For many years I’ve despised sorrel (a kind of love child between greens and herbs) as I once grew some which was so sour I had to spit it out!
After the interview with Judith Hann though, I was inspired to give it another go and now I am an enthusiastic convert.
In the interview Judith makes a number of suggestions for things to do with sorrel, and on further investigation I discovered that Ottolenghi is also a sorrel fan. This recipe is based on one in his book, Plenty.
The bright, lemony sorrel cuts a bright tune through the soft, mushy base notes of the beans and the salty feta.
If you can’t find sorrel, use spinach and add a bit more lemon juice.
For a recipe for Smoking Gentle Giant Beans with Cheese and Spinach, follow this link.
Recipe for a warm salad of butter beans with sorrel
Serves 2 with ham for lunch
Ingredients
- 1 x tin butter beans, drained weight 235g/8 oz
- 50g butter
- 8 spring onions
- 1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 100g/4 oz sorrel
- 1½ tbsps. lemon juice
- 60 ml/¼ cup/4 tbsps olive oil
- 200g/7 oz feta
- 2 tsps sumac
- pinch of Urfa pepper flakes, or some freshly ground black pepper
- small bunch of soft herbs, such as chervil or dill
Method
- Drain the butter beans and add to a large frying pan.
- Add the butter, and fry gently.
- Add the garlic, snip in the spring onions, the sumac, and the Urfa pepper flakes or pepper.
- Roughly cut over the sorrel. Mix. Take off the heat.
- Add the oil and lemon juice, mix again.
- Serve (you may want to transfer to a pretty bowl) with the soft herbs snipped over the top.