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Fava & Feta Salad

Posted on August 18, 2020August 18, 2020 by flavourie

Necessity is the mother of invention, and having a garden full of different peas and beans means the creative streak is at peak these days! Broad Beans, or Fava Beans, are top of the menu at the moment. Serve them up with a nice Chianti, or some Feta – like in this simple salad!

I grew up eating Broad Beans – and hated them. But that was because we never did the double-podding – we were all about maximum fibre in our house, so the pods came off but the skins stayed on. Being an adult has at least some advantages, in that now I am prepared to sacrifice a small amount of additional food prep time to pod and skin my broad beans and the rewards are worth it.

Sweet, nutty, grassy Broad, or Fava Beans, especially when they are medium sized in their pods, are just wonderful eaten raw. But if this doesn’t sit right with you, (or if you are someone partial to a bit of gustatory fluctuation when it comes to beans), a quick blanch for a mere minute should help you get around this!

So aside from the time taken to double-pod your beans, the rest of this salad will be ready in about five minutes. I served it up with some Ras al Hanout spiced and BBQ’s chicken thighs with some potatoes and leaves from the garden too, but this also works well as a topping for sourdough crostini.

Ingredients (serves 2, scales up easily):

2 or 3 large handfuls of Broad Beans in their pods
125 g Feta cheese
25 g pine nuts, toasted (you could also use flaked almonds)
1 spring onion, trimmed and finely sliced on the round
1 tsp sumac
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt, Black Pepper
1 tsp of lemon zest and juice from 1/4 of a lemon
Handful of herbs, roughly chopped: oregano and chive work well.

Method:

Remove the beans from their pods, remove the skin. If the beans are small to medium sized and sweet, they can be eaten raw. Any bigger and I would recommend blanching for about a minute before refreshing in iced water. If the thought of eating raw beans isn’t for you, whatever the size of the bean, then do this too!
Drain the beans, place into a bowl.
Crumble over the feta cheese, add the spring onion.
Toast the pine nuts (or flaked almonds) in a dry pan. Set aside to cool slightly.
Sprinkle the Sumac over the beans and feta. Add a small pinch of sea salt (the feta will already be salty), and a grind of black peppercorns.
Add the lemon zest and juice and a generous glug of EVO (about 1 tablespoon). Chuck in the herbs.
Mix all together and serve.

Enjoy…with a nice glass of Chianti, maybe. Fuhfuhfuhfuhfuhfuh…!

Blackcurrant & Lemon Verbena Ripple Mousse

Posted on July 28, 2020July 28, 2020 by flavourie

Hooray for Blackcurrant season! It is REALLY difficult to get blackcurrants in Ireland … so imagine my delight when they appeared in a Fruit n Veg Box from Dunworley Cottage!

Growing up, we had, what seemed to me, hundreds of Blackcurrant bushes in our fruit garden. I know because it was down to me to go out and pick the feckers all summer long! But there’s nothing quite like the scent that wafts from the leaves of the blackcurrant plant, and the sweet but tart bite of the pearlescent black and purple fruits.

I also have some Lemon Verbena growing in the garden – one of those old fashioned herbs that became the darling of chefs a few years back. Its wonderfully aromatic, and to eat it reminds me of Lemon Sherbet – like lemony popping candy – a pure delight! But what to do with it?

I decided to make a compote of the Blackcurrant scented with Lemon Verbena, and then I decided that the zingy lightness of the Lemon Verbena leant itself to a delightfully fluffy, and light as a feather, Summer Mousse. This is the recipe, and be quick: Blackcurrant season isn’t long, despite my childhood memories, and this year seems to be an exceptionally good year for them – so indulge as much as you can!

Blackcurrant & Lemon Verbena Ripple Mousse

Ingredients:

For the Compote

200 ml water
150 g white sugar
350 g blackcurrant
4 sprigs of lemon verbena (substitute for lemon zest)

For the Mousse

250 g double cream
3 medium egg whites

Method:

Into a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium-low heat, add water, sugar and lemon verbena sprigs, stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Add the blackcurrants and cook for 8 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully remove the sprigs of lemon verbena with tongs (it’ll be very hot!)
Allow the compote to cool fully before making the mousse mix.
When the compote is cooled, in one bowl whip the cream and in the other whisk the egg whites to a stiff peak.
Take one spoonful of the egg white and fold into the cream gently. Repeat until all the egg white has been folded into the cream. Do this all as gently as possible so as not to loose any of the air out of the mix.
Swirl two generous tablespoons of the compote into the mousse mix and very gently stir through so the compote ripples through the mousse.
Into a serving glass, place an amount of compote in the bottom, followed by some of the mousse mixture and top with another spoon of the compote. Garnish with a sprig of fresh lemon verbena, take up your spoon and dig in with glee.

Enjoy…

Organic Fruit & Veg Boxes available from Dunworley Cottage: https://dunworley.com/fruit-veg-boxes/

Baby Broad Bean Stew

Posted on July 28, 2020July 28, 2020 by flavourie

No matter what you think you know, there is always more to learn! This happened to me when a Greek friend responded to a photo of my Baby Broad Beans and said, I have a lovely recipe you can make with those…

The recipe that followed was more a list of ingredients – a list I might add that seemed incredibly short and looking temptingly easy to make. Further to my #GIY adventures this year, everything I plant has not only sprouted, but taken on an almost Triffid-like quality leaving me petrified for the forthcoming Pea and Bean Armageddon I see looming in my near future!

For that reason, my friend, Nana Karaoulani’s suggestion that I make a traditional Greek dish, heretofore unheard of by me, as a way of making a genius inroad in my Broad Bean Crop, was well-timed and brilliant!

Baby Broad Beans growing happily in my garden…

I do seem to be on a bit of Greek flow at the moment with my food and flavours! It must be the time of year. It’s also one of my favourite cuisines, and there is a strong familial link with this cuisine too. I didn’t hesitate in heading out to my garden and picking off a colander of smaller pods and getting to work in the kitchen.

There is one tiny time consuming activity associated with this dish (aside from growing your own veg, of course!), and that is de-stringing the beans! Usually, when I eat Broad Beans, the labour comes from double-podding: taking the beans out of their furry jackets and removing the outer skin to reveal the tender, bright green flesh within. Now, if you had my childhood, every Broad Bean ever put in front of me was subjected to single podding only. My mother, obsessed with dietary fibre, made us eat the rubber outer skin. She is right of course, but when one becomes an adult, we can do things our way, and I say Double-Podding is worth every moment.

Anyway, with baby Broad Beans (or Fava Beans as you might know them to be), what is required is to top and tail and run a pairing knife down the side seam of each bean to remove the string, keeping the pod intact. Put each bean into a bowl of lemon water to prevent oxidisation and turning the pods black where you cut them. We cook the whole thing, double-pods and all, and let me tell you: this dish is delicious! Thank you Nana for the top tip!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
500 g baby broad beans
400 g tin chopped tomato
300 ml water
3 potatoes, scrubbed/peeled and cut into apx 3 cm pieces
Salt and Pepper
Handful of Feta cheese, crumbled

Method:

Heat a saute pan over a low heat, add oil and onions. Cook the onions until softened and brown. Add the baby broad beans and potatoes, tin of tomatoes and top with the water so that all has been covered.
Cook until all is tender and most of the liquid has cooked off. You are looking for a thick sauce-like texture. Season with salt and pepper.
Tip out into a serving bowl and top with crumbled feta.

I served this dish with a joint of slow cooked lamb and a side of braised fennel topped with crispy, garlicky breadcrumbs. Delicious, and so simple – a feast for the whole family!

Enjoy…

Rhubarb & Strawberry Cobbler

Posted on July 28, 2020July 28, 2020 by flavourie

A what? You might ask! Cobbler is better known in some parts of the UK but most popular in the US. They are distinct from a Crumble in the way the topping is put together, but essential Cobblers are a fruit base with a topping that is part biscuit, part crumble and part batter.

That probably isn’t helping you construct an image in your head, but what I can tell you is that they are universally lovelier than a crumble because of the copious amounts of butter!

It’s late summer, and that means late season rhubarb and the last of the summer strawberries: two flavours I absolutely adore together. And at this time of the year, Rhubarb has enjoyed a long, slow growing period and is blushing red right now after soaking up all that sunshine. If your rhubarb patch has been kept well-watered, they will be succulent too and not at all woody.

If you’ve been following my #GIY adventures over on my Instagram page, you’ll see I’ve been reveling in more time spent in the garden this year, and all that focused time means I am being treated to the most wonderful season of homegrown fruits and veggies. In fact, this year will be the first year I harvested from my rhubarb plant. After several years of neglect, a relocation to a larger pot, new soil and plenty of organic feed and water has reaped benefits. Knowing when to pick is always a matter of timing, so when I decided it was time to clip mine, coincided with the last of my delicious strawberries being harvested too! And Cobbler was on my mind!

My other favourite Cobbler combo is also another great seasonal pairing: Peach and Raspberry, for mid summer, or Peach and Blueberry for late summer. The point is, like a crumble, a Cobbler can be any mix of seasonal fruits you wish (apple and brambleberry, anyone?), so go with whatever you fancy!

Ingredients:

4 stalks of blushing red rhubarb, cut into 2 cm pieces
250 g of strawberries, hulled and halved
Dash of water
250 g all purpose white flour
1 tsp baking powder
250 g light Demerara sugar
1 medium egg
115 g butter, melted
Whipped cream or ice cream to serve.

Method:

Heat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, fan.
Into a deep sauce pan, add rhubarb and dash of water. Cook over a medium heat until the rhubarb starts to break down a little – about 5 minutes. Add the strawberries to the rhubarb and stir gently to combine, cook for 1 minute, take the pan off the heat and set aside.
Into a bowl place the flour, baking powder, sugar and egg. Mix together using your hand until everything comes together in a crumbly texture.
Place the fruits into a deep baking dish and scatter the crumbly mix over the top.
Melt the butter and drizzle all over the crumble mixture. Place immediately in the oven and bake for 40 minutes until crisp on top and the fruit is bubbling underneath.
Serve hot from the oven and topped with some lightly whipped cream, or good quality vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy…!

Fava & Feta Salad

Kate Ryan