Broad bean and Pancetta salad

  This year I sowed lots of broad beans, I love to eat them and you can't have enough, after you shell the beans out of their jacket there isn't that much left. I sow the beans in small pots in early spring, I can't sow them straight outdoors in the soil because the mice dig and eat them up. Even half of the plants I planted were dug up and had been eaten, not the tops, they leave that laying there for you to see and get wild about! Pesky mice they have been a nuisance this year also in the fruit cage with the strawberries.

With all the bad weather this summer much of the flowers didn't get pollinated, so I didn't end up with many beans, this will only make the beans I do have taste even better!

I shell the beans, I use rubber gloves because they make your hands so black, then cook them about 4 minutes in boiling water and leave them to cool. I don't take the outer skin of because they are so fresh and small, if I have bigger beans or frozen ones and have the time I do sometimes peel the outer skin off. It's a good salad to make when you've got people coming for lunch because you can make it ahead.

100 gr   Pancetta cubed or sliced

400 gr   shelled Broad beans ( fresh or frozen)

100 gr   Feta Cheese

2 tbsp   chopped fresh Mint  

1 tbsp   Sherry of White Wine Vinegar

3 tbsp   Olive oil

a few    Cherry Tomatoes (optional)

Salt and Pepper

   Boil the Broad beans for 4 minutes, fry the pancetta till crisp.

Drain the beans, let them and the pancetta cool. Them add to a bowl with all the other ingredients. 

Ready to eat!