Courgettes, pancetta, haricot and green sauce

Make the sauce. Bring a medium pan of water to the boil. Have a bowl of iced water to hand. Remove any tough stalks from the spinach and parsley, then wash the leaves thoroughly. When the water is boiling, push the parsley and spinach leaves under the surface and leave for 3–4 minutes, until they have relaxed and darkened in colour. Lift the leaves out with kitchen tongs or a spider and dunk them into the iced water. Measure out 250ml of the cooking water and set aside.

Drain the leaves and put them in a blender jug with 100ml of the reserved water, the olive oil, a generous seasoning of salt and black pepper and a small squeeze of juice from the lemon. (You will need the rest later.) Reduce everything in the blender jug to a thick, smooth, green purée, then scoop into a bowl using a rubber spatula, and set aside.

Cut the pancetta into small pieces, roughly 1cm thick. Put them and the olive oil in a large, deep saucepan over a medium heat and let them colour lightly on all sides. Peel and roughly chop the onion, stir into the pancetta and continue cooking with the occasional stir. Peel the garlic and grate to a paste, then stir, together with the thyme leaves, into the onions.

Wash and cut the courgettes. If they are fat, then cut in half lengthways, then into 1cm thick slices. If they are young and slim, cut into rounds. (You want nothing larger than you can comfortably get on a fork.) When the onion is soft, stir in the courgettes and season with salt and black pepper. Leave to cook for about 7-8 minutes, until the courgettes are starting to colour.

Tip in the haricot beans together with the liquor, the aqua faba, from the tin. Pour in the remaining 150ml of reserved water and cook for another 20 minutes. Watch the liquid level – add a splash more water if needed. Squeeze the remaining lemon juice, chop the mint leaves, then stir both into the stew. Check the seasoning, it should be light and slightly smoky (from the pancetta) with the freshness of lemon and mint.

If you wish to warm the green sauce, heat it briefly in a small pan, then divide between 4 shallow bowls (pasta bowls are ideal), then spoon over the bean and courgette stew.