a perfect summer supper...

I'm still enjoying getting my delivery of organic fruit and veg from Abel & Cole but my thoughts have turned away from warming winter soups (although with all the crappy weather we've been having maybe I've been a little hasty!). Some of the fruit and veg I get is certainly challenging me to cook things that I wouldn't have otherwise done.

For instance I've never actually put broad beans on my shopping list before but as they've been part of the last 4 weeks deliveries and I don't wish to consign their green lovlieness to the compost bin we've been eating a lot of this delicious salad:

It's just lettuce (whichever variety you prefer -  I've used romaine),
tomatoes (again variety up to you -  I've used baby plum tomatoes),
cooked and cooled broad beans (pod them, boil for around 5 minutes, allow to cool, and peel them if like me you don't like the tough skins),
bacon / pancetta (fried crispy then allowed to cool slightly)
peperonata (I used half a jar of Sacla but you could make your own by slow roasting onions, tomatoes, red & yellow peppers in olive oil and allowing to cool slightly)

Method:

rip lettuce and chuck in a salad bowl, throw on peperonata, tomatoes, beans and bacon, toss lightly, twist on some freshly ground black pepper and grab a fork (goes very well with a gallon glass of chilled white wine)

I tell you, broad beans will be on my shopping list for the rest of the season!

Comments

[Ali]

There's a pick your own broad bean place near us and it's great! I love broad bean dip (think guacamole, but with BBs instead) and pasta sauce with cream BBs and pancetta.

Your salad looks v. tasty.

[blueadt]

I adore broad beans but both my DH & DD hate them so there's no way I could put them in a salad :(

[KarenV]

Mmmm! Your salad looks delicious! We've just started ordering from Abel and Cole and enjoyed broad beans for dinner last night too :)

[Lucy Locket]

Yummy - that looks like one of our allotment lunches although you would have to add new potatoes too! Just picked some baby broad beans this afternoon. Lucy

[Anina]

Broad beens have baffled me for years too. That salad looks wonderful though.

[Zoe]

I like broad beans now but didn't as a child. Thanks for the recipe. I cannot get any veg deliveres from anyone in Norfolk or nationwide. So annoying.

[Shannon]

What a yummy salad. I was never a veggie eater as a child, but I make a point to try veggies more and more now as an adult. I am constantly surprised by the things I like now. If my mom could only see me now. :)

[bigbucketgirl]

There'd be no chance of me making that salad...one of my 'guilty pleasures' is buying a huge bag of broad beans and eating them raw, straight from the pod, ideally with a copy of Elle decoration and all 3 kids asleep!

[Suzie Sews]

Yum!!! I think your organic box must be a lot nicer than ours.
Suzie Sews

[Mirre]

The salad looks delicious!

[Sue]

I love eating broad beans raw without the skins. My dad used to grow them and cook them with the skins and they tasted disgusting. Your salad looks very appetising, and I will definately have to try it out one day too.

[Monkee Maker]

mmmmmm, bacon! One question .... do your kids eat that rather scrumptious looking salad too? I know it's my own fault for being too lazy in those all important early years, but these days I quite often have to make three different meals! And I hate cooking. Hate it! Love bacon though.

[Cazzie]

Thank you for the idea - I've tried mine hot with bacon and onion but not in a salad - will definitely be trying it - not sure the kids will though :(
I love my A&C boxes every Monday

[nicolette]

I love breadbeans, and thanks Julie, I know what I’ll have for dinner tonight!

[nicolette]

sorry I meant brOadbeans.

[monica]

oh yum... and garlic bread...

[dottycookie]

That looks yummy - we love broad beans here, even my 5 year old! I might just make this for supper - I have some beans that need using up ...

[Melissa]

Ummm, the salad looks delicious. I hardly ever eat broad beans. Must try some. How is your herb garden going? I had my son pick cherry tomatoes with me today in our little plot. He loved it but refused to give up his hard won tomatoes. He would pick one, carefully bite into it, shudder and make a horrible face, drop it and then pick another and start the whole procedure over again! I finally had to drag him indoors to protect our plants from his overenthusiastic little fingers.

[nicolette]

Hi Julie, I made the salad yesterday. It was delicious. I added some sun-dried tomatoes in oil and some Parmesan cheese slices! Yummy!!!

[Victoria May Plum]

You have to have salad in the summer don't you? even in the crappy weather! Yours looks really nice.
We have grown far too many broad beans and salad leaves to know what to do with - suffice it to that we have salad with everything now. There are so many things that you can do with broad beans - when you get desperate!
Victoria x

[marie]

Hi Julie,

I'm not a broad bean fan, but maybe I will have to try this recipe and see whether I change my mind!

Marie x

[Nikki]

That salad looks so yummy!!

[Gill]

Broad beans were pretty much the only vegetable I wouldn't eat ( must be those memories of them being served up hard in their skins at school),until a couple of years ago when I tasted them peeled and lightly steamed, and I was converted. Think I might have some this week, thanks for inspiring us!

[clare]

Had a go at making your salad today...delicious!! Added mozzarella..yum, yum!! Cheese is a particular weakness of mine!

Keep the recipes coming!!

[mrspao]

I like the sound of that salad. I quite like the salad in the brown Delia Smith book which combines them with a mustardy dressing. I'm definitely going to have to grow some broad beans this winter.

[Rebecca (Sallygardens Smallholding)]

Broad beans are my favourite too, they are all ripe right now in our polytunnel and the kids just go and munch them right off the stems! Beans also make a great stew along with the herb summer or winter savoury which gives it a great kick.