Mind your peas and beans
It’s a sure sign that spring is here when the delicate pods of beans and peas of all varieties are in abundance in our stores. But do you know your snow from your sugar snap? Your broad from your green? And what’s the best way to enjoy them? Read on to find out more.
Spring’s exuberance is summed up by the edible members of the pea, bean and legume family Fabaceae, with their vigorous growth, climbing and trailing habits and prodigious pods. They’re nutritious: full of fibre, nutrients like folate and iron, and have health benefits like reducing cholesterol, stabilising blood sugar and increasing healthy gut bacteria. Here’s the run down on the most popular members of the family and how to bring them into your everyday cooking this spring.
Green beans
Green beans are best cooked by dropping trimmed beans into a pot of boiling water and cooking for two minutes. They should remain a vibrant green and be tender but still a little crisp. Always add green beans in the last few minutes of cooking a casserole, curry, soup or stir fry so that they remain bright green and not overcooked. The best way to eat freshly cooked green beans as a side is to toss them with some butter, a grind of sea salt and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Green beans also come in a purple shade (yes, that is confusing) – the purple colour disappears when they are cooked so these are best eaten raw in a salad or very lightly blanched, to preserve their colour.
Green beans make a great starter like these Prosciutto Wrapped Glazed Green Beans, try them in this delicious Warm Braised Black Olive and Balsamic Salad, or even in this Mashed Potato and Green Bean Loaf.
Butter beans
Butter beans (known overseas as wax beans) are another variation of green beans, but pale yellow in colour, and can be eaten and cooked in similar ways.
Broad beans
Traditionally the arrival of broad beans signalled the end of the hunger gap, that time over winter when nothing is really growing . Broad beans, also known as fava beans, were one of the earliest known cultivated crops, and are used in many cuisines. When very small, the pods can be eaten whole. When grown, the pods are large, bumpy green pods with a silvery felt-like lining into which are nestled the large, flat beans. Preparing broad beans is a rather labour-intensive process as the beans not only need to be podded, but then blanched and released from the rather tough pod around the bean itself, revealing the bright green tender bean inside. It’s worth it though – they’re lovely topping a bright spring salad of mixed leaves, a Grain Bowl, in Summer Gnocchi or used in these Smoked Trout Bites with Wasabi Cream.
Sugar snap peas
Sugar snap peas have a rounded pod with a thick wall and have small peas inside. Eaten raw, they are juicy and have a crunchy, sweet flavour. Like snow peas they can be eaten whole, either raw, or cooked by blanching, steaming or stir frying. Try this Quinoa Ribbon Salad, this Sugar Snap Pea, Radish and Bocconcini Salad or this nutty appetiser combining Pea Pods with Green Pesto and walnuts.
Snow peas
Snow peas, as the name suggests, are the first to appear in spring, and in parts of the world where it snows over winter, are ready even when the snow is still around. They have a thin, flat pod with immature peas inside. In France they are known as mange-tout, meaning “eat all” - they are eaten whole, but do take care to remove the small cap at the end of the pod which can be tough. They can be eaten raw or cooked very briefly – for example in a stir fry like this Sichuan Pork Stir Fry, or with these Seared Tasmanian Scallops with Savoy Salad and Hazelnuts.
Garden peas
We have to wait a little longer for garden peas, and in Tasmania, often until early summer, for these to be ready to eat. They have a tougher outer pod containing mature peas which must be podded. Only the peas are eaten. Fresh peas only need to be plunged into boiling water for 2-3 minutes and don’t add salt into the water – this will make the peas tough. You want them to remain bright green and firm, not mushy. Garden peas star in this Pea Salad with Buffalo Mozzarella. To save you podding lots of fresh peas, you can use frozen peas in this delicious Pea Soup with Crispy Pancetta and Parmesan Tuille.
