Salad dressings & dips
Broad bean dip
Eat as a dip with slices of pitta or salady bits, or use as a sandwich filler. A tasty green alternative to the usual chickpea hummus. This is a good way to use up older, larger beans, but make sure you double pod them before puréeing. It's worth finishing with some good olive oil.
Cook's notes
For a richer, more indulgent dip, stir a few tablespoons of crème fraîche or mascarpone into the basic dip instead (see image).
Ingredients
main
- 250g broad beans, shelled weight
- olive oil
to garnish
- spring onions or red onions, finely chopped
- mint, finely chopped
- cumin (optional)
- paprika (optional)
- salt and pepper
Method
-
Step 1
Boil the broad beans until tender (2-5 minutes). Drain, reserving a little cooking liquid. Run the beans under a cold tap, then slip them out of their grey skins.
-
Step 2
Blend in a food processor with 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid, adding enough olive oil to make a thick purée.
-
Step 3
Season, spread on a serving plate and drizzle with olive oil, then garnish with the onion and mint. To spice this up, you could add ½ teaspoon of ground cumin and a pinch of paprika when puréeing the beans.