The last meal from my memorable time in the province of Murcia was one that included not only the best and freshest broad beans from the region, but combined them with a real favourite of mine - morcilla. Not to everyone's taste, I know, although I am proud of how many people I have converted to the joys of this unique sausage. I thought this dish was a splendid and novel mixture of two classic Spanish ingredients. Fresh broad beans are always the best but, in Spain at least, they sell good ones in jars that work well.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kilo of broad beans in pods, podded, to deliver about 500 grams in weight
- 200 grams of morcilla, cut into rounds of 1-2 cm thick
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- half a teaspoon of fennel seeds
- 100 ml of water
- half a small bunch of fresh mint, roughly chopped
- sea salt and black pepper
Preparation
- In a frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
- Add the morcilla and fry for a minute or so, until slightly crisp on both sides. Try not to let the morcilla break up too much.
- Remove the morcilla from the pan and set aside.
- Still over a medium heat, add the garlic and fennel seeds and fry for a minute, until the garlic begins to colour.
- Add the broad beans and the water to the pan, and cook for about 3–5 minutes until the broad beans are tender.
- Return the morcilla to the pan and heat through.
- Stir in the mint and season with salt and pepper.
I like to eat any broad bean dish with crusty bread to mop up the beans and any juices.
