spring is broad bean season, and reputable fresh food purveyors have mounds of them. at the farmers market last saturday i was stuffing handfuls of fresh broad beans into a bag, when not one but two people came up to me and asked what i did with them.
were they kidding? fresh broad beans are delicious! you don’t have to do much at all. try it for yourself.
choose beans with firm, bright green skin and smaller beans where possible – they are more tender. if you’re motivated, broad beans are easy to grow, even in a small garden plot.
this recipe is a very simple way to enjoy their flavour. the key is speed – if you boil or fry the beans for too long, they grow floury or the skins become tough.
the recipe also conforms to my mantra, “bacon makes everything taste better”. I mean, just about every civilised culture on earth has their own version of bacon, right?
to feed: 2 people, as a snack or entree.
1/2 kg broad beans, unshelled
approx 200g piece of speck or kaiserflesch)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
sea salt
pepper
shell the broad beans; chop the speck (or kaiserflesch, or other bacon variety) into small chunks.
boil water in a saucepan; heat some olive oil in a non-stick pan.
fry the speck until half cooked; as it continues to cook, boil the beans until soft (about 30-90 seconds – the smaller or fresher the beans, the less time they need).
drain the beans in a colander and run under cold water to refresh.
drop the beans into the pan with the now cooked speck; toss for 30 seconds. as you do this, drizzle in a little good-quality olive oil, a good dash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.
serve up immediately! yumyumyuuuummmmm.
variations: try a chorizo sausage per person instead of the speck.
