A Midsummer Day's Feast

It's not been uncommon in our kitchen over the last few weeks for Nik to appear at the door with a bundle of freshly picked broad beans to shell and stir into pretty much whatever I'm preparing, from salad to soup, kedgeree to curry. It's been a delicious trickle of home grown gorgeousness on our plates but it was time for the broad beans to move on and make way for the leeks, ready and waiting to take the stage. Now, the broad beans haven't enjoyed the wet spring and the cool start to summer any more than the rest of us and they've pretty variable in size from what you might expect to smaller than your average pea, but they've been no less tasty for their inconsistent stature even if they've been a little fiddly to get out of the pod at times! It was a pretty full morning of picking and shelling, towards the end of which Nik headed over to the other veg patch to fetch in some beetroot, a handful of small parsnips and a few baby fennel bulbs. Well, all that fresh produce kept me fully occupied while he got on with weeding the freed up bed and companion planting some brussel sprout seedlings around the lettuces. The Marvel and Little Gem lettuces are also starting to be past their best, though they've been as abundant as they've been succulent over the last month or so and I shall miss them when they're gone!

So what did I whip up in the kitchen, you may be wondering!? I'd already decided that when the time came I'd fall back on the trusty houmous template to celebrate all the joy of the broad beans and since beetroot and parsnip always speak to me of a big tray of herbed roast veg, that magical playmate of houmous, that was that pretty much sussed! I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how to roast veg but here's a quick rundown on the broad bean prep!

Broad Bean Houmous

Houmous itself is a favourite for being so quick to prepare (that's assuming canned chickpeas of course) but I'm afraid this doesn't fall into quite the same category in terms of speedy prep time as I really do recommend double shelling the beans. It's the only time I'll do that and we normally enjoy them straight from the pod and still in their skins but to achieve a good, smooth texture for the dip, you'll need to invest the time in blanching and shelling them to reveal the juicy, pea like emerald jewel that nestles inside its little leather jacket. You might think that sounds like a bit of a chore but I'd merely encourage you to see it as an opportunity to practise a little mindfulness. A guided bean-shelling meditation would go something like: "connect with your breath, feel the connection with your feet on the kitchen tiles, notice the texture of the bean in your fingertips and the temperature of the blanching water. Now, when the time feels right, bring your awareness to the errant bean that you've accidentally placed in the pile of shed skins and wonder where your mind could possibly have drifted to..." Joking aside, I do find repetitive tasks like this quite useful for buying myself a little bit of 'checking in with myself' time during a busy day and I often reflect on how lucky I am that so much of my food has been made very conveniently available to me (back to that hand tin of chickpeas!)


Once you've got your beans double podded, things speed up a little. Add the juice of a lemon, a goodly glug of olive oil, salt, pepper and herb of your choice to taste. I used fennel today, since we'd harvested it for the bulb but coriander would work well as would any other softer leafed herb such as oregano, dill or parsley. Blend that all up and when you've got a sense of how thick that's turned out, you might consider adding a spoonful or two of tahini if you'd prefer it thicker. Tahini can be a touch on the bitter side, I find bit that can be remedied with a dab of good ol' apple and pear spread. Sorted!

Just as I was reflecting on how tasty the resulting meal would be with one, two, three, four (!) homegrown ingredients, Nik popped his head round the door and said "we really need to eat the artichokes!" so it was back to the veg prep bowl for yet another seasonal treat! Back when I had my allotment in London, I used to enjoy serving globe artichokes minimally prepared, simply trimmed a little, steamed and served with a classic dip of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The excitment of being presented with that exotic single bloom to be manually destructed at the table and devoured in an oily fingered frenzy seemed decadent enough to qualify as a vegan version of a plateau de fruits de mer. Well that's great as a starter but it doesn't work too well as part of a main meal so here's the alternative way of preparing a globe artichoke:

Globe Artichokes

Firstly, prepare a bowl of water with the juice of a lemon squeezed into it. Don't worry about the pips, this isn't to consume, you'll be using it just to prevent oxidation. Keep the squeezed lemon halves in the water. Working fairly quickly, remove the toughest, shell-like outer petals until you get down to the soft, pale heart. Chop off the top to remove the remaining tough bits and trim the green stumps of the outer segments. Keep as much of the stem as you can as that's tasty too but you may need to remove the toughest parts. Chop the heads in half to check for the fluffy centre, which is the part that would form the flower, as you'll need to scoop that out, if it's there. If the head is young enough, like these, it won't trouble you though!

​As soon as you can, pop the halves in the lemony water. If it starts to brown before you've got that far, grab one of your lemon halves and rub it on the surface of the artichoke, that should prevent further discolouration. Strain of the lemon water and place the artichokes in a pan of boiling water. It'll take between ten and twenty minutes to be soft enough to pierce easily with a fork, depending on the size of the chunks. Strain them off again and as they're cooling chop up some mint and oregano. Stir the herbs into some olive oil with salt and pepper and use the to dress the artichoke hearts. Totally delicious... And look! Clean fingers!

We enjoyed the roast veg (OK, yes, I also added some shop bought leeks, carrots, sweet potatoes and mushrooms) cooked with dried rosemary and sage from last season. Served with a few baby broad beans stirred through and heaped on a baked potato (speaking of which, I should probably write a new potato blog soon!) with a dollop of broad bean houmous and sides of lettuce and artichoke. 

Yummy! A grand total of no less than ten home grown ingredients in that meal and a fridge full of prepped veg to see us through the next couple of days to boot. There's so much you can do with next-day roast veg that I'm never shy of quantities when I'm roasting! 

​As I mentioned in my last garden update it's been a tough year for the garden. From inclement weather to nibbled crops, it seems Nik's just overcome one challenge and another presents itself. There's been no shortage of hard work in cultivating even a modest haul of veg this year but dinner this evening showed just how much that work has paid off.

Of course I could also talk about the rhubarb and gooseberry fool served with strawberries for dessert...

​But that would just be showing off now, wouldn't it!?