Courgette & parmesan beans

those leek-y beans but make them summer

Welcome back, and all the newbie’s here, WELCOME. This newsletter is my love letter to feeding the people you care about, and I always kind of hope that it’ll serve you as a bit of a tool kit for having people over to eat, whatever that may look like to you.

*the butterbeans but make them summer

I wrote a recipe for leek-y butterbeans last year and they went down so well. Those beans are in fact 1 of the 2 things one of my best friends makes on repeat. So with summer here, it felt like time to give them a little makeover. However, I couldn’t decide whether to have them as a salad OR as this little hot dish. I tested both, I’m obsessed with both. So yeh, you now get both. A rare perk of my chronic indecision, the salad-y version- heavy on the parmesan and black pepper will there for you next week.

INGREDIENTS

SERVES 4

3 courgettes

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 chunky clove garlic

1 tin anchovies, optional

3 x 400g tins or 2 big 600g jars butterbeans

1 chicken / veg stock cube

50g parmesan

1 lemon

Small bunch dill, to serve

METHOD

1.     Finely slice the courgettes into rounds. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Add 2 tbsp olive oil to the base of a large saucepan and place over a medium high heat, add the fennel seeds and sliced garlic and sizzle for a minute, then add the sliced courgettes along with a big pinch of salt. Fry for around 15 mins, stiring regularly, until totally softened.

2.     Push the courgettes to the side, then add the whole tin of anchovies, oil and all. Use your spoon to break them up and turn the anchovies into a chunky paste, then stir through the courgettes.

3.     Tip the beans into the pan, including the liquid from the tins/jars, add the stock cube and stir well. Bring to simmer and cook for 5 mins.

4.     Finely grate the parmesan straight into the pan, add the lemon zest and half of the juice, then taste and season- adding more lemon juice if necessary. Remove from the heat.

5.     Spoon into bowls, top with dill and a crack of black pepper to serve. Serve any remaining lemon, cut into wedges, on the side.

I know, it’s hot and maybe you really fancied a cold dish, but I don’t know many hot climate countries that don’t serve up delicious hot food in the heat, so I reckon get on board. There’s something about weekday evenings where I can’t be bothered to cook that much, but want to hang out and eat with people and drink some wine. This dish feels very right for that kind of agenda.

Serve this with some fresh pan fried fish, or a whole fish for the middle of the table. Serve simply with bread, or with a side of marinated feta and olives for something a bit more substantial.

I drank this last week with some pasta and it was everything you want from a crisp white. Upon a bit more research, it’s a combo of the these grapes: Riesling, Sylvaner, Auxerrois, Pinot Gris, Gewurtztraminer. The main thing, IMO, is to have it very cold and glug it down with the beans.

The salad version of these beans, kind of similar but mainly for those who really don’t want to eat hot food right now.

There’ll hopefully be some fun new bits as we go along, but for now WELCOME BACK XOXO