delicata squash stuffed with fagiolina del Trasimeno and leeks / zucca ripiena di fagiolina del Trasimeno e porri

November 27, 2018 | Simona

delicata squash stuffed with fagiolina del Trasimeno (cowpea) and leeks / IMG_1486

dinner, plain and simple
(linen by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty¹, the current selection of the Cook the Books club, is a captivating read and a book difficult to describe in a few words: world history, food history, personal memories, travels all play a part in the story, which has an epic reach, encompassing centuries and large spaces, using the author's family tree as guide.

Even before reading the book, I knew Twitty is a great story teller, whether he talks about a specific dish or is inhabiting the lives of his enslaved ancestors. I understand his need to know, his stubborn following all the threads that tie his life to those of his forebears. It as a special kind of religious pilgrimage. Whatever your specific interests, you will find the book fascinating, as it weaves foodways into the quilt of people's migration, mostly (though not all) forced.

fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno / Lake Trasimeno cowpea / IMG_3057

white and "rainbow" fagiolina varieties
(linen by La FABBRICA del LINO)

While the book includes a number of recipes, I decided to mirror the woven stories and make something that would represent my own journey from Perugia (Italy), where I was born and grew up, to Milan, where I lived for almost 10 years, to Northern California, where I have been living for over 20 years. A special connection to the book is provided by fagiolina del (Lago) Trasimeno, a legume typical of my home region of Umbria, which is a cultivar of cowpea², Vigna unguiculata, closely related to black-eyed peas, one of the crops brought from Africa to America on slave ships. Besides being pretty, fagiolina is a pleasure to eat: tender, buttery and flavorful. I buy it at the Antica Spezieria e Drogheria Eredi Bavicchi³ in Perugia, one of my favorite stores in the world.

Growing up, I never ate leeks: my mother didn't cook them nor did any of my relatives. I "discovered" leeks when I moved to Milan, thanks to one of my roommates who made a killer leek gratin. When available, I purchase leeks at the farmers' market and can eat industrial quantities of the delicately flavored member of the allium family.

Candystick Dessert Delicata squash / IMG_1491

Candystick Dessert Delicata squash
grown by Shakefork Community Farm

Zucca is another ingredient that was absent in my early life's diet for the same reason as leeks. It appeared in some meals I had while living in Milan, since it is an ingredient of traditional northern Italian dishes, like risotto and tortelli. I would see wedges sold in grocery stores, but I wasn't a cook back then and the unfamiliarity always won. After I moved to California, I learned to appreciate the many varieties of winter squash and pumpkins grown by local farmers and I am always ready to taste new ones. Most recently, Candystick Dessert Delicata squash⁴, grown locally by Shakefork Community Farm⁵. Its thick flesh has a delicious date-like flavor.

fagiolina del Trasimeno and leeks / IMG_1484

delicate fagiolina meets delicate leeks

So here is my quilt dish: fagiolina and leeks as stuffing for delicata squash, with some fresh chèvre to brighten the combination (omit the cheese to make a vegan version).

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Delicata squash stuffed with fagiolina of Lake Trasimeno and leeks

Ingredients:

1/2 cup / 3.25 ounces / 92 g fagiolina del Trasimeno (either white or rainbow variety)
1 1/2 cups / 350 ml water
1/2 small onion, halved
1/2 garlic clove
A small bay leaf
A handful of parsley stems
A 1-inch / 2.5 cm piece of kombu (optional)
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
8 ounces / 225 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the dark green portion to make broth or stock)
2 tablespoon / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
Leaves of a handful of fresh thyme sprigs
Fine sea salt, to taste
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
2 medium delicata squash: I used the Candystick Dessert variety
2 ounces / 56 g fresh chèvre

Note: there are four parts to the recipe. The first three can all be made ahead of time. The fagiolina and leek mix is enough to stuff 4 squash halves and serve 4 people.

Cook the fagiolina
Rinse the fagiolina. Add fagiolina and all the aromatics (ingredients #3 through 8) to the water. Stir, cover and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let the fagiolina cook, covered, until it is tender. Let the fagiolina cool in the broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them.

Cook the leeks
Cut the leek(s) in half lengthwise and slice into 1/8 inch / 3 mm half-moons. Rinse well in a colander, then place in a bowl and fill it with cold water. With your hands, swirl the leeks to clean them well, then scoop them out of the water with a sieve or slotted spoon and drain them in a colander.

Warm up a cast-iron skillet, then add the oil. Add the leeks, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the thyme leaves and stir well and cook for a couple of minutes. Cover the skillet and cook on gentle heat until the leeks are soft, stirring every now and then. (The time it takes depends on how fresh the leeks are.) Sprinkle a pinch of salt and the black pepper and stir.

Add the fagiolina to the leeks and stir well. There should be 2 tablespoons / 30 ml of its cooking broth in it (drain the excess if needed). Cook for a couple of minutes, then take off the heat. Adjust the salt as needed.

Roast the squash
Preheat the oven to 375 F / 190 C. Cut a thin slice of squash to remove the stem, then cut the squash in half lengthwise. Remove seeds and strings (a grapefruit spoon is my favorite tool to do this).

Place the squash, cut side down, on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. Bake the squash 35-40 minutes, or until soft (easily pierced with a pointed blade).

Finish the dish
Preheat the oven to 375 F / 190 C. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

Crumble the cheese, divide it into 4 equal parts and distribute into the cavity of each squash half.

Divide the stuffing into 4 equal parts and pile it into the cavity of each squash half, pressing down with a spoon to make it stable. Bake the squash 12-14 minutes, until hot throughout. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and serve the squash immediately.

One of the nice characteristics of delicata squash is that, if not stored for long, the skin is edible. To eat the squash half, I slice it crosswise, then cut each slice in half.

¹ The book's website
² History of cowpea on wikipedia³ Antica Spezieria e Drogheria Eredi Bavicchi
⁴ Candystick Dessert Delicata Squash details
⁵ Shakefork Community Farm website

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

zucca ripiena di fagiolina del Trasimeno e porri

or launch the zucca ripiena di fagiolina del Trasimeno e porri audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by me, Simona of briciole. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

I contribute my dish also to My Legume Love Affair #122, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen, and hosted this month by Renu of Cook with Renu.

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting the product on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

cowpea, fagiolina, leek, squash, Italian food

fagioli dall’occhio al berberé / Ethiopian-style black-eyed peas

May 3, 2015 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

a pretty combination

The tenth stop of our World Culinary ABC¹ is Antarctica (Antartide). Hostess Brii obtained from McMurdo Station² the menu for one week to give us a sense of what the researchers who spend the fall and winter in Antarctica eat. Spicy Ethiopian Red Lentil Stew caught my attention because I like it and has been on my to-make list for a while.

Getting berberé, the traditional Ethiopian spice blend³ to make the dish, took longer than expected and then I realized that, contrary to my belief, I didn't have any red lentils (lenticchie rosse) in my pantry. The chef at the station cannot go out shopping when s/he misses an ingredient, but must work with what s/he has available, so I did the same, using black-eyed peas⁴ (Vigna unguiculata).

The beautiful color and intense fragrance of the berberé are exhilarating⁵. With just a handful of ingredients, this dish received rave reviews around the table. Now, if only I can learn to make injera!

Ethiopian-style black-eyed peas / IMG_3101

a flavorful combination

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Ethiopian-style black-eyed peas

Ingredients for the black-eyed peas:

1 cup / 185 g / 6.7 ounces black-eyed peas
4 cups / 950 ml water
A bay leaf
1 small onion, quartered
2 garlic cloves, sliced
A handful of parsley stems
A 2-inch / 5 cm piece of kombu (optional)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Additionally:

1 tablespoon / 1/2 ounce / 14 g coconut oil
8 ounces / 225 g onion, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves minced or thinly sliced
1 inch / 2.5 cm knob of fresh ginger
1 tablespoon / 15 ml berberé
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or to taste

How to cook dry black-eyed peas
Rinse the black-eyed peas then place in a saucepan with the water and the aromatics. Cover and bring the water to a lively boil quickly, then turn down the heat and let the peas simmer until they are tender but not too soft. Taste the black-eyed peas after 20 minutes and estimate how much longer they should cook.

Let the black-eyed peas cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them. Let the black-eyed peas rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.

How to finish the dish
Warm up the coconut oil in a saucepan (large enough to also accommodate the black-eyed peas) and add the onion. Stir well to coat. Cook on gentle heat until the onion is translucent, 10-12 minutes, stirring often.

In the meantime, grate the ginger.

Add the garlic and ginger, stir well and continue cooking for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Sprinkle the berberé on the onion and stir well. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes, stirring often.

In the meantime, drain the black-eyed peas leaving them moist and reserving the cooking liquid. Add black-eyed peas to the onion and stir. Add 1/2 cup / 120 ml of the cooking liquid and stir. Cover the saucepan, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer until the peas are quite tender and the onion soft.

Season with salt and give it a final stir. Serve hot.

Serves 4.

While I used fresh onion, garlic and grated ginger, all these ingredients can be obtained frozen hence are available even in Antarctica. Fresh onion and garlic also keep for a long time, if properly stored.

¹ The World Culinary ABC kick-off post.
² Wikipedia entry for McMurdo Station and the station's web cam.
³ Wikipedia entry for Berberé
⁴ Wikipedia entry for black-eyed peas
⁵ The berberé I purchased: I liked it a lot.

I contribute my black-eyed peas to the 10th installment of the Abbecedario culinario mondiale (World Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 27 countries of the world using the alphabet as guide. J like Juan Carlos Base (Antarctica) is hosted by Brii of briggishome.

The list of recipes contributed to the event and their slide show.

I contribute my dish also to My Legume Love Affair #83, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen, and hosted this month by Nupur of The Veggie Indian.

The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post

fagioli dall'occhio al berbere

or launch the fagioli dall'occhio al berbere audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

black-eyed peas, berbere, Ethiopian cuisine

[jump to Comments]

fagioli dall'occhio al berbere

spezie e fagioli sono carini insieme

La decima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale¹ è l'Antartide. Brii, ospite della tappa, ha ottenuto dalla McMurdo Station² il menu per una settimana per darci un'idea di che cosa mangiano i ricercatori che stanno trascorrendo autunno e inverno in Antartide. Spicy Ethiopian Red Lentil Stew (lenticchie rosse speziate all'etiope) è il piatto che mi ha ispirato.

Mi ci è voluto più tempo del previsto per ottenere del berberé, il tradizionale miscuglio di spezie etiope³ usato per preparare le lenticchie, e quando finalmente è arrivato mi sono resa conto che non avevo le lenticchie rosse nella mia dispensa. Lo/la chef a McMurdo non può andare fuori a comprare quello che manca e quindi io ho adattato il piatto a un legume che ho: i fagioli dall'occhio nero (Vigna unguiculata). Questo legume è popolare negli USA, dove viene mangiato tradizionalmente per Capodanno, come da noi si fa con le lenticchie.

Il berberé è di un colore bellissimo e ha un sapore intenso particolare⁴. Composto da pochi ingredienti, questo piatto ha avuto un grande successo a tavola. Se solo riuscissi ad imparare a fare la injera! (il tradizionale pane etiope fatto con la farina di teff che si usa come piatto e come supporto per portare il cibo alla bocca.)

e hanno un ottimo sapore

Ingredienti per i fagioli dall'occhio:

185 g fagioli dall'occhio secchi
950 ml d'acqua
una foglia d'alloro
una cipolla piccola tagliata in quarti
2 spicchi d'aglio tagliati a fettine
una piccola manciata di steli di prezzemolo
un pezzo da 5 cm di alga kombu (facoltativo)
1/4 cucchiaino sale fino

E inoltre:

1 cucchiaio /14 g olio/burro di cocco
225 g cipolla tritata
3 grossi spicchi d'aglio tritati o tagliati a fettine sottili
un pezzo di 2,5 cm di radice di zenzero fresca
1 cucchiaio / 15 ml berberé
1/4 cucchiaino sale fino o a piacere

Cuocere i fagioli dall'occhio
Sciacquare i fagioli dall'occhio poi mettere in una pentola con l'acqua, tutti gli odori e il sale. Coprire la pentola e portare a bollore rapidamente. Abbassare il calore e far cuocere i fagioli fino a quando siano teneri. Assaggiare i fagioli dopo 20 minuti di cottura e valutare quanto tempo manca al termine della cottura.

Far freddare i fagioli nel liquido di cottura, poi rimuovere gli odori e scartarli.

Completare la preparazione
In una pentola scaldare l'olio di cocco e aggiungere la cipolla. Mescolare bene. Cuocere a fuoco dolce per 10-12 minuti fino a quando la cipolla è translucida, mescolando spesso. Grattugiare lo zenzero.

Aggiungere aglio e zenzero, mescolare bene e continuare a cuocere per un paio di minuti fino a quando gli ingredienti siano fragranti. Aggiungere il berberé e mescolare bene. Continuare a cuocere per un paio di minuti mescolando spesso.

Nel frattempo scolare i fagioli lasciandola umidi e conservare il liquido di cottura. Versare i fagioli nella pentola con la cipolla e mescolare. Versare anche 120 ml del liquido di cottura e mescolare. Coprire la pentola, portare a bollore e cuocere a calore dolce fino a quando i fagioli siano ben teneri e la cipolla morbida.

Salare, mescolare un'ultima volta e servire i fagioli ben caldi.

Porzioni: 4.

Io ho usato cipolla, aglio e zenzero grattugiato freschi, ma questi ingredienti sono disponibili surgelati e quindi si possono utilizzare anche in Antartide. Cipolla e aglio freschi si conservano abbastanza a lungo se mantenuti alla giusta temperatura.

¹ Post inaugurale dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale.
² La web cam di McMurdo Station
³ Wikipedia: berberé
⁴ Il berberé che ho comprato: mi piace molto.

Con questa ricetta partecipo alla decima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare 27 paesi del mondo usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. J come Juan Carlos Base (Antartide) è ospitata da Brii di briggishome.

La lista di ricette contribuite all'evento e lo slide show che le mostra.

recipe: Ethiopian-style black-eyed peas

May 3, 2015 | Simona

Ethiopian-style black-eyed peas

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: about 30 minutes (black-eyed peas) + 30 minutes

Keywords: boil entree gluten-free sugar-free vegetarian vegan low-carb cowpea onion African

Ingredients (Serves 4)

For cooking the black-eyed peas

1 cup / 185 g / 6.7 ounces black-eyed peas
4 cups / 950 ml water
A bay leaf
1 small onion, quartered
2 garlic cloves, sliced
A handful of parsley stems
A 2-inch / 5 cm piece of kombu (optional)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the dish

1 tablespoon / 1/2 ounce / 14 g coconut oil
8 ounces / 225 g onion, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves minced or thinly sliced
1 inch / 2.5 cm knob of fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon / 15 ml berberé
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or to taste

Instructions

How to cook black-eyed peas

Rinse the black-eyed peas then place in a saucepan with the water, the aromatics and the salt. Cover and bring the water to a lively boil quickly, then turn down the heat and let the peas simmer until they are tender but not too soft. Taste the black-eyed peas after 20 minutes and estimate how much longer they should cook.

Let the black-eyed peas cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them. Let the black-eyed peas rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.

How to finish the dish

Warm up the coconut oil in a saucepan (large enough to also accommodate the black-eyed peas) and add the onion. Stir well to coat. Cook on gentle heat until the onion is translucent, 10-12 minutes, stirring often. In the meantime, grate the ginger.

Season with salt and give it a final stir. Serve hot.

Go to the full post on fagioli dall’occhio al berbere / Ethiopian-style black-eyed peas

fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno ai porri / cowpea of Lake Trasimeno with leeks

April 29, 2015 | Simona

[versione in italiano]

fagiolina comes in two varieties: white and "rainbow"
(the beautiful bicolor linen tablecloth is from La FABBRICA del LINO)

When I visit Perugia, the city in central Italy where I was born and grew up, I always bring back some fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno a local variety of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)¹. Besides being pretty, fagiolina is a pleasure to eat: tender, buttery and flavorful. Good things come in small packages.

I buy fagiolina at the Antica Spezieria e Drogheria Eredi Bavicchi² one of my favorite stores in the world. The owner is a supporter of local legume growers. I like the tall striped sacks that hold the legumes and the hand-written signs explaining the main characteristic of the product.

fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno / Lake Trasimeno cowpea /P1030521 (1)

"harvested and sorted by hand
purchased directly from trusted local growers
grown without using any chemicals"

The sign also mentions that fagiolina does not require soaking and cooks in 40 minutes.

fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno / Lake Trasimeno cowpea / P1030516 (1)

"colorata" (colored) the way it was originally, the sign says

In this dish, I chose leeks, one of my favorite vegetable, to go with fagiolina. I currently get some leeks as part of my spring share with Redwood Roots Farm and I buy some from Green Fire Farm at the Arcata farmers' market.

leeks from Green Fire Farm

We loved the result. The leeks cooked to tenderness go well with the tender fagiolina and their delicate flavor makes them perfect companions: simple, refined and quite special.

a simply special plate, with a side of mashed potatoes

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Fagiolina of Lake Trasimeno with leeks

Ingredients:

1 cup / 6.5 ounces / 185 g fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno (either variety or a mix)
2.5 cups / 600 ml water
1 small onion, quartered
1 garlic clove, halved
A bay leaf
A handful of parsley stems
A 2-inch / 5 cm piece of kombu (optional)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
6.5 ounces / 185 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the dark green portion to make broth or stock)
1 tablespoon / 15 ml extra-virgin olive oil
Leaves of a good handful of thyme sprigs (don't be shy)
Fine sea salt, to taste
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

How to cook fagiolina
Rinse the fagiolina. Warm up the water in a saucepan. Add fagiolina and all the aromatics (ingredients #3 through 7) to the warm water. Stir, cover and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let the fagiolina simmer, covered, until it is tender. After 30 minutes, add salt (ingredient #8) and stir. Taste fagiolina after 35 minutes and estimate how much longer it should cook.

Let the fagiolina cool in the broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them.

How to finish the dish
Cut the leek(s) in half lengthwise and slice into 1/8 inch / 3 mm half-moons. Rinse well in a colander.

Warm up the olive oil in a frying pan and add leeks. Stir to coat, then add thyme leaves and stir again. Cook on gentle heat for 10 minutes, stirring often. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring a few times. Uncover and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, stirring often, until the leeks are quite tender. Make sure the pan is never dry. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and the black pepper and stir.

Drain the fagiolina, leaving it slightly moist and place in a serving bowl. Add the cooked leeks and stir well. Adjust salt. Serve warm or at room temperature. After plating, drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil on the fagiolina.

Serves 4.

¹ Cowpea on wikipedia
² Antica Spezieria e Drogheria Eredi Bavicchi

An earlier post I wrote on fagiolina

FTC disclosure: I have received the tablecloth free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting the product on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

I contribute my dish to My Legume Love Affair #82, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen, and hosted this month by Simona of briciole (that is, yours truly).

The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno ai porri

or launch the fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno ai porri audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

cowpea, fagiolina, leek, Italian cuisine

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fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno ai porri

le due varietà di fagiolina
(la bella tovaglia di lino bicolore è de La FABBRICA del LINO)

Quando vado a Perugia, la mia città natale, compro sempre della fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno da riportare a casa (Vigna unguiculata). Oltre ad essere bella, la fagiolina è ottima: tenera e saporita.

Il mio fornitore di fagiolina è l'Antica Spezieria e Drogheria Eredi Bavicchi¹ in assoluto uno dei miei negozi preferiti. Il proprietario del negozio è un sostenitore dei produttori di legumi della regione. Mi piacciono molto i sacchi a righe che contengono i legumi e i cartelli scritti a mano che presentano le caratteristiche dei prodotti.

la produzione di fagiolina richiede paziente lavoro

La fagiolina si prepara senza precedente ammollo.

fagiolina colorata "come era in origine"

Nel piatto che presento qui di seguito alla fagiolina ho abbinato il porro, una delle mie verdure preferite.

porri da Green Fire Farm

I porri teneri e saporiti sono un partner perfetto per la fagiolina e il risultato è un piatto semplice e dal gusto raffinato.

un piatto semplice, ma speciale, servito con puré di patate

Ingredienti:

185 g fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno (una delle due varietà o un misto)
600 ml acqua calda
Una foglia d'alloro
Una cipolla piccola tagliata in quarti
Uno spicchio d'aglio tagliato a metà
Una manciata di steli di prezzemolo
Un pezzo da 5 cm di alga kombu (facoltativo)
1/4 cucchiaino sale fino
185 g porri (la parte bianca e verde chiara), peso pulito (utilizzare la parte verde scuro come ingrediente per brodo)
1 cucchiaio / 15 ml olio extra-vergine di oliva
Le foglie di una buona manciata di rametti di timo fresco
Sale fino, q.b.
Un pizzico di pepe nero macinato fresco
Olio extra-vergine di oliva

Cuocere la fagiolina
Sciacquare la fagiolina. Scaldare l'acqua in una pentola. Versare la fagiolina e tutti gli odori (ingredienti numero 3-7) nell'acqua calda. Mescolare, coprire la pentola e portare a bollore. Abbassare il calore e far cuocere la fagiolina, coperta, fino a quando sia tenera. Dopo 30 minuti, aggiungere il sale (ingrediente numero 8) e mescolare. Assaggiare la fagiolina dopo 35 minuti di cottura e valutare quanto tempo manca al termine della cottura.

Far freddare la fagiolina nel liquido di cottura, poi rimuovere gli odori e scartarli.

Completare la preparazione
Tagliare i porri a metà per lungo poi a fettine di 3 mm. Sciacquare con cura.

In una padella scaldare l'olio e aggiungere i porri. Mescolare poi aggiungere il timo e mescolare. Cuocere a fuoco dolce per 10 minuti, mescolando spesso. Coprire e cuocere per 10 minuti, mescolando di tanto in tanto. Scoprire e cuocere per altri 10 minuti, mescolando spesso, fino a quando i porri siano alquanto morbidi. Assicurarsi che non siano mai secchi. Salare leggermente e pepare e mescolare.

Scolare la fagiolina lasciandola umida e metterla in una ciotola da portata. Aggiungere i porri e mescolare bene. Servire la fagiolina calda o a temperatura ambiente. Dopo averla impiattata, condire ciascuna porzione con un filo d'olio a crudo.

Porzioni: 4.

¹ Antica Spezieria e Drogheria Eredi Bavicchi

FTC disclosure: Ho ricevuto la tovaglia gratuitamente dall'azienda produttrice (la FABBRICA del LINO). Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso per presentare il prodotto sul mio blog. Le opinioni espresse nel post sono interamente personali.

recipe: fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno (cowpea of Lake Trasimeno) with leeks

April 28, 2015 | Simona

Fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno (cowpea of Lake Trasimeno) with leeks

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes (fagiolina) and 30 minutes (leeks)

Keywords: boil entree gluten-free sugar-free vegetarian vegan low-carb cowpea leek Italian

Ingredients (Serves 4)

For cooking the fagiolina

1 cup / 6.5 ounces / 185 g fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno (either variety or a mix)
2.5 cups / 600 ml water
1 small onion, quartered
1 garlic clove, halved
A bay leaf
A handful of parsley stems
A 2-inch / 5 cm piece of kombu (optional)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the dish

6.5 ounces / 185 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight
1 tablespoon / 15 ml extra-virgin olive oil
Leaves of a good handful of thyme sprigs
Fine sea salt, to taste
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

How to cook fagiolina

Rinse the fagiolina. Warm up the water in a saucepan. Add fagiolina and all the aromatics (minus the salt) to the warm water. Stir, cover and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let the fagiolina simmer, covered, until it is tender. After 30 minutes, add salt and stir. Taste fagiolina after 35 minutes and estimate how much longer it should cook.

Let the fagiolina cool in the broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them.

How to finish the dish

Cut the leek(s) in half lengthwise and slice into 1/8 inch / 3 mm half-moons. Rinse well in a colander.

Warm up the olive oil in a frying pan and add leeks. Stir to coat, then add thyme leaves and stir again. Cook on gentle heat for 10 minutes, stirring often. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring a few times. Uncover and continue cooking for another 10 minutes until the leeks are quite tender. Make sure the pan is never dry. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and the black pepper and stir.

Go to the full post on fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno ai porri / cowpea of Lake Trasimeno with leeks

crema di fave e scapi florali d’aglio / fava bean and garlic scape spread

May 29, 2012 | Simona

a creamy shade of green

For the current edition of Cook the Books, we are reading The United States of Arugula by David Kamp (2006). I don't think I can add much to the many reviews the book has received since its publication. It is undoubtedly an important book, very interesting and pleasant to read. Kamp's book paints a complete and complex picture that helps the reader understand how certain aspects of the food world in the US evolved to be the way they are now.

My perspective in reading the book is that of an outsider-insider: I am an Italian who moved to the San Francisco Bay Area (theater of a number of the developments narrated in the book) as an adult (18 years ago), with well-established food roots. I learned not only to cook but to enjoy doing so, and, as a result, I eat out only very rarely. Finally, I don't watch television. From this special perspective, the story told in the book is fascinating, and also puzzling. I am very much Italian in my approach to food and totally immune from the obsession with French cuisine depicted in the book. Such obsession puzzles me.

Kamp dedicates some thoughtful paragraphs to Italian cuisine. You can read an example here. This excerpt brought to my mind two things. First, the 1996 movie Big Night, which shows very nicely the tension between Italian regional cuisine and Americans' perception of it influenced by the Italian-American community. Then, an episode from my previous life. Before moving to the US, one summer, I worked at a Club Med resort in Morocco. The guests came from France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, the UK. One evening, the dining room was divided into two sections: in one, guests would be served a French menu, in the other, an Italian menu. At dinner time, things did not quite go as expected: almost everybody wanted to go into one section — and it was not the one where French food would be served. As Marcella Hazan says in the passage referenced above with regards to Italian food, "it's food that you eat with pleasure… You don't have to analyze it, you just enjoy that it's so."

The recipe that follows is connected to another page of the book, where Ms. Betty Fussell's comment on food hype is reported, within the context of an assessment of Alice Waters' contribution to the discussion on food ways. (You can read the page here.) These Fussell's words made me smile: "little tiny Italian fava-bean grower down the road." I am actually happy that nowadays I can find fresh fava beans at the farmers' market (and fava greens too), a food that is quite common in Italy and that I ate often as a kid.

The other element of the recipe is garlic scapes. The scape is the elegant leafless "stem from which the seed head of the garlic bulb is formed" (source). Garlic scapes are a relatively recent entry in my kitchen: they have gained in popularity in recent years and are now easily found at farmers' market, appearing at the same time as fava beans, a coincidence that I interpreted as a suggestion.

Most recipes I have seen use scapes to make a variation of pesto, or as a side dish, roasted. My spread tastes of fresh fava beans, of aromatic garlic scapes and of pungent fiore sardo cheese. In this small dish, I bring together my Italian heritage and my experience with interesting ingredients I find in Californian farmers' markets. More than an exact recipe, this is an invitation to play with the main ingredients. It is also a variation on the classic Italian combination of fava beans and pecorino cheese.

Note: Savory has a flavor reminiscent of thyme, with mint and pepper tones. I have a bush of winter savory (santoreggia montana) in my herb garden, and I like to experiment with it. If you don't have it, try using one or two leaves of fresh mint (menta).

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Fava bean and garlic scape spread

Ingredients:

1 1/4 lb. fresh fava beans in their pod (about 1 1/4 cup shelled)
2 1/2-3 oz. [70-85 g] garlic scapes
1 teaspoon fresh winter savory, optional (see note above)
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
3 tablespoons freshly grated fiore sardo
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Fine sea salt, to taste

Shell fava beans and blanch them for one minute, drain them and plunge them into a bowl of cold water. Drain them again, then remove the skin from the beans to bring their bright green core to light. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Cut thinner portion of garlic scapes (above the bulge); if they've yellowed, discard. Spread all the scapes onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat and sprinkle with olive oil and a bit of sea salt. Bake for 12 minutes, then remove the thinner pieces. Bake the rest for another 3-4 minutes. Let cool slightly, then coarsely chop scapes. (This seems complicated, but the top of the scapes ends up charred and I am trying to avoid that. If it still happens, snap off the charred portion and discard it before proceeding with the recipe.)

Put fava beans and scapes in the food processor and pulse to chop. Add herbs and process some more, then add the cheese and process briefly. While pulsing, dribble the oil into the feeding tube, then the lemon juice. Finally, sprinkle a bit of salt and process to a smooth paste by pulsing for several seconds at a time.

I have found that it is better to allow the ingredients to influence each other for a bit before changing the balance, so let the spread rest for 20 minutes or so, then taste and adjust seasoning (salt, lemon juice). Refrigerate until ready to use and take out of the refrigerator in advance, so that the spread in not cold when you serve it.

In the top photo, I am using a grissino as a vehicle for some of the spread.

This is my contribution to the current edition of Cook the Books, hosted by Jo of Food Junkie, Not Junk Food. You can find the guidelines for participating in the event here, and here is the announcement.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

I am also sending this to My Legume Love Affair 47, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, and hosted this month by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes. This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

crema di fave e scapi florali d'aglio

or launch the crema di fave e scapi florali d'aglio audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

fava bean, garlic scape

minestra di cicerchie / cicerchia soup

May 6, 2012 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

minestra di cicerchie

Cicerchia (Lathyrus sativus) is a legume that, according to this page (in Italian), was once widely consumed, while nowadays, it is grown only in central Italy.

before (bottom) and after soaking

Cicerchie are available only dried: prior to cooking, they must be soaked for 24 hours and the soaking water must be eliminated because it contains a neurotoxic amino acid (ODAP or BOAA) that can cause lathyrism. This condition was and remains a problem when and where lack of alternative food sources led to consumption of large quantities of Lathyrus. As Hank of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook says in this post: "Make these beans a special treat, not a staple, and you’ll be fine." Our consumption of cicerchie has been occasional and I follow the preparation instructions.

I got the cicerchie in the photo at Bavicchi, the store in downtown Perugia that I mentioned in this and other posts. The reference to Perugia in not accidental. In fact…

Perugia: Fontana Maggiore

our tour of the 20 regions of Italy organized by Trattoria MuVarA brings us to my home region: Umbria. If you're familiar with my blog, you know that I was born and grew up in beautiful Perugia. (This post has a few more photos of the city in the heart of Italy.)

My presentation of legumes that are traditional of Umbria already includes lenticchie di Castelluccio, fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno and roveja. To prepare cicerchia, today's legume, I consulted the repository of traditional Italian recipes, the Accademia Italiana della Cucina and there I found an Umbrian recipe for minestra di cicerchie. The English version of the recipe is available in the book by the Academy called La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy. According to the recipe headnote, cicerchie were a popular legume among Umbria peasants. As always, I altered the recipe to adjust it to my taste and ingredients, then prepared a variation of it. If you don't have cicerchie, the soup can be made with chickpeas (ceci).

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Cicerchia soup

Ingredients:

1 cup cicerchie
olive oil
6 oz. roasted strained tomatoes (thawed, since they were made last year and frozen) [the original recipe calls for strained tomatoes]
one large clove of garlic, or two small, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (prezzemolo)
6 mint (menta) leaves, broken into small pieces with your hands (I used my orange mint)
water
1 cup [240 ml] homemade light chicken stock or vegetable option
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste

For the variation:

quadrucci (see below)
freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Soak the cicerchie for 24 hours in 4 cups of water then drain and discard the water. Put in a saucepan and pour water to a level above the cicerchie. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Simmer, covered, until tender. The original recipe mentions a long cooking time (roughly 2 hours), which does not match my experience (less than half that time), so check the progress periodically. Also, during cooking, some of the cicerchie lost their skin and I discarded it.

Warm a bit of olive oil in another saucepan, then add garlic and herbs. Cook for a minute or so, until the garlic smells fragrant, stirring, then add the strained tomatoes. Cook into a sauce. In my case, about 8 minutes. Add the cooked cicerchie and let cook in the tomato sauce for 10 minutes, then add the stock plus enough water to make a soup of desired consistency. Continue cooking for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

I served the soup with lightly toasted slices of homemade rye bread (pane di segale), as shown in the top photo.

version with Parmigiano-Reggiano

I made a batch of tagliatelle alla borragine and cut into quadrucci (small squares) the pieces of pasta too short: my mother used to do this when she made tagliatelle, which was pretty much every Sunday.

I cooked the quadrucci in the soup (this only takes a few minutes). Before serving it, I enriched the soup with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Either way, it was a nice dinner soup, the flavor of cicerchie earthy and unique, reminiscent of both chickpeas and lentils.

This is my submission for the sixth installment of the Abbecedario culinario d'Italia (Italian Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit all the 20 regions of Italy using the alphabet as guide. F come Foligno (representing Umbria) is hosted by Cristina of La cucina di Cristina. This page has the list of all dishes prepared for the event.

This is another nice soup for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

minestra di cicerchie

or launch the minestra di cicerchie audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

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soup, cicerchia, Italian recipe

minestra di cicerchie

La cicerchia (Lathyrus sativus) è un legume che, secondo quanto scritto su questa pagina una volta era molto consumato, mentre oggi viene coltivato solo in Italia centrale .

prima (in basso) e dopo l'ammollo

Le cicerchie si trovano solo secche: prima di cuocerle occorre tenerle in ammollo per 24 ore e l'acqua deve poi essere eliminata, poiché contiene un amminoacido neurotossico che può causare latirismo. Tale condizione era e rimane un problema dove e quando la mancanza di fonti alimentari alternative porta al consumo di sostanziali quantità di Lathyrus. Il nostro consumo di cicerchie è molto occasionale e io seguo le istruzioni per la preparazione.

Le cicerchie nella foto le ho comprate da Bavicchi, il negozio di Perugia dove faccio la mia spesa di legumi menzionato in questo e altri post. Il riferimento a Perugia non è accidentale. Infatti…

Perugia: Fontana Maggiore

il giro delle regioni italiane organizzato da Trattoria MuVarA ci porta nella mia regione nativa: Umbria. Sono infatti nata e cresciuta a Perugia. (Questo post ha altre foto della città.)

In post precedenti ho parlato di legumi tradizionali umbri: lenticchie di Castelluccio, fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno e roveja. Per preparare un piatto a base di cicerchie ho consultato il sito dell'Accademia Italiana della Cucina e ho trovato una ricetta umbra per minestra di cicerchie. Come al solito, ho adattato la ricetta ai miei gusti e agli ingredienti che ho e poi ho preparato una variazione. Se non trovate le cicerchie, potete preparare questa minestra con i ceci.

Ingredienti:

180 g cicerchie
olio d'oliva
170 g pomodori arrosto passati (scongelati, dal momento che li ho preparati e congelati l'anno scorso) [la ricetta originale prevede passata di pomodoro]
un grosso spicchio d'aglio (o due piccoli) tritato
2 cucchiai di prezzemolo tritato
6 foglie di menta (io ho usato la mia menta arancio) spezzettate con le mani
acqua
240 ml brodo di pollo leggero fatto in casa o brodo vegetale
sale fino e pepe nero macinato fresco, q.b.

Per la variazione:

quadrucci
Parmigiano-Reggiano grattugiato fresco

Mettere le cicerchie in ammollo in un litro d'acqua. Dopo 24 ore, scolare le cicerchie e scartare l'acqua. Mettere le cicerchie in una pentola e aggiungere acqua fino a coprirle bene. Portare a bollore poi abbassare il calore. Cuocere a fuoco dolce fino a quando le cicerchie sono tenere. La ricetta originale parla di un tempo di cottura lungo (circa due ore) che non coincide con la mia esperienza (meno di un'ora), quindi il mio consiglio è di controllare periodicamente le cicerchie. Durante la cottura, un certo numero di cicerchie hanno perso la buccia e io l'ho scartata.

Scaldare un po' di olio d'oliva in una pentola, poi aggiungere aglio ed erbe aromatiche. Cuocere per un minuto circa, mescolando, fino a quando l'aglio sprigiona il suo aroma, poi aggiungere i pomodori. Cuocere fino ad ottenere un sughetto (nel mio caso, 8 minuti), poi versare nella pentola le cicerchie e farle cuocere nel sugo per 10 minuti. Versare nella pentola il brodo e abbastanza acqua da formare una minestra della consistenza desiderata. Continuare a cuocere per 10 minuti. Salare e pepare a seconda del gusto e poi servire.

Ho servito la minestra con delle fettine di pane di segale fatto in casa leggermente tostate, come si vede nella foto in alto.

versione con Parmigiano-Reggiano

Ho fatto le tagliatelle alla borragine e ho tagliato a quadrucci i pezzi di pasta troppo corti: mia madre faceva così quando faceva le tagliatelle, quasi tutte le domeniche.

Ho cotto i quadrucci nella minestra. Prima di servirla, ho aggiunto del Parmigiano-Reggiano. In entrambi le versioni, questa è un'ottima minestra. Il sapore delle cicerchie è particolare, e ricorda sia le lenticchie che i ceci.

Questo è il mio contributo all'Abbecedario culinario d'Italia, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare tutte le regioni italiane utilizzando come guida l'alfabeto. F come Foligno è ospitata da Cristina di La cucina di Cristina. Su questa pagina trovate la lista dei piatti preparati per l'evento.

Questa minestra va anche a Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, un evento settimanale creato da Deb di Kahakai Kitchen. Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

Contribuisco questo post anche a My Legume Love Affair 47, edizione corrente del popolare evento "leguminoso" creato da Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, e ospitato questo mese da Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes. Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

cucinare in trasferta: fagioli pinto freschi al pomodoro / cooking while away: fresh pinto beans in tomato sauce

September 27, 2011 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

In my previous post, I talked about our trip to Milwaukee and visit to the Milwaukee Art Museum and Fondy Farmer's Market.

At the market, among other items, we bought fresh shelled pinto beans. As you can see from the photo, they were sold next to borlotti (cranberry beans), and in both podded and shelled version (pinto in the pink buckets, borlotti in the purple ones).

The plan was to prepare the beans with a tomato sauce and I could have bought some tomatoes at the market for that, but they were sold is largecontainers and I was also not sure I would find a grater in the apartment where we were staying to make crushed tomatoes, so I relied on a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes¹ to help me prepare the dish. What I made is losely related to fagioli all'uccelletto.

I like the depth of flavor of the fire-roasted tomatoes, which I think goes very well with beans. The bowl in the background contains a mix of polenta and corn meal (farina di mais) that I brought from home to prepare polenta. It was one of the food items I packed. Others were two containers of homemade cookies (more on those in an upcoming post), my homemade caciotta cheese (already mentioned in this post) and a supply of chocolate.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Fresh pinto beans in tomato sauce

Ingredients:

a cup of shelled fresh pinto beans
a bit of olive oil
a large shallot (scalogno), finely chopped
a 14.5 oz. can of organic diced fire-roasted tomatoes
sea salt, to taste
basil (basilico) chiffonade, 5-6 leaves

Put the beans in a small saucepan and cover them with water (I used two cups). Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and cook the beans gently until just tender.

Warm up a bit of olive oil in a saucepan. Add the shallot, stir well to coat, then cook for a few minutes. Cover and continue cooking until the shallot is soft and translucent. Add the tomatoes, stir, bring to a gentle bubble, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes. If you want, mash some of the tomatoes with a potato masher or spoon.

Drain the beans and add to the tomato sauce. Again, bring back to a gentle bubble and cook for 15 minutes, or until the beans are cooked to your liking. Take the pan off the heat. Adjust the salt, if needed (the canned tomatoes contain salt), then add basil, and stir well to distribute.

Serving option #1: place a portion of beans in a bowl and distribute on the surface thin slices of caciotta or similar cheese. Cover the bowl and let stand for a few minutes, so the heat from the beans softens the cheese. Serve accompanied with toasted slices of country-style bread (pane casereccio).

Serving option #2: serve beans with a side of soft polenta. I will write more about my polenta soon. Suffice here to say that I added to it some of my caciotta cheese at the end of the cooking time. Again here you can experiment with other cheeses.

This is my submission for My Legume Love Affair 39, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, and hosted this month by Cathy of What Would Cathy Eat?

This post contains the roundup of the event.

I am also sending this post to Tin Can Recipes, a monthly event that will run until the end of this year. The organizers are Ale, Fra, Sere and Paola of Il Giardino degli Aromi and Brii of briggishome. The rules for participating are detailed on this page.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

fagioli pinto freschi al pomodoro

or launch the fagioli pinto freschi al pomodoro audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

¹ The can of tomatoes in the photo is for information only: it is not an advertisement. I do not have a business relationship with the product's company.

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bean, corn, tomato

cucinare in trasferta: fagioli pinto freschi al pomodoro

Nel post precedente ho parlato del nostro viaggio a Milwaukee e della visita al Milwaukee Art Museum e al Fondy Farmer's Market.

Al mercato abbiamo comprato, tra gli altri prodotti, un secchiello di fagioli pinto freschi sgranati. Come potete vedere nella foto, i fagioli pinto erano in vendita vicino ai borlotti, sia nel baccello che sgranati (i pinto nei secchielli rosa, i borlotti in quelli viola).

L'idea era quella di preparare i fagioli coi pomodori e per attuarla avrei potuto comprare dei pomodori al mercato, ma erano in vendita in cestelli piuttosto grossi e non ero sicura che nell'appartamento dove abbiamo alloggiato avrei trovato gli attrezzi per preparare la salsa, quindi ho deciso di comprare una scatola di pomodori arrostiti sulla fiamma a pezzi¹. Il piatto che ho preparato si ispira ai fagioli all'uccelletto.

La ciotola in secondo piano contiene farina di mais per fare la polenta che mi ero portata da casa (di fatto è un misto di quello che qui chiamano polenta, a grana piuttosto grossa, e cornmeal macinato a pietra, a grana più fine). Altri generi alimentari che avevo messo in valigia sono: due contenitori di biscotti fatti in casa (prossimamente su questo blog), la mia caciotta fatta in casa (già menzionata in un recente post) e una scorta di cioccolato (mai viaggiare senza!).

Ingredienti per i fagioli al pomodoro:

una tazza (240 ml) di fagioli pinto freschi sgranati (vedi Nota in basso)
un po' di olio d'oliva
uno scalogno piuttosto grosso, tagliato fine
una scatola da 410 g di pomodori arrostiti sulla fiamma a pezzi
sale, q.b.
5-6 foglie di basilico tagliate a chiffonade

Nota: non ho pesato i fagioli per mancanza di una bilancia, quindi ho solo il volume.

Mettere i fagioli in una piccola pentola e coprirli con acqua (io ho usato 2 tazze, 480 ml). Portare a ebollizione, abbassare la fiamma e cuocere a fuoco dolce fino a quando i fagioli sono appena teneri.

Scaldare un po' d'olio in una pentola, aggiungere lo scalogno, mescolare e lasciar cuocere per qualche minuto. Coprire e continuare a cuocere fino a quanto lo scalogno è tenero. Aggiungere i pomodori e mescolare. Portare a lieve bollore e far cuocere per 10-12 minuti. Se volete, potete schiacciare parte di pomodori con un cucchiaio.

Scolare i fagioli e aggiungerli ai pomodori. Portare a lieve bollore e far cuocere per 15 minuti o fino a quando i fagioli non siano cotti secondo il vostro gusto. Togliere la pentola dal fuoco, correggere il sale, se necessario (i pomodori in scatola contengono sale), aggiungere il basilico e mescolare bene.

Ho servito i fagioli in due modi:

1. Mettere una porzione di fagioli in una scodella e distribuire sulla superficioe delle fettine fine di caciotta o formaggio simile. Coprire la scodella e lasciar riposare per qualche minuto, in modo che il calore dei fagioli ammorbidisca il formaggio. Servire con fette di pane casereccio tostate.

2. Servire i fagioli con della polenta morbida condita con caciotta. Anche in questo caso potete usare altro formaggio di vostro gradimento.

Con questo post contribuisco all'evento Tin Can Recipes dedicato alla celebrazione dei 200 anni del cibo in scatola. L'organizzazione dell'evento è di Ale, Fra, Sere e Paola del blog Il Giardino degli Aromi e di Brii che scrive briggishome. Le regole per partecipare le trovate su questa pagina.

Questo post contiene la raccolta dell'evento.

Contribuisco anche all'evento My Legume Love Affair 39, edizione corrente del popolare evento sulle leguminose creato da Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, e ospitato questo mese da Cathy di What Would Cathy Eat?

Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

¹ La scatola di pomodori nella foto è solo a titolo informativo: non è una pubblicità. Non ho alcun rapporto commerciale con l'azienda produttrice.

fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno / cowpea of Lake Trasimeno

November 30, 2008 | Simona

It is a bit strange to visit the city where one grew up and find some food never tasted before, but this is exactly what happened to me during my recent visit to Perugia. I entered a store to buy some lenticchie di Castelluccio (lentils of Castelluccio) and came out with some fagiolina del Trasimeno, a legume until then unknown to me. Both Lago Trasimeno and Castelluccio are located in my home region, Umbria.

According to this page, fagiolina has been grown around Lake Trasimeno since ancient times. However, starting in the 1960's, cultivation started to decline until, in the 90's, it almost stopped. Recently, thanks to the commitment of some farmers, the University of Perugia School of Agriculture and the regional government, cultivation of fagiolina is again on the rise and people like me are getting to know and appreciate this lovely legume.

Fagiolina is the feminine version of the diminutive of fagiolo (bean). [Note that fagiolino, the diminutive of fagiolo, means snap bean.] The name fagiolina is endearing and so is the flavor of the cooked cowpea. The photo shows some fagiolina and some calypso beans and should give you a sense of the relative dimensions.

Fagiolina can be of different colors, the most common one being creamy white. The texture is soft and the flavor is delicate. The recipes are simple. I was given one at the store where I bought the fagiolina, but followed only the very last step, where it suggests to season the cooked fagiolina with salt, pepper and extra-virgin olive oil.

Before getting to that last step, I cooked half a cup of fagiolina in 1.5 cups of water in a small saucepan. There is no soaking step. Following a recipe for beans in Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone", I added to the water half of a small onion, halved, a bay leaf, a clove of garlic, sliced, and a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley. I brought the water to a lively boil quickly and maintained it for five minutes, then covered the saucepan and lowered the heat to keep the water at a simmer. This is the way I cook beans. The recipe I was given at the store says to boil for 40 minutes, but my fagiolina was ready after 20 minutes of simmering. I let the fagiolina cool in its broth, removed the aromatics, drained and seasoned as above. This simple dish was a big hit at dinner.

This is my submission for My Legume Love Affair – Fifth Helping, the popular, legume-centered event that is the brainchild of Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook and that I have the honor of hosting this month.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno

or launch the fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno audio file [mp3].