The Trio of Grains with Fava Bean Cream and Caramelized Onion is a tasty main course, very quick to prepare. I assure you that the balance of flavors is truly perfect. In this version, I added cooked ham and butter, but if you wish, you can omit them, thus obtaining the vegetarian version. I used broth cubes to prepare the broth because it’s faster, but if you prefer, you can make a vegetable or meat broth yourself.

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Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Inexpensive
Preparation time: 45 Minutes
Portions: 5 People
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Spring, Summer

Ingredients

1 quart water
1 stock cube (vegetable or beef flavor, 1 oz)
2 cups onion
4 tbsp butter
11 oz rice (barley and spelt, trio of grains)
9 oz frozen fava beans
3.5 oz frozen peas
to taste coarse salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
10 oz cooked ham

Steps

Prepare the broth by heating a quart of water in a small pot and adding the stock cube (vegetable or beef). If you prefer, you can prepare a meat or vegetable broth.
Clean the onion, chop 1/4 cup into small pieces. In a wok, put 2 tbsp of butter (omit it in the vegan version by adding a little margarine), let it melt, add the onion, and let it brown. Now add the trio of grains and start toasting it. As it dries, add the broth, stir, and continue cooking.
In the meantime, thaw the fava beans in warm water, remove the skin following the photos, and place them in a container.
In a small pot, put some water and as soon as it boils, add coarse salt, fava beans, and peas. Cook for about 15/20 minutes, they should be soft.
Now drain the fava beans and peas with a colander, keeping the cooking water aside, reserve some fava beans and peas for plating. Using an immersion blender, puree them, adding a little cooking water to make it smoother and more homogeneous.
At about halfway through cooking, add the fava bean and pea puree to the rice, barley, and spelt. Stir well.
Dice the cooked ham into small cubes (omit this step if you want the vegetarian version) and add it to the rice, stir, and continue cooking, adding broth as it dries.
Meanwhile, prepare the caramelized onion by slicing the remaining 1 3/4 cups of onion, put it in a pan, add two tablespoons of sugar and two tablespoons of water. Cook and caramelize. Set aside.
Once cooked, plate the trio of grains, decorate the plate with the reserved fava beans and peas. Top with a bit of caramelized onion.