Glut recipes - broad beans and spring onions

The broad beans and spring onions have got to be my success story for the year ... at least so far.  I was expecting to have loads of the beans for the freezer but I've been throwing them in everything since husband decided he likes them after all! They've gone in salads, stir fries and pastas, so have the spring onions.

Glorious fresh goodies from the garden

This blog might come a bit late for most of you in NZ so bookmark it for next year ... or it may persuade someone in the UK coming in to spring to plant some broad beans out.  I was a bit late getting my plants in and only just harvested the last of them last week after getting back from hols. The hummous recipe below is worth growing them for even if you don't like the beans that seem to hold so much childhood terror!

If you have a whole stash in the freezer that you aren't sure what to do with then this would be a good way to use up quite a lot of them! It's a lighter fresher tasting hummous I reckon.

The salsa recipe below is also a great way to use up a few spring onions as well as tomatoes if you have some ripening.  I used some of the first of the tomatoes in this last weekend and it just tasted fabulous, very fresh and full of summer :)  Most salsa recipes call for red onion but I'm not a big fan of raw onion, the spring onions work perfectly for me, a little bit milder but still a nice bit of crunch to the salsa. Best thing about this salsa is that you can get all the ingredients out of your garden if you plant them! :)  My lemons aren't quite ready so I used lemon juice from a bottle (shocking) but they are getting there for next time!

Nearly ripe!

These two recipes make quite a lot, especially the hummous, so halve ingredients if you are just making for you and you don't want to be eating it all week.  Otherwise, add friends, wine, cheese and crackers and enjoy the compliments coming your way :)  Though I still had plenty for leftovers the next day to make a effort-free lunch, yusssss!!

Unfortunately there wasn't much of the salsa left over ... will have to make more! I've been eating the hummous all week though!

Broad bean hummous

• 600 grams broad beans (you can top up with chickpeas if you don't have quite enough, I used 400g BBs and 200g chickpeas)
• 7 cloves garlic (peeled and roughly chopped)
• 100 ml water
• juice of 2 small lemons 
• 120 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons tahini 
• salt and pepper

1. Put the broad beans (and chickpeas if using) into a pan with the garlic and water, season with salt and pepper and cook the beans slowly for 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Remove them from the heat and leave to cool a little.
2. Use a food processor, liquidiser or blender. You may need to do this in two batches, I did! Just use half of everything if need be and then repeat.  Put the broad beans into the blender with the cooking liquid and process on high, stop occasionally to stir and scrape the sides of the blender.
3. When the beans are fairly well mushed leave the machine running and pour in the lemon juice, then slowly add the olive oil and tahini. Stop the machine every now and then to scrape the sides. Taste and add more salt and pepper, or lemon juice if you think is needed.
4. The hummous should be thick but still pour-able with no big bits of beans still visible. Transfer the hummous into a bowl,leave in a covered bowl at room temperature if you are going to eat soon or in fridge until required. I love this garnished with a sprinkling of paprika served with garlic pita and carrots. You'll never look at broad beans the same way :)

Fresh summer salsa

This is quite a loose recipe as I wasn't paying very much attention ... feel free to increase/decrease ingredients to suit your preferences!  Salsa is also one of those recipes that everyone has their own ideas on how it should taste, if you mix it all up and think it needs more of something then get some more and throw it in

• 3-4 medium sized fresh tomatoes, small dices
• 3 spring onions, chopped
• 1 hot chili pepper (stems, ribs, seeds removed), finely diced.  I actually used a few splashes of hot sauce as my hot chillies seem to be off the scale in hotness and I didn't want the the salsa to be too hot
• Juice of one lime or small lemon
• 1/2 cup chopped coriander
• Salt to taste

1. Chop the tomatoes, spring onions, coriander and chillies (if using, don't forget to wash your hands after, especially if you wear contact lenses like me, ouch!). 
2. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Taste. If too hot, add some more tomato. If not hot enough, add a few of the seeds from the chilies or more hot sauce.
3. Let sit for an hour for the flavors to combine.  Can you get any easier?!