Catalan Style Broad Beans

 

 

 

 

The spring vegetables are here, broad beans, peas, spring onions and fresh garlic.  The cherries are starting to turn pink and the birds are starting to gather around ,it won't be long before we hear the melodious song of the Golden Oriole, a lover of cherries.  The Hoopoe, Bee Eater and Swallow have already arrived and are busy nest building, spring is finally here..

 

I'm having a good crop of broad beans this year but I have had to spend quite a bit of time wiping the black fly off the pods and leaves.  The ants, well they are always present in my veg garden.  Luckily for me that the garden is full of ladybirds, so help is at hand.

 

This dish of broad beans is served as a tapa in bars but can also be served as a starter but I must warn you that it is very rich in flavour.  I have included white pudding, not easily available outside of Spain, so this can be omitted but the black pudding cannot as it is an integral part of this lovely dish.  A trip down the butchers to buy the meat and at the same time I picked up a few tips. I was told some people add a small glass of white wine, some add a glass of sweet muscatel wine and some a splash of anise based alcohol. The choice is yours to experiment. 

 

Serves 4 as a starter

 

Ingredients

 

1 kg of fresh, tender broad beans, shucked weight

2 spring onions, the large type

2 fresh garlic cloves

200 g pork belly

150 g black pudding

150 g white pudding, optional

100 g Serrano ham or pancetta

1 bay leaf

2 ripe tomatoes

sprig of mint

large pinch of aniseed

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

 

 

How to go about it

Prepare the meat, cut the pork belly and ham or pancetta into strips.  Slice the puddings into half moon slices.  Finely chop the onions and garlic.  In a frying pan heat some olive oïl and add the pork and ham and gentle fry until they start to give their fat, add the onions, garlic,bay leaf and anise.  Gentle cook this until the onion is transparent.  Cut the tomatoes in half and grate the tomato over the pan leaving behind the skins, let this cook gentle for about 10 minutes.  Add the broad beans, season with salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes, moving the beans constantly.  Lastly add the black and white pudding and the few leaves of torn mint, cook for 5 more minutes.

Artichoke and black pudding Pasta

When you grow your own veg, you don't always have the choice of what you are going to eat.  It's a question of what needs harvesting in the garden and how am I going to cook this.  This is a recipe that works with different combinations of early Summer vegetables.  I bought these artichoke plants about 3 months ago and was told that they didn't need cutting down to the ground at the end of May and they wouldn't be any artichokes till the following Spring, so I was surprised to see these artichokes in June!

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 artichokes
bunch of swiss chard
1 courgette
handful of broad beans, fresh or frozen
2 black puddings
olive oil
salt and pepper
400g macaroni pasta

For the sauce

100 dl olive oil
100g parmesan cheese
1 lemon
fresh basil
3 cloves fresh garlic
small bunch of basil


I had in my garden an enormous plant which I knew to be of the onion/garlic family but was told by a neighbour it is what they call french garlic and it is used to make allioli (Catalan garlic mayonaise) as it is milder.

How to go about it

First make the sauce by finely chopping garlic and basil, add olive oil and the juice of lemon and parmesan, mix with a fork.

Put a saucepan of water on to boil for pasta.

Prepare artichokes, discarding outer leaves and cut into eights, fry in olive oil.  Wash and separate stalks of chard, chop stalks and add to artichokes.  Finely slice courgettes in semi circles and add to pan.  Fry on low heat for 5 minutes.  Add chopped chard leaves and broad beans and fry for another 5 minutes.  While this is cooking, put pasta on to cook.  Follow cooking instructions on packet.  Drain but DON'T RINSE.   Add a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Cover and keep warm.

Slice black pudding and gentle fry on both side for a few minutes. Remember that black pudding is already cooked so it just needs to be heated through and browning a bit. 

Mix pasta into veg, then mix in sauce.  Serve in bowls or on plates and arrange black pudding on top.

Broad bean, pea and artichoke orzo

When I look at this selection of vegetables I automatically think of 'Risi e Bisi' but I have no risotto rice or even bomba (Spanish paella rice).  I could make a 'Vignole' but I had that last night with black pudding.  I have a couple of artichokes in the fridge, a courgette and half a tin of anchovies.  I search through the cupboard and come across a packet of orzo.  A pasta that resembles barley, which is what its name means in Italian.  I ponder for a moment on how to go about it, I don't want a glutenous mush at the end , yes it is possible to cook it in the same way as a risotto.  So in the selection of vegetables I have the following

handful each of rocket, spinach, broad beans and peas 
sprig each of fresh parsley, rosemary and mint. 
2-3 fresh, green garlic,chopped
wild asaparagus, chopped
2-3 artichokes, prepared and cut into small pieces
1 courgette, finely sliced
olive oil
4 anchovy fillets
2 dried cayenne peppers
parmesan
1 onion, finely chopped
juice of half a lemon
300 g orzo

Firstly, make a vegetable stock from all of the vegetable trimmings, strain and have at a simmer at the side of frying pan for cooking the pasta.  Gentle fry onions in olive oil, when they are soft add artichokes and courgettes and continue cooking for 5 minutes, pour in lemon juice.  Add garlic, anchovies and dried chillies, fry for 2 minutes then add pasta.  Gentle fry pasta for a few minutes until it is coated in oil and starts to take colour, add laddlefuls of stock little by little with a pinch of salt.  Cook for 3-4 minutes then add the broad beans, peas, rocket, spinach and aparagus, add another laddle or two of stock, stir in parmasan, turn of  heat and cover with a tea towel for 5 minutes before serving.