Spiced Broad Bean Purée
A recipe from Stephen Markwick
This is one of Stephen Markwick’s recipes that he says is a good way of using up those end of crop broad beans, or the ones you have missed picking and have grown too large. It makes a good accompaniment to meat or fish.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp whole cardamom pods
- 1 tsp whole coriander seeds
- 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 25g butter
- 500g shelled broad beans
- 150g vegetable stock
- 125ml double cream
- lemon juice to taste
- salt and pepper
Method
- Slit the cardamom pods and extract the black seeds. Grind to a fine powder (I use either a pestle and mortar or an electric coffee grinder) with the coriander and cumin seeds.
- Melt the butter and add the chopped onions and garlic and sweat for 5 minutes with the ground spices.
- Meanwhile blanche and part cook the broad beans in boiling water, the length of time depends on how old the beans are. You just need to soften them,
- Add the beans, together with the onions and spices, to the vegetable stock and cook for a few minutes, Then add the cream, lemon juice and seasonings, and cook for about 5 minutes to thicken.
- Blend in a food processor and pass through a sieve or “mouli de legumes” to remove the coarse skins. This should now be a smooth purée; if too thin it can be reduced a little more on a low heat, stirring to avoid burning.
- Check the seasonings and serve.