Broad bean salad

A quick, delicious and wallet-friendly recipe by campaigner, columnist and award-winning food writer Jack Monroe.

Ingredients:

• 140g broad beans
• 40g hard strong cheese
• 50g salad leaves, e.g. pea shoots
• a fat clove of garlic
• 1 tbsp oil
• Juice of half a lemon or 2 tbsp bottled lemon juice
• A fistful of fresh mint
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. First bring a pan of water to the boil. Drop in the frozen broad beans for two to three minutes to defrost and slightly soften. Drain them and tip into a bowl, and grate the lemon zest over the top.
2. Roughly chop and crush the garlic clove, using the flat blade of a chunky sharp knife if you have one, or the back of a spoon and some elbow grease if you haven’t. Scoop the smashed up garlic into a jar, squeeze out the lemon juice, add the oil, screw the lid on, and shake well to make the dressing.
3. Toss the beans with the salad and whole mint leaves, dress, season with salt and pepper, and top with hard strong cheese to serve.

Tip:

For a more substantial salad, and for you omnivores out there, top with crispy bacon to serve. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, drain and thoroughly rinse a tin of white beans – butter beans or cannellini work well – dust them in a little paprika to recreate that smoky flavour, and toss those through instead.