Another way to serve broad beans which is specially good if you’re on a nut-free diet. The beans replace the usual tahini in a hummus recipe. This comes from the Recipes without… series in Guardian Food & Drink.
Serves: 4
Cooking/preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
200g fresh broad beans, podded
110g tin chickpeas
50ml water
30ml olive oil
15ml lemon juice
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp salt
Cook the beans. Drain and allow to cool, then pop them out of their skins.
Place the skinned beans in a food processor with the remaining ingredients. Blend for about three minutes until you have a smooth paste. Add more salt if needed. Serve with flatbread.
A delicious snack or starter from Riverford Organic Farms via West Country FoodLover magazine.
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
500g broad beans (weight in their pods), podded
1 lemon
good olive oil
2 tbsp grated parmesan or vegan equivalent + more to serve
small bunch mint leaves, finely chopped
pinch of dried chilli flakes
thin slices of sourdough/ciabatta
1 garlic clove, peeled
Method
Boil the beans in salted water for 3-5 mins until tender, then mash roughly with a fork. Finely zest the lemon, then squeeze the juice of one half into the beans. Stir in 4 tbsp olive oil, the lemon zest, parmesan, mint and chilli. Season with salt and pepper to taste (you may want a little more lemon juice too).
Toast, grill or griddle the bread, then rub with a cut clove of garlic. Drizzle with some olive oil, then pile on the broad bean mixture and grate over a little more cheese to serve.
This is a dish for hot weather from BBC Good Food. It’s perfect for barbecues. Janet, who normally posts our recipes, says: “It was really tasty when we had it for lunch.”
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes – No cooking involved
Ingredients
1 large cucumber, peeled
1 tsp golden caster sugar
1 tbsp rice white wine vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
small knob of ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large red chilli, halved, deseeded and finely sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
large handful coriander leaves
Method
Slice the cucumber in half lengthways and use a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds. Slice cucumber into thick diagonal chunks. Tip it into a bowl and sprinkle with the sugar, vinegar and large pinch of salt. Leave for about 30 mins in the fridge. Meanwhile, tip the other salad ingredients into a bowl. Drain the cucumber and tip in with the rest.
A simple summer pudding and my Mum’s addition of yoghurt makes it a little less rich.
Serves: 2-3
Preparation time: 20-30 minutes
Ingredients
250g gooseberries, topped and tailed
sugar to taste
150 ml double cream
150 ml greek style yoghurt
Method
Stew the gooseberries until soft with a little sugar and leave to cool. If like me you don’t like the seeds you can sieve them to get a puree, in which case there is no need to top and tail before stewing. Mix the cooked gooseberries with the yoghurt. Whip the cream until you reach the soft peak stage and fold into the gooseberry and yoghurt mix. Taste and add more sugar if required. Serve with shortbread biscuits.
A really simple way of preparing courgettes as a side dish. It’s from the classic Italian collection of recipes in River Cafe Cook Book Easy. Quite frankly, it doesn’t make much difference if you omit the standing time.
Serves: 4
Preparation/cooking time: 15 minutes (+30 mins standing time)
Ingredients
1kg courgettes
½ a nutmeg, grated
2 tbs parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tbs extra virgin oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Wash the courgettes, dry, then grate them on the large holes of a cheese grater. Place in a colander, spread out and sprinkle with salt.
Leave for half an hour to release water, then wrap in a clean towel and wring out the water. Heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan, add the courgettes, nutmeg and garlic, and season. Cover and cook on a medium heat for three minutes. Add the parsley and stir to combine. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.
My husband knocked up this tasty stir-fry with some of the veg box contents and served it with fried noodles and beansprouts.
Serves 2
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time:10 minutes
Ingredients
250g mangetout, trimmed
150g shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tbs vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbs fresh ginger, shredded
1 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs water
Method
Heat a wok over a high heat and add the oil. When the oil is smoking add the onion, mushrooms and mangetout and stir fry for 3 minutes. Turn the heat to medium and add the garlic and ginger then stir fry for a further 30 seconds, taking care not to burn the garlic or ginger. Stir in the oyster sauce and water and cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve with noodles or rice.
This is a perfect dish to serve on a hot summer’s day. It’s from Cordon Vert by Colin Spencer.
Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 30-40 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbs parmesan cheese, grated
55g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs
170g gruyère cheese, grated
4 eggs, separated
150 ml single cream
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-3 pinches cayenne pepper
2 tbs warm water
4-5 tbs mayonnaise
salad leaves, shredded
2-3 tomatoes, finely sliced
30g mushrooms, finely sliced
1 tbs fresh chives, parsley or mint, chopped
bunch of watercress to garnish
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Line a swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper and sprinkle with half the parmesan cheese.
Mix the breadcrumbs and gruyere cheese together in a bowl. Add the egg yolks, cream, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Stir in the water. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the cheese mixture. Pour into the swiss roll tin and bake for 10-15 minutes until firm and springy to the touch.
Remove from the oven and let cool. Sprinkle another piece of greaseproof paper with the rest of the parmesan cheese and turn the cheese roulade onto the paper. Peel off the paper on top and spread the mayonnaise over the roulade, then sprinkle with the salad leaves, tomatoes, mushrooms and herbs. Roll up loosely, but firmly. Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with watercress and serve in slices.
This tasty side dish is from the Riverford Organic Farms’ cookbook. It can also be made with spinach.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
200g cooked chopped chard (or spinach)
1 egg, beaten
200ml double cream
1 tbs grated parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Mix together all the ingredients. Bake in a gratin dish at 150°C/Gas Mark 2 for about 25 minutes until just set.
This is from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s book Jerusalem. It is crunchy and refreshing. I added some chopped celery to make the salad go further but it would also be easy to scale down the dressing ingredients to suit the amount of kohlrabi you have. For those of you who live local to Wadebridge, sumac can be bought at Elixir Health Foods at the top of Molesworth Street.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
750g kohlrabi
80g Greek yoghurt
70g soured cream
50g thick double cream
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp finely shredded fresh mint
1 tsp dried mint
20 g baby watercress
1/4 tsp sumac
salt and pepper
Method
Peel the kohlrabi, cut into 1.5 cm dice and put in a large mixing bowl. Put the yoghurt, soured cream, double cream, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil in a medium bowl. Add 1/4 tsp salt and a healthy grind of pepper and whisk well. Add the dressing to the kohlrabi, followed by the fresh and dried mint and half the watercress. Gently stir and place on a serving dish. Dot the remaining watercress on top and sprinkle with the sumac.
This is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg Every Day! and is a perfect summer risotto. I often use chicken stock instead of vegetable stock.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35-40 minutes
Ingredients
1 tbs olive or rapeseed oil
40 g butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
800ml hot vegetable stock
200g risotto rice
100ml white wine
250-300g baby carrots, scrubbed and halved or quartered lengthways
150g baby broad beans
20g parmesan cheese, finely grated
A handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
olive or rapeseed oil to serve
Method
Heat the oil and 25 g butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry gently for 8-10 minutes, until softened. Stir the rice into the onion and cook for a minute or two, then stir again. Add the wine and bring to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes, stirring from time to time, until the wine is absorbed.
Start adding the hot stock a ladleful at a time, stirring frequently and add more stock as it is absorbed. It should take about 20-25 minutes for the stock to be absorbed and for the rice to be cooked but still al dente. Add the carrots when the rice has been cooking for about 12 minutes; put the broad beans in about 5 minutes from the end of the cooking time.
When the rice and vegetables are cooked, turn off the heat. Add the cheese and the remaining butter, cover and leave for a couple of minutes. Add most of the parsley and season to taste. Serve in bowls with the remaining parsley scattered over and trickle over a little oil.
