This little salad is a perfect example of why you should let the seasons dictate your dishes. Illustrating the point where autumn/winter meets spring, the fresh broad beans and baby fennel offer the soft green of spring’s new growth while the pear signals the end of colder months’ bounty. It would be lovely served alongside grilled chicken, lamb cutlets or even just a nice sausage. The mint really lifts this dish – so don’t be stingy.
Serves 2
500g broad beans in the pod
Salt
75 ml extra virgin olive oil
Finely grated zest and juice of ½ a lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon castor sugar (optional)
60g pecorino
1 small fennel bulb
1 just-ripe pear (preferably Josephine or Doyenne du comice)
A few mint leaves (the mint really lifts this dish)
1. Pop broad beans from their pods and blanch in boiling salted water for about 20 seconds, then swiftly refresh in iced water until cool. Drain beans and carefully nick outer skin of largest beans, then squeeze out beans. Leave smallest beans as they are.
2. Whisk extra virgin olive oil into lemon juice in a small bowl, then add lemon zest and season to taste. Adjust acidity with castor sugar if you like.
3. Shave pecorino – Sean uses a mandolin for this (I use my potato peeler) Trim and discard outer layer of fennel bulbs, saving a few young tender green tips. Slice fennel very thinly lengthways, removing core as you go. Peel and quarter pears, then slice very thinly lengthways. Tear mint leaves and toss gently in a large mixing bowl with fennel, pear, beans and enough dressing to coat lightly, then season and toss gently again. Arrange salad on plates, layering with pecorino, and serve at once, drizzled with remaining dressing.
Sean Moran’s cooking is perfectly suited to the home. For Moran food is about nurturing, whether it’s through feeding his fruit trees, chooks and worm farm, or presenting a paella, roast chook or ocean trout to a group of friends. His ‘salty jewel’ of a restaurant, Sean’s Panaroma, with its humble beach shack décor, home-style cuisine and laid back atmosphere, is among Sydney’s best. Let it Simmer brings fresh seasonal produce and revived retro classics into your own kitchen.