Broad Bean and Mint Salad
Wednesday 2nd of November 2011
If you like to grow food, or like the idea of growing your own food then starting with peas and beans will give you the confidence to continue.
They are quite possibly the easiest, lowest maintenence vegetable to grow as they generally don't require any seed raising, just pop them in the ground (about 2 x the depth of the size of the pea/ bean), give them a good drink to encourage sprouting and leave them to it. November is time to sow runner and bush beans and another round of peas to come on once the early crop has finished producing.
This year I have a bumper crop of broad beans free-standing about 4ft high in my garden. I planted the seeds in May and left them to it for the winter and now I am reaping the rewards with very little effort (my type of growing food!). I basically gave them the occasional water and feed of worm juice and kept an eye on the weeds - though this was minimal as I mulched them well with pea straw to inhibit weed growth.
But you might ask, what do you do with broad beans? Many of us have had bad 'broad bean' experiences with chewy, rubbery, over cooked beans. The key is to pick them, or select them at the farmers market, while they are still of moderate size. Once they get past 15cm long or later in the season the beans get tougher and require peeling before eating. This is rather time consuming so better to catch them earlier.
Here is my favourite broad bean recipe. It makes a small bowl of salad to accompany a barbeque.
approx. 1kg broad beans or 3-4 large handfuls
spring of mint, roughly chopped
extra virgin olive oil
lemon juice
salt and pepper
crumbled feta to garnish
First remove the beans from the pods. I like to do this sitting in the sun on the garden step rather than standing in the kitchen as it can take a while. You can get children to help.
Put the beans into a pot and cover with boiling water. Bring to the boil and simmer/ blanch for several minutes until the beans are tender. Drain and refresh in cold water to halt cooking.
Combine the beans with the mint and dress with olive oil and lemon juice to taste. Season and tip into a serving bowl. Garnish with a little crumbled feta.
The flavours of this salad are fresh and simple and compliment the broad beans perfectly. Enjoy!