It’s been a bumper year for our French beans and even now they’re not showing any signs of stopping . Yesterday I was browsing though this forum and spotted a recipe* posted by Debbie from Norfolk Coastal Holidays
It hasn’t been such a great year for tomatoes but I managed to gather the last of the few we had left, enough for one batch so I decided to give it a try – it’s delicious!
Ingredients
- 400g runner beans, topped, tailed + stringed
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely sliced
- 6 large tomatoes or 1x 400g tin tomatoes
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled + crushed or finely chopped
- 3 sprigs thyme
Method
- If using fresh tomatoes, peel them by cutting a cross in the skin at one end and plunging into a pan of boiling water for 1 min, until the cut skin starts to peel back.
- Remove from the water, peel and roughly chop. Slice the runner beans diagonally into long strips about 1cm wide. Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan.
- Add the onions and sweat until translucent and beginning to soften. Add the beans, tomatoes, garlic, sugar and herbs. Cover and simmer for 30-40 mins until the beans are soft and the sauce is thick – if it is still thin, remove the pan lid and bubble until it reaches the right consistency. Serve warm or at room temperature.
My tuppence worth…
It’s also been a good year for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers ( the non musical variety) and I added some in to give it an extra kick.
We are also lucky enough to have a supply of delicious peppery olive oil from Amar’s family’s olive groves – if you haven’t got your own supply of liquid gold use the best quality you can find.It really does make all the difference.
We still have loads of chillies left so I’ve been freezing them in little ice cubes to use later.
* the recipe is fromRiverford Organic Farms
