Ruby, without wishing to sound like Nigel Slater groupie, hmm, oh alright, I
am a Nige groupie
, this recipe caught his eye the other week. Rather caught mine as well. It's not one of his recipes but if its good enough for him ... Broad nomnom beans.
Baked artichokes and broad beans
One of the many vegetable recipes in Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. Serves 2-4.
4 lemons, plus a few thin lemon slices to finish
2 large globe artichokes
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tbsp pink peppercorns, plus extra to garnish
125ml white wine
60ml olive oil
250g shelled broad beans
250g shelled peas
1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
salt and black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Juice the lemons and discard all but 2 of the empty lemon halves.
To clean the artichokes, cut off most of the stalk and start removing the tough outer leaves by hand. Once you reach the softer leaves, take a sharp serrated knife and trim 1-2cm from the top of the artichoke. Cut the artichoke in half lengthways so you can reach the heart and scrape it clean. Use a small, sharp knife to remove all the 'hairs', then rub the heart with a little lemon juice to prevent it discolouring. Cut each artichoke half into slices 5mm thick. Place in cold water and stir in half the remaining lemon juice.
Drain the artichoke slices and spread out on a baking tray. Add the remaining lemon juice, the 2 reserved lemon halves and all the rest of the ingredients except the broad beans, peas and parsley. Cover with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the artichokes are tender. Remove from the oven, take off the foil and let the artichokes cool down.
Fill a large saucepan with plenty of cold water and bring to the boil. Add the broad beans and peas and blanch for 2 minutes, then drain in a colander and run under cold water to refresh. Leave in the colander to dry. If the broad beans are large and have tough skins, you may want to remove them. Simply press each one gently with your fingertips until the bean pops out.
Remove the lemon halves from the artichokes. Mix the artichokes with the beans, peas and parsley, and stir in the lemon slices. Taste for salt and pepper, plate, sprinkle with peppercorns and serve.
