Broad Bean and Feta Cheese Salad

Simple, quick - what more could you want. A great way of serving the first crop of broad beans is this broad bean and feta cheese salad. This does work best with the smallest broad beans you can grow or find.... don't try them later in the season... you need them young and sweet. This is a great accompaniment to a Greek style meal of hummus and pitta or just on it's own.

Serves 2
Couple handfuls of podded broad beans
About 50g feta cheese cut into small cubes
Small bunch of fresh mint
Olive oil
Seasoning

1. Chop finely the mint leaving a sprig for decoration.
   
2. Toss the broad beans, feta cheese and the chopped mint with a glug of olive oil.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.
   

Elderflower Fritters

With the elderflower season well under way in UK I was desperate to try the following recipe from Gastronomy Domine, a blogger based in Cambridge, UK.... I thought it might be a good accompaniment to strawberry granita but thought better of it.... instead it makes for a great appetizer... a great start to a party or barbeque.

Follow Gastronomy Domine's recipe and you shouldn't go far wrong. The only changes I made was to leave the stalks on the elderflowers. This enables you to cook and serve the fritters easily - just remember to tell your guests to not eat the stalks.

Dipping the elderflowers in the batter

Looking a little bedraggled coming out of the batter

Frying the fritters

Frying the fritters to golden brown

Hummus

You don't know how much I love chickpeas.

I love them so much!

If I could have them everyday I would be in heaven. I am already known to my friend's mother as the chickpea queen. Don't ask me why to me they are the bees knees. It could be their filling nature, or the slightly nutty, beany taste, or just that you can do so much with them. They are a snack, a meal, an aphrodisiac (but only for males apparently); they are so versatile.

I was a bit shocked that I hadn't put on many recipes for chickpeas on the blog..... WHAT WAS I THINKING! So, to quickly remedy this remiss here is my super quick hummus recipe. There are probably lots of better recipes and really it is all up to your personal taste as to the exact quantities... this is a rough recipe. Please experiment to get it just the way you like it.

And you cannot go wrong if you visit the marvellous site The Hummus Blog. Some great insights into why homemade hummus is best.

Serves ??? (alot of servings)

3 cloves of garlic chopped
400g of cooked chickpeas
2 tsp tahini (heaped)
100 ml olive oil (this is a rough estimate)
Seasoning
Cumin (2 tsp of ground)

1. Place the garlic, chickpeas, tahini and olive oil in a food processor or blender. Keep some chickpeas back to use later.
   
2. Whizz up until all the ingredients have been reduce to a paste. Add more olive oil and/or cooking liquid if the mixture is too thick.
3. Fry the ground cumin in a little olive oil and add the reserved chickpeas. Cook for about 5 minutes.

4. Place the hummus into a suitable bowl or tub.... it won't stay there long.
5. Top with the fried chickpeas.
6. Serve with pitta bread and a green salad for a perfect supper dish.
   

Strawberry and Elderflower Granita

Strawberry and elderflower granita

The strawberry season is with us at last! And with the English strawberries we have unseasonally good weather. The sun is glorious and we can have loads of glorious barbeques in the back garden. So to cool us all off I researched this wonderful dish. Now there are loads of strawberry granita recipes out there but I think my addition of elderflower really knocks this dessert into the realms of the heavens. Delicate wild elderflowers and the local Somerset strawberries make for a winning combination; plus I got the elderflower cordial from my local farmers market. This is a real celebration of local produce.

Serves around 6-8

1 kg strawberries, hulled and halved
90 g sugar (I used golden caster sugar)
1/2 lemon juiced
1 lime juiced
dash of elderflower cordial

1. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil (fill the pan about a quarter full of water).
   
2. Place a bowl over the pan to place your ingredients in.
3. Plonk the strawberries in the bowl keeping some aside for decoration later.



Heating the strawberry and elderflower cordial mixture



4. Add the sugar and the juice.
   
5. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about an hour. You want all those strawberries to smoosh up and almost melt.
6. Strain into another bowl using a nylon sieve or tammis and leave to cool.
7. Pour the solution into a shallow dish or if you are like me a number of shallow dishes. The important aspect is that the solution is 0.5 to 1 cm in depth.
8. Leave to freeze.... about 30 minutes or so. The outsides and top of the solution should be frozen.
9. Fork over the frozen granita. It should form little crystals. Spoon these into the middle and place back in the fridge for another 30 minutes (or whenever you remember).
   
   
   
   Forking over the granita
   
   
   
10. Repeat to fork over the solution until it all is reduced to these wonderful red crystals.
11. If you are making this in advance then before serving you should bring the granita out and allow to defrost a little.
12. Serve with a sprinkling of elderflowers and a strawberry.
    

Strawberry and elderflower granita

Spinach and Black Beluga Lentils Soup

Black beluga lentils

A quick and easy recipe for a wholesome, satisfying meal. You could use puy lentils instead but these beluga lentils just look so wonderful in the pan and add a real robust flavour.

A mug of black beluga beans
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
Packet of spinach (roughly chopped)
500ml vegetable stock
Olive oil
Seasoning

1. Fry the garlic in a little olive oil on a low heat. Just enough to get those lovely garlicky flavours out.
   
2. Add the dried black beluga lentils and give a quick stir around with the garlic.

Black beluga lentils and garlic


3. Add the vegetable stock and cook for about 20 minutes or until the lentils get soft.
4. Add the roughly chopped spinach and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes.
   


Adding the spinach



5. Season well with pepper and serve.
   

Spinach and Black Beluga Lentil Soup