Butter bean, fennel and lemon traybake with herbs

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into wedges
• 2 x 400g tins butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 red onion, cut into wedges
• 1 lemon, ½ sliced and ½ juiced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced or grated
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• Small handful dill, roughly chopped
• Small handful mint, roughly chopped
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Get the tray ready

Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Tip the fennel, butter beans and red onion into a large roasting tray. Add the lemon slices, olive oil, garlic and fennel seeds, then season well with salt and black pepper. Toss everything together so it is properly coated and not just sitting there in separate little camps.

2. Roast until everything looks promising

Spread everything out into a single layer and roast for 30–35 minutes, turning once halfway through, until the fennel is tender, the onion has softened and the butter beans have started to catch and turn golden at the edges. That bit of colour is doing more work than you think.

3. Add the lemon

Squeeze over the lemon juice as soon as the tray comes out of the oven. Give everything a gentle toss so the hot beans and fennel can soak it up properly.

4. Finish with the herbs

Scatter over the parsley, dill and mint, then toss once more. Have a taste and add a little more salt, pepper or lemon juice if it needs waking up.

5. Serve

Spoon into bowls or onto a platter and serve warm. It is very good on its own, but equally happy alongside grilled sourdough, couscous or something green if you want to round things out.

A couple of helpful notes

- Do not crowd the tray too much or the vegetables will steam rather than roast, which is a less exciting outcome.
- If you want a little extra richness, a handful of toasted almonds scattered over the top works very nicely.
- This holds up very well for lunch the next day, especially with an extra squeeze of lemon before serving.