Serves: 4 - Time:
This isn’t a very inspiring title but it would be too wordy to include all the vegetables in the title and, as I can’t abide “medley”-unless it’s about a swimming competition, we’re stuck with summer veg. It is one of my favourite ways to serve vegetables during the warmer months, especially with a roast when I want to eat lightly and brightly. You can make the dish in advance and just give the vegetables a quick heat through before serving. I have stirred in lots of mint because I have masses of it outside the back door and I couldn’t be bothered to pick any other herbs but chives, tarragon, dill or parsley (or a mix of all) would work just as well. If you can pick fresh peas and broad beans of course use them, but frozen are better than shop-bought fresh which can be starchy and bitter.
Ingredients
- 150g frozen baby broad beans
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 30g butter
- 4 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
- 2 large courgettes, topped and tailed and cut into 5mm cubes
- 155g fine asparagus, trimmed and halved
- 190g frozen petits pois
- 115g baby spinach leaves
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped mint (see intro)
- Juice of ½ small lemon
Method
- Put the broad beans into a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Leave for 1 minute then drain and refresh under cold water. Peel off the tough outer skins and set aside.
- Heat the oil and butter in a large shallow sauté pan or wide casserole and cook the spring onions over a moderate heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the courgettes and cook, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes until just starting to soften.
- Add the asparagus and cook for 2-3 minutes (or slightly longer if they are quite thick spears). Stir in the spinach and leave to wilt for about a minute. Finally add the broad beans and peas and cook for about 2 minutes until the vegetables are cooked but still retain a slight crunch. Taste and season well with salt and ground black pepper. Stir in the mint and lemon juice just before serving.
