Broad bean purée
Ingredients for 4 people: 500 g broad beans, 1 potato, 1 onion, 1 garlic clove, celery to taste, 1 tomato, extra virgin olive oil, salt
Method: rinse the dried broad beans under running water and soak them overnight with a little salt. The next day rinse them again under running water and put them in a terracotta pot; add the garlic, potato, celery, tomato and salt. Cook for 45 minutes on high heat. When foam appears on the surface, skim it off with a wooden spoon. Stir now and then and add water whenever the cooking liquid reduces. When the beans are cooked, remove the vegetables added earlier and keep cooking until the beans turn into a purée. Serve the purée hot, with pieces of bread fried in oil.
Wild chicory
Ingredients for 4 people: 2 kg wild chicory, 750 g pork belly, 10 peeled tomatoes, 150 g cheese (half pecorino, half parmesan), 1 bunch of parsley, 1 garlic clove, extra virgin olive oil, pepper, salt to taste.
Method: clean the chicory and rinse it several times so that no soil is left, blanch it in salted water and drain, keeping some of the cooking water. In a pot, brown the garlic in a drizzle of oil and fry the pork belly cut into small pieces. Cook for at least half an hour, adding a little hot water if needed. When the meat is cooked, “ssettare” the chicory: in a fairly deep pot put a layer of chicory, the meat, the peeled and deseeded tomatoes in pieces, freshly ground black pepper, chopped parsley, a sprinkling of grated cheese and a drizzle of oil. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up. Then add some of the chicory cooking water and finish cooking on medium heat.
Sagne ncannulate
Ingredients for 4 people: 300 g durum wheat semolina, water as needed, salt as needed
Method: mix the ingredients into a smooth, even dough. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a thin sheet, the “lagana”. Cut it into strips about 1 cm wide, fold them in half and, holding one end still, twist the other end so the strips curl up. Let the sagne dry and cook them in salted water. Dress them with tomato sauce and ricotta or pecorino cheese.
Aubergine parmigiana
Ingredients for 4 people: ½ kg aubergines, 500 g tomato passata, 4-5 eggs, flour as needed, 400 g mozzarella (treccia) or scamorza, grated cheese as needed, oil, basil, onion, salt to taste.
Method: peel the aubergines and cut them into fairly thin slices; let them drain in a colander, then coat them in flour. Meanwhile beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, dip the floured aubergines in them and fry them straight away in plenty of olive oil. In a pan, fry the onion in oil and, as soon as it is golden, pour in the passata; cook the sauce for about thirty minutes and add a bunch of basil. Put a ladle of sauce in an oven dish and make a first layer of aubergines, sliced or diced mozzarella and grated cheese, and cover it all with tomato sauce. Repeat until the ingredients are used up. Finish with a layer of cheese and sauce. Bake at about 190° for thirty minutes.
Ricche and minchiareddhi (orecchiette and small macaroni) with fresh tomato sauce
Making the Minchiareddhi
Ingredients: 500 g barley or wheat flour, salt to taste, water.
Mix the barley or wheat flour with water at room temperature and a pinch of salt. Knead (“scanati”) the dough for a long time until it is soft and elastic. Then make sticks about 5 cm long and shape them “cu llu fierru ta zingara”, a thin square iron rod: lay each stick under the rod and, running the palm of your left hand over it, roll it back and forth so the dough wraps completely around the rod. Gently slide the macaroni off the rod and leave it to dry on a cloth napkin for a few hours.
Making the ricche
Ingredients: 500 g wheat flour, salt to taste, water. Knead the flour with water at room temperature and salt. “Scanati” the dough until it is soft and elastic, then roll a stick about 2 cm thick and as long as you like. Cut it with a knife into many small pieces and drag each one across the table with the tip of the knife to make little shells; turn them inside out over the tip of your thumb, so that the rougher side is on the outside with a slight rim all around (they will look a bit like priests’ hats). Lay them on a cloth napkin and leave them to dry for a few hours.
Once the pasta has dried, bring water to the boil in a pot, cook the pasta and dress it with fresh tomato sauce and grated pecorino.
“Ricche cu lle rape” (Orecchiette with turnip tops)
Ingredients for 4 people: 500 g orecchiette, 1 kg turnip tops, extra virgin olive oil, chilli, freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Method: clean the turnip tops, separating the leaves from the florets; wash them and boil them until half cooked. Bring the water back to the boil and add the orecchiette, cooking them al dente. In a pan heat the olive oil with the chilli. Add the turnip tops and orecchiette to the hot oil and let them take on the flavour, stirring gently now and then. Serve the orecchiette on plates with a very light sprinkling of ground black pepper.
“Ciciari e tria” (Tagliatelle with chickpeas)
Ingredients for 4 people: 300 g “tria” (pappardelle made with wheat flour), 200 g cooked chickpeas, extra virgin olive oil, water, salt to taste, pepper to taste.
Method: heat the oil in a pan and fry a third of the “tria” to make the “frizzuli”. Cook the rest in plenty of salted water. When it is almost cooked, drain off most of the water, add the cooked chickpeas, the “frizzuli” and their cooking oil and, stirring all the time, mix everything well. Serve with a light sprinkling of pepper.
