This recipe is based on the traditional 'bubble and squeak' where all your leftovers are cooked up together to make a tasty meal the next day. I never have that many leftovers of things that would be suitable but this dish is so tasty that it is worth cooking everything especially for it. You can mix up the different ingredients depending on what you have in the fridge or garden at the time. If you are careful when you turn it out from the pan you can create an amazing looking dish that can … [Read more...]
Spicy Broad Bean Dip
Fresh young broad beans are so versatile and this spicy broad bean dip is great to serve as part of a platter or just with some crostini or pita bread. I try to pick my broad beans when they are still quite small so that they are nice and tender, but if yours are bigger then remove the greyish inner pod as well to leave just the bright green inner bean. 250g broad beans 1 clove garlic 1 lemon, zest and juice 1 green chilli (optional) 1/4 cup fresh coriander (or use 1/2 tsp ground … [Read more...]
Broad bean fritters with herbed feta
My broad beans are producing copiously and these broad bean fritters are a great brunch dish. They also freeze well so you can take some to work in your lunch box, perhaps with a little chutney. For this recipe you can use fresh or frozen broad beans, preferably small young broad beans. If yours are large and greyish, then remove the outer grey pod as well to leave the bright green bean inside. 250g broad beans 200g feta cheese 125g plain flour ½ tsp baking powder 1 … [Read more...]
Smoked Salmon & Broad Bean Muffins
These Smoked Salmon & Broad Bean Muffins freeze well and are perfect for adding to your lunch box. This recipe is best using fresh young broad beans picked straight from the garden and shelled as they are much more tender. If you are using frozen broad beans from the supermarket then you may wish to remove the outer skin (that can go grey and tough when it cooks) from the beans. 200g broad beans, blanched and cooled 200g hot smoked salmon, broken into pieces 150g cheese, grated (I like … [Read more...]
Broad Bean & Couscous Salad
Broad Bean and Couscous Salad is my new favourite 'go-to' salad, full of new season broad beans, fresh spring herbs and chunky Israeli couscous. You can serve it as a light meal with garlic pita bread and some labneh or Greek yoghurt. Any leftovers can be mixed with some feta and used to stuff capsicum for another tasty meal. 25 grams butter 1 onion, finely chopped 4 cloves garlic, crushed 2 sprigs fresh thyme sea salt 1½ cups Israeli couscous 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock 1 cup … [Read more...]
Broad Bean Falafel
We usually think of falafel as delicious, deep fried balls of chickpea and herbs usually served with salad, or in a sandwich with hummus and pita bread. This is the traditional Middle Eastern falafel but in Egypt the recipe for falafel uses mashed broad beans (fava beans) instead. So when my broad beans were growing so well that I had to use a ladder to harvest them I thought that I would try making falafel with broad beans. The recipe below is the traditional Middle Eastern recipe. I used … [Read more...]
Pasta with Mushrooms and Broad Beans
Last year I wrote about how my broad beans had turned into triffids and had started to take over the garden. Earlier this year I proudly showed how I had tamed the broad beans in this winter's veggie garden and had them growing straight upwards using garden stakes and string. Well I gloated too soon. Now I am having to use a ladder to pick my broad beans! And they have burst out of the string and are leaning all over my raspberries. But I can't really complain as they are producing lots of … [Read more...]
Growing and Cooking Broad Beans
Broad Beans grow easily from seed and are great to grow over the winter for a spring harvest. The seeds are big and you just poke them directly into the soil about 3cm down in autumn. I generally have 100% success rate with germination and this year I put them in a different place that I hadn't tried before and they grew like triffids! I was starting to get a bit worried because the plants just kept growing. There were lots of flowers and bees and bumblebees were visiting regularly but … [Read more...]