This recipe was in my head for a long time before I put it on the plate and it was mainly led by my love of broad beans. This time of year it is so easy to get them and I can happily add them to anything, especially once they are skinned. When I eat them raw I often don’t bother to skin them but I did for this dish and it was so worth it. Many of you might know broad beans as fava beans so just to make sure you know what I am talking about I have put a picture below.
Here you can see the pods they come in and then see the beans as they are and shelled where you get to their green, sweet centre. I have found that shelling the raw beans can be time consuming and a bit uncomfortable for the fingers it you are doing a lot of them. If you want to make it easier for yourself you can just steam them for 4 or 5 minutes and that will soften the skin and they will pop out a lot more easily.
The flavours in these toasts go so well together, we all know peas and mint work perfectly and broad beans are the perfect compliment to them. Plus I have used my favourite sourdough bread to make these toasts, who doesn’t love sourdough, it has the most amazing crust on it and the one I get from my local shop is award winning so can’t resist it. To top these toasts off there is a stunning Herbed Cashew Cheese and I used the recipe on Blissful Basil for this one, it is lovely.
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Broad Bean, Pea & Mint Sourdough Toasts
Serves 2
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 30 mins
Ingredients
145g/1 cup Broad Bean, shelled
60g/1/2 cup Frozen Peas
10g/1 large handful Fresh Mint Leaves
2 tbs Lemon Juice
1 tbs Olive Oil plus extra for drizzling
2 tbs Cashew Cream Cheese
2 Slices of Sourdough Bread
1 Garlic Clove
Instructions
1. Place the peas in a small bowl and cover with warm water, leave for 1 minute to defrost and then drain.
2. Blend together the broad beans, peas, mint, lemon juice and oil in a food processor until you have a lumpy paste that holds together. How smooth you get it depends on your tastes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to prepare the bread.
3. Heat a griddle pan and place the bread on the pan to toast without any oil. Heat until griddle marks appear then turn and repeat on the other side. The bread will curl slightly so you might want to press it down slightly.
4. When the bread is done rub both sides with a cut garlic clove.
5. To serve spread the bread with the bean and pea puree, crumble over the cream cheese, drizzle with olive oil and extra salt and pepper.
Nutrition
