Celebrating spring with broad bean and pea pesto

One of the most beautiful things about spring is the way all plants just leap forth into life and grow with such exuberance. Virtually overnight, my peas and broad beans quit moping, doubled in height, burst into flower and suddenly, there's little pods everywhere!

Broad bean plants at my community garden plot

Broad beans and peas are both legumes, which means they add nitrogen to the soil as they grow – this is the stuff that helps plants produce strong leafy growth. You can use them as a green manure to improve your soil. Simpy grow them until the plant is about 30cm tall then chop it up and dig it into the soil while it’s at its nitrogen-fixing best. You need to do this before they flower as that reduces the amount of nitrogen they put into the soil by up to 95 per cent. Broad beans and peas can be planted at the start of winter for an early spring crop, or in August/September for a late spring/early summer crop.

Amazing scarlet broad bean flowers. The flowers are usually white.

If you’d rather eat them, leave them to flower – these will turn into the pods that you eat. Pick the pods young and munch on them raw, in the shell or out. If you leave them on the plant for a few more days, they will get a lot bigger and a little tougher so they will benefit from being shelled and cooked for a few minutes - steamed, boiled, sautéed with a little garlic and oil, or stir-fried. If you’d like to save them for later, blanch the shelled beans and peas (plunge in boiling water for 30 seconds then immerse in icy cool water and drain), put them in a zip-lock bag and freeze – they’ll last for months this way.

Pea and broad bean pods

Shelled broad beans

For this lovely meal, I baked up a batch of crackers using this super quick and healthy recipe (1 tablespoon of chia seeds soaked in 3 tbsp of water for five minutes makes a great egg-free alternative) with some fresh rosemary thrown in. I then smushed up the below pesto, dolloped it on the crackers and there it was, the perfect spring snack. 

Broad bean and pea pesto

Makes 2 healthy serves

Place a handful each of shelled beans, peas and cashews in the food processor or mortar and pestle. Add half an avocado, a crushed garlic clove, a good pinch each of salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon and a seriously good slug of olive oil. Pulse (or pound with the pestle) until you’ve got the desired consistency – chunky, smooth or somewhere in between.

Serve on bread, with crackers or stirred through pasta or zoodles.

Broad bean and pea pesto with homemade crackers