Spring Beans on Toast
This is a fresh and delicious take on beans on toast, celebrating some of the very best seasonal spring ingredients. This is a gut-loving recipe packed with fibre, plant protein and pre-biotics with the leek and asparagus. It's a simple cleansing meal that feels nourishing and satisfying.
Ingredients:
Good glug of extra virgin olive oil
2 med leeks
bunch asparagus
basket of foraged nettle tips (or substitute with spinach)
Handful wild garlic washed and chopped
2 tins of beans I tend to use butter, cannelini or haricot beans
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
300ml tub of creme fraiche
Salt and pepper
Sourdough toast or see below - life changing loaf or mung bean bread
Method:
Serves approx 4-6 servings
Forage fresh nettle tips (first 4 inches) if spring, if its not you can substitute with spinach fresh or frozen). Pour boiling water over the nettles and leave to steep for 5 - 10 minutes). Chop and wash leeks while letting the oil warm in a pan. Then sauté the leeks on low. Chop asparagus in small chunks on an angle, leaving the tips whole, then add to the pan. Drain off the nettles and chop off any chunky stalks then chop and add to the softened leeks and asparagus. Add in your handful of chopped washed wild garlic or cloves and stir in. Zest the citrus and squeeze the juice and add to your greens. This will both activate the colour and flavour but also the Vit C, which will help you absorb all of the iron, minerals and nutrients from the greens. Give a good stir, then add in your drained and washed beans. Add creme fraiche and stir through. Grate in your parmesan cheese to taste, I like a good generous handful. Then generous amounts of salt and pepper. Taste test, then serve and garnish with wild garlic flowers salt and pepper and parmesan if feeling fancy.
I love to serve this on Spring Retreat’s on mung bean bread to support the cleansing process, but other options are the GF life changing loaf recipe also below or good old sourdough is my favourite gut friendly favourite.
