pea and bean salad with almonds and feta

broad beans are consistently one of my favourite summer vegetables. and since discovering that frozen beans, if blanched and the skins then removed, are as good as the fresh beans, they are something i regularly turn to if i need the thought of sunshine to cheer me up.

this salad is truly a taste of summer to come and a great accompaniment to many dishes – roast chicken, white fish, or a platter of italian inspired mezze (which was how we ate it).

this dish is part of vegetables, beautiful vegetables, my tribute to national vegetarian week which is currently underway in the uk.

pea and bean salad with almonds and feta (serves 6 as a side dish)

200g green beans, trimmed

250g broad beans, podded

100g whole unskinned almonds

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

75ml olive oil

75 g rocket

250g fresh peas, podded

200g feta, crumbled

1 tablespoon fresh mint, roughly chopped

blanch the green and broad beans, in separate pans, until tender (about 5 minutes). drain them both. remove the grey-green skins from the broad beans, revealing their bright greenness.

toast the almonds in a dry, non-stick pan until they turn golden. chop roughly.

mix the lemon zest and juice with the olive oil to make the dressing.

assemble the salad, mixing the rocket with half the dressing then topping this with the green beans, broad beans, almonds, peas and feta. drizzle with the remaining dressing and scatter the mint over.

Comments

[Jeanne]

Oh, I so agree with you on broad beans! I really know it's summer when I'm sitting in our back garden, watching the sun setting, sipping on some wine and shelling broad beans ;-) I'm also besotted with feta - trekked up to Wood Green the other day to get some feta in brine from the little grocery stores up there and it's divine - soooo creamy!

[abby]

oh jeanne, that picture you're painting makes me wish i had a garden to accompany my wine and beans!

[tt]

I must now try frozen broad beans. I am a huge fan of frozen veg as I am always out or away and I never eat everything that I buy fresh.

My mother grows them and when she pinches the tops out to stop them growing upwards we eat the shoots blanced and with lots of melted butter and S&P. Delicious.

[abby]

tt, i've heard that about the tops of broad bean plants (nigel slater or hugh f-w, not sure which) and it does sound great. similar to pea shoots i expect.

on the frozen veg front, broad bean and peas are the only ones i bother with. and the beans are the only ones i actually like.