Tuesday 27 May 2008

First Harvest...

Having left my wheelbarrow out in my garden on Saturday, fresh from lugging bags of compost from the car, I reckon we have had 6 or 7 inches of rain in the last 2 days, as it is full of water. My garden was in desperate need of a thorough soaking instead of the half-hearted spray from the hose that it gets most evenings, if I can be bothered.
Yesterday I set out to collect my first harvest of the year in the form of broad beans. I sowed the beans last autumn and planted them out in March. Having pinched the tips out to try and prevent black fly (thanks, Jamie Oliver, for the tip!) I collected a colander of pods, plus my morning eggs.
Nestled inside the velvet-lined pods were these little beans.

Exactly what was needed for a radish and broad bean salad from my new favourite cookbook - Ottolenghi, the cookbook.

It was delicious, made with just simple ingredients (although I had to omit the preserved lemon) - radish, broad beans, red onion, coriander, lemon juice and olive oil. Nice and colourful too...

12 comments:

  1. Oh, that does look delicious...just in tune with my love of veggie and simple preparation. Look like a great cookbook--I looked it up at Amazon. Enjoy the tastes of the first harvest--always the sweetest! ((HUGS))

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  2. I tell you, it felt more like 6 feet of rain from inside a tent!!

    Your broad beans look so yummy. I've been thinking about that cookbook - looking at your lunch just might tip me over the edge.

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  3. yum yum yum yum yum .... did I say yum?

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  4. Ooooh lucky you with all those broad beans (my fave) .. my own winter beans failed for some reason, so though I have harvested one pod, I still have to wait a bit longer!

    Oh .. you have been tagged!
    x

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  5. That salad looks nice and crunchy. I do like a bit of crunch!

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  6. That looks so good that I might just try it - despite a life long aversion to broad beans.

    I checked out the cookbook in the bookshop and I am very, very tempted.

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  7. Gosh, those pictures made my mouth water.

    Wasn't the rain awful? It didn't stop for more than a minute all day on Monday. Utterly miserable :-(

    x

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  8. How lovely to be able to harvest fresh vegies from your own garden. I am quite envious. Your tulips are beautiful too.
    Enjoy!

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  9. My grandad loved a radish. I've never been a lover myself, but it is very colourful...

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  10. Oh yum, I am growing radishes and broad beans at the mo, but the radishes aren't ready yet. I think the broad beans will be enormous after all of this rain though! I must get down to the allotment ASAP. A recipe book I haven't heard of? Surely not!The ingredients look so beautiful mixed up in the bowl together.

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  11. oh wow.

    I don't have black flies... just children. And it's much harder to keep them out of flower beds and so on.

    I'll ask Jamie, he has an anwer for everything...

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  12. Love, love LOVE broad beans, especially those tiny baby ones. that does look like a lovely cookbook. Hmmmm. Can I really justify another one?!

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