Broad Bean, Mint and Ricotta Bruschetta
This action has sent a really strong message about the importance of fresh food and the joy of growing your own to families across America. It has raised the profile and awareness of local and sustainable food to an unprecedented level.
In a country where two thirds of the population are either overweight or obese and one-in-three children (one-in-two if your skin colour happens to be black) have diabetes, this message is particularly badly needed.
In the US, a country of 210 million people, 40m have no health care so it’s a timely reminder that ‘our food can be our medicine’ but not if it’s mass produced.
On a recent trip to Washington DC, I had the opportunity to visit the vegetable garden. We had an early start on Monday morning to be at the gates of the White House by 9.30am.
First, I forgot my passport so we had to whizz back for that, then when we arrived our names didn’t appear to be on the list, and there was NO chatting up the security guys! After frantic texting and phone calls, eventually we discovered the time had been changed to 10.15am.
After several other dramas, we managed to contact Hannah, private assistant to the First Lady. Eventually, chef Bill Yosses came and rescued us and we were admitted. It would have been such an anti-climax to get that far and then be turned away politely but very firmly.
The vegetable garden is great, much smaller than I had imagined, for some reason I thought it was several acres but in fact it’s just 980 square ft.
Beautiful soil, a very impressive selection of really healthy produce, they even had a sea kale plant and several heirloom varieties of seed from past President Thomas Jefferson’s Garden at Monticello, including a beautiful purple flowering hyacinth bean that I’d love to grow. No beets though – President Obama doesn’t care for them.
Bill Yosses, who is pastry chef, and Cris Comerford, executive chef of the White House, showed us around. I was tagging along with a group of food writers who were having a conference in Washington DC that weekend. No sign of the first family, everyone was at the Democratic conference in Charlotte.
According to Bill, the main raison d’être for the veggie patch was that Michelle really wanted to have fresh nourishing food for the family and it is also used as an educational tool for local school kids, but Michelle herself also gets her hands in the soil from time to time and insists on hands-on assistance from the family.
They have an impressive composting system and a bee hive, but not a hen in sight, so I was trying to encourage Bill Yosses to get hens. Lots of great food scraps from the White House kitchens could feed them, and the manure could go on to the compost heap to make the soil more fertile.
It’s a brilliant holistic system, the kids would love them — plus the President could go to work on an egg every day! Here are a few recipes inspired by the produce in the garden.
110 – 175g (4 – 6 oz) podded broad beans
Extra-virgin olive oil, about 4 tablespoons
Zest of 1 lemon and a little juice, freshly squeezed
10 fresh mint leaves roughly chopped
Flaky Maldon sea salt and black pepper
2 thick slices sour dough bread
A small garlic clove
3 tablespoons fresh ricotta
Put the broad beans into boiling salted water for 3 — 4 minutes, remove and plunge into cold water, then drain and skin them. Put the beans in a small bowl and dress them with extra virgin olive oil, lemon zest, a little freshly squeezed lemon juice and most of the chopped mint. Season with sea salt and pepper.
Toast or grill the slices of bread on a hot pan grill. Rub each slice with the cut side of a garlic clove. Drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil. Season the fresh ricotta with salt and pepper to taste, then spread on to the hot, garlicky bread. Top the broad beans with the remaining chopped mint and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
This is another really good, easy tapas dish. The delicious subtle flavour of the soft aubergines comes through the crispy coating and the sticky honey make this a heavenly dish.
Serves 4 – 6
300g (10 ½ oz) aubergines, cut into
7mm–8mm thick slices
110g (4oz) plain flour
5 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for deep-frying
150ml (5fl oz) cold water
2 free-range eggs whites
clear honey, for drizzling
fine sea salt
Sprinkle the aubergine slices lightly on both sides with salt and set aside for 30 minutes. Sift the flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre and add the oil and the water. Gradually beat together to make a smooth batter. Set aside to rest, along with the aubergines.
Pat the aubergine slices dry with kitchen paper. Pour 1cm of olive oil into a large deep frying pan and heat it to 180°C/350°F/Mark 4.
Whisk the egg whites into soft peaks and fold them into the batter. Dip the aubergine slices, a few at a time, into the batter, add them to the hot oil and deep-fry for one minute on each side until crisp and golden. Leave to drain briefly on kitchen paper and serve immediately while they are still hot and crisp, drizzled generously with honey.
This can be a side dish for any grilled fish or meat. I serve it with Iberico pork cheeks or any game stew. It’s also delicious on its own.
Serves 4 – 6
1.5 kg (3lb 5oz) unprepared squash (butternut, onion or kabocha)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 fat garlic clove, finely chopped
½ teaspoon crushed dried chillies
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
25g (1oz) pine nuts
50ml (2fl oz) clear honey
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Mark 6. Halve the squash through the stem end, scoop out the seeds, peel and then cut into 2.5 – 3cm (1in to 1¼in) thick wedges.
Put the oil into a roasting tin with the garlic, crushed dried chillies, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Mix well together.
Add the wedges of squash to the tin and turn them over a few times in the oil mixture until well coated. Sit them on their curved edges and roast them in the oven for 20 minutes.
Spread the pine nuts onto a baking tray and roast them in the oven alongside the squash for 5 – 6 minutes, giving them a stir now and then until they are all golden. Remove and set aside.
Remove the squash from the oven and brush the wedges with some of the honey.
Return to the oven and toast for a further 15 minutes, brushing with more of the honey and then the caramelised juices every five minutes until the squash is tender and slightly caramelised.
Brush one last time with the juices from the pan, pile onto a serving plate and scatter over the pine nuts.
Serves 6 – 8
2 eggs
3 teaspoons of gelatin
3 tablespoons of water
1 pint of whipping cream
175g (6oz) of best quality honey
1 tablespoon of Grand Marnier
4 large ripe and juicy peaches
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped lemon verbena or lemon thyme leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Beat the eggs in a small bowl until it froths slightly. Sponge the gelatin in the cold water and then dissolve gently over a low heat.
Whip the cream to the soft peak stage. Add the honey to the dissolved gelatin and stir until smooth, if necessary keeping the gelatin over a low heat.
Cool this mixture until it starts to thicken slightly. Add the beaten egg to the cream and then mix with the honey mixture.
Finally add the Grand Marnier to taste. Chill for a couple of hours to set. Shortly before serving, peel the peaches.
Put the peaches into a Pyrex bowl. Cover the peaches with boiling water and leave for 30 seconds, then remove and drop into iced water.
The skins should now peel away easily, halve them, remove the stones and cut the flesh into thin slices. Put them into a bowl with sugar, lemon verbena or lemon thyme leaves and lemon juice and mix together gently.
Allow to macerate for at least 15 – 20 minutes. Serve with honey mousse.
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