Broad Bean & Potato Mash

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31 October 2017 BY Julie Biuso
SERVES: 4

For this recipe, the beans should be a little softer than when they are used in a salad, so that they meld nicely with the soft buttery potato.

Ingredients

1 kg floury potatoes (the sort good for mashing), peeled and cubed
Salt
1-2 Tbsp butter (as much as you dare)
½ cup full-fat milk, heated
400g (14 oz) fresh or 200g (7 ounces) frozen broad beans

Method

1 If the broad beans are fresh, remove them from their pods and drop them into a saucepan of lightly salted boiling water. Return water to the boil and cook for about 7 minutes, depending on their maturity. Drain and refresh with cold water until they feel cool. If using frozen broad beans, put them in a sieve and rinse off ice crystals under running hot water, then cook as for fresh, for about 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and refresh with cold water until they feel cool. Flick off the outer skins and discard. This is fiddly but necessary as the skins are tough, so make yourself comfortable and just get on with it. The beans can be prepared 1-2 hours ahead; keep covered and refrigerated.

2 Place potato cubes in a saucepan, cover with cold water, salt lightly and bring to a gentle boil. Lower heat and cook gently until tender.

3 Drain potatoes, then return them to wiped-out pan and set pan back on heat for a few minutes to dry off. Pass potatoes through a mouli-legumes, or mash by hand. Beat in butter, salt to taste (and you’ll most likely need ¾ of a teaspoon or more) and enough hot milk to make a creamy purée. Taste and adjust salt if necessary (if it tastes flat, add more salt).

4 Stir broad beans through potato purée and serve piping hot.

Recipe Notes

I love to serve the broad bean and potato mash with a rack of lamb. I prepared the one pictured here by seasoning the rack with salt and pepper then coating the meaty part with softened butter, panko crumbs and chopped rosemary. Bake for about 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 200°C (400°F). Rest rack for 5 minutes before slicing into culets. Here’s a recipe for Crusted Lamb Racks using a similar crust Crusted Lamb Racks

Crusted Lamb Racks