Mashed Broad Beans with Preserved Lemon & Mint on Walnut Toast

This isn’t just beans on toast , this is organic Riverford broad beans on homeade walnut bread toast …. it was my very tasty lunch , the mashed broad beans would also work really well with pasta I think or as an accompaniment to lamb or fish. The preserved lemon adds a real zingy citrus shot .

I realised going through my photo archive the lemons in this jar are more than two years old . Living in at least 3 different houses . Scary no the preserved lemons just get prettier with age and make excellent gifts.

Sneakily once a jar has got going I will often bung in juiced lemon skins how is that for recycling , they are ready in a few weeks.

Mashed Broad Beans with Preserved Lemon and Mint

100g of broad beans
1 tbsp of preserved lemon
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of fresh mint
1 tbsp of crumbly goats cheese
Pepper to season

1. Boil the broad beans for 5 minutes
2. Peel the broad beans and finely chop half with the preserved lemon , goats cheese and mint
3. Mix with the whole broad beans and olive oil
4. Serve on thick toast or as a vegetable accompaniments

Spiced Preserved Lemons

8 unwaxed lemons
200g of sea salt
75g of spices coriander seeds , cumin seed, star anise dried chillis and a bay leaf with a large quantity of sea salt

You can miss out the spices but they add even more spark to the lemons and make the jar look very pretty

1. Cut whole lemons in half
2. In a clean 1 litre preserving jar , layer lemons with salt and and spice mix in a preserving jar ,presssing down hard to squeeze the juice to cover lemons
3. After a few days check more juice will have come out and you may be able to fit in more lemons
4. Leave in the fridge for minimum of a 6 weeks

Preserved lemons are delicious in salads and particularly good with fish but use sparingly the preserving concentrates the flavour

Walnut Bread
50g of crushed walnuts
400g of strong white flour
20 ml olive oil
380ml of warm water
1 tsp of dried yeast
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt

1. Mix together all the ingredients
2. Leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hour
3. Knead well , shape place on baking sheet and leave for a further half house
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 200degC for 45 minutes
5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool

Another bread recipe to tick off , simply a white bread recipe with added walnuts , turn the bread a delicious brown colour .