Young broad beans with ham and cockles

How to prepare some tender beans with ham and cockles . It seems that spring is beginning to appear, at least it has stopped raining. These days what you want is a little less heavy dishes and full of vitamins. To inaugurate the new season of YouTube we started with a  flavorful legume recipe , a traditional Andalusian recipe with Galician touches, some tender broad beans with ham, peppermint and topped with some garlic cockles,  which take away the hiccups of how good they are. All very well watered with a wine from my land, a Gundián albariño, which is not even painted.

The dish is based on a traditional recipe from Granada’s cuisine, varying from the original in that it does not turn out to be a stew and does not contain an egg (although the recipe would not do badly). Throughout Andalusia you can see many versions of the traditional recipe, mine is one more and I tell you that it is very rich. The truth is that in Spain we have one of the most envied cuisines worldwide, and that is that the Mediterranean diet is not only healthy, but also rich. One of the pillars of this diet is vegetables and legumes, and now the season of many of them begins, in a few months there is an explosion of product in all orchards in Spain. Green beans  are great legumes, low in fat, high in fiber, phosphorous, carotenes, calcium and iron. In this case we have cooked them for a few minutes, but if we do not want to lose any of their properties, it is best to steam them. We have prepared a kilo that gives for about two people, if you are more in the family I advise you to buy more than 2 kilos of beans, since when they are shelled they fall short.

These green beans are fresh, juicy, tender, tasty and small in size , they are easy to get in any fruit shop whenever we are in season. If you are visiting Granada, the best you can get in the Vega de Granada , perhaps the best in Spain. If you want to prepare this dish in the month of November you can opt for the frozen version, which is not a bad option, especially if they are quality beans. The recipe is a fantastic fix for a dinner or fast food, it does not require more than fifteen minutes. Accompanied by a very fresh beer you will have a balanced, easy and cheap lunch or dinner. What are you waiting for? 

Preparation of broad beans with ham and cockles

1. We shelled the broad beans and we passed them for a little water to remove possible impurities. We reserve in a bowl.
2. Dice an onion or two chives. We cut the ham slices in the same way. We reserve.
3. In a low casserole or a large frying pan and with a good splash of good extra virgin olive oil (or we can use the olive oil from the cockles with garlic that we are going to use at the end of the recipe, it will give it an impressive flavor), We will fry the onion for 3-4 minutes over medium heat, add a pinch of salt and a little bit of freshly ground black pepper, in this way we help it to become transparent. Once sautéed, add the chosen ham and stir everything for a few more minutes until the ham releases all its fat.
4. Add the beans that we have reserved and combine well with a wooden spoon without breaking them. We rectify salt and freshly ground black pepper, although remember that the plate has ham, try the plate first.
5. We add three generous tablespoons of fried tomato sauce and stir everything well for a minute until the tomato is hot, pour the white wine and stir well to bring all the flavors together. We cover our casserole so that the beans are made. With 2-3 minutes over medium heat is more than enough.
6. At the same time we wash the file or files (it depends on the citrus flavor that we want in the recipe) that we are going to use and grate the skin directly on the beans with the fire turned off. Squeeze over and join with the sauce that has formed in the casserole, we just need to add the mint leaves that will give it color and aroma.
7. We will have our plate ready for plating. It only remains to crown this dish with the cockles in garlic from Escuris that we have reserved and serve. We can taste this recipe hot, warm or even cold, really delicious.

I hope you enjoy this dish as easy and as you can see in the colorful photo. Usually we will place the plate in the center of the table to share with everyone accompanied by bread, they are an ideal appetizer to open your mouth before the meal. Bon Appetite!

I leave you with the video with the step by step of the recipe so that you do not lose detail and it comes out yes or yes. A video in which we have cooked with 2 Galician products within the Galicia Calidade label . One of the most prestigious, trustworthy and quality brands in the world.

You can see all the photos of the step by step in the next album.