Heading to the plate. Sit. Eat.

I just ran out in the rain to pick some parsley from the garden, because lunch is going to take about 5 minutes today. And here's the main ingredient. Broad beans. First picking.

Come and sit in the kitchen. The back door is wide open and swishing in the wind, the radio is playing Debussy loud and you can just hear the thump of waves from across the road. 

On the plot, we planted these broad beans as a new venture back in the Winter, hoping that we might make one of those wonderful bean salads they do so well across the water in France, and learn how to grow them better another year. While nothing much else grew on the allotment in early spring except a fine assortment of weeds, these beans seemed to take care of themselves. They have a bit of blackfly, but are housing a colony of ladybirds that we've left to get on and do what they do best. The stems needed a few stakes and strings when the gales hit us hard, but here's a shot taken a couple of weeks ago when we saw that we might have to find a few more recipes to make the best of them.

So, back in the kitchen, you will have gathered that it's not exactly salad weather, so it's going to be a warm plate today. Here's what I'm going to do. 

Take the beans out of the pods and boil them for just a couple of minutes while the frying pan browns chopped pancetta and onions. When cooked, rinse the beans to cool them a bit and slide them out of their pale skins. They'll reveal the most unbelievable green slithers. Try not to eat these right now. Add them to the frying pan. Salt, pepper, chopped parsley. Olive bread on the side.

Eat.

Empty plates. Next time, I'll open a bottle.