Broadening our horizons

The broad bean season is short - even shorter than asparagus and you need to get the most out of it. This year I think I cracked it. I had been trying too hard. Broad beans are fiddly but worth it. First buy more than you think you'll need. You arrive home from the market with an enormous bag of beans and once you've podded them you have a disappointingly small pile in a bowl. Pod the beans and cook them in a pot of boiling water for 4-5 minutes - a bit less if they are very small. I put them into a pot of boiling water & boil hard with the lid off - I read that in Jane Grigson years ago & that's how I treat all greens I am boiling or blanching. Refresh them under cold water & then remove the skins. Some people don't bother but if they are a bit old the skins are really hard and may make turn you against broad beans for life. Even if they are young they are so much prettier sans skin. Just before you are ready to eat steam them for 2 minutes or put back in the original pot (you lifted them out with a slotted spoon & saved the water) & bring back to the boil. Then toss in a mustardy lemony vinaigrette - just lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper & grainy mustard. Turn into a serving dish & top with crumbled feta. I think you could substitute slices of mozzarella or bocconcini but I haven't tried it. This is the ultimate broad bean experience.

I bumped into Marie at the market last week & she mentioned that she had dined out on a broad bean past. It sounded something like this - and this was really nice. Prepare the beans to the skinned stage & boil the pasta water because none of this takes long. Mandy, you asked about an alternative to the salmon pasta & I think this is it. In a pan lightly saute a spring onion then add cream & heat - I just used the rest of a bottle I had in the fridge and added some mascarpone because it was there. Add lemon juice to give a tartness. Add half the beans & mash. You then have a slightly lumpy greenish creamy sauce. Add the remaining beans and stir through some crispy bacon - I added some prosciutto I had in the fridge. In the meantime, you have cooked your favourite ribbon egg pasta - remember it takes less than 5 minutes. Drain the pasta & mix with the sauce in the pan & turn onto a serving plate. I recommend adding the Parmesan at the table, only because it might make the sauce go gluggy. You could decorate with delicious pea tendrils if you have some.

Last week was the Thorndon Fair & I must mention Yummy Seeds - these are dry roasted seeds with soy sauce added, which you could do yourself but this seed guy does them so well. I have been buying them for years from fairs. They are fantastic sprinkled on a salad. Make your own or support the Yummy Seed guy - he's from Warkworth. He & his wife are delightful and they can really talk up seeds: tasty in salads - stir fry - sandwiches - steamed veges. I've been adding them to my salad lunches. Harriet can verify their Yumminess.

Birthday Dinners

October/November is birthday season in our family. For the 3 whose birthdays are in other months this might seem like an exaggeration but for those of us who are part of the Oct/Nov glut it just feels like non-stop feasting. One of Harriet's friends once suggested Harriet was snubbing her - she said "every time I ask you to do something with me you claim a family birthday". But it happened to be true. Of course there are fewer of us around these days so this year was a light season but I think Phoebe & I made up for it with the unctuousness of our feasts.

As I think I mentioned before, we have traditional birthday meals & mine is mixed paella, however with the seafood lovers out of the country I went instead for American Cobb Salad.

This is a fantastic salad which I first had about 10 years ago in San Jose. I never found a recipe until a couple of years ago & it is a firm family favourite. I found it in an issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine on American Classics, where it is described as every bit the starlet of Hollywood's Golden Age (the 1920s) as Jean Harlow & Rita Hayworth. There is a long list of ingredients -don't leave any of them out. Having said that you can prepare a separate platter for vegetarians without the chicken & bacon. This is not actually as fiddly as it looks and your diners will love you. The trick to perfecting this or any arranged salad, is to dress each component before you arrange on the platter. If you dress it afterwards you will have dry patches. So start dressing the lettuce in a bowl, then as you arrange on the platter, toss each ingredient in the dressing residue in the bowl, topping up the dressing as you go. This way you will find it is neither under nor overdressed.

Phoebe had her usual dinner of Chicken Za'atar & Fattoush which is an old Nigella favourite. This is really simple. The night before put a whole chicken cut into 8 pieces (I have done it with just drumsticks for a barbecue) in a sealable plastic bag. Pour in quite a bit of olive oil & sprinkle over some sea salt & 2 tbsp za'atar, scrunch around & leave to marinate in the fridge. When you're ready to eat, tip into a roasting dish & put in a very hot oven (220) for about 45 minutes. They should be browned & slightly crispy with the chicken falling off the bones.

While the chicken is cooking, make the fattoush which is a traditional Middle Eastern bread salad. Dice 3-4 spring onions with a cucumber and 3 tomatoes. Mix in a bowl & add a bunch each of finely chopped mint & flat-leaf parsley and 1 clove garlic, crushed. Cut 2 pitta breads open lengthways so you have 4 thin round halves and toast on a baking tray in the hot oven above the chicken for about 5 minutes, taking care not to burn. When they are cooled snip most of them into the salad, in rough triangles then toss & dress with best olive oil & lemon juice. Season with Maldon salt & taste for the right lemoniness for you. I like mine quite sharp. Just before serving sprinkle on your few reserved pitta triangles & about 1/2 tsp sumac, which is a beautiful dark red middle eastern spice.

I also made Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate cake which is so quick & turns out perfectly every time. The pink flowers are from Cupcake Sweeties at the Sunday City Market. I had left over caramel from the Spanish biscuits & left over pastry cases from the Portuguese tarts & left over icing from this cake, so I put them all together & made Spaneenish tarts. They all groaned...but I note they ate them just the same.