Bean There, Done That...

Hey all, I hope everyone is doing well.

Cooking over the last month or so has been pretty by the numbers as we’ve been emptying boxes and finally getting the new place in some sort of order – with the emphasis on ‘some sort…’ We have felt a little adventurous now that we’re back in the city and have indulged in a couple of ‘TIME BEFORE’ activities, including going out to a restaurant, or at least the patio of a restaurant to have brilliant pizza. We also met some old friends for a proper high tea, complete with individual tea pots and a three-tier cake stand that I wish I’d taken a picture of because it was really pretty. I admit when it arrived at the table, I thought that it was never going to feed four of us, but oh how wrong I was. By the end we were all stuffed and still had a pack up box to take home. It’s been so long since we did something social like that, I felt I’d almost forgotten how to behave, but I was very good and remembered to stick my pinky out when I drank my tea.

To make this a valid Confined Kitchen post rather than just me rambling aimlessly, I did manage one new dish last week. It is not a secret that I’m not a wildly veggie person, but I saw this recipe for Broad Bean Puttanesca in Thomasina Miers ‘New Flexitarian’ column in The Guardian a couple of weeks ago and saved it for future contemplation. Then last week serendipitously the other half got a text from an old neighbour saying they had a glut of broad beans and would we like some?  So I decided that it was fate!

The only thing I didn’t put in was the capers, simply because I didn’t have any and don’t feel strongly enough about them to go yomp to the supermarket to get some. The recipe is for four, but I did about one-third of the quantities of the sauce as I think the recipe is very generous even if you half things for two, and it seemed to work out well.

I did blanch the broad beans and pod them as I’m not wild about the outsides and the vibrant green mixed with the tomato looked really pretty both in the pan and the plate. I used penne rather than spaghetti simply because I felt like it and that also worked pretty well and I’d definitely make this recipe again, so I can’t say fairer than that.

Anyway, that’s it for now, so I’ll stop wittering and climb down from the parapet.

Cheers

Sharon