Soft Polenta, parmesan and baby spinach.

Chorizos and broad bean with ciabatta

This is one of those anti-pasti dishes, I made during our month long entertaining stint recently. It was a huge hit with my FIL and it served as our entree along with a host of other tasty treats for a couple of the feasts.

I found the recipe in a book I received from my SIL, about 4 years ago and it is one of those books that I have found it difficult to find inspiration, but no more I think it is all a matter of timing, and last summer it was all about mediterranean style starters from this book "The Mediterranean Collection" by Louise Pickford.


250 g shelled broad beans fresh (or 1 packet frozen broad beans)
125g spicy chorizo sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon chopped dill
1 tablespoon chopped mint
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

I also used about 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika.

I had to use frozen broad beans rather than fresh, so it was a matter of taking the outer shell from the beans - and a frozen packet is quite a few more than the fresh I think?

Cut the sausage into slices about 5mm(1/4inch) thick. Heat the oil in a frying pan, ad the garlic and fry gently for 2-3 minutes until softened, then discard. Increase the heat, add the sliced chorizo and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, until it is golden and has released some of its oil.

Stir in the beans and cook for a further 2-3 minutes then add the herbs, squeeze over the lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm with some freshly baked turkish bread.