My cousin Nita is Italian and grows borlotti beans in her garden. She gave me some to plant, and I recently cooked some for the first time.

I love when a new shoot appears from the ground, it’s like: Yes! We are doing this! This one started last year.

Then it became this.

I left the beans on the vine until they turned brown, although Nita said later that I can pick them off when they are still young and green, and the beans are softer. Why didn’t I think of that? Anyway, I collected brown ones and put them in the freezer.

First time shelling them! It was so fun and the shells went right back into my mini-compost. I soaked the beans in warm water before cooking, since they were quite tough.

You can see them on the top in the middle of the pan, mixed in with roasted sweet potato, green beans and spring onions. There’s a bit of chopped leftover char siu (Chinese roast pork) in there too. I’m not a vegetarian, but I LOVE vegetables!

I put some beans in a minestrone yesterday, but forgot to take a picture. Here are some more roast veg, just ‘cos they’re so pretty. Don’t you love the orange colour? This is sweet potato and slim aubergines. No beans in it though.

Once the winter’s past I’ll definitely be planting a few more beans. More than one next time. Especially since the wildlife leaves it alone. Bliss.