it’s easy to adapt to what you might have in your fridge, vegetable garden or greenhouse already
STORIES · 11.04.24
Food | Garden | Recipes
As the spring days continue to brighten, I find myself craving simple, nourishing and seasonal dishes – especially with so much delicious produce beginning to emerge. We have lots of bundles of British asparagus in our farmshops at the moment, as well as peas from the polytunnels, wild garlic foraged from the woodland in nearby Oddington and my favourite purple sprouting broccoli fresh from the market garden. This salad takes moments to throw together, combining the veg with Bold Bean’s creamy jarred white beans, a little ewe’s curd, a quick vinaigrette and homemade wild garlic pesto. I will leave the full recipe below, although it’s easy to adapt to what you might have in your fridge, vegetable garden or greenhouse already.
To watch a video of how to make the recipe on my Instagram, click here.
Serves 2
4 asparagus spears
A small handful of sprouting broccoli. trimmed
1 tbsp broad beans, podded
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 clove of garlic, finely chopped
Zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 jar cooked haricot beans – I love these
25g ewes curd
1 tbsp wild garlic pesto – I use this recipe
A handful of pea shoots (optional)
Garlic chips (optional)
Salt, pepper and extra olive oil to taste
Snap any woody ends off the asparagus, then add the spears to a large pan of boiling water along with the broccoli, peas and broad beans. Blanch for two minutes. Drain the vegetables then plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process.
In a large bowl, stir together the garlic, mustard, lemon zest and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, then gradually whisk in the olive oil until it becomes a smooth dressing.
Add the white beans and blanched vegetables to the dressing, stirring to combine.
Arrange the salad on a platter, topping with dollops of ewes curd, a spoonful of wild garlic pesto and a handful of pea shoots and garlic chips, if you like. Finish with a little extra salt and pepper and a final drizzle of olive oil.
