Courgette and Broad Bean Linguine

It's been a bit quiet on the food blog front. Apologies. I've been in France, amusing the locals with rough and ready explanations of my veganism. In the land of tortured ducks and full on foie gras, I can't say I did too well. Everyone was very jolly, though, and there was some very lovely bread, beer and wine. Anyway I'm back now and the new excitement in our kitchen is a grill pan, which was my prezzie for father's day. As a result, everything's getting grilled now! This recipe features grilled courgette, which is gorgeous, plus some lovely fresh broad beans. Yum.

Ingredients:

One large courgette, sliced diagonally
500g broad beans, in their pods
Three cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Sea salt
Linguine
Olive oil

Method:

Heat your grill pan and then add the courgette slices after brushing them lightly with olive oil and sprinkling lightly with sea salt. Pop the pieces of the chopped garlic in between them to let it toast. Grill on both sides - take your time - until the courgette's tender and just on the point of falling apart. Remove from the grill pan and slice roughly, and set to one side, covered.

To prepare the broad beans, steam them for around ten minutes or so, then rinse very briefly in cold water and proceed to undertake the rather laborious, but worthwhile, process of shelling them. I genuinely can't imagine not shelling them (you don't need to really) as the resulting 'naked' broad beans are so beautifully green and delightful. It's worth the effort. I shell them by making a small cut in the top of the bean and then squeezing the bright green inner through the cut.

Mix the beans, toasted garlic and the courgette together with a little more olive oil and squeeze the lemon juice over the top. Meanwhile cook your linguine, rinse with boiling water, and turn over in a little more olive oil before turning the vegetables through the hot pasta. Then serve.

As an added option, I also grilled some peppers to serve on the side of this one, and some slices of a fake vegan ham that we picked up at the chinese cash and carry. It's quite lovely for a faux meat, popular with the kids, and made by some folks in Bletchley at a fab sounding place called 'Veggie World'!