Chilled Fava Bean Soup w/White Truffle Oil & Parmesan 

 
When I arrived at the Golden Door, one of the first places I ran to was our garden. As I was walking up the hill, I spotted fresh fava beans. In Texas, they always came in a box from a produce company, so I was overjoyed when I saw that we grew them! I harvested as many as I could fit in my container, took them back to the kitchen and began to peel them. I was ecstatic to see how beautiful and perfect they were. I felt that my only job was to not do too much with them. Our gardeners did all the work; I just needed to keep the integrity of the bean. So I blanched them, pureed them with a little vegetable stock (also made out of our garden), and lightly seasoned them with salt. I decided to highlight the fava flavor with parmesan and a touch of truffle oil. ~Chef Curtis Cooke – Golden Door Spa ®

 
 
Fava Bean Soup
1 cup   Fresh Fava Beans
1/2 cup  Vegetable Stock
tt (to taste)   Sea Salt
 
In a pot of boiling, salted water, blanch the fresh fava beans until cooked (approximately 2-3 minutes) and shock in ice water. In a high speed blender, combine the chilled vegetable stock with the fava beans and puree until extremely smooth. Add salt to taste. Push the fava bean soup through a fine mesh chinois. Garnish with shaved parmesan (on a microplane) and a drop of white truffle oil.