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This week, challenge your taste buds with wonderful seasonal vegetables that you will find in the farmers market;
Broad Beans (fava beans); you may have negative feelings from childhood about these less-than-beautiful legumes, but put those feeling to one side. Fresh new-season broad beans gently steamed are unbeatable, and very fresh new beans are delicious raw. They can be added to salads, stews, or served drizzled with olive oil and black pepper as a side-dish. Broad beans are rich in fiber, protein, vitamins C, B vitamins, zinc and copper. They also contain mood-boosting chemicals, yippee! Get the kids to pod them; kids love podding peas and beans, but also like eating them before you get a chance to cook them. Even better see if you can pick your own locally, or consider growing your own for next year. Here is a recipe for crushed broad Bean Bruchetta from BBC Food:
250g cooked and double podded broad beans
grated parmesan plus a few shavings, to finish
a couple of slugs extra-virgin olive oil
a small bunch of mint , leaves only, chopped
1 garlic clove , halved
1 French stick or small ciabatta, cut into 8 thin slices and toasted
New season beetroot is just delicious; no stop pulling a face, it really is. But wait! Don’t boil the poor thing to death, steam it for 40 minutes or until you can slide a knife into it, then rub the skin off and chop into cubes. Beetroot are great roasted with olive oil and thyme for a sweet and filling addition to any meal or barbeque. Beetroot is crammed with powerful antioxidants (cancer fighters) and is thought support liver function, and cleanse the intestines. It is bursting with vitamin C, Calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, and folic acid. Here is a recipe for Beetroot and Feta Salad from River Cottage:
Ingredients:
500g beetroot, preferably baby ones that you can keep whole,
otherwise cut them into 3cm chunks
a couple of handfuls of rocket leaves
125g feta cheese
2 tablespoons best olive oil
lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper
If you nip down to your local farm shop or farmers market, you are bound to find plenty or raspberries, strawberries, and currants. All berries and currants are full of nutrition, and asking to be nibbled. Now is a good time to find a cheap supplier, and buy up berries and currants to freeze and use over the winter months in smoothies and fruit salads, when other soft fruit is from abroad and sold at a premium. Maybe now is the time to try your hand at making your own jam for the store cupboard or for Christmas presents. Jam may be high in sugar, but it can still be full of antioxidants, and is a traditional way of storing the glut of summer fruit; imagine opening your own home made jar of jam on a frosty winters morning and breathing in the fragrance of summertime; sunshine in a bottle! Here is a link to the River Cottage recipe for Raspberry Jam www.rivercottage.net/SeasonalRecipes~July/111/RaspberryJam.aspx
Indulge and enjoy!
Put the double-podded broad beans in a bowl and lightly crush. Season, then mix in the grated parmesan, mint and a slug of olive oil. Rub the slices of toasted bread with the garlic. Top with the broad bean mix, drizzle over a little more oil and finish with parmesan shavings.
Wash and peel the beetroot. Simmer gently, or steam, for 7–10 minutes, until tender but still a little crunchy. Leave to cool.
Put the rocket leaves in a salad bowl with the beetroot, then crumble the feta cheese on top. Dress with the olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon juice and a few twists of black pepper. Toss well together and serve.
