Inky potatoes

The jury is out on whether I am being lazy & sluttish or admirably conservationist by adopting one of my labour saving tricks – cooking all the vegetables in a single pan. Not necessarily all together for the same amount of time, but judiciously starting with the potatoes & adding the others according to cooking time; the top layer may even be effectively steamed this way. It certainly saves on energy & washing up.

We had our first broad beans of the year last night. I had been thinking of celebrating with Jane Grigson’s recipe – shuck the skins from the individual beans & cook for hardly anytime at all, serving with melted butter or oil, lemon juice. black pepper - but that is more of a lunchtime dish for eating out in the sun. We had some very good ham & Jersey new potatoes, so I settled for those with a salad of finely grated carrots with mustard seeds & lemon.

So start off with the potatoes & throw in the broad beans (still in their individual skins) for just the last 5 minutes.

I had forgotten what broad beans do to the colour of the water. Faced with a plate of blueish black potatoes cooked by someone else – well, I am not sure I could force them down at all. But I knew how they had got that way – they tasted fine.

Perhaps some celebrity chef will do the same & start a whole new food fad.

Link

eat the seasons broad beans