Traditional, Mediterranean and home made cuisine of Puglia Italy!
Stile Mediterraneo

Cooking classes and vacations in Puglia Italy



Simple and healthy Italian recipes: fava broad beans and chicory 6

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo
If you ever get invited by a Pugliese family at their lunch or dinner, you can be sure they will offer you Fava beans with wild chicories and extra virgin olive oil (among the other one thousands dishes!!).
This is something that all families from Puglia eat at least once per week. I and my sister, at least twice per week!
This is a very simple but still super delicious dish.
It is perfect for everybdoy: for vegeterians, for people who work a lot and have no time to shop for food every day, for kids….for everybody!
It is a super healthy dish because this legume has LOTS of proteins.
Fava beans with chicories come from Puglia’s traditional paesant cuisine, based on very little meat (that only rich people could afford) and on what the local farmers produced – lots of vegetables, legumes, durum wheat pasta and bread.
Given the simplicity of this dish (as all food from Puglia), the quality of the ingredients you use is the key! Therefore, you need to serve the fava beans with very good extra virgin olive oil. And if you are having it with bread, you need to use the durum wheat bread!
This is the recipe:
5 servings
- 400 grams dried peeled fava beans,
- salt to taste
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 liter water
- 1 kg wild chicories
- 1 garlic clove
- spicy pepper
- durum wheat traditional bread

Soak the fava broad beans overnight (8-12 hours), before cooking. Rinse and place the fava broad beans in a big casserole with fresh water. Place over a slow flame. When the water starts boiling, remove with a spoon the white foam that the fava beans produce. Stir every 10-20 minutes and cook for about 2 hours at very slow flame, while the beans gradually dissolve. Add water from time to time if needed.
While you cook the fava beans, wash the wild chicories. Cook them for about 5-10 minutes in boiling and salted water. When they are “al dente”, drain the chicories.
In a large saucepan, pour some extra virgin olive oil (two tablespoons), add the garlic and spicy pepper and cook for about two minutes. Add the chicories, stir and cover. Cook at low flame for other 5-10 minutes.
When the fava beans are completely dissolved, switch off the flame and add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (or more if you like) while stirring with a wooden spoon.
Serve the fava beans with the chicory on the side in the same plate. The chicory and fava beans are meant to be eaten together!
You can also serve them with small pieces of traditional durum wheat bread. You can add other extra virgin olive oil.

Please share with us other healthy and simple recipes you know!

For more information, please contact us at: info@stilemediterraneo.it

  • Share/Bookmark


↑ Top

Legal

All content, photos, video and materials in this site are protected by copyrights and are the property of Cinzia Rascazzo, unless otherwise noted.

Only short extracts of the text (not photos and videos) may be reproduced on the condition that Stile Mediterraneo Cooking School Italy and Cinzia Rascazzo are properly credited with also a link to http://www.italycookingcourses.com

Copyrights @ Cinzia Rascazzo 2005-2010. All rights reserved

Italy Cooking Courses by Stile Mediterraneo Cooking and Wine School in Puglia Italy - P.IVA 02099690741

Contact | Newsletter | Calendar | Reserve | Sitemap