Vegan Borlotti Beans with Bulrush Sticks

Here's another vegan recipe containing strange foraged items. Bulrush is a long leek like stem that commonly grows on the edge of ponds or slow moving rivers. The outer leaves are stringy and cant be eaten, however the inner pale grey/green leaves are sweet and starchy and almost dissolves on the tongue due to it's high starch content. Sweet like peas and reminds me of a softer asparagus.
During the summer fresh borlotti beans are available at your local fresh produce store and far superior in creamy texture over the canned or dried verities. Also Wild fennel seems to be growing madly this time of year and can be found in most parks and reserves, however the more it sits in the sun the more bronze it becomes, but still full of flavour.

1.2kg fresh borlotti beans
8 plum tomatoes
1 carrot
1 red onion
1 red pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
2 bay leaf
1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon sea salt
250ml apple juice
50ml extra virgin olive oil
8 bulrush
100g baby spinach washed


METHOD:
Shell the borlotti beans and place in a 3cm deep baking tray. Quarter tomatoes, peel and roughly dice the carrot and onion, slice pepper in half and remove the seeds then roughly dice. Peel and crush the garlic, dice the chilli and add both to baking tray along with tomato, carrot, onion, red pepper, bay, paprika, salt, apple juice and olive oil. Roughly mix together and cover in foil, place in oven set at 160oC for 1 hour and 30 minutes, give a little stir once cooked for 45 minutes and return to the oven.
In the mean time trim the tops off bulrush and remove a couple of the tough outer leaves then slice in half lengthways, the edible part of bulrush should be a very pale green or white colour.
Once borlotti beans are cooked remove foil and set aside to cool for 30 minutes.
To serve place some baby spinach in a bowl and spoon over borlotti beans and garnish with wild fennel then serve with several sticks of bulrush on the side.

Wild Pork Belly Summer Salad

Summer is well and truly here along with some more interesting ingredients to play around with. Borlotti beans, wet purple garlic and wild fennel are all growing in an abundance this months and we should make an effort to incorporate these 3 amazing vegetable's into our diet while in season.
So I've devised a delightful pork belly salad that incorporates the creamy borlotti beans, milder and sweet wet purple garlic and the peppery aniseed flavours of wild fennel. Perfectly balanced with pork and very healthy!

1kg pork belly
1kg fresh borlotti bean pods
4 wet purple garlic bulbs
40g wild fennel
100g red baby chard washed
500ml apple juice
50ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

METHOD:
First cut a criss-cross pattern on the skin of pork then place in a deep roasting tray. Pour apple juice over pork, drizzle half the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover baking tray with foil and place in oven set at 140oC for 2 hours. Cut the head off the garlic exposing the tops of cloves, place in a separate baking tray and drizzle over 100ml of water and the remaining olive oil. Cover tray with foil and place in oven to cook with pork for 40 minutes. Once garlic has cooked leave to stand covered in tray.
Shell the borlotti beans, when the pork has cooked for 2 hours add borlotti beans to the roasting tray and cover once more. Roast pork and beans together for a further hour.
When the pork and beans have cooked remove foil and leave to stand for 20 minutes to cool. In the mean time squeeze the bottoms of garlic bulbs and the soft cloves will pop out, discard the outer skin.
To construct the salad you can either make individual servings or one large platter. Lay the red baby chard down first followed by the beans and several garlic cloves. Using a fork and clean hand shred the pork meat and dress over salad. Lastly garnish with wild fennel and drizzle over the roasting juices. Serve as soon as possible.