MINESTRA DI TENERUMI (Summer soup made with the tendrils of a Sicilian squash)

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When I was in Palermo last September there were bunches of tenerumi on sale at the markets – these are the stems, leaves and tendrils of those long, twisted green zucche (squashes) that grow in Sicily and Calabria. The long serpent like squashes are called zucche serpente and you can guess why.

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Those of you who have travelled to Sicily in summer may have seen these very unusual vegetables and perhaps not known what they were. Both the squash and the greens are eaten and are considered rinfrescanti (cooling and refreshing for the body). The zucca (singular) and the greens are a Sicilian summertime specialty and I have not seen this type of squash growing in Australia yet.

The greens are usually made into a wet pasta dish and, unfortunately, it is not a dish you will find in a Sicilian restaurant. It is a typical, home-cooked, soupy dish with the flavours of summer: red summer tomatoes, garlic, basil, thickened with broken spaghetti and enhanced with a drizzle of good, extra virgin olive oil.

I first ate this soup in Augusta and it was cooked by one of my cousins, Lidia. In her version, Lidia used both the zucca and the greens. My relatives in Ragusa do not cook minestra di tenerumi very often – it is considered to be a dish typical of the regions of Palermo and Catania. (My mother’s side of the family originally came from Catania).

I was very pleased to eat minestra di tenerumi again recently when I visited a friend’s home in Bosco Falconeria, close to Castellammare (on the north coast, west of Palermo). I appreciated this simple, flavoursome dish for many reasons. Firstly, it was all produce picked fresh from Mary’ Taylor Simeti’s own garden. This included the olives used to make the fragrant, extra virgin olive oil and the organic wine we drank made by her husband, Tonino. Photo above is  the soup and how  Mary presented.

Mary Taylor Simeti is one of my heroes – I think that sometimes it takes a “foreigner ‘ with a passion to rediscover and tease out the history behind the food ( not that she is a foreigner, she is part of Sicily, having dedicated so many years to  writing about it in numerous books and articles).

Secondly, I was very pleased to be presented with such a simple dish. In my normal diet I eat a lot of vegetables and when I travel and eat in restaurants and trattorie, I crave freshly cooked vegetables – I can’t wait to get back to friends and relatives. Besides, these are not the typical vegetables or cooking found in Sicilian eateries and Mary, our host, knew that some of us who had been invited to eat at her table would never have eaten this. We all loved it. Mary presented this simple dish with small cubes of caciocavallo – a special DOP Sicilian cheese (cascavaddu in Sicilian) produced mainly in the province of Ragusa.

I once used the very young shoots of the zucchini plants (complete with the flowers and young zucchini) to make this soup – different, but nevertheless, rinfrescante and a celebration of summer.

Although we may not be able to buy tenerumi in Australia at this stage, we may not have long to wait.

I was fascinated to see one of the episodes of Sean Connelly’s Family Feast on SBS. It featured the food of a family of Africans from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are living in the Western suburbs of Sydney and are growing African leaf vegetables; on the program the family were harvesting and eating tendrils very like tenerumi. These tendrils were the shoots from a different type of squash plant, but would probably taste very similar to the Sicilian variety.

As in all Sicilian food, there are local variations. Some substitute the garlic with finely chopped fresh onion, others add anchovies, but personally, if it is to be rinfrescante – refreshing, anchovies are not suitable. Here is a recipe which suits my tastes for making minestra di tenerumi (excuse me Mary if this is different to your recipe).

The wet pasta dish is cooked very quickly. The zucca (squash) is not always added in some versions of the recipe.

INGREDIENTS
tenerumi, equivalent to a large bunch, 500g
garlic cloves , 3-4 chopped finely
ripe tomatoes , 300g seeded and cut into dice (I think Mary used cherry tomatoes)
fresh basil leaves , torn, about 15
spaghetti , broken into small pieces, 200g
extra virgin olive oil, to taste
hot chilli (optional)
grated pecorino cheese (optional)

PROCESSES
Prepare the shoots and tendrils, discard the tough stems, separate into small bits.
Add the tenerumi to the boiling, salted water and bring to the boil again (estimate 3 cups of water per person).
Add the pasta and cook.
While the pasta is cooking, toss the tomatoes into a hot frying pan with about 3 tablespoons of the oil, add garlic and chilli, salt and some of the basil and heat through for a few minutes.
When the pasta is cooked, check that you have the correct consistency – it should be like a very thick soup and you may need to drain some of the liquid.
Add the warm tomato mixture and more basil.
Drizzle with your best extra virgin olive oil and serve.

Cheese is optional. I prefer it without and appreciate the fresh taste of the dish.

5 thoughts on “MINESTRA DI TENERUMI (Summer soup made with the tendrils of a Sicilian squash)”

  1. I have just returned from a family trip to Italy…we visited Venice…the food wasn’t the best..then to Florence where we dined on Pasta with Black Cabbage and Riboleeta. Then onto Rome and the Pasta Arrabiata was amazing. The last week of our trip was in Polizzi Generosa in Sicily and then Palermo. We were lucky enough to eat this great soup/pasta and the trattoria we ate it at gave me the recipe. I also found it in a sicilian cookbook i bought. I also bought the seeds for this long zuchinni and can’t wait to make this fresh from my garden. Love this site…my first time here!

  2. I am growing these squash in my garden now and would like to learn some ways to prepare them, can anyone help me? can you bread and fry this enormouse squash?

  3. You could try to prepare them like overgrown zucchini (zucche) but I doubt if you would enjoy the taste- these squash are pretty tasteless except in soup.
    You could braise them to eat as a vegetable side dish (contorno), using the same ingredients as the soup to give them taste; tomatoes, onions/garlic, herbs, a bit of stock.

  4. I am delighted to find this site, having arrived here in search of the exact meaning of tenerumi. We made the soup last night in London, where I am so happy to have grown zucca lunga for the first time. I hadn’t seen your recipe but will try it next time , it looks great, we used flowers, shoots and leaves and every so often I got a very distinct different flavour, almost bitter? the flower, I recognised the name of Bosco Falconeria having visited there a couple of times , what an amazing place. Lovely memories of eating with Mary’s children and grandchildren there. Thank you , will be checking in here again.

    1. Congratulations for growing a zucca lunga.
      I have not written to Mary for ages, it is indeed a beautiful place. And did you feel refreshed when you ate it? The soup is supposed to be “rinfrescante”…medicinal/magical properties.I love those old Sicilian stories.

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