broad beans on toast

allotment tales: early July

If every month was like July here in England then you could feed yourself comfortably, forever, off a 18 by 100ft allotment.

Broad beans are bursting to goodness right now and there's no better way to work up an appetite for lunch than pounding a handful of freshly picked beans to a paste with a pestle and mortar before spreading on toast. What's needed is;

a good sized pestle and mortar
a few grains of rock salt
a bunch of fresh mint leaves
a handful of shelled broad beans - the younger, the better, but they must be freshly picked, not shop-bought.
a little grated hard cheese - pecorino or parmigiana
a splash of lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
fresh ground pepper to taste

start with the salt, leaves, and a few of the beans, and begin to mash them up real good. add more beans until you get a good blend of pasted and semi-crushed beans for texture, then add the lemon juice and cheese. Use the pestle to stir it all together, gradually adding oil to loosen the mixture as necessary. In the meantime, toast some homemade bread rubbed with garlic. When done, spread the bean mixture onto the warm toast and add pepper. Eat.