This simple recipe is published in The Allotment Kitchen but worth repeating as it is such a wonderful way of celebrating the change of season to summer. Broad beans, planted in late October, give one of the best early crops. Only Italians can be so enthusiastic about simple meals; broad beans, wet walnuts, mushrooms all have their place in the year. Anna Del Conte points out that broad beans with pecorino are served as an antipasti in Tuscany throughout April and the same aged pecorino is served with pears at the end of the meal in autumn.

Pecorino cheese is now being made in Somerset by White Lake Cheese. In 2019 is was Supreme Champion of the British Cheese awards. I buy it regularly from Nibbles, the cheese stall in Bath’s Guildhall Market and use it fresh, not aged, in this dish.

Serve a bowl of young and sweet unpodded beans alongside a dish of thickly sliced pecorino pieces. Offer rustic bread and a glass of red wine alongside.

To avoid askance looks, I usually do pod the beans before bringing them out to the garden on a warm summer’s evening when everything suddenly seems calm and all right in the world.