Thursday 1 July 2021

Broad Beans Are Sleeping In Their Blankety Bed!

The day before we had the late night trip down the M11, I went to CCWells again, and bought bags of fresh fruit and veg. It is testimony to the freshness of their produce that a week later, on my return, the only casualty was the beetroot. I'd hoped to use the stalks and leaves - but they were very wilted and beyond even turning into pesto. The beets were fine though.

I had bought some fresh broad beans in their pods. I can't remember the last time I saw them on sale, let alone bought any. 

It was such fun popping open the pods, and pushing out the beans, like jade beads, into a bowl. The insides of the pods are like a soft white blanket, and I kept singing the song to myself. 

Bob made a brilliant meal, using some ham, a mixture of the vegetables, and of course the beans- combined with some pasta.

Whilst I was with the family, I bought some spanakopita spinach rolls, from Oli's Turkish foodshop [I love that place!] With fresh bread and salad, a really tasty lunch. 
I decided to try making my own when I got back to Cornerstones.
I mixed frozen spinach [defrosted, with excess water squeezed out] crumbled Feta cheese, dill, nutmeg and salt and pepper. I brushed a sheet of filo pastry with melted butter, laid a second on top and brushed that too. Then I put the spinach cheese mixture in a sausage at the end, and rolled up the sheets. I popped them on a tray and cooked for about 10minutes. They were delicious.
I cut the rolls into 3 [each about 3" long]  They were very tasty. [we had 2 each plus salad and fresh bread]
But I do not know why they put eleven sheets of pastry in the packet - 12 would be easier to divide up. One of these is a three-sheet-roll!




19 comments:

  1. Following you through this interesting blog of life's blessings. I am ordinary and blogging has showed me many things in countries I don't live in. Like all the veg you mentioned. Our beet root (a rare find) comes in tins and beans in frozen packs, I have never opened bean pods before or had spinach rolls. Life is a blessing. Following you

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    1. Thank you Kestrel. I imagine your vegetables are quite different in Malaysia

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  2. Oooh, those look delicious!!!! I ADORE savoury filo pastry (not sweet, e.g. Baklava as I just find it too rich) and those rolls are one of the best things. Mmmmmm...
    It IS bizarre about the sheets though. WHY a prime number???

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    1. I have no idea - maybe there should be 12 . Or perhaps there USED to be 12 and it's one of those things where they have sneakily reduced how much you get for your money...

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  3. P.S. I have string memories of the Turkish food shop near Highbury corner in London near where my ex-boyfriend before CBC lived when we were at uni. We used to buy a pot of hummus, taramasalata and Tatziki and just eat the lot. SO yummy!

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  4. Those rolls look delicious. I do think spinach and feta go so well together, and wrapped in pastry (of any kind) they are just gorgeous.

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  5. We are picking a few broad beans each day. I've always been intrigued by the fluffiness of the inside pods!

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    1. When I start growing veg (next year) I think I would rather grow/eat broad beans than runner beans.

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  6. I'm still trying to get my head around Nigella's Chicken with Grapes recipe last night - before the exciting events of Andy Murray winning his second round - baked grapes and then that wrap thingy she made with the eggs and ham inside. We didn't get an 'after' shot of that or her eating it, wonder why??Not sure about that but know for certain that I love Spanakopita. Well done on yours. I'm trying to join in with 'no plastic July' this month because, quite frankly, there's just far too much of it around.

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  7. We don't find broad beans here except in a tin, nor do we find runner beans which are a favourite of mine. Broad beans remind me that when we were in Ecuador we came across some giant pods with black beans and people were discarding the beans but eating the inner part of the pods. They grew on trees. We bought some and the inside of the pod was sweetish.

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    1. It is interesting how different beans are eaten all round the world.

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    2. I looked up these strange beans and found that they are often called the ice cream bean.
      https://urbantropicals.com/product/ice-cream-bean-tree-inga-edulis/

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  8. Middle Eastern food is my favorite. I buy Taramasalata online at three times the price we used to get it at the European deli ( which is Ukrainian) as they no longer carry it. Have it most mornings on toast for breakfast.

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  9. You have made me wonder- does anyone know of another bean which grows in the same sort of "blanket"?

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    1. The comment from Bushlady about beans in Ecuador is interesting. Some people say that if broad beans are very fresh you can cook the pods. But I don't know about other blanketed legumes

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  10. Broad beans are known as fava beans, here, and the fresh pods are available in some of the grocery stores (usually the ethnic stores). Thank you for the link to the song as I've never heard it before!

    Maybe the filo dough was sold by weight and 11 sheets are how many it takes to come to that weight?

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  11. To restore wilted beet leaves (or any other sort) - just wash them well in cold water & put them in a sealed bag or bowl with a lid somewhere cool for a few hours. They recover in a miraculous manner & taste absolutely fine. I do this regularly with produce from my allotment :).

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    1. Thank you for this tip S&D - my leaves went into the compost bin, so not entirely wasted [they were getting slimy at the edges!] but next time I will certainly try this tip

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