in between the rain, we've been planting out veg to over-winter. Feltham First peas, a mix of Aquadulce and Bunyard's Exhibition broad beans and a variety of cabbages - Spring Hero, Offenham Flower of Spring and Advantage. the peas and beans have sticks to keep the cat and the birds off, and the cabbages have their little plastic collars to protect them. all of them have been raised in the half-covered sten house and are a little delicate and leggy, so I'm hoping there isn't a sudden sharp frost soon.
When will the broad beans be ready for picking, Spring? When I was growing up in the med, their season was around Easter, so we used to have broad beans in everything: soup, rikotta pies and stews. But we greatly enjoyed the dried ones in winter which you had to soak overnight before cooking in a stew. It was great fun pressing the beans out of their shells when they were cooked.
ReplyDeleteThe dish is called 'nibbled beans', because the top part of the bean case had to be nibbled before cooking or the bean would explode in the pot.
They're not likely to be ready for Easter, though it would be nice. If they're set in February, which is what we'd normally do, they're ready for the end of June- July time.
ReplyDeleteThe ONLY way my parents eat them is with boiled gammon and parsley sauce. I like to make a "no effort" soup with the water the gammon was boiled in (it freezes well), chopped up carrot, some broad beans and a chilli.
I've never tried drying them. If we have spare, they go in the freezer.