Beans!

 

My first broad beans of the season:

 

They're a little bit late. I know this because my neighbour has picked, podded, frozen and dug the remains of hers back into her soil already and planted out tomatoes on top of where they were. I only have a small patch, mainly because I don't like broad beans all that much. Until now. My experience of broad beans in the past has been giant beans with the outside a kind of grey colour and boiled to a soggy mass. I have decided that if you pick the beans really young, they are sweet and delicious!

 

For dinner the other night we has this delicious broad bean bruschetta, an adaptation of a Donna Hay recipe. We brushed slices of sour dough with olive oil, grilled them, then rubbed them with a clove of raw garlic, like you would for bruschetta. Then spread on some soft fetta, topped it with beans quickly blanched in boiling, salted water and then sprinkle dover some gremolata (finely chopped parsley with lemon zest). It was really tasty and the beans were delicious;

Even Mustard thought it looked pretty good and insisted on watching us eat every single bite with a mournful expression on his face!

 

I'm now watching closely for the next lot of beans to grow to the right size for picking!