I don't know that I've actually eaten broad beans before this week. Not through any active decision. I'd never eaten them, didn't know what to do with them, and so I didn't search them out, but then they hardly sought me out either. And what if I have
favism and don't know it yet? That would be particularly tragic, go on a low GI diet and die. But still, you have to take some risks in life.
Somewhat surprisingly to me broad beans are a medium GI food (63), whereas almost every other bean seems to be very low GI.
There were three broad bean recipes in the Sydney Morning Herald this week. I made
one of them today (Smashed broad beans and baby peas on brushcetta with ricotta and mint), and have another kilo of broad beans in the fridge waiting to make a second recipe. Luckily it turns out that I like broad beans, and they are really quite tasty. I fiddled with the recipe and used wholemeal pita chips, it was a really tasty weekend lunch, and felt frightfully good for me. I topped it with my first ever batch of homemade cheese (that will be a post to come- it's quite delicious).
Broad beans are quite fun to pod, although like everything a kilo seems like a little too much fun for one day. It is however quite evocative of those rare times when I helped my mother shell peas as a child. The pods have a cool texture, all padded on the inside.
Podded, ready to cook
Just a few quick minutes in the pot and they're done
Then podding them for the second time is actually the most time consuming part of the whole process. Apparently you can eat them without this step, but this coarse grey covering does taste really quite unpleasant by itself, so it's worth it to spend the extra time and get rid of it.
And then you're left with beautiful green gems that - I forgot to photograph! But you can see them here, mixed with the baby peas (GI 48).
I did want to rotate that photo, but can't today for some reason.
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