If you are using fresh broad beans: cook them first in some boiling salted water for 5 minutes (don’t peel them yet) and refresh them under cold running tap water. Let the beans cool. If you are using frozen ones: let the broad beans thaw in cold water for an hour.

Peel the beans one by one. The skins can be quite chewy, especially the ones from the larger beans. So that’s why I pick those out by hand and peel them. The smaller ones I just keep like that since those got thinner skins. You choose whether you want to peel them all or not.

You can keep the skins for later to make a vegetable soup. Peel and chop the garlic and the shallot finely. Pour the olive oil in a large non-stick pan and add the chopped garlic, shallots, bay leaves and diced ham. Season with a pinch of pepper and salt.

Place the pan over medium heat and gently fry the garlic for 5 minutes. Then add the broad beans and the freshly chopped parsley.

Stir and cook the beans for another 5 minutes. Then check the seasoning and add extra pepper or salt to taste if necessary.

Transfer the beans and ham onto a large serving plate, drizzle with extra good-qualitly olive oil and serve warm.