Charred broad beans with St. Jorge cheese and brioche crumbs

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Nuno Mendes' broad beans recipe is a satisfying vegetarian recipe for a canapé using Portuguese St. Jorge cheese, with its slightly spicy taste and strong aroma. The robust cheese is paired here with charred broad beans, soft peas and dill for an elegant way to start an evening.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Charred beans

Pea purée

Brioche crumbs

To plate

  • 2 slices of St. Jorge cheese
  • 2 sprigs of dill

Equipment

  • Blender

Method

1
To make the brioche crumbs, cut the crusts off the loaf and make the inside into crumbs. Put them on a baking tray and toast under the grill until golden
2
To prepare the broad beans, char the pods under the grill. Once charred, open the pods with scissors and remove the beans
3
Reserve the pods and peel the beans. Transfer the beans to a bowl and season with olive oil and salt
4
To put together the pea purée, make a dill oil by blitzing the dill in the grapeseed oil with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Pour into a pan and cook until the dark green oil separates off from the dill paste
  • 200g of dill
  • 50ml of grapeseed oil
  • 1 tsp salt
5
Put 4 tablespoons of the dill oil in a blender with the peas, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of salt and whizz to a purée
6
Put a spoonful of the crumbs on each plate. Carefully put the beans back into each pod and make dots of pea purée between each bean. Put on the plate and garnish with the crumbled pieces of cheese and torn sprigs of dill
  • 2 slices of St. Jorge cheese
  • 2 sprigs of dill
First published in 2015

For a chef, having mentors like Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Ferran Adrià must be akin to taking music classes with Chopin and Brahms. Nuno Mendes' London restaurant demonstrates the qualities of ambition that most good protégés possess.

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