Beautiful borlotti

I was chatting to some friends in London who have an allotment in Finsbury Park and they told me that they devote two thirds of their plot to growing borlotti beans. I know a lot of our Italian neighbours also cultivate them so this year  we decided to grow them seriously.  We were told to sow them a little bit later than the runners  to avoid black fly and they were a huge success The vines develop beautiful crimson pods that in turn produce pretty pink-freckled beans like miniature birds’ eggs. Most people harvest the pods when they are dry and desiccated and then store the dried beans or freeze them. However I often collect the pods before they reach this desiccated state as the beans have a fresh creamy texture  at this stage.

I know now why my London friends grow so many. You can store them throughout the winter, they don’t take up much space and then you just throw them in soups and stews for about half an hour until tender . They are truly delicious without the earthy taste that many beans have. Sometimes I cook them separately as a vegetable in their  own right.  This is how I do it:

Put the podded beans in a small saucepan cover with water mix in some crushed garlic and a splash of both white wine and olive oil. Add some herbs such as sage or rosemary. Simmer for half an hour and then drain them.

To serve, splash a little more olive oil over the beans and sprinkle them with sea salt (don’t put salt in the cooking water as it can make the skins coarse). You’ll find the beans will have absorbed all the delicious flavours. I quite often serve this with roast chicken which sounds strange, but works brilliantly.