Chef Juliette
Suet Dumpling
Boulettes au suif, poached beside salt beef, turn equal weights of flour and finely chopped suet into tender, rich dumplings. Keep the beef liquor at a bare tremble and the old garnish works beautifully at home.
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Fèves à la Crème
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2145, Fèves à la Crème, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Fèves à la Crème proves how little a spring vegetable needs: broad beans peeled to their sweet green hearts, dried carefully, and folded through just enough thick fresh cream to cling.
Side Dishes
French
Weeknight
Dinner Party
Quick Meal
30 min
Active Time
10 min cook•40 min total
Yield4 side-dish servings
Fèves à la Crème (broad beans bound with thick fresh cream) teaches the quiet art of liaison, binding a vegetable with just enough sauce to cling. One true thing before you touch a pan: the peeled beans must be dry. Water left from blanching turns three spoonfuls of cream into a puddle, while a dry bean takes on a thin ivory coat that lets its sweetness speak.
The source entry assumes the beans arrive dried and peeled, the sort of preparation a vegetable station quietly handed across to the saucier. There is no standing stockpot or salamander to replace here. For one cook, I keep its exact proportion, one pound of prepared beans to three tablespoons of thick fresh cream, and use a wide home sauté pan so the cream coats quickly without overcooking them. Repeated batches and holding pans are brigade scaffolding; peeling, drying, and that restrained ratio are the dish.
The finished fèves are tender, sweet, and glossy, each one green beneath a close veil of cream, never swimming in it. If moisture wins, ça se rattrape, and the method will show you how without punishing the beans. Guard the drying. That is the step that decides the dish.
Fèves à la crème belongs to cuisine bourgeoise, the household and small-dining-room register of the French canon, rather than to one provincial larder. Broad beans were cooked in France before common haricots arrived from the Americas, and classical kitchens refined them by slipping away the leathery skin and binding the tender centres at the last moment. The cream does not make the dish Norman; here it is a liaison, not a regional flag.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh broad beans
Quantity
Enough to yield 2¾ cups (650 ml / 1 lb / 454 g)
shelled, blanched, peeled, dried, and weighed as directed
fine sea salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g)
divided
crème fraîche épaisse (thick fresh cream)
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh broad beansshelled, blanched, peeled, dried, and weighed as directed | Enough to yield 2¾ cups (650 ml / 1 lb / 454 g) |
| fine sea saltdivided | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g) |
| crème fraîche épaisse (thick fresh cream) | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •4-quart saucepan
- •Fine-mesh skimmer
- •Clean kitchen towel
- •10-inch wide sauté pan
- •Silicone spatula
Instructions
- 1
Blanch the beans
Bring a large saucepan of water to a lively boil. Reserve a small pinch of the salt for finishing and add the rest to the water. Drop in the shelled broad beans and blanch until their pale skins wrinkle and the beans within are barely tender, about 2 minutes for young beans or up to 4 minutes for larger ones. Scoop them immediately into a bowl of cold water. Cooling stops the cooking before the tender centres soften too far.
Taste one bean before draining the batch. Its centre should yield beneath the tooth but retain its shape, since the final warming in cream will cook it a little further. - 2
Peel and dry
Drain the beans, nick each pale outer skin at its seam, and press gently so the bright green centre slips free. Weigh out 1 pound, then spread the peeled beans across a clean kitchen towel in one layer. Pat them carefully and leave them uncovered for 10 minutes, turning once, until no beads of water remain. Peeling is the work, and the sweetness underneath pays for it. Drying is just as essential because cream binds to the bean, not to blanching water.
- 3
Bind with cream
Set a wide sauté pan over low heat. Add the dry beans and turn them gently for about 30 seconds, just until evenly warm with no moisture gathering on the pan floor. Add all 3 tablespoons of crème fraîche and fold with a silicone spatula for 1 to 2 minutes, until the cream relaxes and then clings as a thin, glossy ivory film. Keep the heat gentle so the peeled beans stay whole. If the cream remains watery, lift out the beans with a slotted spoon, reduce the cream alone for 30 to 60 seconds, then return them. Ça se rattrape. If it tightens too far, remove the pan from the heat and fold in 1 teaspoon of hot water.
- 4
Taste and serve
Taste and add the reserved pinch of salt only if the beans need it. Spoon the fèves into a warmed shallow serving dish, taking every trace of the cream with them. Serve immediately, while the beans are tender and distinct and the sauce still holds its quiet gloss. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Expect to buy roughly 3 pounds of broad beans in their pods to finish with 1 pound after shelling and removing the pale inner skins. Pod size and maturity vary, so buy a little generously.
- •Out of season, frozen shelled broad beans are the classical pantry's honest answer. Blanch them directly from frozen, peel while barely warm, and dry them with the same attention. Measure the cream against the prepared weight.
- •Use full-fat crème fraîche épaisse that stands softly on a spoon. Thin pouring cream lacks the body this spare preparation requires, while sour cream brings a sharper flavour and can turn grainy under heat.
- •Serve these beside roast chicken, lamb, or a plain omelette. A dry, lightly mineral white wine suits their green sweetness and the close veil of cream.
Advance Preparation
- •Shell, blanch, peel, and dry the beans up to one day ahead. Refrigerate them in a covered container lined with a clean towel, then let them lose their deep chill before binding with the cream.
- •Finish the dish immediately before serving. If it must wait, cover it and hold it in a barely warm place for no more than 15 minutes; prolonged heat dulls the beans and makes the cream heavy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 125g)
Calories
160 calories
Total Fat
4 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
10 mg
Sodium
1190 mg
Total Carbohydrates
23 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
9 g
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