It’s time to… tie up the broad bean plants

The heady scent of broad beans fills the polytunnel as grower Bridget and volunteer Vicky ensure the early broad bean crop is tied in securely.

Seasonal local food recipe No.361 – Risotto with broad beans and mint

This fantastic risotto recipe is taken from chef David Eyre’s The Eagle Cookbook: Recipes from the Original Gastropub. We had it for our meal last night; Frank didn’t “shuck” the beans (take them out of their little grey sacs), he cooked the beans in the risotto and it still tasted great!

Serves 5-6 as a starter

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
3kg broad beans (400g podded and shucked weight)
2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
150g unsalted butter
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300g Arborio rice
a glass of white wine
a bunch of mint, chopped
75g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
To shuck the beans drop the podded beans into a pan of boiling salted water and leave for about 30 seconds, then drain and cool them quickly under running cold water. Take a bean in one hand and aim it at a large bowl. Squeeze gently between your forefinger and thumb. The bean will pop out of the membrane and fall into the bowl in two neat halves.

Put the stock in a pan and bring it to simmering point. Gently heat 100g of the butter in a separate pan, add the onions and garlic with a little salt and fry until tender. Do not let them brown. Turn the heat up high and pour in the rice. Stir it with a wooden spoon for about half a minute, coating it with the butter; do not let it stick to the pan.

Add the wine and let it bubble fiercely for about a minute, stirring gently all the time. Reduce the heat and start to add the hot stock in stages. When the rice is done, remove from the heat, add the rest of the butter and cover the pan until it has melted. Stir in the broad beans and mint, then add the Parmesan and some seasoning. Serve immediately.

Seasonal local food recipe No.326 – Hugh’s bruschetta with broad beans and asparagus

I might have been tempted to make this recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg Every Day! for lunch today had we not already eaten the broad beans out of this week’s box!

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
12-15 asparagus spears, trimmed
200 g baby broad beans (podded weight)
A bunch spring onions, trimmed
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 large slices sourdough bread (or other robust bread)
1 garlic clove, halved (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil, to trickle
50 g mild, crumbly goat’s cheese
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the asparagus spears and blanch for two minutes.  Scoop them out and drain.  Let the water come back to the boil.  Now add the baby broad beans and blanch for 30-60 seconds until tender, then drain.

Slice the spring onions on the diagonal into 1-2 cm pieces.  Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, add the spring onions and fry fairly gently for 2-3 minutes, until just beginning to soften.  Cut the asparagus spears into 2-3 cm pieces and add, along with the broad beans, to the spring onions in the pan.  Add salt and pepper and toss the whole lot together over the heat, for just a minute, then take off the heat.

Meanwhile, toast the bread.  Rub very lightly with the cut garlic clove, if you like.  Trickle the toast with a little olive oil.  Crumble the goat’s cheese over the veg in the pan and stir very lightly again.  Pile this veg mixture on to the toast, trickle with a touch more olive oil and serve.

More broad beans in Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes

Our early summer crops are starting to come on nicely. We have the last of the polytunnel-grown broad beans in the boxes this week along with the first of the podded peas for a lucky few.

In all the boxes this week:-
*broad beans
*turnips
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
cauliflower (Growfair, Cornwall)
potatoes (St Lawrence Farm, Bodmin)

Standard boxes also have:-
new potatoes (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
*mangetout OR podded peas
*mixed salad leaves – assorted lettuce, rocket, baby chard
*radishes

* = grown to organic principles

Please wash all vegetables and fruit. All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated

Try these cauliflower dishes-with-a-difference on Camel CSA’s recipes page: –
Cauliflower with saffron, pinenuts and raisins
Roasted cauliflower gigli with pine nuts and currants

Seasonal local food recipe No.325 – Hugh’s Fish-rizo with broad beans

This is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Light and Easy. It takes the classic seasonings of chorizo sausage and mingles them with fresh fish to create a gloriously red, richly-flavoured dish.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 7-8 minutes

Ingredients
700 g white fish fillets, such as pollack, coley, whiting or haddock skinned and boned
1 Tbsp unsmoked paprika
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
a small pinch of cayenne papper
2 tsps fennel seeds
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 tbsps rapeseed or sunflower oil, plus a little extra for cooking
150 g cooked broad beans, skinned if they are large
Juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt
a little roughly shredded mint (optional)

Method
Check the fish for pin bones, prising out any you find with tweezers, then cut into roughly 2 cm chunks.  Put into a bowl with the spices, garlic and oil.  Add a pinch of salt.  Turn together and leave for half an hour in the fridge.

Heat a large frying pan or wok over a medium-high heat.  Add a trickle more oil, then the fish, and cook, tossing often, for 4-5 minutes, until cooked through.  Stir in the broad beans and cook for another minute.  Squeeze over the lemon juice and remove from the heat.  Taste and add more salt if needed.

Divide between bowls and serve, with some fresh mint sprinkled over if you like.  Serve with rice, flatbreads or potatoes if you want a heartier supper.

Broad beans in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

In all the boxes this week:-
*broad beans
*sprouted mung beans
*mixed salad leaves – assorted lettuce, rocket, baby chard
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
Cornish strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
potatoes (St Lawrence Farm, Bodmin)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*chives/parsley bag
*Swiss/rainbow chard
*mangetout peas OR purple sprouting broccoli OR turnip bunch

* = grown to organic principles

Please wash all vegetables and fruit. All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated

Try these broad bean dishes on Camel CSA’s recipes page: –
Simple ways with broad beans
Broad bean and feta frittata

Seasonal local food recipe No. 289 – Broad bean and feta frittata

This is a deliciously simple summer dish which can be eaten hot or cold. It’s ideal for a picnic or lunch in the garden. There are many versions, this one is from Valentine Warner at BBC Food

Serves: 2

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 20 minutes

Ingredients
200g broad beans (podded weight)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, peeled, chopped (or spring onions)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 large free-range eggs
100g feta cheese, crumbled
small bunch fresh mint leaves (or parsley), chopped

Method
Cook the broad beans in a pan of boiling, salted water for 2-3 minutes, or until tender. Drain well, then refresh in cold water. When the beans are cool enough to handle, peel away the outer skins, if you want to.

Heat the oil in a small ovenproof frying pan over a low heat. Add the onion and season with a pinch of salt. Fry for 8-10 minutes, or until softened but not browned.

Meanwhile, preheat the grill to its highest setting. In a bowl, whisk the eggs until well combined and full of air, then season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

When the onions have softened, increase the heat to medium and pour in the beaten eggs. Sprinkle over the crumbled feta, mint or parsley leaves and cooked broad beans. Leave the pan on the heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the underside of the egg mixture is pale golden-brown. (NB: Do not stir the mixture.)

Transfer the pan to the grill and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, or until the top side of the egg mixture is firm and pale golden-brown. Place a large plate upside-down over the pan, then turn the pan over so that the omelette falls onto the plate. Cut it into wedges and serve with crusty white bread.

Broad beans still going strong!

In all the boxes this week: –
*broad beans
*tomatoes
*onions
*beetroot
*mangetout peas or French beans (purple or yellow)
*aubergine
potatoes

Lots of peas and beans in our organic veg boxes

It’s a lucky dip again this week. We’re each getting two of the following – French beans, broad beans, peas and mangetout. They’ll be randomly allocated by our volunteer pickers and packers.

*tomatoes
*cucumber
*spinach or Swiss chard
*new potatoes – ‘Rocket’
*onions
*mangetout peas and/or peas in the pod and/or broad beans and/or French beans (purple or yellow)

Broad beans and fennel bulb in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

AND the first of this season’s tomatoes!

In all our boxes this week:-
*broad beans
*French beans (yellow or purple) OR peas
*fennel bulb
*tomatoes
*cucumber
*courgettes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*new potatoes (CSA / Mark)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra new potatoes
*spring onions
*basil
*mixed salad bag

* = grown to organic principles

All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated.  Please wash all vegetables and fruit.

Try these delicious dishes on our recipe page –
Broad bean hummus
Crushed broad bean bruschetta