Bountiful Broad Beans….Vicia faba

I went out this morning to prop up the plants that were knocked sideways by yesterday’s rain and discovered that the broad beans were in dire need of harvesting. In fact, it was probably the weight of the pods, as much as the rain, that caused the plants to droop over the edges of the planter boxes. So there you are; whilst I was wrapped in worry about the extremes of weather making life difficult for the garden, the broad beans were busily growing and flourishing regardless. I was wrong to say ‘it’s tough life  being a garden”. I should have written, “gardens are tough”.

Here is my first broad bean harvest for the day. I picked some of  the tips of the broad bean plants  because they are tasty to eat too.

And here is my second basketful of broad beans, peeking out from under a small sample of the mini quiches I made this evening.The recipe for the quiches is based on the Easy Vegetable Quiche recipe found at http://www.cph.co.nz/Files/EasyVegeQuiches.pdf  on the excellent Canterbury Community and Public Health website. My version of the recipe included the addition of a small tin of boneless salmon, and a couple of handfuls of broadbeans. I also made wholemeal pastry bases instead using slices of bread. The pastry no doubt makes the quiches less healthy but certainly doubly delicious.