Celebrating the Broad Bean
Broad beans are the first of the early summer veg to appear. They are really adaptable and are great served with fresh summer herbs, but they do need a bit of care when cooking and larger ones are definitely best cooked for a few minutes and popped out of their skin. The flavour of broad beans is quite subtle so the addition of lemon and olive oil will add a bit of zip and they marry very well with salty foods like feta, halloumi, bacon and anchovies. The hummus recipe at the end of the blog is a great way to use up larger beans that might not be so good in a salad.
Broad beans are delicious in all kinds of salads, particularly when young and tender here is one with a Moroccan feel, based on a recipe by Jamie Oliver:
Moroccan style broad bean salad
- 4 large handfuls podded broad beans
- 2 lemons
- extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 handful fresh mint , leaves picked
- 1 small red onion , peeled and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds , bashed
- 1 pinch dried chilli
- 1 handful stale breadcrumbs
- 285 ml creamy live yoghurt or soured cream
1. First of all pod the and separate beans, put the larger ones in one bowl and the smaller ones in another – they’ll need different cooking times. Blanch the beans in unsalted boiling water for a couple of minutes, giving the large ones a bit longer (don’t add salt, as this will toughen the skins). Drain them and lay them flat on a tray to cool down slightly. This salad always works best when the beans are eaten slightly warm. If you’re making it in advance, though, you could always give them a quick flash in the microwave just before serving. Remove the skins from the larger beans if necessary. Place in a bowl and dress with the juice of 1 lemon and three times as much extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Add a little more lemon juice if needed and finely slice half the mint and add it to the beans while they sit and marinate for a little while.
2. In a shallow pan, on a medium heat, fry the chopped onion, cumin seeds and chilli in a little olive oil. Stir and cook until softened. As the onions start to colour, add your breadcrumbs and mix these really well into the onions. Continue to cook until the crumbs are crispy and golden, then season them to taste and put to one side. To serve, divide the yoghurt or soured cream between four plates or bowls. Give the broad beans a final toss, add the rest of the mint leaves, and divide between the plates on top of the yoghurt. Finally, sprinkle over the warm spiced crunchy bits.
The bread bean hummus looks striking on charcoal biscuits.
Broad Bean Hummus
This is an appealing, vibrant green and can be whizzed up in no time, it will also work well with frozen broad beans. This recipe is adapted from one by Nigel Slater, you can adapt it as herbs other than dill work well - mint is always a winner with broad beans, but you could try sorrel or just a mixture of soft-leafed herbs.
Serves 2-3 as a dip with bread
shelled broad beans 400g
olive oil 4 tbsp
juice of ½ small lemon
dill a few sprigs
To serve:
soft bread or pitta
Cook the beans in boiling, lightly salted water till tender (this will take about 8-10 minutes, according to their size). Drain them, pop them out of their thin, grey-green skins, and blitz them to a thick purée in a food processor.
Pour in the olive oil, with the blender still going, adding the lemon juice and a grinding of salt. Continue until the mixture is smooth.
Finely chop the dill and stir in. Scrape into a dish then pour over a little olive oil.
