A healthy easy made Italian lunch

Dear readers,

please accept my apologies for my long absence, there has been a great deal of stuff to take care off, so this is literally the first day in a long time that I spend more or less in front of my computer. 

Obviously my quest for healthy easily prepared recipes for my audience continues and being in Italy since 2 months has raised a lot of questions regarding the Italian cuisine as it is known to us (pizza, pasta & Co.) and behind all of that less nutritious and vitamin deprived food I found a simple, but extremely nutritious cuisine that originated from the physical needs of rural people and from what they had in their garden.

Meat as we know did not play such an important role, it was a privilege of the well-off people. As I am always preaching to my beloved carnivores, there is a vast choice of legumes that can provide you with a load of healthy protein, like e.g. the FAVA BEAN, which was my choice for today's lunch:

Fava beans are low in calories and in fat, very high in vegetable protein, iron and fiber and a good source of Vitamin C, A and potassium. They are also known to contain a good share of L-dopamine, an amino acid that works as a neurotransmitter in the brain. Don't worry too much about that :), the interesting point is that dopamine plays a very important role in all our brain functions and levels decrease with age. So...you might even enjoy some rejuvenation eating fava beans...apart from them being extremely tasty, especially the way I prepared them.... The Tofu adds valuable Omega 3 fatty acids, calcium and phytoestrogenes.

HERB-SCENTED FAVA BEANS WITH TOFU
Serves 1

150g Tofu
200g Fava beans (dried or canned)
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Various herbs to your likings (I used Basil, Oregano and Ginger)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
Herb salt, chili powder or 1 dried chili, black pepper

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a small pot and saute onion and garlic. Add basil and oregano, stir through for a minute, then add the fava beans (in case you use dried ones they have to be soaked for about 24 hours prior to cooking) and cook for about 5 minutes. Season with herb salt.
In the meantime heat the rest of the olive oil in a small pan. When the oil is hot, add the Tofu and fry until both sides have a light brown crust. Add chili, ginger and pepper to your liking. 

Arrange on a plate and enjoy!