Recipe: Baked broad beans with balm

Soups with aromatic herbs

April 09, 2009

As I told some posts ago, my lemon balm is producing many giant leaves.
Balm leaves have a lemon-like flavour, and can be used in herbal teas, or added to China Black Tea. They can be eaten raw or cooked, and their aroma is perfect for many dishes.
Balm is an easily grown plant, it can be propagated by seed, and it's perennial. Just wait during the winter, and it will produce fresh leaves every spring.

Some days ago, I created Botargo Spaghetti with Balm Leaves, a variation of classic Botargo Spaghetti.
This is another simple recipe, which uses broad beans. Broad beans may have a strong flavour, and balm make them more delicate.

Baked broad beans with balm

Ingredients
200g fresh broad beans
40g parmesan, grated
10 balm leaves

Directions
Cook the broad beans in boiling salted water 20-30 minutes, until tender.
Drain them and put in four individual ramekins.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and minced balm leaves.
Grill-bake for 10 minutes.

More balm recipes:

Lemon balm jam

Homemade balm and mint yogurt

This goes to Almond Corner who's hosting Weekend Herb Blogging.
This event was started by Kalyn's Kitchen and now it's handled by Cook (almost) anything at least once.