Serves 1 as a light meal.
- Prep time: 15min
- Cook time: 2min
- Total time: 17min
- Difficulty: Basic
This light and refreshing salad works well as an appetizer or as a light summer meal. Add cooked quinoa or bulgur wheat for a more substantial meal.
Ingredients:
- 200g podded broad beans
- 1 handful of fresh mint leaves
- 2 handfuls of watercress leaves
- 50g feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- pinch of salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Cook the broad beans for 2 minutes in a pot of boiling water. After straining the beans, immerse them in ice cold water for 5 minutes. Using the tip of a small knife, remove all of the broad beans from their skins. Mix the beans with the mint and watercress leaves, then top with the feta cheese. Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper for the dressing and drizzle over the salad.
Commentary.
Salata Od Mladog Boba, Mente I Feta Sira are other names for this dish.
Growing your own food is extremely satisfying. It’s the same as making homemade pasta or perfecting a batch of French macarons. The sense of accomplishment and pride makes you feel invincible. You’ve just created something from nothing! You are a superhero!
Okay, I may be exaggerating slightly, but it’s still a pretty amazing feeling. It doesn’t really matter if you’re growing a small pot of basil on your windowsill, two cherry tomato plants on your balcony, or a variety of plants in your backyard garden. Knowing you planted it yourself and cared for it for months makes it taste even better when you finally get to eat it. That’s exactly how I felt while eating this delicious salad.
I started a small balcony garden a few months ago. Meanwhile, it’s turned into a mini-jungle thanks to four cherry tomato plants that grew much larger than anyone could have predicted. Let me just say that they are taller than I am. In any case, they’re full of little green gems that will soon begin to change color, making our balcony a happier place. My arugula, watercress, and baby spinach are also doing well, as are my herbs. I use them on a daily basis and couldn’t imagine cooking without them.
Mint is one of my favorite herbs, and it pairs especially well with the slight pepperiness of watercress. Adding sweet broad beans from my mother’s garden to the flavor mix seemed like a great idea. The addition of feta cheese to the salad made the dish more savory and complete. A squirt of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil were all that was required to turn it into a well-rounded light meal. The fact that everything was homegrown (except for the feta, of course) made this salad even more special.
