Tag: Broad beans

FRITTEDDA (A sauté of spring vegetables)

Frittedda: A Traditional Sicilian Sauté of Spring Vegetables

Frittedda is one of Sicily’s finest celebrations of spring. This traditional Sicilian dish combines the season’s first artichokes, broad beans and peas, gently sautéed so that each vegetable retains its own distinctive texture and flavour—the sweetness of the peas, the slight bitterness of the artichokes and the delicate, nutty taste of the broad beans. Rather than a heavily cooked vegetable stew, frittedda is closer to a warm salad that showcases the freshness of the ingredients.

The Tradition of Frittedda in Sicily

In Sicily, frittedda is traditionally prepared in early spring (primavera), particularly around the Feast of San Giuseppe (19 March), when peas and broad beans first come into season. Although the dish is most closely associated with the north-west of the island, especially Palermo and Trapani, variations are also found in the farming districts of Caltanissetta, Enna and Agrigento, each reflecting local ingredients and traditions.

My Version of Frittedda

Because frittedda celebrates the arrival of spring, I enjoy adding fresh asparagus, although this is not part of the traditional recipe. I also occasionally add a small amount of good broth to deepen the flavour. Sicilian cooks rarely use stock, preferring to let the quality of their sun-ripened vegetables speak for themselves.

I think frittedda is best served at room temperature, much like caponata, where the flavours have had time to develop. It makes a wonderful antipasto with crusty bread, but it is equally delicious spooned over pasta for a simple spring meal.

IMG_6024
Broad beans and small purple artichokes
Frittedda
Regional Variations

Like many Sicilian dishes, frittedda changes from one province to another.

In Palermo, cooks often finish the dish with a light agrodolce of caramelised sugar and vinegar, like in the flavours of caponata.

In Enna, in the heart of Sicily, wild fennel is commonly added during cooking, giving the dish an aromatic flavour that reflects the island’s rural traditions.

img_3060-1
White asparagus

 

DSC_0019
Shelled fresh broad beans

FRITTEDDA

Ingredients

artichokes, about 3 young, tender
peas, 750g (250g, shelled weight)
broad beans, young, 1kg (these will result in about shelled 350g) The broad beans should be young and small — if they are not, (remove the outer peel of each bean)
asparagus (250g). Snap the bottoms from the asparagus and cut the spears into 2cm lengths
spring onions, 3-4, sliced thinly (including the green parts)
lemon, 1 for the acidulated water
extra virgin olive oil, about ½ cup
salt and pepper
white wine vinegar, ½ tablespoon or the juice of ½ lemon
sugar, about a teaspoon
fresh mint leaves, to sprinkle on top before serving

PROCESS

  1. Prepare the artichokes by removing the tough outer leaves. Young artichokes can be difficult to find in Australia, so you may need to discard more leaves than you would in Sicily.
  2. As you clean the artichokes, place them in acidulated water (the juice of 1 lemon added to water) to prevent discolouration.
  3. Quarter each artichoke, then slice each quarter thinly. Don’t discard the stems—peel away the tough outer layer and slice the tender centres.
  4. Heat a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil in a wide, heavy-based pan. Add the sliced artichokes and sauté gently for 5–7 minutes, tossing the pan rather than stirring to keep the slices intact.
  5. Taste the artichokes. If they need further cooking, add about ½ cup of water, cover the pan and cook gently for another 10 minutes, or until they are just tender when tested with a fork.
  6. Add a little more olive oil, then the spring onions, peas and broad beans. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss the vegetables gently so they cook evenly without breaking up. Cook for 5–7 minutes, adding a splash of water (or a little stock, if using) if the pan becomes too dry.
  7. Add the asparagus and cook for another 2–3 minutes, just until tender but still bright green.
  8. Transfer the frittedda to a serving bowl to prevent the vegetables from continuing to cook in the hot pan.
  9. Season with the white wine vinegar or the juice of ½ lemon. The acidity balances the natural sweetness of the vegetables. If desired, add a small pinch of sugar to enhance the sweet-and-sour balance.
  10. I sometimes grate in a little fresh nutmeg, which complements the sweetness of the peas and broad beans. Scatter fresh mint leaves over the frittedda just before serving, as mint discolours if added too early.

Serving suggestion: Frittedda is best served at room temperature, allowing the flavours to develop fully.

Variations

As with many traditional Sicilian dishes, frittedda varies from one part of the island to another.

In Palermo, cooks often finish the dish with a light agrodolce (sweet-and-sour) dressing made from caramelised sugar and vinegar, much like the seasoning used for caponata.

In Enna, in the heart of Sicily, wild fennel is added during cooking, giving the dish a distinctive aromatic flavour that reflects the island’s inland traditions.

wild fennel_0011
Wild Fennel in Sicilian market

Similar spring recipes:

PASTA e FAVE (Pasta with broad beans; a wet or dry pasta dish)

FAVE (Broad beans)

PASTA ALLA FAVORITA (Pasta with artichokes, broad beans, peas alla favorita)

GIORGIO LOCATELLI’S SICILY RE-PACKED – Sarde a Beccafico, Caponata, Maccu

Those of you who live in the UK may have already watched Sicily Unpacked with London based historian Andrew Graham-Dixon and chef Giorgio Locatelli. We have viewed two episodes in Australia and have one to go. I always find great pleasure in seeing Sicily promoted. In these two episodes we have seen some beautiful scenes mainly of Palermo, Noto and Modica and I have included a few of the photos I have to remind you of how beautiful Sicily is.

I have Giorgio Locatelli’s Made In Italy and have enjoyed it. Giorgio’s book on Sicily was released at the same time as mine (Sicilian Seafood Cooking). I have yet to buy his book on Sicily, but I will, as it is always good to compare one’s recipes with someone else’s.

In the two episodes that I have watched Giorgio has cooked three recipes, but although you saw preparing these he did not provide them (a good strategy to motivate you to buy the book).

When I cook I always like to look at more than one recipe of the one dish and then decide how I am going to cook mine. You may wish to do the same.

The three recipes that Giorgio cooked are on my blog and from what I could see they were quite different to mine. To view these recipes on my blog click on the links below. Those of you who have a copy of my book Sicilian Seafood Cooking will find two of these recipes written in greater detail.

SARDE A BECCAFICO

Sean Connolly selected to cook my recipe for the SBS website during his Family Feast series. You may wish to view this video on SBS website.

CAPONATA

My recipe for Caponata Catanese was published in ITALIANICIOUS magazine and I have written about this in CAPONATA (general information)

MACCU

A thick soup made with pulses. Click link above for recipe.

I hope that we will all enjoy episode 3 of Sicily Unpacked.

MA2SBAE8REVW

FAVE ( Broad beans)

Fresh broad beans are only available for a short season in Spring, but walking around the Melbourne Victoria market in the last two weeks I have only seen them in a few stalls.

In spite of my love for broad beans I do not always buy them unless the pods are fresh, bright green in colour and most importantly they must be small or medium sized. Unfortunately most of the broad beans you see for sale are the puffy, larger broad beans, the most mature pods.

In Sicily these large pods are shelled and the beans are dried. Beans this size have to be soaked before cooking and each bean has to be, individually, peeled.

The size of the beans inside the pod determines how you prepare them.

Sicilians eat the tender, young broad beans (about the size of a fingernail) raw. Sadly, you are not likely to find these for sale – you will have to grow them yourself.

Broad beans are sold in their pods and they have to be shelled. And if you look at the photos you can imagine that the process takes time and you need to buy a large quantity of bean pods to get a decent feed. I paid $7 for these ($4 per kilo) so they are not exactly cheap.I ended up with less than 500 g.

When I bought my broad beans I was amused to see that the vendor had placed a packet of shelled broad beans on top of the bean pods. She said her daughter had shelled some because some people do not know what’s inside the pods and that they have to be shelled before eating.

Others may not know that the larger beans need to be skinned again (double-peeling or twice-peeled beans). They have a thick, outer skin, which can taste slightly bitter. Double peeling beans is a very time consuming process, which I try to avoid by selecting the smallest pods I can. (I like to select my own).

There are different brands of frozen broad beans and some brands are double peeled
(you can usually find them in Asian food shops). Although frozen beans are quite acceptable, the fresh ones certainly taste better. Think of the differences in taste and texture between frozen peas and fresh, young peas.

Broad beans are not difficult to cook. My favourite cooking method is to sauté them in a little oil and a little chopped onion, parsley and a little salt and pepper. To finish the cooking add a little liquid, cover and braise them until softened (cooked in umitu in Sicilian and in umido in Italian).

RECIPE:

Broad beans with mint

If the beans are not too big (or have been double peeled), a very simple way is to cook them in boiling water till softened (I do not cook them for long), drain them and dress them with a little good quality extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and a few leaves of mint. Mint is tender and lush at this time of year. If you do not have mint, dried oregano is always a good Sicilian choice.
See my other posts about broad beans: Cannulicchi a la Favuritaa – pasta,

Maccu – soup, made with dry broad beans

thumb_346_360x240_0_0_crop

 

CANNULICCHI A LA FAVURITA – CANNOLICCHI ALLA FAVORITA (pasta with broad beans, peas and artichokes alla favorita)

Cannulicchi a la Favurita – Cannolicchi alla Favorita is a Sicilian pasta dish that celebrates three of spring’s finest vegetables: fresh broad beans, peas and artichokes.

In Sicily, as in much of Italy, these vegetables arrive at much the same time and are natural companions. Their flavours are different but complementary: broad beans are slightly earthy, peas bring sweetness, and artichokes add their distinctive gentle bitterness. Together, dressed generously with extra virgin olive oil and pecorino, they make a particularly good sauce for pasta.

In Melbourne, spring brings the same opportunity. Broad beans and fresh peas appear in the markets, along with beautiful fleshy artichokes, and this is the time to make the dish while the vegetables are young and tender.

Cannolicchi alla Favorita and the Charleston

The recipe, and its intriguing name, came to me from the menu of the Charleston, a celebrated restaurant in Mondello, the seaside resort on the outskirts of Palermo.

Mondello, Palermo’s famous seaside resort and the setting for the Charleston restaurant.

The Charleston was known for presenting Sicilian ingredients and traditional dishes with considerable elegance. Its setting by the water added to its glamour, and it had a reputation as a place frequented by pezzi grossi – literally “big pieces”, but colloquially important or influential people.

I have never discovered precisely why the restaurant was given the name Charleston. Perhaps it was intended to suggest the glamour and exuberance associated with the Charleston and the fashionable dance halls of the 1920s. Whatever its origins, the name certainly suited such a grand seaside restaurant.

Its cooking drew strongly on Sicilian tradition but presented familiar ingredients in a more refined and contemporary way. Cannolicchi alla Favorita is a good example: simple seasonal vegetables transformed into an elegant pasta dish.

What Are Cannolicchi?

There is a little linguistic complication here because cannolicchi can refer to different things depending on context.

In this recipe, cannolicchi refers to the pasta: short, smooth, hollow tubes, generally about 5–6 centimetres long. Their cylindrical shape is particularly suitable because the pieces catch the vegetables, cheese and olive oil.

If cannolicchi pasta is unavailable, another reasonably large tubular pasta can be substituted.

The name cannolicchi has also been used in Sicily for certain artichokes, which makes the title of the dish particularly interesting when both pasta and artichokes appear on the same plate.

Broad Beans, Peas and Artichokes. A Sicilian Pasta for Spring

This is not a pasta dish with a heavy sauce. I think of it more as a warm spring vegetable salad combined with pasta.

The vegetables are cooked only briefly so that they remain fresh tasting and retain their beautiful variations of green. For this reason, I prepare the vegetables while the pasta is cooking and bring everything together at the last moment.

For the artichokes, use the tender inner heart and the fondo (the fleshy base beneath the leaves). I also use the peeled stalks because they have excellent flavour and there is no reason to waste them.

Large, fleshy artichokes are particularly suitable. You will need to strip off the outer leaves to reveal a fresh looking crisp heart .When they are in season, I find excellent ones at the Queen Victoria Market.

Large, fleshy artichokes
Fresh Herbs and Ricotta

The original combination is already full of flavour, but I like to add fresh herbs towards the end of cooking.

Mint is particularly good with broad beans and peas. Tender fennel fronds are another very Sicilian choice, while basil works beautifully when it is in season.

I also sometimes place a spoonful of fresh ricotta on each serving. It is not essential, but its mild creaminess is a lovely contrast to the pecorino and the slight bitterness of the artichokes.

The important thing is not to overwhelm the vegetables. This is a dish about freshness, simplicity and the flavours of spring.

What appeals to me most about Cannolicchi alla Favorita is its restraint. There is no elaborate sauce and no need for long cooking. Its success depends almost entirely on the quality and freshness of the vegetables.

Cannolicchi alla Favorita Recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients
  • 400 g cannolicchi or another tubular pasta
  • 5 large artichokes, depending on size
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 kg young broad beans, in their pods
  • 1 kg young peas, in their pods
  • 1 large fresh white onion, finely sliced
  • 100 g pecorino, freshly grated
  • ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • fresh mint, fennel fronds or basil, finely chopped
  • fresh ricotta, optional, for serving
Shell the broad beans
Prepare the Vegetables

Shell the peas and broad beans.

If the broad beans are very young and tender, I leave their pale green outer skins intact. With larger beans, remove the tougher outer skin.

DSC_0024
Peel the broad beans if necessary

Prepare a bowl of cold water acidulated with the juice of the lemon.

Trim the artichokes generously, removing the tough outer leaves until you reach the tender centre. Cut away any fibrous parts and remove the choke if one has developed. Retain the tender fleshy base and peel the stalks.

Slice the artichoke hearts, bases and stalks finely and place them immediately into the acidulated water to prevent discolouration.

Cook the Pasta and Vegetables

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, salt it generously and add the pasta.

While the pasta cooks, make the vegetable sauce.

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large pan. Add the sliced fresh onion and cook gently until softened and lightly golden.

Drain the artichokes well and add them to the pan with the peas and broad beans. Season with salt and toss the vegetables over medium heat for about 7–10 minutes, or until just tender.

The exact cooking time will depend on the age and size of the vegetables. Avoid overcooking them — they should retain their freshness, colour and individual character.

Add the finely chopped herbs towards the end of cooking.

Bring Everything Together

Drain the pasta when it is al dente, reserving a little of the cooking water.

Add the pasta to the vegetables and toss gently so that the olive oil and vegetable juices coat the pasta. If necessary, add a small amount of the reserved pasta water to loosen the mixture.

Serve immediately with freshly grated pecorino and plenty of black pepper.

For an extra touch, add a spoonful of fresh ricotta to each plate.

The complete dish is a reminder of something fundamental to Sicilian cooking: when produce is at its best, very little needs to be done to it.

FAVE ( Broad beans)

MACCU (a thick, broad bean soup, made at the end of winter to celebrate spring)

This is a photo of mature broad beans taken in the Palermo Market. If you were keen, you would extract the beans from the pods, dry them and store them. Now days  you would buy them dry.

broad-beans-B-300x225

‘You must try the maccu,’ urged my host as we perused the menu in a small restaurant in the back blocks of Palermo. ‘It’s one of our local specialities.’ A wide, shallow bowl was filled with a drab beige puree enlivened by a spiral of olive oil. I tasted it and in an instant understood that this was minestra di fave, the puree of broad beans that had sustained people throughout the Mediterranean in the 14th and 15th centuries, a dish familiar to me from many culinary manuscripts. The taste was pure, elemental, almost mono-dimensional, but enhanced with the timelessness of tradition. With every spoonful I was connected to civilisations past, from medieval to Roman and even back as far as ancient Greek and Egyptian. And when I harvest my broad beans each spring, the echo of this experience returns.
Barbara Santich, author and culinary historian.
From article in The Australian Weekend magazine: Unexpected delights, compiled by John Lethlean and Necia Wilden, August 03, 2009

I am always thrilled to read anything by Barbara Santich. Her writing is always rich in detail, well researched and a pleasure to read.

Maccu, is a traditional Sicilian very thick soup and in most parts of Sicily it is made of dried fave (broad beans). It is mostly cooked over the winter months and as Barbara informs us , it has been a staple dish for the contadini (peasants) since ancient times.

In some parts of Sicily it is also a celebratory dish cooked at the start of spring. Spring in Sicily has a particular significance for me because March19 was my father’s name day. It is the Feast of San Giuseppe (Saint Joseph); this feast also coincides with the spring solstice and in many parts of Sicily maccu is particularly eaten on this day.

Maccu is a recipe with spring sentiments of renewal, use up the old, celebrate the new. To make maccu, the dried beans of the last season are used before the new harvest begins in spring. Broken spaghetti and any assortment of left over, dry pasta shapes are also added to the soup and particularly in the days when pasta was sold loose, there used to be quite a few pasta casualties. Many of the religious celebrations have pagan origins; the feast of Saint Joseph in the Catholic religion is at the end of Lent, a time traditionally used for fasting, both in the religious sense and over the lean winter season.

Dried fave (broad beans) are the main ingredient. They are light brown and smooth and shaped a little like lima beans. And because they have a very tough skin, they need to be soaked and peeled before cooking. As you would expect, there are local variations in the recipes. In some parts of Sicily a mixture of pulses are used – lentils, beans, chickpeas and some recipes include dried chestnuts. The greater selection of pulses is found in Il grande maccu of San Giuseppe, the grandest soup of them all. Wild fennel is added to most versions – it adds colour and taste. Those of us who do not have this, can use fennel seeds and a few fennel fronds; a little green leaf vegetable like cime di rape, chicory or silver beet (Sicilans would use the wild beets) will also add the green colour. Some recipes include a little chopped celery, others have dried tomatoes (they would be kept under oil over the cold months).

I realize that it is not March, but in Australia we are looking forward to spring which starts in September and writing about maccu now seems appropriate.

This is a recipe for a very simple maccu.

INGREDIENTS
dry broad beans, 500 g (use a variety of other dried pulses if you wish)
wild fennel, one bunch ( or fennel seeds, crushed, 2 teaspoons and fresh fennel fronds)
onion, 1, cut finely
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil

PROCESSES
Soak the dried broad beans overnight.
Drain them and peel the outer skin off the broad beans.
Cover the legumes with an ample amount of water, add fennel seeds and cook the soup slowly. After about 40 minutes add the onion, fennel (and some small amounts of chopped greens if you wish). Continue to simmer for another 30 minutes. To prevent the pulses from remaining hard, add the seasoning after the pulses are cooked. If you wish to add pasta, add more water, bring to the boil and cook the pasta in the maccu.

Drizzle with generous amounts of extra virgin olive oil and serve (I do this at the table and on individual portions).

In some parts of Sicily, left over maccu is also eaten cold (the pulses solidify).

In the feauture photo the maccu is served with Lolli,  a type of hand-made pasta still customary today in the Modica area.  I ate this in Trattoria a Punta Ro Vinu in Modica.

IMG_3492