Unzip your Broad Beans!

[tim]

Don't forget the easy way?

[tim]

[Fork]

Never really been a lover of broad beans but always grow some every year for a neighbour.

Harvested the crop for her yesterday and decided to try a bean raw.....bit bitter I thought so I peeled of the outer skin and tried again.....quite pleasant this time.

Must be an easier way to get that skin off though......or does it fall away when cooked?....and thats another question.How long to your cook them for and whats the best method?

[Duke Ellington]

Thanks for that tip Tim ;D I spent ages breaking into pods yesterday.

*Fork* When I steam my broad beans that outer jacket slips off easily. When the beans are young I don't think there is a need to remove its little jacket.

Duke

[Lishka]

I always used the blanch in boiling water for 1mnt, then plunge in cold water & the skin slides off easily method. Agree that they're more-ish when peeled and raw. I think I remember eating bowl-fulls of broad beans one Easter in Spain when I visited a friend in Lorca. They were considered a treat and a good luck thing?

I only grew them once here in my garden. Great crop, no probs with the growing BUT, with space at a premium, was disappointed at the amount (few?) I harvested from 1 pod, so although I found recipes for the use of the bloomin pods, I didn't bother again.

If you've got loads tho, apart from the usual salad-y recipes I've got one somewhere for broad bean croquettes. Bit of a faff & you need yeast, but it's a good alternative way of using them if you've got a glut (I should be so lucky)..could search for the recipe & post if you're interested?

[Digeroo]

I eat mine much less ripe so the beans are still small come out of the pods easily.

was disappointed at the amount

I would suggest trying a different variety and giving them a good bucket full of compost.

[tim]

Agree with the gourmet way - skinned - but you need an awful lot of beans!!

Young? Then no need to 'pod' - cook it all - really tasty.

[Lishka]

was disappointed at the amount

I would suggest trying a different variety and giving them a good bucket full of compost.

From Tim's pic, giving 6 beans from one large pod, that's what I got the one and only time I attempted. It just didn't compute to my use of limited space at a time when I could crop runners with only top'n'tail waste, so, tho I love all beans I switched to growing borlottis as a more effective harvest for the space available.

Given unlimited space, tho. I'd be growing them again. 8)

[lottie lou]

I would love to try your recipe Liska.  OH refuses to eat them so if I could find another way of cooking them maybe he will.  However not many this year due to loss over winter and the spring planted ones refusing to germinate.

[Lishka]

Lou, spect you won't have enough this year to make these then, but I think I made them one year with bought ones.  You'll have to scale down the recipe praps but this is what I have in my folder - it's a Gennaro Contaldo one.

300g fresh (or frozen) broadies
250g plain flour
2 eggs
50g softened butter
1 tsp dried yeast disolved in 1tbsp lukewarm water
salt & pepper
oil for deep frying

filling

250g ricotta
1 egg
3tbsps grated parmesan
3tbsp chopped chives
pinch nutmeg

Blanch & peel beans
Mash or process till mushy
In large bowl, add flour,eggs,butter,yeast,s&p to the beans & mix to a smooth dough
Cover with cloth & leave to rise for approx 30mns

Filling: put all ingredients in a bowl & mix to smooth paste, Season.

Shape pieces of dough into a golf ball size. On a lightly floured board roll each into an oval abt 3mm thick

Place a teaspoon of filling along it & close it up into a sausage shape, pinching the edges to seal.

Deep fry til golden.

[grannyjanny]

Tim I shall pass on your tip to our youngest granddaughter who is the BB queen ;D. She's 5 BTW.