This is marvelous with pasta. We ate it one night with scallops–it was a special occasion–and it was exquisite.

Notes:

If fresh herbs are not available, feel free to use dried, but use them sparingly; a little can go a long way. Taste as you go.

Preserved lemon would be delicious here. So would sumac.

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