Butter Bean and Spring Green Gratin

I love everything about this dish. It's creamy and comforting but with the fresh zing of lemon juice and warmth of garlic throughout. You can serve it as a veggie main with some other veg on the side or it works really well with grilled fish - I served mine with rainbow trout.

As always, you can edit this to suit your taste: swap the leek for red onion, the butter beans for whatever beans your like, the single cream for crème fraîche and the chives for any soft herbs. Simple, healthy and delicious, there really is no reason not to make this.

Butter Bean and Spring Green Gratin

Serves 4

olive or rapeseed oil

1 leek, sliced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 lemon

400g tin butter beans, drained

2 heads spring greens, stems removed, leaves roughly chopped

300ml single cream

4 tbsp chopped chives

75g fresh breadcrumbs (I used sourdough)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 180C fan/gas 6. Heat 2 tbsp oil in an ovenproof pan. Add the leek with a big pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes until starting to soften. Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook for another minute. 

Squeeze in the juice of half the lemon then add the butter beans, spring greens and plenty of seasoning. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the greens begin to wilt. Stir in the cream and half of the chives. 

Toss the breadcrumbs with a tbsp oil, the rest of the chives and some salt. Sprinkle over the beans and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve however you like with the rest of the lemon cut into wedges for squeezing over.