Three bean green broth & the joys of vertical growing

Worth it for the alliteration alone. Plus, more ways with beans.

Before the arches

I have some new arches in the veg patch. They are rusted wrought iron spanning the gaps between the raised beds and are, currently, festooned with sweet peas and beans. All very Country Living.

But sensible too. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. Because beans take up a lot of space in a small patch. Which is daft when mostly they grow upwards and don’t make use of the soil space they take up below them. Plus, my bean cane engineering skills are a bit haphazard so my bean supports usually falter several times over the season and end up a ramshackle tangle of broken canes held together with garden twine and makeshift buttressing.

Not this year. This year I have grown the bean harvest – runner, green, Helda (more on which shortly) and Borlotti – up my new arches. It has saved space, time and heartache and, though they were rather an investment, I’d definitely recommend them.

However, my lesson from their first year is this: if you, like me, have a tendency to overfill your plot, don’t imagine you can pack the other crops in the bed right up to the base of the arches. I did this and the climbing plants got very uppity about being so crowded and refused to ascend. Those that eventually fought their way out of the vegetation were fine, but I lost a couple of squash I’d hoped would ramble up the iron, because they didn’t have enough light in their first weeks. Next year I will ringfence a good foot of soil around the arches so the plants climbing up them stand a better chance.

No matter, clearly, most of the high-rise harvest survived because I have beans dripping from them and bean broth on my mind.

Three bean green broth

Think quick, vibrant thoughts as you cook this soup because overcooking will rob the beans and herbs of their lustre, turning them a sludgy, unappetising green. As with previous recipes, I strongly advise jarred white or cannellini beans (I use Bold Bean Co) rather than tinned. Jarred are so much tastier and the stock they come in is a handy shortcut to extra flavour. Finally, a note on the fresh beans. Green/French beans are a must. Runner beans will do but Helda beans are better. Heldas (often labelled flat or stringless beans in shops) are flat – obviously - like runners but stringless, non-woody and non-furry: a major upgrade on runners. Oh, one last thing – the parmesan rind adds a rich, umami flavour to the broth so save your rinds in a tub in the fridge for just such an occasion.

Serves 4

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 4 spring onions, whole lot, chopped

• 1 fat garlic clove, crushed with a little salt

• 150g Helda beans or runners, chopped into 2cm batons

• 150g green beans, chopped into 2cm batons

• 100 ml white wine

• 500ml chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you prefer)

• 1 parmesan rind (if you have it)

• 1 jar (700g undrained weight) cannellini or white beans

• 2 tbsp chopped parsley

• 2 tbsp chopped basil

• 2 tbsp chopped chervil and/or tarragon

• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• ½ lemon, zested

• Pinch of sugar

Warm two tablespoons of olive oil in big saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add the spring onions and garlic and sweat for 3 mins. Add the Helda and green beans and the wine then bubble for 3-5 mins.

Pour in the stock, add the Parmesan rind, then stir in the white beans (the whole jar, juice and all), bring to a gently bubble and simmer until the green beans are just tender – a matter of 5 minutes or so. Stir in half the chopped herbs and check the seasoning. Remove from the heat.

Mix the remaining herbs with the last tablespoon of olive oil, the vinegar, lemon zest, sugar and a pinch of salt.

Fish out the parmesan rind from the broth then spoon it into bowls and swirl in a dab of the zingy herb paste before serving, ideally with crusty bread for mopping up.

Now, this is all very well, but it only uses a fist full of the bean glut. If you’d like more ways to use the rest of the bean harvest, plus a printer-friendly PDF of the broth recipe, then do think about becoming a paid subscriber. It costs less than a packet of organic green beans a month and will give you plenty of inspiration for using them.

For those already with a paid subscription, come this way…