Right, exams are over, so the blog is back. Just a few quick recipes to whet your appetite.
Broad beans are just coming into season in England, and they’re one of my favourite summer vegetables. They’re a bit of a hassle to grow, but not hugely expensive, so if you see them in the supermarket or the greengrocers, grab them in huge quantities – you generally only get six or seven beans to a pod.
It’s purely personal preference, but I prefer to pop the beans out of their greyish skins – the bright green of the beans themselves are very summery.
Broad Bean Salad
Ingredients:
Broad beans, podded, a good double handful
Olive oil
Salt (preferably good flaky sea salt – it’s more of an ingredient than a seasoning here)
Fresh mint (or if you have such a thing, a few lovage leaves)
Method:
Put the beans in a pan, cover and bring to the boil. Let it bubble away for four or five minutes, then drain and let them cool (or rinse them in cold water). Once the skins have gone a bit wrinkly, you need to de-skin them. There’s a trick to this – grasp the bean firmly at one end between the finger and thumb of one hand, then tear the skin at the other end with a fingernail. Give it a squeeze and the beautiful bright green bean will pop out. You’ll get into the rhythm pretty easily. Save the skins – see the recipe below.
Drizzle the beans with olive oil and scatter with a pinch of sea salt and some roughly ripped mint leaves. Stir everything well and leave it for a few minutes so that the flavours can infuse.
Spicy bean skins
Ingredients:
Broad bean skins
Chilli flakes
Cumin seeds
2 cloves of garlic, finely choppped
Paprika
Sea salt and black pepper
Olive oil
Method:
Fry the skins in a small splash of olive oil over a high heat for a couple of minutes. Scatter over the spices, salt and pepper, stir, and turn the heat down to medium. Let the skins cook for another five minutes, til they’re just a tad crispy, then tip into a bowl and munch them down with a cold glass of beer.
Peaches
Peaches are one of my favourite fruits – their lightly feathery skins are far superior to the rather dull nectarine, in my opinion. A perfectly ripe peach (give it a squeeze and a sniff – a little give in the flesh and a fresh, peachy smell from about six inches away are the indicators you’re looking for) needs no more accompaniment than something to catch the drips. If, as with most peaches you find in the supermarket, they’re a few days away from ripe, then here’s a couple of ways to tart them up.
If you’re having a barbecue, then wrap a peach in a double layer of foil (shiny side on the inside – physics!) with a scrap of unsalted butter, a teaspoon of soft brown sugar, and a generous glug of rum. Wrap the peachy parcels very tightly and put them in the embers of the barbecue for ten to fifteen minutes. Before you eat them, make sure to smell – half the pleasure of food is in the smell, and these smell fantastic.
ETA: What is done cannot be undone, etc, but at the top of this post I distinctly remember promising two peach-based recipes, and yet I’ve give you only the one – so, more than a month later, here is the second:
Peaches, halved, destoned. A wee dollop of marscapone in the hollow. Sprinkle with crushed Amaretti biscuits, brown sugar and a dash of Amaretto. Grill. Wolf, with chilled white wine. Oh yes.
