Sticky bean rice

This recipe is one good way to use up a surplus of any type of bean. I am using runner beans as I have a lot of them this year, but really any beans or pods like mange-tout can be substituted in.

My first harvest this year of runner beans

I have quite a sweet tooth - you may want to avoid the honey part of this recipe if you want to keep the sugar content down... but your rice will also not be as sticky!

You will need the following ingredients (serves 2):

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion
100g pancetta, diced
50g runner beans (roughly 4 or 5 good size pods)
1/2 yellow pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp set honey
250g brown rice, pre-cooked (I cheat and use microwave rice)

Put the oil in the pan or wok, and set to a medium heat. Slice up the onion into half centimetre widths and add to the pan with the pancetta. Let this sear for a while so that the onions start to soften and go brown at the edges.

Add the runner beans - I have topped and tailed them, and then cut them into centimetre diamonds (or rhomboids, if you prefer!). Keep the contents of the pan moving around every so often.

Then add the yellow pepper, again sliced into half centimetre widths. Then add the nutmeg. Once stirred, cook the contents of the pan (stirring every so often) until all all ingredients are cooked/softened. Then add the honey, and stir in until the mixture is coated, giving it a glossy, glazed look.

Now add the rice, and stir into the sticky mixture - cook for a little longer to ensure that the whole dish is hot, and so that the honey has had a chance to coat the rice.

All you then need to do is plate up... and enjoy!

Getting stronger...

Just a brief update for you all regarding the progress of what I have growing in the garden...

First of all, a lot of action with the runner beans...! I counted the other day and I have over 50 formed bean pods from four plants, so it won't be long now before I have to think of 101 different ways to use them!

The radishes, that had taken a pounding the other week from Mr Snail, have now grown their second set of leaves, and even the ones that were mostly eaten have staged a mini-revival of sorts.

Some very promising beetroot seedlings too - the leaf count appears to have doubled in the last week. Not too sure when the best time is to plant these out...? Any collective wisdom greatly appreciated.

The fennel is starting to produce it's second set of leaves, which are those feathery tendrils - good to see! Again - not too sure when it is best to plant these out, but they seem too weak at the moment, so I'll leave them until they are a lot stronger and more established.

And finally, back to the beans!:

A grower's dream... pods in abundance!

Collateral damage

Not good news I'm afraid - despite my radish, beets and cabbages all starting to spring up in the greenhouse, I've had a visit two nights in a row from a rogue gastropod. The radishes are being systematically picked off... 

So frustrating - what's more, is I've turned the drill upside down, around, had a good inspection of the greenhouse and cannot spot the slug/snail anywhere - as soon as I do though, there's not going to be any mercy - it's going straight to one of the chickens. 

I've not really had a problem with them before in the greenhouse, but I guess with the wet weather, they are finding it easier to make the climb up the sides to where the seedlings are. It's a battle of wills, and I may pop out last thing tonight with a torch to see if I can catch him in the act...

And now, a few oddities that have arisen in the back garden - a freak show, for your viewing pleasure, if you will...:

My dwarf beans - a couple of plants that I was growing (but failed to train up canes through moderate ineptitude) have developed curled bean pods. They look like those dangly earrings from the 80's! Can't think why they have done this... perhaps keeping their feet out of the mud and mire below...?

I have a couple of mushrooms growing in my old pea plant pot - I'm not going to eat them, but would be interested to know the classification if anyone has any ideas? I guess with the wet humid weather, mushroom foragers across the land are in for some rich pickings.

This mottling has happened each year I have grown broad beans - I don't know whether it is just age, disease or both; or whether they are ant bites, as I seem to have a lot of them around the plants, and they are often climbing up and down them.

Despite the wear and tear, I did manage to pick a respectable handful of the pods from the plants. Remarkably unmarked in comparison to the plants...

 I think I probably picked the pods a little early - the beans were a fair size, but they could probably have waited another week or so to plump up... well, you live and learn.

Still, I made some chicken pittas last night with a vegetable salsa-type filling - to finish them off I fried the broad beans and sprinkled them inside. Rewarding to eat your own produce, however small a contribution it makes to your plate. I'm afraid I don't have a picture of the pittas, because we ate them too fast!

Some rich pickings...

For all the disheartening moments... the 'what's happened to those leaves?', 'what's been picking at that?' or 'why is it turning that colour?'... every so often there are some victories that make it all worthwhile...

Exhibit one - my two pea plants in the garden came up trumps!:

OK, it's only a handful - but what a tasty handful!

Well pleased with that result - not a bad haul from just the two plants. If I get a return like that from the new plot I will be very happy indeed.

I put some of the success down to the fact that I put a bed of mashed up nettles underneath the pea shoots as I transplanted them into a bigger pot, and that seems to have given them the boost they needed - they were the strongest looking pea plants that I've grown.

Exhibit two: After a hard day's work in the garden the other day, I thought it was only right to reward my efforts with my prize strawberry (this photo is not edited!):

Delicious!

Give peas a chance...

This is the third year now that I've been growing peas. I've gone for the Kelvedon Wonder variety, which are short plants that are pretty easy to grow in tubs in the garden.

My current pea plants

I've not been growing on any kind of scale, so I couldn't expect to make a decent bowl of pea soup even if I had a high yield! Year one results were pretty good - I had eight plants and got a couple of handfuls. They taste amazing straight from the pod - in fact, if you get there while they are young the pods taste great too...

Year two, my yield was pathetic - from six plants I got less than a handful. Branching out I'd taken to growing pea shoots for adding to salads - easy to grow and they bring a subtle pea flavour to the mix.

It's probably down to overwatering, but I also have had trouble with the plants turning brown at the bottom, looking like they are dying from the base up... perhaps some of you more experienced grow-your-own bloggers will know why that is...?

Year three, and I've only got two plants on the go at the moment, but look at the beauties (pictured above)! Not a more satisfying sight than the sun shining through the pods revealing the developing peas.

I was amazed though when I went over to my mini-greenhouse yesterday. I had a number of seedlings in there which I've pretty much let run to seed, due to a lack of time to care for them.

Amongst the wilting dwarf beans and flowering radishes, were some of the most sorry looking pea plants I have ever seen...

...but lo and behold! Pods! Couldn't believe that the plants had managed to grow any, given I hadn't watered them for a couple of months. You can see the plants to the left... bereft of care and attention...

I popped the pods and turned out the best peas I've produced thus far...! I confess to devouring them shortly after the photo was taken.

It makes me wonder why I bothered with all the fancy cane work, training them tenderly up supports, and finding the best spot for them in the garden... looks as though the most productive method is hard labour!

Still, I'm waiting on my couple of tenderly cared-for plants to produce, and hopefully enough of a yield to compliment a meal for two.