CUCINA POVERA – REDISCOVERING SOUP

Cucina Povera is steeped in culture and tradition.

I have a friend who once said to me “Soup is for poor people”. I must have looked stunned, so he clarified: “Only poor people eat soup.”

Coming from an Italian background, and he from a Brazilian, I understand where he’s coming from. In Italy, we refer to it as Cucina Povera, or poor cuisine/peasant cookery that is deeply rooted in heritage and customs.

Soups were traditionally the sustenance of the peasant class, utilizing what was inexpensive or accessible. The motto – In the kitchen, nothing is thrown away – resonates deeply with this tradition.

In the last decade soups and rustic cooking have made a remarkable comeback, evolving into main meals as cooks rediscover their versatility. Unlike in the past, when my parents served soups as the Primo (first course) and always followed by a Secondo (second course/main) today’s focus on minimizing waste aligns beautifully with the philosophy of  – fare qualcosa fuori di niente – making something out of nothing.

The ingredients for traditional Cucina Povera depended on local produce. As Patience Gray notes in Honey from a Weed: The fact that every crop is of short duration promotes a spirit of making the best of it while it lasts and conserving a part of it for future use.

The contadini, or peasants, often relied on less desirable cuts of meat, seasonal or discarded vegetables, wild herbs, grains, and pulses, the produce that they couldn’t sell. Despite their limited resources, these simple ingredients resulted in nutritious and flavourful soups. When cooking, they also had to take into account practical considerations, such as the size and number of pots and the methods of heating.

In many Italian households, it is still common to add stale bread to soups that originally was used for sustenance and as thickening. For example, Pappa al Pomodoro, a pureed tomato soup is thickened with bread. Pappa means pap. I also remember Pappa di Pane (bread), being a favourite and often the first solid food for babies.

A more perfect example of the ultimate zero-waste soup of Cucina Povera is is Ribollita, a thick, Tuscan soup made with cannellini beans, vegetables (including cavolo nero) and bread.

Ribollita means “reboiled” and the next batch of Ribollita sees the leftover soup being used to make the new batch. More vegetables are added, and it is once again thickened with stale bread.

Coastal regions also have a rich tradition of fish soups and many famous Italian fish soups originated from peasant cuisine, often made from discarded fish that were simmered to make a flavourful stock.

Elisabeth Laud highlights that: The limitations imposed by a single pot, a single heat source, local produce, and little or no access to imports are characteristic of peasant cooking, giving it a distinct identity.

Cucina Povera encompasses more than just soup, it includes a variety of regional pasta, polenta, and rice dishes, all made with frugal ingredients.

Growing up, my family enjoyed a multitude of Zuppe and Minestre. And you may wonder about the distinction between them.

A Zuppa refers to a soup or broth served over slices of bread, allowing the bread to soak up the delicious liquid. In contrast, a Minestra typically contains rice or pasta, making it heartier. The Oxford Companion of Italian Food by Gillian Riley notes that: a pureed vegetable soup is classified as a zuppa.

The term Zuppa is thought to derive from a Celtic word that translates as “slice of bread.” Historically, wealthy nobles would serve extravagant dishes on large pieces of bread, using the bread as a base for their meals. The leftover soaked bases of bread would often be given to servants, who would then cook the soaked bread with simple ingredients to create soups.

Minestre, on the other hand, comes from the Latin ministrare, meaning “to administer,” perhaps demonstrating what happened in family gatherings where a figure of authority (the father) would serve from a central pot.

The Minestra, therefore, could imply “a thicker soup” with rice or pasta or polenta or some other cereal as a thickener. So, what are we to make of Minestrone, which is signifies a big, hearty soup, implied by the ending one as distinct from Minestrina, the -ina indicates a little light soup. Usually a Minestrina is fed to babies or young children, or sick people. It is never heavy.

And what about Vellutate? It derives from the word velluto – velvet. One could have a good time guessing.

The terminology has become increasingly ambiguous over time. There’s much more to explore, such as Brodo (broth) and wet pasta dishes that don’t fit neatly into the categories of soup or Pasta Asciutta – pasta dishes that are dressed but remain dry.

I consulted a number of resources and this book: Grande Enciclopedia Illustrata della Gostronamia. It is written in Italian and therefore it is probably not surprising that it has more clarification about Zuppa and Minestra.

I like this quote from this book:

Ma benché sia così radicata nella tradizione italiana oggi non è affatto semplice definire che cosa sia esattamente una minestra. (But although it (minestra and zuppa) are so rooted in the Italian tradition, today it is not at all easy to define what exactly a soup is)

I love the Italian language!

Moulinex for making vellutate (veloutés), baby food and Pappa al Pomodoro

CAVOLO NERO and three ways to cook it (Ribollita)

LEFTOVERS, PAN FRIED DUCK WITH DRIED CHERRIES, PARSLEY OIL recipes

Leftovers imply something that is superfluous, redundant and unneeded, but frankly my cooking and food presentation would not be the same without them.

It does not mean that I never cook something entirely with fresh ingredients – of course I do – but I welcome using up something from a previous meal to convert into something new. It allows me to be creative and I feel saintly about not wasting food.

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The duck breasts were cooked very simply and quickly and I used some dried sour cherries (Middle Eastern produce) that I steeped in some red wine and a dash of vin cotto (slightly sweet) for the sauce. If I did not have cherries I may have used some green or black olives or slices of orange with perhaps a little marsala or white wine.

Pan fried duck

Score the skin of the duck and sprinkle with salt; leave them for about 20 minutes.
Pan fry the duck breasts over gentle-medium heat with some spring onions and bay leaves. Turn the breasts over a couple of times to help the fat to melt and raise the heat when you are ready to brown the duck. This whole process should take no longer than about 12-15 minutes.

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Remove the duck breasts from the pan, cover with foil or a plate so that they can keep on cooking and remain warm  . Drain the fat off  but try to keep the brown meat juices that will stick to the bottom and sides of the pan.
Add the cherries and liquid to de-glaze the pan. Heat and evaporate the liquid slightly. Return the duck and any juices to the pan and heat through.

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I cooked three duck breasts and  the one that was leftover I carefully stored in my fridge. This became a duck salad the night after. The sliced breast went on a bed of thinly cut fennel, spring onions and batavia lettuce, some shaved kohlrabi, leftover roasted pumpkin which I had cooked to go with the duck and some pumpkin seeds.

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I had braised some artichokes with small whole potatoes and peas during the week. These potatoes were sliced and added to the duck salad and contributed an extra layer of flavour (of artichokes). In the fridge I also had some ready made parsley oil. The parsley oil was drizzled over some yogurt that I had drained (labna/labneh) – it made the labna look spectacular and contributed to the taste. To the leftover parsley oil I added lemon juice and salt and pepper and this became the dressing for the duck salad.

The duck fat that I had drained off the duck  was used to sau the vegetables that went into the soup (rather than olive oil) and the leftover sauce from the duck went into the making of a minestrone (which by the way means ‘big soup’ because it usually contains pulses and therefore makes it a thick soup). I had some cooked borlotti beans  – I usually cook extra and store containers of them in the freezer. The vegetables were onion, celery, carrots and kohlrabi, both the bulb and the green tops.

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With the very flavourful artichoke braising liquid, some artichoke stalks and the peas I will make some eggs taste very special.

Poached eggs  with peas

Bring the liquid and peas to the boil and clear little spaces in the peas – just large enough enough to gently slide in some eggs to poach. In order to keep the yolk soft and nicely shaped, turn off the heat, cover the pan with a lid and rest until the eggs are set just right.

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Not much is wasted in my kitchen.

Parsley oil

You will find that most recipes for making parsley oil suggest that you cut the parsley (stems and all) into smaller bits, and plunge them them into some boiling water for about 10 seconds to soften. Then you drain the parsley and cool them by plunging into cold water. (And there go most of the vitamins?)

When I make parsley oil I don’t blanch my parsley. My parsley oil does not taste particularly grassy – this happens sometimes when parsley is chopped in a food processor rather than cut by hand. Perhaps the blades of my food processor are sharp – this always help.

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Place everything in a food processor (with sharp blades) and blend completely.
Pour the paste into a clean glass jar, cover and store it in the fridge overnight. The parsley paste will settle to the bottom of the jar.
Line some muslin in a funnel to act as a filter and place the funnel into a clean jar.
Carefully pour the parsley oil through the filter into the jar and keep it in the fridge.

I also used some of the parsley oil to flavour some thick yogurt- it makes a change from using mayonnaise and I used it to dress some boiled new potatoes. Ground pink peppercorns looked good too.

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I did make use of those leftovers!