Mark Hartstone's broad bean and pepper salad recipe
This salad looks deceptively light, the peppers are stuffed with a bean puree, and will stave off any hunger. We use 2 types of broad beans in this dish; the fresh for tossing in the dressing with the mixed leaves, and the dried (fava) beans for the hummus type pepper filling.
Tip: If you forget to soak your dried beans the day before you can substitute these with frozen ones. Unless they are fresh beans it is best to remove the skin as they can be quite leathery, even mature fresh beans require de-skinning after blanching.
Ingredients
- 12 bell peppers
- 1 small bag of mixed leaves
- 150 ml olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 small chilli
- 3 lemons
- 1 kg or 2kg fresh broad beans
- 400 g dried broad beans or bag of frozen broad beans
- 2 sprigs fresh mint
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Main
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 720 mins
- Cooking Time: 25 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- Soak the dried beans the night before.
- Simmer the broad beans until soft to the touch, drain water out, add crushed garlic and zest of 1 lemon.
- Begin to add the oil steadily as you crush the beans, if you prefer a smooth texture use a hand blender otherwise a fork is sufficient. Add chopped mint and chilli to taste.
- Roast off the peppers till blackened, then cling film to allow the steam to help remove the skin.
- Scrape the seeds and the skin from the peppers and fill with the bean puree, the stuffed peppers may be served hot or cold and are ideal for entertaining or alfresco dining as can be prepared in advance.
- Blanch the podded broad beans and then peel the pale skin from them taking care not to damage the beans. Toss the beans in lemon juice and olive oil just prior to serving.
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