Broad Beans Paté - Delicious Summer on a Plate

Mr T planted some broad beans for me but they are only in flowering stage... while the educational garden in Kenmare (went to Kenmare for the Food Carnival)
has already full pods on their plants - jealousy cropped up big time. The gardener of the VEC garden (I forgot to ask for his name) is a friendly soul who was very willing to answer all my questions about how to get rid of pests and why my beetroot is so small at this stage. If you are in Kenmare, make sure to pay him a visit - you can even buy some of his vegetable which are all organically grown. I went home with a big bag full of broad beans.

Broad beans are now more and more on menus of restaurants and readily available (Tesco is selling frozen broad beans) and recipes are popping up all over the place. Denis Cotter of Cafe Paradiso was one of the first chefs to use this lovely bright green little fella a few years ago with their couscous cake and haloumi dish. Simply delicious. When podding broad beans, make the effort to remove the outer skin of the beans - slips off easily when you blanch them quickly in hot water and then pop them into cold water. Slightly squeeze the bean and the skin should slip off. You can of course remove the skin before blanching - just more labour intensive.

This dish is the ideal for a light lunch or an easy supper. The bright green colour stays if you don't boil the living daylight out of the delicate beans. I have used goats' cheese and basil here but you can use feta and parsley or any other combination you can think off. I just happened to have a full plant of basil and some leftover goats' cheese. This recipe will be enough for 6 'bruschettas'. Drizzle slices of bread with olive oil and toast under a grill on both sides. Add the paté and serve with some basil leaves.

Broad Bean Paté

Broad Bean Paté Bruschetta

• 200g Broad Beans, podded twice
• 100g goats cheese, crumbled
• handful torn basil leaves
• Olive Oil
• salt

Throw the podded beans into boiling water and cook until just tender - about 5-7 minutes (a few minutes longer if you haven't removed the skin around the beans - you can squeeze the skin off the beans after cooking). Rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Leave to cool. 

In a food processor, combine the cheese with the beans and the torn basil and whizz once. Now add some olive oil and blend until you achieved the consistency you want (I like mine a bit lumpy), adding olive oil as you go along. 

Spoon mix into a bowl and season with salt and if you like some white pepper. 

Bon Apetite