Spring Salad with Pancetta

The actual name of this salad is Broad Bean, Pea, Mint, Goats’ Cheese and Fried Pancetta Salad. A mouthful, pun intended. This is a fabulous salad that just screams spring to me. It’s from the book Charcuterie, by Miranda Ballard, published in 2014. She has published another of the same name in 2018 which I don’t own.

My mother gifted me the book. She is well aware of my love for charcuterie that began as a child; I especially loved just about any German sausage. I loved the pop of the sausage casings when I bit into them.

I also own another book called Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn, published in 2013.

The cookbook by Ms. Lambert offers recipes utilizing a variety of charcuterie, which is where I discovered the beautiful spring salad with pancetta. The Ruhlman/Polcyn cookbook instructs how to make your own charcuterie. By looking at the covers of these two books, I want to point out that only meat is in the photos. Why? Because charcuterie is meat – cured, salted, smoked.

When I see the name “charcuterie board” and it’s only vegetables, or god forbid – candy – I really cringe. Yes, I had a French mother, so yes, I knew what the word meant from from an early age, but we all have cookbooks and google. At least call it a meat and cheese board.

Actually, forget what I said about google. Just because googling is possible, it doesn’t make anything ultimately correct. I actually saw a subject entitled charcuterie cheeses. What??!!

I also keep seeing the misrepresentation of the pronunciation of charcuterie. I wish I had a video of my mother reacting to waiters over the years saying char-COO-ter-y! She’s never been tolerant of poorly spoken French. I’m not so critical, especially because it’s really a tough word to pronounce correctly. And FYI the French don’t put accents on syllables, so there’s no COO.

You can certainly choose to not care about this. Many culinary terms have expanded to various usages, like strudel and coulis and pesto. I get it. But let’s be educated.

This salad turned out even better than I’d anticipated, although I ended up taking photos of it without first adding the pancetta. It was still really good, but what a silly mistake! I added some sliced strawberries for color and sweetness, and those worked well. I did omit the mint because my husband wanted to partake in this salad, which is almost more like a warm vegetable side dish, and he doesn’t like mint!

Broad Bean, Pea, Mint, Goats’ Cheese and Fried Pancetta Salad
Printable recipe below

4 1/2 ounces pancetta, finely diced
14 ounces fava beans, shelled (I also used some sugar snap peas
Scant 2 cups fresh or frozen peas
4 tablespoons butter
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
A small handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
Freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon
4 1/4 ounces soft goats’ cheese, torn into chunks
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Start by frying the pancetta in a hot frying pan until it’s crisp and browned. Remove from the pan to a plate, but keep the pan on the stove.

Steam the fava beans first.

Cook the fava beans, sugar snap peas, and peas over boiling water for 4 minutes, or until the broad beans soften. Drain and set aside.

Add butter to the frying pan over medium heat, then add the garlic and allow that to become fragrant. Add the beans, peas, mint, parsley, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and mix well.

Remove from the heat and transfer to a salad bowl. Put the goats’ cheese and pancetta on top. Crunch plenty of black pepper over and serve immediately. As you can see I also added a couple of sliced strawberries. And forgot the pancetta.

I’ve blogged about another recipe from the same book – cabbage and chorizo salad, shown below. It was fabulous!

 

 

About the Author: Chef Mimi

As a self-taught home cook, with many years in the culinary profession, I am passionate about all things food-related. Especially eating!

38 Comments

  1. Chef Mimi May 30, 2023 at 7:33 AM - Reply

    It was really good. And could also just be served as a warm vegetable side.

  2. Chef Mimi May 30, 2023 at 7:35 AM - Reply

    You do have to pinch off the outer peel, but that’s easy. It’s definitely not my favorite thing to do in the kitchen! But once they’re cooked/steamed, the peel comes off easily.

  3. Chef Mimi May 30, 2023 at 8:18 AM - Reply

    I am easily sidetracked! I’ll blame it on the dogs!

  4. Chef Mimi May 30, 2023 at 1:02 PM - Reply

    People don’t seem to care to learn to speak the language. Just an attempt. It’s really unfortunate.

  5. Dorothy's New Vintage Kitchen May 30, 2023 at 2:43 PM - Reply

    This is a beautifully loaded salad/dish! A special meal.

    • Dorothy's New Vintage Kitchen May 30, 2023 at 4:48 PM - Reply

      PS My personal pet peeve is the various mispronunciations of one of my favorite French desserts – clafoutis!

      • Chef Mimi May 30, 2023 at 6:21 PM

        Oh brother. I can’t even imagine how that would be pronounced. It’s such an easy word.

      • Dorothy's New Vintage Kitchen May 31, 2023 at 7:11 AM

        Strong accent on second syllable usually, although sometimes on the last.

      • Chef Mimi May 31, 2023 at 8:01 AM

        Huh!

    • Chef Mimi May 30, 2023 at 6:21 PM - Reply

      Thank you!!!

  6. Debra May 30, 2023 at 5:39 PM - Reply

    What a beautiful salad, Mimi! I can’t imagine anyone not finding this really delightful and I’d make a meal of it for sure. I enjoyed your comments and observations about the charcuterie board and pronunciations. I feel like I want to practice now to remove any accented syllables. :-) I do admire accuracy.

    • Chef Mimi May 30, 2023 at 6:24 PM - Reply

      My mother is very French. But really, the worst version of a French person. I’ve been to France many times, even lived there, and have never come across someone like her. They’re a bit uppity in Paris, but that’s a big city thing. She was also terrible at perfume counters, listening to women mispronounce French perfume names. Then she’d talk to me really loudly in French and insult everybody.

  7. Sherry Mackay May 30, 2023 at 11:06 PM - Reply

    this sounds like a really tasty salad and looks wonderful too. Yes I get very annoyed at mispronunciations of words, or misspellings anyway. I wonder why anyone would use a French word but not spell it correctly? Grrrr. There is a very well-known restaurant here that is named Vue de Monde – aarrgghhh

    • Chef Mimi May 31, 2023 at 7:59 AM - Reply

      Ohhhh, restaurant menus are the worst in my book. So many spelling mistakes!

  8. David @ Spiced May 31, 2023 at 7:10 AM - Reply

    That Charcuterie book looks mighty impressive. I’ve been trying to convince Laura to let me age meat in the basement, but so far she’s only given me a look whenever I bring it up. :-) This salad sounds delicious. I haven’t cooked with fava beans much, so I need to change that. And as far as I’m concerned, pancetta makes everything better!!

    • Chef Mimi May 31, 2023 at 8:00 AM - Reply

      I’d love to do that too, but we have too much humidity where we live. At least I can order stuff from around the world these days!

  9. Raymund May 31, 2023 at 4:46 PM - Reply

    The combination of broad beans, peas, mint, goat’s cheese, and fried pancetta sounds absolutely delightful. I can almost taste the flavors of spring!

    • Chef Mimi June 1, 2023 at 7:25 AM - Reply

      Exactly! Perfect for this time of year and beyond…

    • Gerlinde June 2, 2023 at 7:48 AM - Reply

      I love all the different ingredients in this salad, especially the fava beans. I just returned from Germany and had wurst every day. We have a butcher in our town who makes the best truffle liver wurst.

      • Chef Mimi June 2, 2023 at 6:02 PM

        Ohhhh, I’m so jealous!!!

  10. Chef Mimi June 1, 2023 at 7:24 AM - Reply

    Thank! It’s a great salad, or side dish.

  11. Jean June 1, 2023 at 7:20 PM - Reply

    I love all the greens in this salad plus the salty, crispy pancetta.

    And so true about Google!

    • Chef Mimi June 2, 2023 at 6:02 PM - Reply

      So true. So sad. Great recipe!

  12. Healthy World Cuisine June 2, 2023 at 10:44 AM - Reply

    Love seeing all of that delicious green! We don’t use fava beans far enough and really do love them. Love this easy salad with so much flavor and texture.

    • Chef Mimi June 2, 2023 at 6:02 PM - Reply

      Thanks! I was very happy with this recipe.

  13. Chef Mimi June 2, 2023 at 6:02 PM - Reply

    You said it!

  14. Jeff the Chef June 4, 2023 at 8:15 AM - Reply

    Food definitions can be so confounding! I’m for sticking to your guns on this one, though. What a delicious salad!

    • Chef Mimi June 4, 2023 at 8:24 AM - Reply

      Thanks, Jeff!

  15. Chef Mimi June 5, 2023 at 7:31 AM - Reply

    It all came out really really good!

  16. nancyc June 5, 2023 at 10:10 PM - Reply

    What a beautiful salad! It definitely looks like spring and summer to me! And I love all the ingredients in it! :)

    • Chef Mimi June 6, 2023 at 7:23 AM - Reply

      Definitely, it screams spring! And summer!

  17. Frank Fariello June 6, 2023 at 7:10 AM - Reply

    Lovely salad. Reminds me of that Roman springtime dish “la vignarola” made with fava beans, peas and sometimes lettuce sautéed with guanciale. Had it several times when i was in Rome a few weeks ago. So easy to make, too, but fava beans unfortunately can be hard to find around these parts…

    • Chef Mimi June 6, 2023 at 7:25 AM - Reply

      Well same here. I had go Whole Foods in Oklahoma City! But worth the drive for good/better/more exotic produce.

  18. David Scott Allen June 9, 2023 at 12:02 PM - Reply

    I love that book! I’ve learned how to make so many wonderful things (including Pancetta). I also need to up my salad game, so this one – with all its vegetables – really appeals to me!

    • Chef Mimi June 10, 2023 at 8:03 AM - Reply

      It really turned out well. Tasty and pretty!

  19. Chef Mimi June 10, 2023 at 8:03 AM - Reply

    Not a problem. My eyes just work that way!

  20. StefanGourmet June 16, 2023 at 5:29 AM - Reply

    Fava beans are great when shelled twice, but it is so much work! The combination of lardons and chèvre is a classic one and I can see why it works very well with the peas and fava beans. Loved your rant about the meaning and pronunciation of charcuterie! The u sound in French is very hard to pronounce for English speakers.

    • Chef Mimi June 16, 2023 at 6:21 PM - Reply

      It really is. French is challenging. My husband can’t distinguish between tout and tu!

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