Creamed Puree of Fresh Fava Beans

Even though fresh fava beans have a more delicate flavor and give soups a smoother texture than most beans, they’ve never been very popular in the United States. In the years I’ve been buying fava beans at a fancy grocery in Manhattan, I’ve met only one other person filling up her plastic bag at the same time—an elderly Italian lady. We looked at each other in amazement and compared notes. Hers were going into a salad; mine were going into this soup.

No doubt one reason for the fava