Broad beans are bliss. I love their promise of the summer and all the good things in life. I may not be able to eat them out of the pod just yet, but this will not stop me from turning to them in my impatience for their season to come, and they feature frozen and dried in today's three recipes.

This is a tough time of year for cooks. Longer days and more sunshine are deceptive, as the kitchen garden is going through a barren patch. So what to do? One answer is to turn to your dry stores and deep-freeze. As long as you can keep tabs on what you have in there, it is a brilliant resource for the time-pinched cook.

Broad beans, along with sweetcorn and peas, are perfect for the freezer. As I wrote in Pantry Girl recently, the sugars in the beans start turning to starch the second they are harvested, a process that is arrested with freezing. So if you want tip-top legumes, sweet with natural flavours, buy them frozen and place in the freezer.

While broad beans are delicious in summery salsas and salads they are also wonderful braised in olive oil. The combination of their light, subtle, mineral flavour and their rich source of carbohydrate makes them perfect for the cooler spring months: healthy, not heavy, but full of energy-giving properties; ie, full of beans.

Shopping list

1kg frozen broad beans

2 packets sausages

1 packet dried broad beans

Several bunches fresh coriander

Several bunches fresh parsley

A couple of bunches of fresh mint

3 red chillies

1 butternut squash

Red onion

If you don't have them already

A head of garlic

2 lemons

1 bag red onions

Star buy

Some herb seeds, ready to start growing your own fresh herbs

Store cupboard buy

Basmati rice

(I prefer brown) Coriander seeds

Cumin seeds

Allspice

1 packet dried chickpeas

Cayenne pepper

Baking powder

Recipe 1: Broad bean pilaf

Preparation time: 15 mins Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves 4

Warm 4 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and sautée a small onion, finely chopped, for a few minutes until transparent. Add one large chicken breast, very finely chopped or minced. Sautée for another few minutes before seasoning with salt, pepper, 2 crushed garlic cloves and a good grinding of allspice.

Add 400g brown basmati rice, a quarter of a butternut squash, peeled and de-seeded and cut into chunks, 200g of frozen broad beans, the zest of a lemon and a pint of chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes and then turn off the heat. Cover and keep in a warm place for 10 minutes for the rice to finish cooking in its steam. Season to taste and stir in a handful of chopped fresh mint and the juice of half a lemon.

Recipe 2: Falafel

Serves 4

(Remember to start this the night before!) Soak 125g of chickpeas and 125g dried broad beans in water overnight. Toast a tablespoon of coriander seeds, two of cumin seeds and a couple of pinches of cayenne pepper in a small frying pan, then grind to a powder. Transfer to a food mixer with the soaked pulses, a cup of chopped coriander, a cup of chopped parsley, half a cup of fresh mint leaves, 2 cloves of garlic, half a chopped red onion, a tablespoon of salt, plenty of black pepper and a teaspoon of baking powder. Whizz to a rough, bright green paste, trying not to over-process. Refrigerate for an hour, then, with the aid of a couple of tablespoons, make into little patties. Heat 500ml of olive oil (which you can re-use for making the best home-made chips). When you drop a tiny bit of the mix into the oil and it sizzles, you are ready to cook. Cook the falafel patties a few at a time for 6-7 minutes. Set aside on a plate covered in kitchen paper. Serve with pitta bread, tomato salad, hoummos, garlicky mayonnaise and lettuce.

Recipe 3: Sausages with broad bean mash

Serves 4

Warm one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan, add 500g of frozen broad beans and season with salt and pepper. Add 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic, the leaves from a few sprigs of thyme, a bay leaf (fresh if possible) and the zest of a lemon. Add water just to cover and cook gently for 20-25 minutes until the beans are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Mash with a potato masher or in a food processor. Season to taste with more olive oil, salt, black pepper and the juice of half a lemon. The mash should not be too dry so keep adding olive oil until it is the right consistency. Serve with sausages or on bruschetta.

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