I bought a big bag of frozen broad beans from a Middle Eastern grocers and was wondering what to make with them, then I remembered an old Italian recipe for a broad bean salad with an anchovy dressing. I’ve adapted it slightly to suit my tastes and make it easy and added lemon and basil instead of vinegar and marjoram and it tastes really fresh even though it’s all store cupboard. It’s perfect as a side dish with a main meal or I serve it on scorched toast.

Serves 2

Ingredients

200g of frozen broad beans or podded fresh if you can get them

2 anchovy fillets

2 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

4 tbs of olive oil

a bunch of basil

How

if you are using fresh broad beans boil them for about 3 minutes, drain, and refresh in cold water until cool, drain thoroughly and remove the outer skins.

if you are using frozen, thaw them, boil for a minute and refresh in cold water to cool and drain thoroughly.

make the dressing by putting the anchovy fillets, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and a small sprig of the basil into a small blender and blend till it’s creamy and mix through the beans and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add more basil leaves and serve. As I said, I love it on toast.