July: Peas and lemon verbena

What would an English summer be without fresh peas? They’re often the first thing to go at the farmers’ market, and for obvious reasons is one of our most popular vegetables.   


Lemon Verbena is sold at our markets by Wild Country Organics. It’s a beautiful multi purpose herb; use it to make a fragrant hot or iced tea, hot or cold, to flavour vinegar, custards (for ice-cream) or pop it into a jug of Pimms. They’ve also started growing edible flowers, a mixture of pansies, nasturtiums, and other pretty edibles.


I love cooking with grains. Barley, whole wheat, quinoa, buckwheat and spelt all have their place. Amaranth I don’t get on with, maybe because it’s just too small to handle. Buckwheat went out the window after travelling in the Ukraine, where almost every persons house smelt of the cooking grain and the resulting dish of kasha couldn’t be turned down. Spelt lives on and has been much talked about and focused upon, mainly because people who can’t or won’t eat wheat will eat spelt. I particularly love its nutty taste and firm texture as the basis of a salad, here with a glut of July vegetables and lemon verbena.

Green spelt salad with raw peas, broad beans, griddled courgettes and lemon verbena

To serve four

It’s the salad not the spelt which is green. Summer is the time for this. I’ve kept the peas raw because frankly I think they taste better and I’ve never been known to bring peas home without consuming most of them on the way.


200g Spelt
1 kg broad beans in pods
½ kg fresh peas on pods
1 fennel bulb
2 med sized courgettes plus 1 tbl olive oil, salt and pepper for griddle
1 lemon
Handful of fresh lemon verbena leaves
Nasturtium leaves and flowers (optional but pretty and peppery)


Dressing
6 tbl olive oil
2 tbl lemon juice
1 tsp djon mustard
Salt and pepper


Variations – add fresh herbs of your choice- mint, parsley, basil, chives, tarragon all work
Add chunks of salty fresh cheese – buffalo, goat’s cheese, and feta.
Early in the season raw or cooked asparagus is a great addition


Method
Wash the spelt. Cook in plenty of boiling water until just soft.
Drain, wash in cold water, drain again; put in bowl you’re using for salad.


Pod the broad beans and blanch in boiling water for a minute or two depending upon size. Don’t over cook. Refresh in cold water and slip off the leathery skins.


Add to the spelt.
Pod the peas and add to the bowl. 
Trim the fennel, cut into quarters and slice paper thin.  Squeeze about a tablespoon of lemon juice over the slices and toss into the salad bowl.
Wash, top and tail the courgettes. Slice into thin slices toss into one tablespoon of the oil, salt and pepper and griddle on both sides until just cooked. Add to the bowl.
Tear the verbena leaves and add to the salad. Add the nasturtium leaves if using.


For the dressing;
Combine all the ingredients together in a screw top jar and shake to mix. Add enough dressing to the salad to coat it. Decorate with the nasturtium flowers and serve.