Here’s a link to my latest post for Borough Market – on the splendidly focused Parma Ham and Mozzarella stand. Do have a look. I can heartily recommend the combination of mozzarella, broad beans, lemon and mint, too. Track through the post on the Borough blog, or just scroll to the bottom of this one for a recipe (of sorts).
“Life’s too short to eat bad mozzarella
There’s something particularly reassuring about people and companies who focus on just a few products; you know they are specialists and, by and large, that what they’re selling will indeed be special.
Borough Market has a number of traders like this. The Parma Ham and Mozzarella Stand is one of them. Guess what they sell?!”
Mozzarella, broad beans, mint and lemon
Serves 2-3
- 400g broad beans in their pods (around 130g beans once podded)
- 200g buffalo mozzarella (GOOD QUALITY PLEASE)
- 2 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive or rapeseed oil
- 10 fresh mint leaves
- 4g mild red chilli, seeds removed
- The zest and juice of ¼ lemon
- Sea salt, pepper and more olive oil for seasoning
Pod the broad beans and blanch in salted boiling water. Drain and drop into a bowl of iced water. Remove the skins from the beans. This can be done in advance and is a good communal job, or for someone sitting idly in front of the TV ….
Finely chop the red chilli. Roll the mint leaves into a cigarette shape and slice them into very thin strips. Zest the lemon.
Dress the beans with the olive oil and lemon juice. Add the majority of the mint, chilli and lemon zest but leave a pinch of each to garnish the plate. Sprinkle in a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and gently toss the beans so that they are well coated.
Tear the mozzarella into chunks – 3 or 4 per 100g ball. Divide between two or three plates and spoon the beans and dressing over the top. Sprinkle over any remaining zest, mint and chilli. Serve with warm crusty bread.
I could happily eat this right now for breakfast 🙂
“Life’s too short to eat bad mozzerella”?
I would argue that Life’s too short to skin broad beans!
Haha. Very good (you’re wrong, though)
Amen – I have completely stopped buying the tasteless rubbery balls you can get in most supermarkets as it is just not worth it.
Love the sound of this dish – my favourite combination to date has always been mozzarella with parma ham, thinly sliced fennel, a drizzle of olive oil and some specks of sea salt but I might have to branch out a bit – the River Cottage book actually has a whole spread of simple mozzarella-based dishes just like this one and yours.
These are the not the cheesy beans I was expecting.
We have a cool market every two weeks, wonderful broad beans, to be had. Alas we have no great source of good Mozzarella nearby. My girlfriend has both I will alert her to this post.
Nice post.
Oooh yes, I’d forgotten how good the mozzarella was from that stall in Borough. Haven’t been there in years but it would be worth fighting the ghastly hordes of tourists to get some of that amazing cheese again.
I would love to eat this every day 😉