Broad Bean Hummus

As a child I really wasn’t a big fan of broad beans. I think some of the aversion I felt towards this vegetable stemmed from family camping holidays where my brother and I would be forced to sit down outside of the tent and pod what seemed like 1000’s of the things for hours before then sitting down and reluctantly munching through them during dinner. I should probably state that my memories may be a little distorted and my mum would probably argue that we were nicely asked to assist in dinner preparation and no real child labour was forced upon us during these summer holidays (but that’s not how I remember it!!!).

But anyway I seem to have overcome this dislike for broad beans and they are now one of my favourite summer vegetables. As soon as locally grown beans start appearing in the greengrocers I start to get excited. I think it is best to keep recipes with fresh vegetables as simple as possible and I usually through a handful of broad beans into a salad or risotto but another of my favourite broad bean recipes is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s broad bean hummus.  I’m not sure what the actual definition of hummus is but unlike the traditional chick pea dip this simple recipe has none of the typical ingredients such as tahini but this really allows the summery freshness of the broad beans to shine through.

INGREDIENTS

400g shelled broad beans (if you can’t get fresh broad beans frozen are fine)

1 clove of garlic, crushed

3 tablespoons olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper to season

Put the broad beans into a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes until the beans are tender. Remove from the heat and drain. Once cooled slip the beans out of their rubbery skins.

Put the beans along with the rest of the ingredients into a food processor and whizz to produce a thick puree like consistency. If you find it a little too thick at this stage add a little more oil or lemon juice to thin out slightly.

For a slight twist add some freshly torn up mint leaves to the food processor with the rest of the ingredients.

Then transfer to a serving dish and enjoy with crudités, flat breads and crackers.

This will keep in the fridge for a couple of days and after making a very large batch of this recently I also successfully froze smaller portions in sandwich bags.

Recipe taken from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s broad bean hummus recipe.