Lost the recipe?

The featured picture actually has nothing to do with this post…. I felt sure I had a picture of an apple or a leek or a bean… but it seems not, and the recipe I allude to in the title proved to be so good that we ate the results before I could remember to photograph it.

Years ago, the first time I went to France to stay with some friends they gave me flageolet beans. I was enchanted by their pale green colour, and thought they were delicious too. I’ve eaten them many times since then, but one of the nicest ways of eating them is in a salad, and i once had a salad which involved apples and flageolet beans and other things which I have now forgotten. I searched through all my recipes, and looked on-line all to no avail. So I decided to improvise.

I cooked my flageolet and while they were still warm dressed them with mayonnaise, and added chopped up dessert apple – a Pink lady as it happens. I chopped t into quite big cubes, not little tiny slices. I was going to put onion in… but that didn’t seem quite right, I thought it might be too strong or too bitter… but then I spotted a leek I had. I took the top green part, cut away the very dark green thick outer leaves and finely sliced the bright greeny-yellow inner leaves – not the white stem. I added the leek to the beans, mayo and chunks of apple, stirred them in carefully so i didn’t break the beans, added a few grinds of rock salt and black pepper… and it was so yummy! We didn’t eat all of it, there was about one portion left the next day, and it actually tasted even better. The apple had remained crisp and the beans had absorbed the mayo and leek flavours… mmmm.

I bought some more flageolet beans today…