The runner bean plant.  Divine.

  • 2lbs/900gm fresh runner beans
  • 2 large onions, chopped
  • 2 oz/56 gm organic butter or olive oil
  • 2 lbs/900 gm boneless stewing lamb or beef, cubed
  • 2 – 3 tbspn tomato concentrate
  • ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
  • ½ tsp  ground cinnamon
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Celtic sea salt and pepper

Serves 4 – 6.

  1. Wash, string a cut the runner beans into 4″/10 cm lengths.
  2. Fry the onions in the butter or oil in a large saucepan until just golden.
  3. Add the meat and brown it all over.
  4. Add the beans and fry very gently until slightly softened.
  5. Stir in the tomato concentrate, blending well.
  6. Bring to the boil, cover and leave to simmer very gently for about 1 hour, adding a little water if things are getting a bit dry.
  7. Add the salt, pepper and the rest of the seasoning and the lemon juice.
  8. Simmer for a further 30 mins or so, until the meat is tender.  Cover the pan if the meat is dry, or leave uncovered if things are rather sloppy.
  9. Check the seasoning and serve.

Taken from Recipes from many lands.  Oxfam.

I love runner beans and they are in season now.  Admittedly they are a fag to prepare – I have a runner bean stringer which makes life considerably easier.  It produces extremely long strands of bean, looking a bit like wobbly green spaghetti.  They do need thorough cooking since they contain some supremely nasty compounds called lectins that do us no good at all.  More about those in my forth coming book about wheat….  In the above recipe, the lectins stand no chance since they will be utterly destroyed by their long stew with the meat.

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