While I do love cooking, it’s the eating that I love most. Being able to enjoy the process of cooking a dish and then rewarded by eating that delicious creation is a win-win for everyone involved.
The school summer holidays have commenced, the weather is becoming warmer and the country has begun to open up a little more. Now I find, like so many people, I have less time to cook. This is where assembled dinners come into their own. The atmosphere is more relaxed than a rainy November evening. There’s less demand for traditional comfort food like stews and mashed potato, so a lighter salad will suffice.
I love to lean on the contents of a well-stocked pantry, so I often cook with beans. Sometimes I can be organised enough to cook them in batches and then freeze them, the most-cost effective way for sure. Other days I’m happy to use tinned beans. There’s a vast array available and for this recipe I’ve chosen butter beans. With their smooth exterior, generous size and soft creamy centre, the butter bean really is a great choice for salads.
Sweetness
Here, I’ve blistered some tomatoes and stirred them through the beans. As with all simple dishes, it’s really key to have good quality ingredients to start with. If you’re growing your own tomatoes this year then what better way to make them the real star of the dish. I love blistering them, heating them in a very hot pan with a little oil to encourage their sweetness, soften them slightly and give them a slightly smoky edge. It’s important to heat the oil in the pan before adding the tomatoes as this will really encourage those dark patches of flavour to form.
I’m naturally drawn to herbs like basil, oregano or marjoram when it comes to tomatoes. I use quite a bit of oregano here, like a salad leaf almost, and the results are incredibly full of flavour. And as with most seasonal foods, the herbs pair best with other foods that are in season. So as the tomatoes ripen, the herb bed is also carpeted with oregano.
For the modern day chef there is an abundance of produce available to buy all year round and seasonality seems to have taken a back seat. I always try to look back to the origins of when and why food pairings happen. It’s a nice way to cook and always has great results. It makes sense that sun-soaked tomatoes sit so happily with herbs and a creamy cooling ball of mozzarella to bring it all together.
Recipe: Butter beans with blistered tomatoes and mozzarella
