Recipes

Yummy Broad Bean Recipes

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With the abundance of broad beans this spring and early summer we are eating a range of yummy recipes most days. We freeze and dry the excess, to then use throughout the year in a range of recipes, especially when there is a shortage of fresh vegetables from the garden.  The dried beans we use in Felafels as Fava beans.  The frozen beans we use as we would fresh broad beans, in frittatas, curries and as a lovely addition to plain kicharee. With the double podded beans, we use as a side vegetable instead of needing to purchase frozen peas.

Warm Broad Bean Salad

simple broad bean salad

Ingredients

  • Broad beans
  • Simple dressing with 2/3 Olive oil and 1/3 lemon juice
  • Mint
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Cook broad beans in boiling salt water for 2-4 minutes, depending on size i.e. the smaller they are, the less cooking they need. Run under cold water to stop the cooking. Add the remaining ingredients and serve immediately.

Smashed Broad Beans

smashed double poddedbroad beans

(Adapted from Stephanie Alexander, Stefano’s Smashed Broad Beans, the Kitchen Garden Companion, 2009)

  • Double podded broad beans
  • 1 clove of garlic (or more if you like it garlicy)
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt (we used our locally harvested Dimboola Pink Salt)
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Roughly crush broad beans in a mortar and pestle, mix with plenty of grated pecorino cheese, olive oil crushed garlic and salt and pepper to taste. .

Freezing broad beans

frozen broad beans

Blanch (par boil) freshly podded beans for approx. 1 minute, cool under cold running water to stop the cooking process. To minimise clumping together, freeze first on trays for 1 hour, and then put into clip lock bags, to be used as needed throughout the year.

This year for the first time we have frozen some double podded beans to be used throughout the year in the dip, as well as a side sweet green vegetable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup

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Autumn and Winter are the time of year where there is an abundance of wild mushrooms growing in our gardens and community. Here in Central Victoria the mushrooms that are simple and easy to identify are the Saffron Milk Caps and Slippery Jacks and can be found in our numerous local pine forests. They provide a nourishing and readily available food source.

** Please ensure that you receive guidance/training on how to correctly identify these mushrooms before picking and eating them.

Here is a simple and easy Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup to warm you on a cold winters day.

Ingredients

75g butter

1 brown onion, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh rosemary

500 gms Saffron Milk Cap mushrooms, coarsely chopped

1 L (4 cups) home made stock, chicken or vegetable

Ground nutmeg (to taste)

250ml (1 cup) thickened cream (keep a little for garnish)

Garnish with finely chopped fresh parsley and/or chives

Cooking Instructions

Gently melt the butter, add the onions and cook until soft. Add garlic and rosemary, stir for 1 minute and then add mushrooms, stirring for a further 1 minute to coat with mixture. Add the stock and nutmeg, bring to the boil and simmer until the mushrooms are cooked, approx. 10 minutes.

Add the cream then remove from heat and blend until smooth. Serve with a dollop of cream and sprinkle of parsley and chives.

Thai-Inspired Pumpkin Soup

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In the autumn, you can’t go by a bowl of warming pumpkin soup. This recipe gives pumpkin soup a special twist using the zesty exotic flavours of the East. This recipe is from Stephanie Alexander, The Cooks Companion.

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp Red Curry paste (from a jar if you are in a hurry, or make from scratch with recipe below *)

1 onion, diced

1 stick of celery, diced

1 tomato, chopped

1 kg pumpkin, peeled and diced

Salt

1l of chicken or vegetable stock

400mls coconut milk

Freshly ground pepper

Squeeze of lemon or lime

Fresh coriander leaves

Heat a large, heavy based saucepan over a medium heat, then add oil and curry paste. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until fragrant. Add vegetables and season with salt. Reduce heat and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add stock and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until pumpkin is tender. Puree soup. Then whisk in coconut milk and adjust seasoning to taste. Garnish with coriander leaves.

*Red Curry Paste

From Women’s Weekly (1998) Easy Thai-Style Cookery.

Makes approximately 1 cup. Paste will keep for 2 weeks in the fridge. Alternatively freeze in ice cube trays, transfer into zip lock backs and store in the freezer for up to a year.

1 small red onion roughly chopped

3 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp fresh chopped lemon grass

1 tbsp fresh coriander root

2 red chillis

1 inch (approx.) galangal root (can be substituted with galangal powder)

½ tsp shrimp paste

1 kaffir lime leaf

2 tsp paprika

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp cumin seeds

3 tsp oil

Blend all of the ingredients until smooth.

Zucchini, Tomato and Caper Pasta

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This zucchini, tomato and caper pasta, adapted from the River Café London *, is our family’s favorite meal to create in the summer. It uses marjoram, the healing herb I highlight in Summer Healing Garden 2017.  It gives us a delicious excuse to use the endless supply of zucchini and tomatoes available from our healing garden.

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Ingredients

320g Spaghetti

400g Zucchini

2 Garlic Cloves

2 Fresh or Dried Chilis

1 tbs Sea salt

3 tbs Salted Capers

250 g Tomatoes

2 tbs Fresh Marjoram (or 2 tsp dried Marjoram)

Extra virgin olive oil

2 tbs White wine vinegar

2 tsp fresh marjoram to garnish

Directions

  1. Cut the zucchini into match stick sized pieces (Approx 15cm x 5mm). Peel and chop the garlic and chilis. Rinse the capers and chop roughly. Place the zucchini in a colander, scatter with the sea salt, and leave for 15 minutes. Squeeze and pat dry.
  1. Cut the tomatoes in half or quarters if large. Squeeze out the juice and seeds reserving the juice. Combine the tomato pieces with the juice then add the capers, chilli, marjoram and garlic. Stir in 3 tbs of the olive oil and the vinegar and season. Leave to marinate for 15 minutes.
  1. Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a thick-bottomed frying pan. When hot, add the zucchini and fry to lightly brown. Season. Stir in the tomatoes and remove from the heat.
  1. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente, drain. Add the sauce, turn to coat each strand, then mix in the fresh oregano and drizzle with olive oil.

 

* Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers (2003) River Café Cook Book Easy, Ted Smart, London.

© 2017 Jane Mallick. All rights reserved.