It is so satisfying to have a great meal of home grown vegetables. Artichokes with broad beans is possibly my favourite meze dish.

The fiddly part is preparing the artichokes. I tend to be wasteful, not trying too hard to get all the flesh from around the ‘choke’.

7-8 artichokes
500g broad beans
Olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp fennel seeds
2 lemons
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Squeeze one lemon into a bowl of cold water and add the lemon halves. Pull the bottom leaves off the artichokes and cut off half the top to get to the choke. Slice away the leaves, green parts of the base and scoop out the choke. What you are aiming for is to take from the artichoke the fleshy disc below the choke and possibly from the sides too. Cut the fleshy bits into quarters and put them into the lemon water to stop discolouring.

Pod and possibly skin the broad beans if they are old. Peel and finely chop the onion.

Put a little olive oil into a large frying pan and sauté the onion for four minutes. Add the garlic, fennel seeds and broad beans. Cook for a further three minutes. Add the artichokes, salt, pepper and the juice of the second lemon.

Add enough water to almost cover the vegetables. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and let simmer for about 45 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Check the water during cooking. Check the seasoning too.

Serve tepid along with other meze dishes and plenty of rustic bread.