Broad beans 101 and a recipe

One of our favourite family pasta recipes originally came from my Italian sisters-in-law and includes broad beans. I normally make it with frozen ones as the season is short, but when we visited my mum recently she was growing a little forest of them! So I jumped at the chance to make this favourite with some fresh tender beans for a change.



And in case you're not familiar with them I thought I'd show you a little about this lovely bean...



Broad beans growing and being harvested (enthusiastically!).



Freshly picked beans



The beans podded. The outer shells (on the left) are discarded (great for your worm farm or compost bin) and you end up with a pile of single podded beans.

If your beans are a bit old or a bit large it's good to double pod them as they may be a bit chewy - the most tender part is right inside (see pic below). The easiest way to double pod them is to heat the single podded beans briefly by boiling, steaming or microwaving them for a couple of minutes, then when cool pinching/slitting the pod open and slipping the bright green inner pod out.

Keep in mind that if you buy broad beans frozen they come single podded and need to be podded (making them double podded - phew... still with me? :-).



Left: unpodded Centre: single podded Right: double podded



Spaghetti with tomato broad bean sauce & garlic croutons
serves around 6

Tomato sauce (this is my version, you can use another basic recipe or buy a ready made sauce to speed it up)
1 small brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Garlic croutons
Olive oil
cubed bread, about 3 cups (we like either Italian or Turkish bread but any crusty loaf will do)
Salt

Cook the tomato sauce first: Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Fry onion and garlic until onion starts to go translucent. Add tinned tomatoes, water, sugar, salt and pepper, stir then simmer for at least half an hour. The flavour will keep developing the longer it's cooked - add a little water if it starts to get too dry.

Pod the broad beans and add to the tomato sauce, heating for another 10 minutes or so. They don't need much cooking.

Next cook the croutons: heat a few splashes of olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add the cubed bread and garlic and fry, stirring constantly so all the sides get a little browned and crisp. Sprinkle with a little salt if you wish. I like salt flakes.

Cook pasta according to instructions on the pack. Place a pile on each plate, add a spoonful of tomato broad bean sauce and then sprinkle some croutons on top. Finish with parmesan cheese.

• Tomato sauce can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated. It also freezes well, so you can always double the recipe and freeze half for another time.


Can we eat it yet Mum? Stop taking photos and let us eat!

Simple family vegetarian meal - green pasta

Gratuitous pretty broccoli pic :-)

Another popular simple vegetarian meal here is a tasty green pasta, full of yummy healthy goodies. You can add a handful of nuts for texture and crunch (and protein), or leave it out. I sometimes serve this dish with a bean salad to up the nutrient content of the meal, and of course crusty bread makes a welcome addition.



For the kids I usually take some of the vegetable mixture and blend it with a stick mixer before stirring in the pasta. Less asthetically pleasing but makes the kids happy without being obviously heavily laden with broccoli: "I love the green pasta mum!"




Zucchini, broccoli and green olive pasta

400g spaghetti (or other pasta)
1 medium head of broccoli
3 tblsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic
4 medium zucchini
1 cup green olives, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup of toasted almonds, skin on or off
Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley, to serve

Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Salt the water to your taste (I add about a tablespoon), then add spaghetti. Cook until about 2 minutes before suggested cooking time is up, and at this point add the broccoli so that it cooks in the pasta water. Finish cooking then drain and set aside (reserve a little of the cooking water to use later).



Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan to medium heat, then add olive oil and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Turn heat down to low, add grated zucchini and cook until it is starting to soften.



Add green olives and almonds if using, then pasta. Toss it all together thoroughly. Add a little of the reserved cooking water if the mix needs loosening a little.



Serve with grated parmesan and sprinkle with some fresh parmesan.

Serves 4-6

Simple family vegetarian meal

People often ask me for ideas for simple vegetarian family meals, so I thought from time to time I'd show you some of those we enjoy.



As you may know, I am a vegetarian (lacto-ovo - I eat eggs and dairy but no meat or seafood, since I was 15), and the Mr and kids are not. I don't cook meat for them but about once a week I cook them fish as I feel this adds something to their diet. The Mr cooks them meat occasionally on the weekends and also buys them meat sometimes for their sandwiches and when we go out for dinner. But as I am the main cook in the house I get to choose what we eat mostly :-) And of course I cook what I feel like - or anything I can make up from what happens to be in the fridge and cupboard at the time.

What was in the cupboard recently was a packet of "Israeli cous cous", the large grain version of the more common small one. So I decided to do a bit of a fridge vegie clean-out and make roast vegies with cous cous and chick peas.



When I cook roast vegies I like to do a tray of root vegetables, including anything I have.
This one included:
• carrots
• potatoes
• parsnips
• sweet potatoes
• onions
• beetroot (added after pic taken)



And also a tray of soft vegetables like:
• capsicum (peppers)
• mushrooms
• zucchini (courgettes)
• whole cloves of garlic in their skins - yum

Add a generous glug of olive oil (hey, it's good for you!) and cook in a preheated oven at about 200c until the edges start to brown and they are nicely cooked. The soft vegies will not take as long as the root vegies so add them to the oven maybe 15 minutes or so later.



The big cous cous cooked like a dream, unlike the sometimes infuriating small cous cous that can stick together - arghh! I followed the packet instructions but cooked it with a bit of stock (I like Massell brand vegetable stock cubes), then added some chopped fresh herbs, chopped green olives and some chick peas. It's also nice with some toasted chopped almonds.



My little helpers couldn't wait to sample it...



and kept coming back for more*.

The Mr and I like to spice this up with a harissa or hot sauce of some sort on top, it's also great with some natural yoghurt on the side or some crumbled fetta on top.

* Just in case you're wondering, no, they're not super-kids, they didn't eat all of the vegies, and a fair amount of cous cous got squashed into the floor ;-)