braised chickpeas with zucchini & romano beans

and missing the mediterranean sun

i made this gorgeously simple recipe as part of a bigger garden dinner on our last night in mallorca.

the rest of my uk travel adventures are coming this week, including everything we cooked and ate in worcester and cornwall, closely followed by our week in mallorca—which will both be a separate substacks.

but in the meantime, here is the recipe for the most amazing chickpeas you will ever eat (in my opinion, anyway).

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braised chickpeas with zucchini & romano beans (and loads of black pepper)

so, hear me out. if favorite green bean types ever come up in conversation, i will truly go on and on to anyone that will listen about romano beans. they are the elite bean.

mum used to make them them to go alongside our sunday roasts in the summer. we would pick them up from our local roadside farm stand in ombersley, usually picking up some freshly picked strawberries too. the ombersely farm stand was amazing, and i suppose—was one of my earliest memories of being aware of seasonal cooking and shopping.

and especially for the time (keep in mind it was the early 90’s), it was pretty rare to find farm stands like this (in the uk anyway). i remember being so enamoured as a kid—who was super curious about food, even back then.

anyway, my love affair with these beans has never wained and i find myself buying up lbs and lbs when i come across them. i need to savor their glory and abundance whenever i can. i can usually find them at my local farmers market when they are in season, or armen market for a lot longer (for some reason). and the mallorca farmers market was no exception.

and so this dish came to be.

it was our last night, and we adore cooking on vacation. we purposely take that into account when choosing our vacation airbnbs.

being able to shop the local markets and choose from all the amazing seasonal produce in another country is such a gift. to be able to cook what we are craving back at our holiday house, with a little glass of cold, cloudy white wine (ideally natural, but local works too)—our skin is sun-kissed and a little sore from the day, and hair still slightly damp from the last pool swim. there truly is nothing better.

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here is the recipe -

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1 large zucchini, sliced into 1/2 thick rounds

8-10 romano beans, ends cut off and then sliced on the bias in 1 inch pieces

1 jar of chickpeas, rinsed (tinned works okay too, but i would always suggest jarred over tinned when not using dried and cooked).

2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

olive oil

2 cups of vegetable stock

salt

pepper

add the garlic to pan over medium heat, with a good glug of olive oil. saute until the garlic is slightly translucent.

next add in the sliced zucchini, the romano beans and the jar of rinsed chickpeas. season to taste and continue sautéing for about 3-4 minutes.

add in the vegetable stock and pop a lid onto the pan. turn the heat down low and let everything blip gently for 10-15 minutes. add in a little more broth if needed. it should always be a little brothy, but not too much. use your intuition.

serve in your favorite bowl with lots of flaky salt, loads and loads of black pepper, and another big drizzle of good quality olive oil.

we didn't have any, but some pecorino or parmesan wouldn't go a miss here, either!

enjoy!

worcester and cornwall eats coming in a few days!

talk soon

xo