I came home to an empty fridge and no time to go to the market. The weather is still warm and in my 10 days away I had a huge crop of French beans and cavolo nero so devised this simple supper from larder contents, which I ate warm, but the leftovers are for lunch today. You can add anything really – pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds will all add extra nutrients and crunch.I fished my salad off with a dressing of home-made pesto, dairy free/vegan, made with basil leaves, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and toasted pine nuts. Freshly-picked chives finished it off nicely. Nothing like straight from the garden to the plate!

Serves 2

all ingredients are approximate as I just bunged them in!

500g French beans
250g or large handful cavolo nero, central stem removed, unless very young
handful frozen peas – or fresh
stalk lemon grass
2 chillies
clove garlic crushed
150g quinoa
sesame, pumpkin, sunflower seeds
home-made pesto, or shop bought if you must, but dairy-free/vegan
chopped chives

Method

Cook the quinoa according to instructions.

Top and tail the beans, shred the cavolo nero, removing the tough central stalk where necessary. Place in steamer with a bashed lemon grass stalk, 2 chillies cut in half to release flavours, and crush a clove of garlic.

Steam for a very few minutes, adding the peas 2 minutes from the end of cooking. Beans should be crunchy and cavolo hold its bright green colour.

Drain quinoa, leave to cool for 5 minutes; toss in the beans/cavolo (remove the lemon grass but keep chillies), add seeds, stir in the pesto. Scatter chives and serve!