Nigel told me he’d bought me a treat yesterday and I was delighted to discover that he’d found some Coco de Paimpol.
Coco de Paimpol are semi-dried beans and the first fresh vegetable to be recognised with an AOC in France in 1998. Produced in and around Paimpol, they’re picked by hand by a team of people called ‘plumeurs’.
I podded them this morning and will cook them tonight with a little smoked bacon, herbs from the garden and some finely grated lemon rind. As they’re semi-dried they don’t take long to cook and they absorb all the flavours added to them.
We’ll serve them with a little roasted cod (because that’s what we have) but they are wonderful with sausages, pork fillet or a griddled chicken breast. You can add finely diced tomatoes and oregano for a more Italian style or smoked paprika to partner chorizo meatballs.
