Fava Bean

Slightly sweet, fresh ricotta, which can be found in many Italian markets, makes this starter especially delicious. Regular ricotta also works well.

Vignarola You'll find this dish in trattorias all over Rome during the spring. The long, slow cooking causes the vegetables to lose their bright color, but the sweet flavor of the stew makes up for its rather bland appearance. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 3/4 hr

If you can't find fresh fava beans, use edamame (fresh green soybeans in the pod). You'll need to buy two pounds to yield the 3/4 cup for the recipe; do not peel. What to drink: Sauvignon Blanc or a dry Spanish white made from Albariño grapes.

(MINESTRA DI CAMPAGNA) Creativity with simple ingredients is one of the themes of Sicilian cooking. There's no better example than this bean and vegetable soup, which some say evolved from food that fifteenth-century galley cooks made for mariners. Serve an island dry red wine such as Corvo with this.

Here's a good example of Thomas Keller's culinary magic: Simple flavors come together spectacularly in this special dish from The French Laundry in Napa Valley.

Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 40 min

This salad was inspired by a couple of dishes our food editors encountered at restaurants in Rome.

In this recipe we used fresh baby lima beans (the frozen ones are excellent, too), but you can substitute any other fresh young shell beans such as fava or cranberry beans.

One of the very best things about this stew is its practical nature: If you blanch the vegetables, boil the potatoes, and make the infused broth a day ahead, this dish takes only 15 minutes to cook.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

On the Cycladic islands, homemade salted pork flavors most vegetable dishes. Pancetta makes a good substitute here.

Peeled, split fava beans for this Egyptian falafel are available in most Italian or Middle Eastern grocery stores. Ta’miyya is served with tehina.

An appetizer that is simple to make, delicious and very appealing.

A scaled-down seafood boil you can pull off on a weeknight with nearly any quick-cooking vegetables.

Think of this as carbonara minus the eggs but still with massive amounts of flavor from guanciale, black pepper, and Pecorino.

Green beans! Green asparagus! Green pistachios! ... You get the idea—this salad is a celebration of spring. If you can’t find fava beans, substitute English peas or sugar snap peas instead.