hugh fearnley-whittingstall's white beans with artichoke

Christ, I'm a month behind - am I ever going to catch up? Am I bobbins, anyhoo whilst I flagellate myself in the background, let's crack on with some sort update that's at least relatively recent. Almost as it happens in fact.

To be honest you've only missed a litany of stews and such like to drive out the inclement weather we've been suffering but today - ooooooooh - it's freaking hot isn't it? Hurrah for summer, so although we've missed the chance of our first al fresco dinner of the year, we're still gunning for an experimental salad care of Lord Whittingstall of Fernley voila -white beans with artichokes!

Now given the preponderance of goat's cheese (a particularly beautiful version from Coer de Lion) AND roasted artichoke, this didn''t look the most promising dinner Ana-wise but hallelujah, it's bleedin' aces! The combination of the creamy cheese and butter beans really complements the smokey artichokes - no seriously, it does! Even more curiously, Mrs B wants crusty bread which is obviously kryptonite to womankind now it's bikini weather.

It's so alarmingly quick to put-together that I've unfortunately got time to get my hands into the remains of two chicken carcasses I've previously boiled up, and have since spent a day in the fridge, which has effectively turned the soon-to-be-soup into some sort jelly chicken trifle, with chicken bones suspended in them rather than fruit. It's strangely satisfying...

Wine Time
There are a couple of things are going on here - there's a large element of mouth-coating creaminess via the butter beans and cheese, the artichokes are a bit mushy, and there's a lemony dressing - we're talking Sauvignon Blanc. It's acidic enough to match the dressing and to cut through the consistency of the beans/cheese/roasted veg. We had a Gruner Veltliner of course, which is this year's posh person's Sauv.

sources
white beans with artichokes - River Cottage Veg Everyday! HFW, p 240