Where did those come from?

The last couple of days we've had absolutely horrible weather in Southampton but today I managed to catch a break in the rain and dash out to check on the plants!

I was a little dissappointed when I looked at my broadbeans because they've lost all of their pretty white flowers

But then I looked a bit closer and saw these absolutely massive beans that have sprung in to being over the last few days - the scale is a bit hard to tell from the piccy but the largest are almost the length of my hand!  I don't think I have ever eaten a broad bean intentionally before so I may have to go find some recipes.  At the moment this looks pretty good:

Penne with ricotta, broad beans and mint
250g of pasta (anything short and vaguely tubular will do)
200g broad beans
125g ricotta
1 large bundle of fresh mint
Fresh lemon (juice and zest)
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Cook the pasta in boiling water - you can even add the beans at the end to save on washing up. Put in a bowl and stir in the ricotta, lemon juice and zest, and crushed raw garlic. Drizzle the oil on top, sprinkle over the mint and eat.

Recipe by Kate Carter from an article at guardian.co.uk