Fine bean & beluga lentil salad

Ingredients 400g spinach, 100g garden peas, 1 tbsp almond butter, 200g fine beans, 200g beluga or puy lentils (I loveMerchant Gourmet's ready to eat pouches), 1 tbsp butter.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes

After the excesses of Christmas, I always veer towards clean, green food. Lentils need not be boring however - this steamy hot salad has an irresistible gloss of silky almond butter, meltingly soft spinach and a crisp crunch of fine beans.

1) Roughly chop the spinach and fine beans and add to a pan with 1 tsp butter and 1 tbsp almond butter. Stir until the spinach has just begun to wilt.

2) Simmer the peas in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and add to the pan along with the lentils. Add a little extra almond butter if you wish, season with black pepper and serve hot or cold.

Fine bean, pea & mozzarella scramble

Ingredients Egg (one per person and one for the pot!), fine beans, peas, butter, bread, mozzarella pearls.

Preparation: 5 minutes

I am blessed with a very low-maintenance child who will happily play in the kitchen whilst I bake bread or make cheese. However, some days he quite rightly wants a bit more attention and knocking together a quick veggie scramble is absolutely delicious, and gives me enough of a protein kick to fuel our post-lunch playtime. In this hot Summer weather, peas and fine beans give this a sweet, refreshing crunch which is perfect with the creamy mozzarella and egg.

1) Top and tail the beans and slice into sixths. Add equal parts of peas to the pan (about 1/2 cup per person) with a knob of butter and sizzle for 2 minutes.

2) Whisk the egg and pour into the pan, stirring constantly until it begins to take form. Stir in the mozzarella pearls (always use from room temperature, it has no business being in the fridge!) and serve with toast.

Greek bean salad

Ingredients Green beans, butterbeans, feta, Rachel's Organic Greek Yoghurt, mint, cucumber, green olives, chives.

Preparation: 10 minutes

La OK, I'll admit it, I have been OBSESSED with Greek food for the last few months. I can't help it - beautiful flavours, minimal ingredients and you have a simple, quick meal that is more often than not healthy too. This scrumptious bean salad has soft butterbeans, salty feta and olives, the fresh crunch of green beans and a luscious slither of minty Greek yoghurt tying it all together.

1) Top and tail the green beans and simmer in hot salted water with the butterbeans for 5 minutes. Strain in a colander and run under cold water to bring them down to room temperature.

2) Dice the feta and olives and stir into the beans.

3) Finely chop the mint, chives and cucumber, then stir into the yoghurt and toss with the other ingredients and serve.

Emerald salad

Ingredients2 tsp grainy mustard, 4 eggs, lemon juice, salt, pepper, 1 pint rapeseed oil, 1 tablespoon pumpkin oil, green beans, exquisa potatoes, 2 avocados, goats cheese.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes

I can scarely believe that it's been less than a week since I discovered Pumpkin Oil but in these last few days it has been a major source of foodspiration for me! I knew the stunning nutty flavour would make the most unbelievably rich mayonnaise but I was worried it would be too light to "take". A combination of Yorkshire rapeseed oil and pumpkin oil later, I had a dish of vibrant green mayonnaise and couldn't wait to smother it on waxy, exquisa potates, silky avocado, tangy goats cheese and the fresh green crunch of fine beans. With a little mustard for added piquancy this really is a stunning salad.

1) To make your own mayonnaise - separate 4 egg yolks from the whites (discard the whites) and put in a large clean bowl to whisk (or use the whisk attachment on your blender if you have one). Add the lemon juice/vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk thoroughly, adding the rapeseed oil ONE DROP at a time until the mayonnaise is thick and glossy. When the mayonnaise has started to thicken, begin adding the pumpkin oil. You can always alternate if you wish but do remember you don't have to use all the oil - I like it quite thick but if it's too thick you can always add a little warm water to thin it back down again. Don't be afraid to stop whisking and keep checking. Once it coats the spoon without dripping it's mayonnaise, you won't get it wrong!

2) Prick the potatoes and put them on to boil for 20 minutes. Put the fine beans in with the potatoes for the last 2 minutes, then strain and run under cold water to bring them down to just above room temperature.

3) Stir the mustard in with the mayonnaise and spoon over the potatoes and green beans, stirring until they are evenly coated.

4) Slice the avocados in half, scoop the fruit from the shell (discarding the stone) and cut into chunks. Add to the salad with crumbled goats cheese and serve!

Olive & goats cheese linguine

Ingredients Fine beans, goats cheese, kamalata olives, honey, linguine

Serves: 2 Preparation: 20 minutes


I know that my cooking seems to be absurdly diverse, but you may notice that there is a distinct pattern to my posts. Almost every flavour combination that I discover winds up being tossed with pasta when I have leftovers - I should change the name of this blog to Everything Goes With Pasta! When I made the  goats cheese and olive bruschetta earlier this week, I knew exactly how the remaining tapenade-like mixture would meet its fate and truly, combined with the freshness of fine beans this really was a superb dish.


1) Put the linguine on to boil. A smooth linguine will take 8 - 10 minutes in salted water, if the linguine is dusted with polenta it will more likely take 11-12 minutes to become soft and pliable.


2) Trim the ends from the fine beans and put them on to boil for 6 minutes, then strain and plunge them into ice water.


3) Once the pasta has been cooked (either taste a strand, or chuck it at the wall - if it sticks, it's done!), strain and toss in a pan with the beans and a few spoons of the remaining olive and goats cheese sauce. Warm through in the pan, stirring continually until the pasta has become coated.


I like to serve this with a little extra goats cheese crumbled on top but this is purely gluttony, the dish doesn't require any extra cheese - it's gorgeous with a little balsamic glaze drizzled over it too.

Almond buttered green beans

Ingredients Green beans, almond butter

Serves: 2 Preparation 10 minutes

I use green beans quite a lot in pasta or curry because I love the crunchy, sweet contrast to the other ingredients but they are also a great side dish in their own right. This is a great way of sexing them up

1) Steam the green beans for 5 minutes

2) Stir in a teaspoon of almond butter and serve

Potato & goats cheese salad

Ingredients Garden peas, fine beans, exquisa   potatoes, goats cheese, creme fraiche, black pepper, chives, lemon.

1) Prick the potatoes and boil them for 20 minutes in hot salted water. during the last 10 minutes, add the fine beans, during the last 3, add the garden peas.


2) Strain the potatoes and run under a cold tap then set aside.


3) Whip goats cheese with creme fraiche and a squeeze of lemon juice, then stir the potatoes, green beans and garden peas into it. 


4) Serve warm or cold with freshly chopped chives and freshly ground black pepper.

Green bean pistou

Ingredients Linguine, green beans, toasted almonds, basil oil, basil, lime, parmigiano.

Pistou is a French version of pesto, traditionally spooned onto soup - I happen to also think it is pretty fabulous stirred onto pasta as a change from pesto.


1) Roughly chop some basil and then grind in a mortar and pestle thoroughly, adding a pinch of salt, the toasted almonds and a squeeze of lime to taste.


2) Cook the linguine in hot, salted water for 10 minutes, adding the green beans after 2.


3) Strain in a colander and add back to the pan. Stir through the pistou and serve sprinkled with parmeggian.