One of my favorite dishes from Puglia is almost a non recipe: Fave e cicoria. This is one of the first dishes that Domenico told me about when we first met and were talking about food he grew up with. It was a dish I really didn’t ‘get’ until I had it made by his mother down in Bari.
It couldn’t be simpler: a plate full of fave bean mush on one side and boiled chicory on the other. A generous pour of fruity olive oil, and that is it. I know it sounds kind of boring, but it’s anything but. Someone the earthy rusticity of the dried fave puree paired with the bright bitterness of the boiled greens works perfectly. In fact, I love the pairing so much that I’ve managed to adopt the entire idea of ‘beans and greens’ in many different ways.
Last week I turned a version of this into a hearty winter soup. Dried fave were the base, with a bunch of cavolo nero (Tuscan kale) playing the part of the green. I thought it needed something more, like crostini or croutons, but then remembered I had a slab of pancetta in the fridge. Bacon bits! Or my my version of them. Little cubes of crispy fried pancetta sprinkled on top of each dish.
Dried fave are a wonderful bean to keep on hand. Much different than fresh green fave you find in the spring, these are meant to be boiled and turn into a starchy puree. They can add thickness to otherwise thin vegetable soups, or can be used on their own as a side dish. I recently found this recipe for a Turkish appetizer that is full of dill and lemon and that I’m hoping to try soon.
Feel free to play around with whatever green you have on hand. Spinach and Swiss chard are great, and I’m thinking watercress or arugula thrown in at the last minute would work too. And of course you don’t have to add the bacon bits. But….pork as a condiment is always a good thing, right?
dried fave + tuscan kale {soup}
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 6
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried fave beans
- 1 bunch of cavolo nero leaves, thick stems removed (about 6 cups of leaves) and leaves chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 shallots, chopped
- salt,
- red pepper to taste (about 1 tsp flakes)
- 3 1/2 inch slices of pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch cubes.
Instructions
- Soak the dried fave beans for 6 hours or overnight.
- Put the beans in a pot and fill with water to cover by about 2 inches. Add 1 tablespoon kosher salt and bring to a boil. Let cook, at a very low simmer, partially covered, until the beans fall apart. While the beans are cooking, don’t stir or disturb then. If the water has boiled away, just add a bit more.
- In the meantime pour the olive oil into a saute pan and heat to medium. Add the shallot, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and let soften, for about 10 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and red pepper and let cook for two minutes.
- Add the chopped kale and stir for a few minutes. Add about half cup of water, stir and cook until very tender. You may have to add a bit more water, and timing will depend on how tender your greens are.
- Heat a small frying pan and add the pancetta cubes. Cook over medium heat until they give up their fat and are golden and crisp. Transfer with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel.
- When the beans are tender, using a wooden spoon, potato masher or submersible blender, puree the beans roughly. I like there to be some chunks. Add the contents of the kale pan and stir well. Heat over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- To serve: top each dish with some of pancetta and a swirl of your best extra virgin olive oil.
Beans and greens are made all over Italy: so cheap & nourishing. My grandmother from Naples had 8 children, feeding them all on a “machine worker’s” salary. Every kind of bean & any green, olive oil and a hunk of bread.
This is the history of peasant food now elevated to classic cuisine. Thanks for keeping it alive and well !!
Hi Elizabeth, I am from Puglia and, in my opinion, fava beans purè with vegetables is one of the top Puglia dishes! I use to go to the country to take wild vegetables which are bitter as I like. Can you find another recipe that with only four ingredients (water, salt, vegetables and fava) can be so tasty? Ok, the olive oil too. Is a simple recipe, but have a look at the great work you have to do to make the dried fave! He is my father: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpoGK8A7VZg
Thanks so much for sharing, I had no idea the shells had to be hammered off.
Ciao Elizabeth, The soup looks delicious! Do you know from where in the U.S. we could order beautiful pancetta like that? Thanks. Judy
Just a thought…I think you might go on-line and find something excellent in the States…I know there are Italian artisnal salumi makers there…
Oddly hard to find them online.
I used to watch my mother, her sisters and aunties peel the fave very year, but never appreciated the taste until I went to Puglia…love it. And will try this soup.
I can not find split, dried, Favas here in California.
Does anyone have any ides?
Or where to mail-order in the USA?
They told me last time at customs that I could not bring them into the country.
Not so easy to find! Of course, in the end, I found a source on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Zorzi-Fave-Sgusciate-Skinless-Beans/dp/B00BZPDVHI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421907695&sr=8-2&keywords=dried+fave+beans
I am in withdrawal…for some reason my Lacinato kale is doing poorly…planted little plants at the end of September and they are not doing what I would call well! Oh well…might be eating kale in July! I love making soups like this! They hit that comfort spot!
I like you thought…”beans and greens? really this is a pugliese *specialty*?!” but then the first time I dried dried fava bean puree (in Rome actually at a restaurant called the Tram Tram) I was in fava bean heaven! This recipe looks awesome – a modern twist an a traditional recipe. Well played!
Thank you! And I haven’t been to Tram Tram in ages.
I have just taken delivery of a packet of dried fava beans I ordered immediately after I saw this recipe and now can’t wait to cook it!
I would love to find this rooster/garlic/asparagus tablecloth or the fabric so I could make one. Can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks,
Betsy
This is actually a runner, and it’s made by one of my favorite companies, Tableclothes.it. I’m not finding this exact product on their web site, but you can write to them to ask about it. I bought it several years ago. http://www.tablecloths.it/