When we were at Il Frantoio (an earlier post) in Puglia, one of the dishes we were served was broad bean pate. The broadbeans had been grown on the property …and the olives for the oil, and the garlic, and the lemons. I found fresh broad beans at the James St Markets, New Farm, so I thought I would try to replicate this delicious dish.
fresh broadbeans
First, peel the broadbeans. You will need quite a lot of beans, as there isn’t much left when you discard the shells. I steamed my peeled beans for 4-5 minutes, but you could also boil them for a couple of minutes.
the second peeling
Rinse in cold water to cool the beans, then peel again. This is quite tedious, but it will be worth it.
the ingredients
Put the beans, a clove of garlic (chopped), 2 tablespoons olive oil, the juice of a lemon or lime, salt and pepper into the small bowl of a food processor. A mortar and pestle would probably give a more authentic result, but I don’t have one.
all ingredients in the food processor
process until it looks like this
I served it on top of steamed green vegetables to great effect. It was also delicious on fresh bread.
lunch
You could aso use frozen beans, which would eliminate the first peeling, but fresh beans produce an excellent result. I’m sure the Il Frantoio broad bean pate was better, but I can’t go to Puglia every day for lunch.